Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strategy: Formulation, Implementation, and Monitoring

The study of corporate strategy within graduate schools of business has been under way for many years. With the growing complexity of the world and with the increased size of business firms, the need for planning and the development of a corporate strategy has become recognized in the business firm. While many areas of management have been subjected to scientific analysis, the strategy area continues to be characterized by a commonsensical, judgmental approach. This paper is an attempt to impose structure upon the various problems inherent in the process of formulating, implementing, and monitoring corporate strategy in modern business firms. We begin by identifying the relevant considerations in the strategic planning process and then discussing the manner in which formal models can prove useful to executives in dealing with various subproblems. The paucity of valid, normative propositions in the corporate strategy literature indicates the need for a more scientific approach to this important field. The nine major steps that constitute the strategic planning process are as follows: (1) formulation of goals; (2) analysis of the environment; (3) assigning quantitative values to the goals; (4) the microprocess of strategy formulation; (5) the gap analysis; (6) strategic search; (7) selecting the portfolio of strategic alternatives; (8) implementation of the strategic program; (9) measurement, feedback, and control. ' This paper will review these nine steps and present selected ideas that demonstrate how the strategic planning process could be improved through use of analytical procedures. The nine steps should not be viewed as a once-and-for-all process of strategic planning, but, rather, as a continuous, ongoing process.2 The whole procedure is a dynamic
Is there a wage bonus from drinking? Unobserved heterogeneity examined

While the result that drinkers earn more than abstainers has been remarkably persistent, only one paper in the literature on drinking and earnings has been written where individual fixed effects are included. This study improves the current literature by utilizing a much longer panel and focuses on the low end of drinking while controlling for unobserved heterogeneity with the inclusion of individual specific effects. It is found that while OLS specifications yield a positive significant coefficient on current drinking, even when a rich set of covariates is controlled for, including individual fixed effects renders the coefficient statistically insignificant.
Inflation Dynamics in Latin America

We analyze inflation's persistence in the 1980-2006 period for the ten largest Latin American economies using univariate time-series techniques. Although the estimated degree of inflation persistence appears to be different across countries, for the region as a whole the persistence seems to be very high. However, the estimated degree of persistence falls in all countries once we permit structural breaks in the mean of inflation. The timing of these breaks coincides with shifts in the monetary policy regimes and is similar across countries. Regardless of the changes in the mean, the degree of persistence appears to be decreasing in the region, even though for some countries persistence does not seem to be changing.
Glucagon-like peptide 2 stimulates glucagon secretion, enhances lipid absorption, and inhibits gastric acid secretion in humans.

BACKGROUND & AIMS The gut-derived peptide glucagon-like peptide 2 (GLP-2) has been suggested as a potential drug candidate for the treatment of various intestinal diseases. However, the acute effects of GLP-2 on gastric functions as well as on glucose and lipid homeostasis in humans are less well characterized. METHODS Fifteen healthy male volunteers were studied with the intravenous infusion of GLP-2 or placebo over 120 minutes in the fasting state, and pentagastrin-stimulated gastric acid output was assessed. Another 15 healthy male volunteers were studied with a 390 minutes infusion of GLP-2 or placebo during the ingestion of a solid test meal. Gastric emptying was determined using a 13C-sodium-octanote breath test. Plasma concentrations of glucose, insulin, C-peptide, glucagon, GLP-2, free fatty acids, free glycerol, and triglycerides were determined. RESULTS GLP-2 administration led to a marked increase in glucagon concentrations both in the fasting state and during the meal study (P < .001). Postprandial plasma concentrations of triglycerides and free fatty acids were significantly higher during GLP-2 infusion compared with placebo (P < .01), while glycerol concentrations were similar (P = .07). GLP-2 administration caused an approximately 15% reduction in pentagastrin-stimulated gastric acid and chloride secretion (P < .01), whereas gastric emptying was not affected (P = .99). CONCLUSIONS GLP-2 reduces gastric acid secretion but does not seem to have an influence on gastric emptying. The stimulation of glucagon secretion by GLP-2 may counteract the glucagonostatic effect of GLP-1. Changes in postprandial lipid excursions seem to reflect enhanced intestinal nutrient absorption during GLP-2 administration.
Trade and environmental damage in US agriculture

Trade liberalisation has the potential to contribute to overall improvements in environmental performance, while countries might lose a comparative advantage in trade because of stringent environmental regulations. We analyse the environmental damages in the US agriculture since 1973 using state level data and conclude that states lose a comparative advantage by stringent environmental regulations. The decomposition of trade's effect into scale, technique and composition effects, and a further decomposition of the technique effect into environmental technique and environmental scale effects, show its relevance as major determinants of environmental damage. The differences in production technology and factor supplies are major factors affecting trade patterns. Finally, human risk factors suggest that freer agricultural trade is bad for the environment.
The Implementation of School-Based Management Policy in Indonesia: A Survey on Public Junior High School Principals’ Perceptions

