Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Long-term Outlook and Risks in Advanced Countries

This article seeks to provide a broad overview of the long-term growth outlook for advanced countries, taking into account also the impact and legacies of the Great Moderation and the Great Recession. The article explores their role in the global economy going forward and the key policy challenges that they face, with a particular emphasis on the implications for developing countries. The starting point for this analysis is a brief summary of the short-term outlook for advanced countries and the likely legacies of the Great Recession. Then, the article sets out a baseline scenario for long-term global growth, drawing on the results of the Centennial long-term growth model. In this scenario, global trade would significantly increase and the gap in size in financial markets in emerging and advanced economies would narrow. To achieve these outcomes, advanced economies face challenges, including demographic transition, slow growth, and large fiscal imbalances. To mitigate these risks, advanced countries will need to accelerate and consolidate structural reforms and develop credible medium-term fiscal frameworks. To a certain extent, developing countries need to reduce their reliance on advanced economies to achieve the outcomes described in the baseline scenario; they should boost domestic sources of growth and strengthen their economies against external shocks. This does not preclude international cooperation, however. While some slowdown in financial globalization in particular may be necessary and appropriate to reduce risks to financial stability, there are significant risks that this could go too far. This, in turn, can only reinforce the importance of strengthened multilateral cooperation in the long term.
Progress on XBRL from an Australian perspective

This study examines the progress of XBRL (extensible Business Reporting Language) in the Australian context. XBRL has the potential to be the digital language for data transfer and integration of business systems. The paper describes the nature of XBRL and notes that the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has mandated its use. We review the implications of XBRL, such as audit assurance issues, comparability and real-time reporting, and conclude that XBRL has the potential to enhance financial accounting reporting. What is needed is the completion of the enabling technology, simplification and acceptance.
Depression and risk of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease

Background Depression may be associated with cognitive decline in elderly people with impaired cognition. Aims To investigate whether depressed elderly people with normal cognition are at increased risk of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. Methods Two independent samples of older people with normal cognition were selected from the community-based Amsterdam Study of the Elderly (AMSTEL) and the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA). In AMSTEL, depression was assessed by means of the Geriatric Mental State Schedule. Clinical diagnoses of incident Alzheimer's disease were made using a two-step procedure. In LASA, depression was assessed with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Cognitive decline was defined as a drop of ⩾ 3 on the Mini-Mental State Examination at follow-up. Results Both in the AMSTEL and the LASA sample, depression was associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline, respectively, but only in subjects with higher levels of education. Conclusions In a subgroup of more highly educated elderly people, depression may be an early manifestation of Alzheimer's disease before cognitive symptoms become apparent.
Sex steroid and prolactin profiles in male American black bears (Ursus americanus) during denning.

Serum sex steroid and prolactin profiles were examined in the male American black bear, Ursus americanus during denning. Sera collected in December and the following March from 8 denning male black bears in Minnesota, U.S.A. were assayed for testosterone, estradiol-17 beta and prolactin. Eight bears were confirmed to be the denning mode based on a serum urea to creatinine ratio less than 10. Serum testosterone concentrations tended to increase from December to the subsequent March whereas serum estradiol-17 beta concentrations tended to decrease during this period. There were few changes in serum prolactin concentrations between December and March. These findings suggest that spermatogenesis and testicular steroidogenesis initiated during denning may be influenced by changes in serum sex steroid concentrations in the American black bear.
Interface aware scheduling of tasks on cloud

Cloud Computing has created a lot of buzz in the IT industry. The idea of utility based computing has led to a paradigm shift. This is due to the availability of dynamically available hardware components and freely accessible software tools at a very low cost. Large scale business, science and engineering applications provide a glimpse of cloud computing has to offer to its users. However, these large scale applications do present a lot of challenges to be dealt with. One of them is interference among various tasks scheduled on remote resources. The problem of interference among compute intensive, network intensive and memory intensive tasks can significantly degrade the performance of a cloud computing application. In this paper, we present a interference free scheduling algorithm of various tasks with better performance of cloud computing application.
Raster modelling of coastal flooding from sea‐level rise

