Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Large-Scale Bundle Size Pricing: A Theoretical Analysis

Bundle size pricing (BSP) is a multi-dimensional selling mechanism where the firm prices the size of the bundle rather than the different possible combinations of bundles. In BSP, the firm offers the customer a menu of different sizes and prices. The customer then chooses the size that maximizes his surplus and customizes his bundle given his chosen size. While BSP is commonly used across several industries, little is known about the optimal BSP policy in terms of sizes and prices along with the theoretical properties of its profit. In this paper, we provide a simple and tractable theoretical framework to analyze the large-scale BSP problem where a multi-product firm is selling a large number of products. The BSP problem is in general hard as it involves optimizing over order statistics, however we show that for large numbers of products, the BSP problem transforms from a hard multi-dimensional problem to a simple multi-unit pricing problem with concave and increasing utilities. Our framework allows us to identify the main source of inefficiency of BSP that is the heterogeneity of marginal costs across products. For this reason, we propose two new BSP policies called "clustered BSP'' and "assorted BSP'' that significantly reduce the inefficiency of regular BSP. We then utilize our framework to study richer models of BSP such as when customers have budgets and when there exists multiple customer types.
A Qualitative Exploration of Help-Seeking Process

Matriculation to college life can often pose adjustment problems that require identification and help. This is especially true in societies where gender separation is the norm. This qualitative study explores the help-seeking process from the subjective and cultural perspective of Omani students. The processes of help-seeking behavior within the Omani cultural framework are explored in terms of recognizing, defining a problem, making decision, and selecting sources of help. A triangulation methodology was used in this study that included two and half months of observation and interaction at Sultan Qaboos University in the office of Deanship of Student Affairs, the Counseling Center, and the Psychiatric Department of the university hospital. Individual and focus-group interviews were conducted. The interviews were, for the most part, extensive dialogues. Statistical documents in regard to students’ academic probation as well as newspaper articles aided in understanding the Omani help-seeking process. The results show that Omani students experience multiple challenges that impact their psychological adjustments. These challenges can be associated with the novelty of academic life and the coeducational culture of the institution. Some freshmen face with new expectations of learning as well as separation from their close ties, and struggle to find a balance between some of their traditional points of reference and the new sets of values to which they are exposed at Sultan Qaboos University. The influence of traditional culture on the dynamics of problem recognition may be expressed by anger and rejection, declining academic achievement, and violation of religious principles. For these students, traditional values and religious practices are seen as key coping mechanisms.
Unraveling the sense of smell (Nobel lecture).

I was born in 1947 in Seattle, Washington, a city surrounded by mountains, forests, and the sea. My mother was the daughter of Swedish immigrants who had come to the US in the late nineteenth century while my father s family had Irish roots on one side and ancestors extending back to the American Revolution on the other. I was the second of three children, all girls. My mother was a homemaker who was exceptionally kind and witty and loved word puzzles. My father was an electrical engineer who, at home, spent much of his time inventing things and building them in our basement. It may be that my parents interest in puzzles and inventions planted the seeds for my future affinity for science, but I never imagined as a child that I would someday be a scientist. During my childhood, I did the things that girls often do, such as playing with dolls. I was also curious and easily bored though, so I frequently embarked on what were to me new adventures. Aside from school and music lessons, my life was relatively unstructured and I was given considerable independence. I learned to appreciate music and beauty from my mother and my father taught me how to use power tools and build things. I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandmother, who told me magical stories about her childhood in Sweden and, to my delight, taught me how to sew clothes for my dolls. I was fortunate to have wonderfully supportive parents who told me that I had the ability to do anything I wanted with my life. They taught me to think independently and to be critical of my own ideas, and they urged me to do something worthwhile with my life, in my mother s words, to “not settle for something mediocre”. I realize now that I internalized those lessons and that they have influenced my work as a scientist. I received my undergraduate education at the University of Washington, which was only a few miles from our home. I had always wanted to have a career in which I would help others, so I initially decided to major in psychology, thinking that I would become a psychotherapist. Over time, my interests expanded and I entertained a variety of different career possibilities. However, none seemed ideal and I was reluctant to embark on something that might prove to be inappropriate. Over the next several years, I intermittently traveled, lived on a nearby island, and took more classes in Seattle. I finally found my direction when I took a course in immunology, which I found fascinating. I would be a biologist. L. B. Buck Nobel Lectures
Male Reproductive Condition Is the Limiting Factor of Efficiency in the Male Effect During Seasonal Anestrus in Female Goats1