The purpose of this study was to identify principals’ perceptions and implementation of school-based management at twenty-four public junior high schools in Jambi City, Indonesia. A questionnaire was used as a research instrument to twenty-four public junior high schools principals. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics. The results of the study indicated that the policy of school-based management placed principals to have autonomy and the shared decision making to run their school programs. Additionally, being a principal under school-based management [hereinafter termed SBM] allowed principals to work with the school advisory council as an integral part of the development of the school's improvement plan, particularly the school advisory council was involved in developing school plans, including objectives, strategies, and actions. Principals also indicated that the policy contributed positively to improvements in student achievement. However, the findings indicated that the policy of school-based management necessitated participants to spend too much time on administrative tasks. Also some participants were not sure if the policy of school-based management contributed to a climate which enhanced stakeholders’ satisfaction. The findings also indicated that student representative, staff, and administrators other than principals were missing in the school advisory council. This study provided information for policy makers, principals, parents, and teacher educators to understand how the policy of school-based management is implemented at the school level. Implications for practice and further research are also discussed. Key words: Indonesian school-based management policy, principal, perceptions, junior high schools
Cellular transformation of NIH3T3 fibroblasts by CIZ/NMP4 fusions

Molecular cloning of the translocations t(12;22)(p13;q12) and t(12;17)(p13;q11) in acute leukaemia showed that either EWSR1 or its homologue TAF15 are fused to the transcription factor CIZ. EWSR1 and TAF15 belong to the TET family (TLS/FUS, EWSR1 and TAF15) of proteins. TET fusions have been identified in both solid tumours and acute myeloid leukaemia. The novel 12p translocations directly implicated TET fusions in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia as well, and demonstrated the involvement of CIZ in haematopoietic malignancies. In addition, a new fusion E2A‐CIZ was recently cloned as a result of a t(12;19)(p13;p13) in a patient with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. NIH3T3 cells stably expressing TET‐CIZ fusions display a transformed phenotype in a focus formation assay. We show here that E2A‐CIZ also transforms 3T3 fibroblasts, suggesting that the addition of a transactivation domain to the CIZ protein is involved in this phenotype. An artificial VP16‐CIZ construct reveals similar transforming properties, supporting this. We have then analysed the domains within TAF15‐CIZ that are necessary for 3T3 fibroblast transformation. Deletion of the zinc fingers of CIZ resulted in loss of both DNA‐binding and transforming properties of TAF15‐CIZ, whereas deletion of the other functional domains of CIZ had no effect. Fusion of a transactivation domain to CIZ is suggestive for a transactivating function in transformation. Luciferase experiments indeed showed that E2A‐CIZ as well as VP16‐CIZ transactivates the MMP7 promoter. Taken together, our results reported here suggest that transformation of 3T3 fibroblasts by CIZ fusions is dependent on DNA‐binding and might involve transactivation of CIZ target genes. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Biochemical characterization of human glutamate carboxypeptidase III

Human glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII) is a transmembrane metallopeptidase found mainly in the brain, small intestine, and prostate. In the brain, it cleaves N‐acetyl‐l‐aspartyl‐glutamate, liberating free glutamate. Inhibition of GCPII has been shown to be neuroprotective in models of stroke and other neurodegenerations. In prostate, it is known as prostate‐specific membrane antigen, a cancer marker. Recently, human glutamate carboxypeptidase III (GCPIII), a GCPII homolog with 67% amino acid identity, was cloned. While GCPII is recognized as an important pharmaceutical target, no biochemical study of human GCPIII is available at present. Here, we report the cloning, expression, and characterization of recombinant human GCPIII. We show that GCPIII lacks dipeptidylpeptidase IV‐like activity, its activity is dependent on N‐glycosylation, and it is effectively inhibited by several known inhibitors of GCPII. In comparison to GCPII, GCPIII has lower N‐acetyl‐l‐aspartyl‐glutamate‐hydrolyzing activity, different pH and salt concentration dependence, and distinct substrate specificity, indicating that these homologs might play different biological roles. Based on a molecular model, we provide interpretation of the distinct substrate specificity of both enzymes, and examine the amino acid residues responsible for the differences by site‐directed mutagenesis. These results may help to design potent and selective inhibitors of both enzymes.
Secrecy performance analysis of hybrid eavesdroppers system using stochastic geometry and random matrix theory