As rates of sea‐level rise continue to increase due to climate change, land planners require accurate spatial analyses on the extent and timing of coastal flooding and associated hazards. Digital elevation data used to evaluate coastal vulnerability to flooding are available at various horizontal and vertical resolutions. However, the quality of digital elevation models (DEM) used in environmental assessment can significantly affect the detection of topographic features and the magnitude of hydrological processes. We used lidar elevation data in coastal North Carolina, USA to investigate the effects of horizontal resolution and connectivity on the extent and timing of flooding from sea‐level rise. We found that the rate and extent of inundation were dependent on horizontal resolution and assumptions made on hydrological connectivity. The variation in flood extent was much larger (760 km2) at low sea‐level projections (<0.4 m) than at high sea‐level projections (>∼0.9 m, 114 km2) due to the effect of hydrological corrections on the coarse‐scale DEM and topographic complexity at low elevations. Lidar elevation data provide a significant advance in mapping potential coastal flooding, but the extent and timing of inundation are sensitive to horizontal resolution and the modelling of hydrological connectivity.
Spatiotemporal Representations of Rapid Visual Target Detection: A Single-Trial EEG Classification Algorithm

Brain computer interface applications, developed for both healthy and clinical populations, critically depend on decoding brain activity in single trials. The goal of the present study was to detect distinctive spatiotemporal brain patterns within a set of event related responses. We introduce a novel classification algorithm, the spatially weighted FLD-PCA (SWFP), which is based on a two-step linear classification of event-related responses, using fisher linear discriminant (FLD) classifier and principal component analysis (PCA) for dimensionality reduction. As a benchmark algorithm, we consider the hierarchical discriminant component Analysis (HDCA), introduced by Parra, et al. 2007. We also consider a modified version of the HDCA, namely the hierarchical discriminant principal component analysis algorithm (HDPCA). We compare single-trial classification accuracies of all the three algorithms, each applied to detect target images within a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP, 10 Hz) of images from five different object categories, based on single-trial brain responses. We find a systematic superiority of our classification algorithm in the tested paradigm. Additionally, HDPCA significantly increases classification accuracies compared to the HDCA. Finally, we show that presenting several repetitions of the same image exemplars improve accuracy, and thus may be important in cases where high accuracy is crucial.
Leadership Behavior in Public Organizations

Leadership behavior is recognized as an important variable in the Human Resource Management (HRM)-Performance chain. However, in most studies, leadership behavior is viewed as an independent variable, and one that influences employees’ attitudes and behavior. Because of this premise, claims that public managers’ discretionary room for supervisory support is constrained, and that personal motivation is the most important reason for a manager engaging in supervisory support, have not been systematically examined. This article fills this gap by examining the antecedents of supervisory support by middle managers in the police force and in an academic medical center in the Netherlands. The results show that the extent of the discretionary room that middle managers experience has an effect on supervisory support and that this relationship is mediated by their willingness to support employees. Furthermore, a manager’s supportive ability is an important additional antecedent.
Who cares? The personal and professional problems of NGO fieldworkers in Bangladesh

This article highlights the personal and professional problems of NGO fieldworkers in Bangladesh. The paper draws on field research with the front-line workers of four NGOs, their clients, immediate superiors, and senior management. Fieldworkers face personal problems such as job insecurity, financial hardships, difficulties with accommodation, and family dislocation. These problems differ according to gender, marital status, and age. Professional problems include training, promotion, and transfer. In addition, fieldworkers face problems in their external relationships, including suspicion, resistance or lack of cooperation from religious leaders and local e´lites, time and resource constraints, competition for clients, and eagerness of the intended beneficiaries simply to get access to financial or material benefits. It will be argued that the strengths of the fieldworkers of Southern NGOs have been largely unexplored and undervalued.
Preformulation Study of the Inclusion Complex Irbesartan-β-Cyclodextrin

The aim of the present work was to improve the solubility and dissolution profile of Irbesartan (IRB), a poorly water-soluble drug by formation of inclusion complex with β-cyclodextrin (βCD). Phase solubility studies revealed increase in solubility of the drug upon cyclodextrin addition, showing AL—type of graph with slope less than one indicating formation of 1:1 stoichiometry inclusion complex. The stability constant (Ks) was found to be 104.39 M−1. IRB–βCD binary systems were prepared by cogrinding, kneading using alcohol, kneading using aqueous alcohol, and coevaporation methods. Characterization of the binary systems were carried out by differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and proton nuclear magnetic resonance. The dissolution profiles of inclusion complexes were determined and compared with those of IRB alone and physical mixture. Among the various methods, coevaporation was the best in which the solubility was increased and dissolution rate of the drug was the highest. The study indicated the usefulness of cyclodextrin technology to overcome the solubility problem of IRB.
MRI‐guided radiofrequency ablation of breast cancer: Preliminary clinical experience