Abstract Two experiments were conducted to determine whether the failure of males to induce sexual activity in goats during seasonal anestrus is due to unresponsiveness of females to male stimulus or insufficient stimulation from males. In the first study, one group of males (sexually inactive, SI; n = 4) was kept under natural photoperiod while the other (sexually active, SA; n = 4) was subjected to 2.5 mo of long days (16L:8D) and received 2 s.c. implants of melatonin. Two mo later, 2 different flocks of anovulatory goats previously separated from bucks were exposed to either SI (n = 34) or SA (n = 40) bucks. Progesterone assays and estrous behavior were used to determine ovarian and behavioral responses of the females to teasing. Of the goats exposed to SI males, only 2 ovulated, and none showed estrous behavior during the 35 days of the study. In contrast, all females (40 of 40) in contact with SA males ovulated and showed at least one estrous behavior during the first 11 days following male introduction (P < 0.001). Overall, 38 of 40 females stimulated with SA bucks were diagnosed pregnant at Day 35, according to progesterone assay (versus 0 in SI-treated group: P < 0.001). To control for a possible difference of responsiveness between flocks, the experiment was repeated 1 yr later using a single flock of goats divided into 2 groups. Again, over the first 14 days, 1 of 33 goats showed estrous behavior in the SI-treated group versus 27 of 33 in the SA-treated group (P < 0.001). Therefore, treating bucks with long days and melatonin increased their teasing capacity to induce sexual activity in females during anestrus. These results indicate that the absence of response to teasing at this time of the year is not due to female unresponsiveness, but to insufficient stimulation from the male.
Threats to nurses’ dignity and intent to leave the profession

Background: It is essential to pay attention to and respect the dignity of nurses to maintain them in their profession while they deliver skilled nursing care. Little is known, however, about how a sense of dignity influences the practitioner. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to describe nurses’ experiences of threats to their dignity occurring within clinical settings, which generates an intention to leave clinical practice. Research design and method: The study was performed using qualitative content analysis. The participants were 21 clinical nurses with work experience who were employed across a range of clinical posts. Data obtained from the semi-structured interviews were analyzed and interpreted using a content analysis approach. Ethical considerations: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences and was guided by the ethical principles of voluntary enrolment, anonymity, privacy, and confidentiality. Findings: Within data analysis, three main themes and nine categories were extracted as follows: (1) lack of professional pride (physician’s dominance, intangible nature of nursing, and negative attitude toward clinical nurses); (2) oppressive work environment (high workload, disrespect, discrimination, and lack of support); and (3) suppression of progressivism (lack of appreciation and attention to meritocracy). Discussion: Almost all of the participants have experienced some degree of disrespect and violation of dignity. In general, attempts made by the participants to show their objection to the threats and to support and protect their dignity have not been effective and in fact made them more inclined to leave the clinical work. Conclusion: According to the views of nurses themselves, identification of the factors threatening nurses’ dignity can be one of the appropriate solutions for the broader and deeper investigation of this phenomenon and can help promote and support nurses’ dignity and their retention within the profession.
Nondetection Zone Assessment of an Active Islanding Detection Method and its Experimental Evaluation

This paper analytically determines the nondetection zone (NDZ) of an active islanding detection method, and proposes a solution to obviate the NDZ. The method actively injects a negative-sequence current through the interface voltage-sourced converter (VSC) of a distributed generation (DG) unit, as a disturbance signal for islanding detection. The estimated magnitude of the corresponding negative-sequence voltage at the PCC is used as the islanding detection signal. In this paper, based on a laboratory test system, the performance of the islanding detection method under UL1741 anti-islanding test conditions is evaluated. Then, determining the NDZ of the method and proposing the countermeasure, the existence of the NDZ and the performance of the modified method to eliminate the NDZ is verified based on simulation results in PSCAD/EMTDC software environment and experimental tests.
Response to clopidogrel and its association with chronic kidney disease in noncardiogenic ischemic stroke patients.