We consider a hybrid eavesdropping wireless system, where the locations of the eavesdroppers are drawn from Poisson point process (PPP). The eavesdroppers work in a half-duplex mode with a certain probability to transfer from eavesdropping mode to jamming mode. Based on the stochastic geometry (SG) and the random matrix theory (RMT), we derive the analytic results for the secrecy outage probability (SOP) and mean secrecy rate (MSR), which are verified by Monte-carlo simulations. We further derive the closed-form results for a special case where some special system parameters are assumed. It is found that the secrecy outage probability increases fast with the increasing of eavesdroppers' density. To improve the secrecy performance, the transmit power should be optimally designed.
Possible contribution of heavy pollution to the decadal change of rainfall over eastern China during the summer monsoon season

A regional climate model (RegCM4.1) is used to conduct two sets of sensitivity experiments. There are 20-year runs in each set of experiments. The experiments in each set include the variation of anthropogenic SO2 emissions during 1989–2008 but exclude natural variations of the atmosphere and sea surface temperature. The model results suggest that the high-speed emission of SO2 and its uneven distribution over eastern China can contribute to the change in May–August rainfall over eastern China between the two decades of 1999–2008 and 1989–1998, especially to the decrease (increase) of rainfall in the Yangtze River valley (Huang-Huai River region). Furthermore, the areas of decreasing (increasing) rainfall correspond to the downward (upward) currents of the anomalous atmospheric circulation, which is caused by the two humps of the difference in sulfate concentration between the two decades.
The Economics and Politics of Structure: The Multidivisional Form and the Large U.S. Corporation.

We thank Ellie for her quiet patience, Maggie McLoughlin and Linda Pike for their editorial insights, and James Baron, Bill Bielby, Nicole Biggart, Richard Daft, Neil Fligstein, Mark Granovetter, Gary Hamilton, Michael Schwartz, W.R. Scott, and four anonymous ASQ reviewers for their comments on an earlierdraft. Special thanks to Bill Domhoff and all the others who still look for the ghost in the machine. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the annual meetings of the Academy of Management, Boston, 1984, and the American Sociological Association, Washington, DC, 1985. Until recently, explanations of why firms use the multidivisional form (MDF) have focused on economic processes. We develop alternative political and ecological/life-cycle explanations of the MDF and test them, along with the dominant economic ones, by estimating a structural equation model with data on large U.S. industrial corporations. The results conform closely to one version of the economic explanation. While industrial diversity and geographic dispersion directly stimulate use of the MDF, size does so only indirectly, by increasing diversity and dispersion. Further, producing in the petroleum and agriculture industries inhibits diversification. The results also support the political and, to a lesser extent, ecological/life-cycle explanations. Bank-dominated firms are less diverse, and both familyand bank-dominated firms are less dispersed and less likely to use the MDF. Further, producing in the metals and materials and the petroleum and agricultural industries increases dispersion, and the latter inhibits use of the MDF. Age, however, has no effect on the extent to which firms are diverse, dispersed, or likely to use the MDF. These results suggest that future analyses of organizational behavior should view economic transactions as embedded in social structures and should focus more explicitly on the spatial dimension of organizational behavior.
An Evaluation of Alternative Methods for Estimating Systematic Risk

The available evidence on the properties of return distributions does not convincingly support a particular method for estimating the parameters of the market model. The underlying stimulus for this paper is to resolve this issue empirically by evaluating the performance of three alternative estimational methods to OLS for deriving the beta or systematic risk of securities. These are the mean absolute deviation, a non-parametric method, and the generalised least square method. The empirical tests include estimates of beta using the four estimators, an examination of whether the beta estimates belong to the same underlying distribution, and finally, an evaluation of the performance of the estimators for predicting monthly rates of return.
Quantitative Easing and Other Unconventional Monetary Policies: Bank of England Conference Summary

In November 2011, the Bank of England held a conference to discuss the lessons learned about quantitative easing and the other unconventional monetary policies used during the global financial crisis. A number of central bank economists and academics presented their research. This article summarises the presentations made at the conference and some of the related discussions. Overall, the research presented broadly supported the emerging consensus that unconventional monetary policies helped to mitigate the macroeconomic effects of the crisis. But there was less agreement about the magnitude of the effects and the main mechanisms through which the policies may have worked, and a number of areas for further research were suggested.
A generalized options approach to aggregate migration with an application to US federal states

This paper develops a tractable dynamic microeconomic model of migration decisions that is aggregated to describe the behavior of interregional migration. Our structural approach allows to deal with dynamic self-selection problems that arises from the endogeneity of location choice and the persistency of migration incentives. Keeping track of the distribution dynamics of migration incentives has important consequences, because these dynamics influences the estimation of structural parameters, such as migration costs. For US interstate migration, we obtain a cost estimate of approximately two average annual household incomes. This is at most half of the migration cost estimates reported in previous studies. We attribute this difference to the treatment of the self selection problem
Community Structures of Fecal Bacteria in Cattle from Different Animal Feeding Operations