This study was designed to demonstrate the feasibility of MRI‐guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of breast cancer. A total of three women diagnosed with invasive ductal breast cancer were treated with percutaneous MRI‐guided RFA, according to a treat and resect protocol, in our hospital. RFA procedures were performed in an open 0.5T Signa‐SP imager allowing direct patient access and real‐time monitoring of the procedure. In all patients ablation was performed with a 15‐gauge insulated MRI‐compatible multiple needle probe. MRI thermometry and contrast‐enhanced postablation MRI were used to evaluate the ablation process. Patients underwent lumpectomy within a week of the RFA procedure. Histopathology confirmed successful (100%) tumor ablation in one patient, and partial tumor destruction (33% and 50%, respectively) in two patients. Challenges of MRI‐guided breast RFA that need to be solved to facilitate progress of the technique toward clinical practice are discussed. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
EU Crises Multiplier - From One Crisis To Another

Abstract Since the wide spreading of the European Union (EU) crisis begun, the research papers have been providing different definitions such as currency crisis, competitiveness crisis, banking crisis, balance of payment crisis, but the most frequent notion of EU crises is the sovereign debt crisis. In this paper, the researchers agree that the current European crisis can be identified as sovereign debt crises at its surface, but in order to search for solutions of EU problems, we must look deeper into the sources of this crisis. Through this paper, the multiplication of crisis is explained, whereby it is being concluded that one type of crisis led to another, while staying on the point that the Eurozone current crisis is basically a combination of two core crisis: balance of payment crisis and banking crisis. In order to support the hypothesis that sovereign debt crisis is deeply connected with balance of payment crisis, we have analysed the trade and capital flows of European countries. It was discovered that periphery countries mostly financed their current account deficit, trade deficits and public deficit through external borrowing from creditor countries. Further, the periphery countries have been cumulating not only trade deficit in trade activity with other European partners, but also in trade with the rest of the world. The key source of imbalances between the European countries seems to be a different level of competitiveness caused by different level of productivity. As the second face of EU crises, we recognised a banking crisis. We found that sovereign debt crisis and banking crisis are interconnected but banking crisis usually precedes the debt crisis. With the fast growth of international capital flows, financial integration was strongly regionally concentrated and became especially important within the EU. Through the analysis of the international investment position of creditor countries, it was concluded that these countries are more integrated within the euro area through financial flows than through real economic flows. Additionally, it was discovered that creditor countries’ banks were among the biggest investors in bonds of periphery countries such as Greece. In other periphery countries such as Ireland, banking crisis and subsequent measures for the rescuing of banking system led to the increase of public debt. In the other countries, banks were faced with solvency problems due to bad debt holdings. Having in mind that we found interconnection of the debt crisis with balance of payment crisis on the one side, and with the banking crisis on the other side, the conclusion is that sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone is a result of two-core crisis: balance of payment crisis and bank crisis. Reckoning on the European Union history where each crisis usually led to the stronger integration, maybe the current crisis is a step further towards better and deeper integration.
Accounting Measurement, Price-Earnings Ratio, and the Information Content of Security Prices

A number of papers (for example, Beaver, Lambert, and Morse [1980], Beaver, Lambert, and Ryan [1987], Collins, Kothari, and Rayburn [1987], and Freeman [1987]) have documented that stock prices lead accounting earnings. These investigations have led to the conclusions that prices provide information about earnings ahead of time and that earnings capture events that affect security prices with a lag. The study of P/E ratios has supported those conclusions and also produced additional insights. Beaver and Morse [1978] have shown that PIE ratios not only predict future earnings changes but they also identify transitory aspects of current earnings. Investors utilize other information in setting prices which provides both a prediction of future earnings and an indication of whether current earnings are representative of future earnings. Thus a comparison of price to earnings in a P/E calculation can indicate the extent to which current earnings are transitory.1 In this paper we show that information in prices that leads (future) earnings is contained in financial statements. While accrual accounting
fMRI review on brain responses to acupuncture: the limitations and possibilities in traditional Korean acupuncture

Abstract Background: Since the late 1990s, imaging studies have allowed the visualization of brain response to acupuncture stimulation with alteration in blood flow. In 1998, the first functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study for the Korean acupuncture was published and thereafter, many subsequent neuroimaging studies with acupuncture have been published and revealed that acupuncture modulates central nervous system in human being. The purpose of this review is to summarize and evaluate the acupuncture studies using fMRI. Methods: A survey of computerized literature searches for experimental studies of acupuncture studies using fMRI revealed that a total of 19 studies were published from 1998 to 2005. Results: These studies have mainly focused on the correlation between acupoints and corresponding brain cortices, acupoint-specific patterns of brain activity. The analgesic effect of acupuncture implied that the pain network, including the hypothalamus and limbic system, was induced by different kinds of acupuncture stimulation. There are still several limitations in these experimental designs. Conclusion: We reviewed studies that contributed to an understanding of the neurophysiologic mechanisms of acupuncture with the hope that this review will be of benefit to the future traditional Korean acupunctural fMRI studies.
Low cost polyimide liner formation with vacuum-assisted spin coating for through-silicon-vias