OBJECTIVE Noncardiogenic ischemic stroke patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are known to have a greater rate of ischemic stroke recurrence than those without. Although clopidogrel is often used to prevent the recurrence of noncardiogenic ischemic stroke, the relationship between the response to clopidogrel and CKD is unclear. In the present study, the relationship between the response to clopidogrel and the presence of CKD was investigated in noncardiogenic ischemic stroke patients. METHODS A total of 129 noncardiogenic ischemic stroke patients receiving 75 mg/day of clopidogrel for ≥1 week were evaluated. The VerifyNow P2Y12 Assay was used to measure the level of platelet aggregation induced by 20 μM of adenosine diphosphate, and the degree of platelet aggregation and frequency of clopidogrel resistance were compared between 34 patients with CKD and 95 patients without CKD. Clopidogrel resistance was defined as a P2Y12 Reaction Units (PRU) value of >230 and/or % inhibition <20%. RESULTS The PRU value was 201.9±91.3 in the patients with CKD and 163.3±86.4 in the patients without CKD (p=0.035). The frequency of a PRU value of >230 was 44.1% (15 patients) among the patients with CKD and 17.9% (17 patients) among those without CKD (p=0.002). The percent inhibition was 29.9%±28.1% among the patients with CKD and 41.1%±28.0% among the patients without CKD (p=0.030). The frequency of % inhibition <20% was 47.1% (16 patients) among the patients with CKD and 26.3% (25 patients) among those without CKD (p=0.026). CONCLUSION The present study showed that noncardiogenic ischemic stroke patients with CKD have a greater frequency of clopidogrel resistance, thus suggesting that the response to clopidogrel is diminished in these patients.
Improvement of the Coupling Factor of Litz-Wire Coil Pair with Ferrite Substrate for Transcutaneous Energy Transfer System

This paper presents an optimized design of Litz-wire coil pair with ferrite substrates based on a set of analytical expressions and a 2-D flnite-element analysis (FEA) in a way that the coupling coe-cient is maximized. An investigation is made on key structure parameters of coils (e.g., structure of Litz-wire, number of turns, and number of layers) to determine their in∞uence on self-inductance and mutual inductance respectively. The in∞uence of ferrite substrate (e.g., relative permeability and thickness) is also considered. Difierent types of fabricated coils are used to verify all analytical expressions and optimization methods, and it is found that the theoretical predictions and simulations are in agreement with the measured results.
Earmarks and the Returns to Lobbying

Despite a large literature on lobbying and information transmission by interest groups, there have been no attempts to measure the returns to lobbying. In this paper, we statistically estimate the returns to lobbying by universities. Examining lobbying for educational earmarks (which now represent 10% of federal funding of university research), we show that the returns to lobbying are close to zero when the institution is not represented by a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) or House Appropriations Committee (HAC). But the returns to lobbying are very large when the institution is located in the district or state of a SAC or HAC member. We calculate the average return to a dollar of lobbying for the average lobbying university when there is representation on the SAC to be $12 to $27; lobbying universities with representation on the HAC obtain $11 to $53 on average from each dollar spent. Moreover, we demonstrate that we cannot reject that lobbying universities are optimizing their lobbying effort in setting marginal benefit of lobbying equal to its marginal cost when there is HAC and SAC representation, though lobbying universities without representation do lobby more than is optimal. We demonstrate the robustness of the results to alternative specifications and alternative hypotheses. In addition to addressing questions about the federal funding of university research, we also discuss the impact of our results for the structure of government. We would like to thank Steve Ansolabehere, Frank Baumgartner, Ernie Berndt, Roberto Fernandez, Jerry Hausman, Paul Joskow, Abigail Payne, Jim Savage, Jim Snyder, Jesper Sorensen, Scott Stern, and participants in seminars at Harvard, MIT, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, George Mason, Toronto, Washington University, and the National Bureau for Economic Research for very helpful discussion and comments. Academic Earmarks and the Returns to Lobbying John M. de Figueiredo and Brian S. Silverman 6 March 2002 "The education industry has long shown a masterful skill in obtaining public funds; for example, universities and colleges have received federal funds exceeding $3 billion annually in recent years, as well as subsidized loans for dormitories and other construction. [But] the premier universities have not devised a method of excluding other claimants for research funds, and in the long run they will receive much-reduced shares of federal research monies. " -Stigler, G. (1971), “The theory of economic regulation,” Bell Journal of Economics, pp. 4-5.
An Empirical Study of the Relationship Between Information Technology and Firm Performance

Since the issue of the productivity paradox was first raised in the early 1990s, a vast amount of empirical research has been done on the performance impact of IT. Much existing research has focused on IT investment, even though value creation from IT depends largely on how it is used in organizations. By focusing on innovative uses of IT, this research empirically examines the relationship between IT innovation and firm performance. It uses Information Week’s annual data set of innovative IT users and the Compustat database. To construct a measure of IT innovation, we develop a second-order construct from four IT innovation variables (technology strategy, e-business strategy, business practices, and customer knowledge) by conducting exploratory factor analysis. As measures of firm performance, we employ Tobin’s q, return on assets, and revenue per employee. Our results show that there is a strong positive relationship between IT innovation and firm performance as measured by Tobin’s q and revenue per employee. By using IT innovation data, this research demonstrates that innovative use of IT is an important link to IT value, which seems to be missing in the literature.
Influence of nano zinc oxide treated by HMDS in humidity detection