ABSTRACT The fecal microbiome of cattle plays a critical role not only in animal health and productivity but also in food safety, pathogen shedding, and the performance of fecal pollution detection methods. Unfortunately, most published molecular surveys fail to provide adequate detail about variability in the community structures of fecal bacteria within and across cattle populations. Using massively parallel pyrosequencing of a hypervariable region of the rRNA coding region, we profiled the fecal microbial communities of cattle from six different feeding operations where cattle were subjected to consistent management practices for a minimum of 90 days. We obtained a total of 633,877 high-quality sequences from the fecal samples of 30 adult beef cattle (5 individuals per operation). Sequence-based clustering and taxonomic analyses indicate less variability within a population than between populations. Overall, bacterial community composition correlated significantly with fecal starch concentrations, largely reflected in changes in the Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Firmicutes populations. In addition, network analysis demonstrated that annotated sequences clustered by management practice and fecal starch concentration, suggesting that the structures of bovine fecal bacterial communities can be dramatically different in different animal feeding operations, even at the phylum and family taxonomic levels, and that the feeding operation is a more important determinant of the cattle microbiome than is the geographic location of the feedlot.
Fourier-Based 2-D Imaging Algorithm for Circular Synthetic Aperture Radar: Analysis and Application

Circular synthetic aperture radar (CSAR) has become a research hotspot in the SAR community. Since the Fourier-based imaging methods of CSAR are underdeveloped, further developments have to be investigated. In this paper, the exact expression and property analysis of the spectrum of CSAR are presented first. It turns out that the challenges of the Fourier-based 2-D imaging processing of CSAR lie in the projection of spectrum from the slant plane into the ground plane. Correspondingly, a spectrum-projection method by matched filtering as well as the practical subaperture-based imaging flow of CSAR are proposed, during which the trajectory deviation has been taken into account. Simulation and experimental tests are carried out to measure the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method. The corresponding results verify that the proposed signal model is correct and the presented imaging flow is a good candidate to produce well-focused CSAR imagery with much less time consumption.
Identification of Acepromazine in Hair: An Illustration of the Difficulties Encountered in Investigating Drug‐facilitated Crimes

Abstract: After a drug‐facilitated sexual assault (DFSA), a woman was found in a drowsy state at home. She remembered having drunk an unknown beverage by the accused. Blood samples (collected 8 hours after the DFSA), two glasses, and a teaspoon seized by the police were analyzed. Acepromazine, a phenothiazine tranquilizer used in human and veterinary medicine, was detected in the residue of one of the glasses. In spite of acepromazine absence in the victim’s blood, the possible use of acepromazine in the DFSA was reported to the police. Two weeks later, a suspect admitted having orally administered acepromazine to the victim. Using a liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry method, this compound was subsequently detected (31 pg/mg) in a sample of the victim’s hair collected a month and a half after the DFSA. A potential short elimination half‐life in humans and/or the well‐known in vitro degradation of acepromazine could explain the negative blood result. DFSA toxicological investigations are challenging and can be complicated when a rather unusual substance is concerned. In particular, special care should be taken when interpreting the results, taking into account elimination and/or instability data, when available.
Biological terrorism: Threat and risk assessment

Abstract Biological weapons have a long and eventful history. Five deaths have taken place in the USA after September 11 due to the Anthrax infection. India is under constant threat of terrorism for a decade or so. It is how time that we sit up and take note of the possible threat of bioterrorism. This paper examines the impact of a biological threat in general and proposes a conceptual model for risk assessment in the Indian context.
Rat brain pericyte cell lines expressing β2‐adrenergic receptor, angiotensin II receptor type 1A, klotho, and CXCR4 mRNAs despite having endothelial cell markers

Pericytes are an integral component of blood capillaries, but their involvement in a variety of conditions and diseases, including hypertension and multiple sclerosis, is poorly understood. In order to analyze the mRNA expression of markers related to hypertension and multiple sclerosis in rat brain pericytes, we have established brain capillary pericyte cell lines from temperature‐sensitive SV40 large T antigen transgenic rats. The newly established clones showed similar biochemical and morphological properties to primary pericytes. The expression of endothelial cell‐related markers Flt‐1, Flk‐1, Tie‐1, and Tie‐2 was evaluated by RT‐PCR analysis. β2‐Adrenergic receptor (β2‐AR), angiotensin II receptor type1A (AT1A), and klotho were also evaluated as markers related to hypertension and multiple sclerosis. All of the isolated clones expressed β2‐AR, AT1A and klotho genes. They also stably expressed Flt‐1 and Tie‐2, while Flk‐1, Tie‐1 and CXCR4 were expressed only at low levels in some of the clones. The expressions of AT1 in TR‐PCT1 were determined by Western blotting. Angiotensin II stimulated migration of pericytes. This effect was blocked by an AT1 antagonist. The pericyte cell lines established here are pluripotent, and should be useful for analysis of the reactivity and biological roles of pericytes. J. Cell. Physiol. 197: 69–76, 2003© 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.