Three-dimensional (3-D) integration with through-silicon-vias(TSVs) has been laid high expectations in overcoming further miniaturization obstacles faced by conventional 2-D integrated circuits (ICs) and solving compatibility problems of system integration among heterogeneous chips. We have proposed a simple but feasible process named “vacuum-assisted spin coating” for the fabrication of high aspect-ratio TSVs with polyimide (PI) liners at low cost to reduce its parasitic capacitance while increase its thermomechanical reliability. In this paper, the mechanism of the technique, liner thickness controllability, impacts of PI liner on TSV keep-out zone (KOZ), and its adaptability to “via-last”3-D integration paradigm were addressed. Minimum step coverage of PI liner after the second coating procedure showed an increase from 32.9% to 47.6%, indicating more conformal PI liners were obtained. A 3-D finite element analysis was also employed to check KOZ of TSVs with PI/SiO2 liners on P-type Si with [100] and [110] device alignment. By employing PI liners, KOZ sizes were seen a reduction of 24.2% and 25.8% on [100] and [110] direction, respectively.
Characterization of the RSL1‐dependent conditional expression system in LNCaP prostate cancer cells and development of a single vector format

Conditional expression systems are useful tools for the study of gene function but the use of these systems in prostate cancer cells is limited by the undesired biological effects of the inducing ligands. The RheoSwitch system employs RheoSwitch Ligand 1 (RSL1), a non‐steroidal analog of the insect hormone ecdysone, to activate a modified nuclear receptor heterodimer that controls target gene expression via GAL4 response elements. This system has not been tested in prostate cancer cells.
Creating Brand Equity Through Strategic Investments

Brand equity is central to an understanding of the worth of any business, yet it exists in the minds of consumers as a mixture of awareness and image. To measure and understand how this equity is developed, mananged, and enhanced is central to all theories of value creation. This article looks at the concepts of brand identity, brand meaning, brand response, and brand relationship with an eye toward how the measure of brand equity correlates with and is influenced by technology equity, communication equity, and foreign strategic investments. Seventy-seven multinational firms are tracked through the years 1986-1988 and results are reported on based on R&D expenses, advertising costs, and investments in foreign subsidiaries.
A Simple Model of Correlated Defaults with Application to Repo Portfolios

Credit risk exposure of a cash provider in a repo transaction is limited to 'double default events' when the counterparty and the issuer of the underlying collateral asset both default in a short period of time. This article presents a new and intuitive model for modeling correlated defaults, which are the key drivers of residual credit risk in repo portfolios. In the model, default times of counterparties and collateral issuers are determined by idiosyncratic and systematic factors, whereby a name defaults if it is struck by either factor for the first time. The novelty of the approach lies in representing systematic factors as increasing sequences of random variables. Such a setting allows us to precisely capture the clustering of defaults in time and build a rich dependence structure that is free of the flaws inherent in the Gaussian copula-based approaches still widely used for portfolio credit risk applications. Thanks to its general formulation, the model can be applied not only to repos, but also more broadly to pricing and risk-managing any default-correlation-sensitive instruments, e.g., credit default swaps, default swaptions, and CDOs.
Reassessing Brand Loyalty, Price Sensitivity, and Merchandising Effects on Consumer Brand Choice

This article reports the results of an empirical study of household brand choices over four scanner-panel data sets. The study uses a random-effects, autocorrelated, logistic regression model. The analysis presents evidence that the brand-choice process is not zero-order. In addition, the influence of in-store displays and feature advertisements on switching is shown to be about two to three times more effective than estimates obtained from previous studies. Finally, the analysis indicates systematic differences between frequent and infrequent buyers of products in terms of their sensitivity to price, displays, and feature advertising.
Calculation of area of stabilometric signals using principal component analysis

In stabilometry, the sway of the human body in an upright posture is studied by monitoring the displacement of its centre of pressure in the lateral (x) and anterio-posterior (y) directions. The area covered by this trace has been defined as that of an ellipse fitted to the data. Conventionally, its angle of inclination is found through linear regression (LR) on the data in the x - y plane. In the present paper, principal component analysis (PCA) is proposed as providing a more suitable basis for the estimation of angle and area. Results of simulations and stabilometric tests confirm large differences between area and angle estimates obtained by regression of x over y, and y over x, with PCA generally agreeing with either one or the other of the LRs. The PCA technique is therefore recommended as an improved basis for measuring area and inclination of stabilograms, or similar data sets. Keywords: body balance, stabilometry, signal processing, principal component analysis