QCM-based gas sensors are potential for applications due to its simple structure and high sensitivity. But the low selectivity attributed to the environment factors need to be concerned such as the variations of humidity and volatile organic vapors. In this paper, humidity sensitive properties of HMDS treated nano zinc oxide was researched. The work can be divided into two sections: First, the sensing properties of nano zinc oxide were studied by quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) in relative humidity detection. The results showed that the nano zinc oxide film had high humidity sensitivity and well reproducibility. Second, the humidity sensing properties of nano zinc oxide treated by Hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) were also investigated. It is found that the humidity sensitivity of nano zinc oxide treated by HMDS was much lower than untreated ZnO, especially in high relative humidity environment. The experiment results indicate that the HMDS treated by nano zinc oxide can be used to detect the ethanol in high humidity environment.
The influence of wind speed on the oscillatory stability of power systems

A method is proposed to determine the proximity of Hopf bifurcation occurrence in electric power systems, by monitoring a stochastic system parameter (wind speed). Also, the oscillatory instability problem of the electric power systems, is formulated as an optimization problem. A non-linear method of optimization called Nelder-Mead Simplex gets reviewed and is used to solve the formulated problem. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated by a numerical example.
The effects of vertebrate granivores and folivores on plant community structure in the Chihuahuan Desert

Guo, Q. , Thompson, D.B. , Valone, T.J. and Brown, J.H. 1995. The effects of vertebrate granivores and folivores on plant community structure in the Chihuahuan Desert. - Oikos 73: 251-259. We examined the effects of vertebrate granivores and folivores on winter and summer plant communities in the Chihuahuan Desert by selectively excluding different vertebrate combinations of birds, rodents, and large folivorous mammals from small experimental plots continuously since 1982. Few differences were observed across treatments during the first two yr of the experiment. The influence of vertebrates on winter and summer plant communities became apparent after three yr, and changes continued to occur after 11 yr of exclusion. Multivariate repeated-measures analyses indicated that removal of birds and both birds and rodents caused significant increases in the total density of winter annuals. The winter annual plant density was highest on bird removal plots and this increase was significant by 1985. Canonical Discriminant Analyses revealed that the exclusion of birds and both birds and rodents had the strongest influence on species composition of both winter and summer plant communities, although the winter plant community was more sensitive to vertebrate exclusion than the summer plant community. The exclusion of birds had the greatest effect on composition of summer plant communities followed in importance by the exclusion of rodents and mammalian folivores. Most of the plant species that responded significantly to the treatments were large-seeded winter annuals. Our results both complement earlier experimental work documenting the impacts of the granivorous rodents and folivorous mammals on desert plant communities and now demonstrate the important influence of avian granivores.
Interactive visual analysis of multidimensional geometric data

One of the most important tasks in modern world is to find solutions to problems of processing and analyzing multidimensional data. In this paper we present an approach for cluster analysis of multidimensional geometric data. Some definitions and extensions of classical cluster analysis problem is given. Our approach is based on the visualization method. Suggested approach allows us to analyze multidimensional data and distances in multidimensional Euclidean space using three-dimensional spatial scenes and shows an easy way for cluster analysis and anomaly discovery. An example of solving the problem of analysis of financial multidimensional data of credit organizations is also presented.
The contribution of the phase spectrum in automatic multiple cardiac arrhythmias recognition in wearable systems

In this paper we implement an automatic procedure that is to be embedded in a wearable system in order to discriminate five arrhythmic classes of QRS complexes from normal ones. Due to the limited hardware resources offered by the wearable system, several requirements such as low computational cost, memory usage, reliability and real-time have to be addressed. In order to better comply with these requirements, the classification process is performed using features that can easily be extracted from the signals, i.e. magnitude and phase of the Fourier Transform (FT) applied to the QRS complexes. The ECG signals, from which QRS complexes are extracted, are gathered from the MIT-Arrhythmias Database. More specifically, three datasets of features are created: the first (alpha) is obtained from the magnitude, the second (beta) from the phase, and the third (gamma) from the union of the two. According to the results of the Royston Multivariate Normality Test, which verifies the gaussianity of the distribution of the three sets of features, a parametric, Nearest Mean Classifier (NMC), or non-parametric, MultiLayer Perceptron (MLP) classifier is used. The comparative performance evaluation is showed in terms of a confusion matrix obtained from twenty steps of cross validation. The matrices report the percentage of successful recognition of the six classes.