Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the approximation bias to benefit measures in discrete choice models

The problem of travel demand analysis and valuation of attribute changes can be complex in practice. Among other things, demand is influenced by the availability of alternatives to make the trip. When consumers are considered utility maximisers and improvements can be expressed as a reduction in an element of their travel costs, the willingness-to-pay (WTP) of a consumer is measured by the Hicksian consumer surplus attached to the equivalent cost change and the social benefit is given by the sum of the WTP of individual consumers. In practice, calculation problems arise due to individuals' heterogeneity in tastes and/or to the presence of income effect; in fact, this prevented finding an exact benefit measure, even for fairly simple choice models as the multinomial and nested logit functions, for many years. The plot thickens considerably if less restrictive forms such as mixed logit must be used. In this paper we study the bias associated to using different approximations to the calculation of benefits in transport project evaluation. For this, we generated a simulated data bank which reproduces the real behavior of a revealed preference sample of individuals choosing mode in journeyto- work trips. Then, exact measures of welfare were calculated for three policies with different degrees of impact on individual decisions, and results were compared with estimations of the benefits corresponding to a series of simpler, but less precise methods, usually applied in practice. In particular, we found significant bias when the classical logit models, which are restrictive in terms of heterogeneity, were considered. Significant biases also arise if the correct formula for the case of marginal changes is applied in the presence of non-marginal policies. In the first case, the proportional error does not depend on the size of the policies, but in the second one it grows with their impact. A second empirical application considered the simulation of another data bank, allowing for nonlinear utilities in income. Interestingly, in this case we found no significant bias if income effect was not considered. Neither did we find a systematic relation between the bias and the size of the policy under consideration. A caveat might be that in the real data set used to construct the simulated population, the importance of the income related variable in explaining the choice of mode was fairly limited (i.e. around 10% of total utility). For the covering abstract please see ITRD E135207.
Environmental factors in the management of new product development: Theoretical framework and some empirical evidence from the white goods industry

Concern about the nature and consequences of industrial progress has had an increasing impact on industry. Some commentators have suggested that environmental pressures will advance to the point where they cease to be one of the many strategic issues facing industry and become the very framework within which all other business issues are considered. This paper aims to address the implications of evolving environmental concern over the management of product development. It develops a conceptual framework to analyse the process of managing product development while taking into account the environmental attributes of products. The paper moves on to consider the implications of such a conceptual framework against the empirical evidence emerging about product development in the white goods industry. Finally, conclusions are drawn about the nature of organisational change in business as it adjusts to the environmental agenda and suggestions are made about the significance of the findings of this research to product development in other industries.
Tradeshow Managers

ABSTRACT Technology adoption in the tourism industry has been widely reported. Tradeshows, which play a vital part in the tourism economy, have not been investigated to the same extent. This study focuses on tradeshow managers' use of technology, particularly the Internet. Using Rogers' Innovation-Diffusion Theory model, the present research queried the managers of the Tradeshow 200 (the 200 largest tradeshows in the United States) to assess their feelings about technology innovations. Tradeshow managers were also asked about Time Poverty Issues as identified by Forsythe and Bailey. Technology usage has become infused into the jobs of show managers. At the same time, correlations between technology adoption and feelings of time poverty were discovered.
Reference-tracking feedforward control design for linear dynamical systems through signal decomposition

In this work, we study a novel approach towards the reference-tracking feedforward control design for linear dynamical systems. By utilizing the superposition property and exploiting signal decomposition together with a quadratic optimization process, we obtain a feedforward design procedure for arbitrary linear multi-input and multi-output (MIMO) systems with arbitrary time/parameter-varying characteristics. In other words, the proposed algorithm is applicable to the broad class of linear systems, i.e. linear-time-invariant (LTI), linear- time-varying (LTV) and linear-parameter-varying (LPV) systems. The interplay between the initial state, feedforward and feedback actions are elaborated in detail. The potential of the presented methodology is demonstrated through simulation examples.
Localized cosmopolitans: anthropologists at the World Bank

The World Bank is a non-state institution that nonetheless generates or legitimises a kind of global policy. This policy is not framed through a democratic process but by small networks of experts including anthropologists. Anthropologists (or non-economist social scientists) in the World Bank are a marginal professional group whose ‘thought work’ (and so their contribution to Bank policy) is shaped by their position in the institution in particular ways, and especially by the need to protect their professional space. The effect of this is that anthropologists contribute little to practice (core driving principles or operating imperatives) but a lot to theory: they make the organisation work better without changing what it does, even contributing to the unreliable notion that the organisation is knowledge-led. Nonetheless, some of the theory (to which anthropologists contribute) may become the pretext or legitimation for action by other protagonists in other contexts. The paper examines how ideas which claim (cosmopolitan) universality are shaped by systems of relationships that are internal to organisations.
Marital Status and Fertility in the United States: Welfare and Labor Market Effects

The incidence of marriage and the proportion of childbearing that occurs within marriage have decreased sharply in the United States in the last several decades. This paper examines whether the probability that a woman is currently married and the number of children she has borne, as reported in the 1980 U.S. Census, are related to two identifiable factors: the variation in welfare programs across states (specifically, AFDC and Medicaid benefits and AFDC-UP expenditures) or the variation in the market wage opportunities available to women and to their potential husbands. AFDC and Medicaid benefit levels are associated with fewer women being currently married. Medicaid benefits are related to lower fertility levels for both black and white women, whereas AFDC benefits in cash and food are associated with lower fertility among white women ages 15-24. Those states that extend AFDC benefits to families with unemployed parents (in other words, fathers in intact poor families) do not have significantly more women married or higher fertility rates, contrary to what might be expected from economic incentives. Men's market wages are associated with more frequent marriage and higher fertility, whereas higher market wage opportunities for women have substantial effects in the opposite direction, all of which are consistent with standard models of gender specialization and the demand for marriage and fertility.
Floating Exchange Rates after Ten years

TEN YEARS AGO, in March 1973, the United States and other nations abandoned efforts to maintain the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates among the major currencies. The period of largely marketdetermined (floating) exchange rates between the dollar and other major currencies began. I This fundamental change in the international monetary system was ratified by the Rambouillet Summit in 1975 and the Second Amendment of the International Monetary Fund's Articles of Agreement in 1978. The debate about whether exchange rates among the major currencies ought to be fixed, freely floating, or somewhere in between has continued with considerable intensity. Strongly held but sharply contrasting views on how exchange rates behave and interact with other economic variables have been central to the debate, but differing interests and values regarding the proper role of governments in financial markets have also
Long-term Fiscal Projections: Reassessing Assumptions, Testing New Perspectives

i Executive Summary . ii Table of key assumptions for the base case . iii 1 Introduction . 3 2 Long-term Fiscal Model primer and approaches to projections . 5 2.1 How the Long-term Fiscal Model works . 5 2.2 Two ways of presenting LTFM projections . 7 3 Demographic assumptions . 9 3.1 Approach to quantifying demographic uncertainty . 9 3.2 Fertility assumptions . 10 3.3 Mortality (life expectancy) assumptions . 13 3.4 Net migration assumptions . 16 3.5 Role of the baby boom . 17 3.6 Demographic assumptions: conclusions . 18 4 Economics . 20 4.1 Labour participation assumptions . 20 4.2 Productivity growth assumption . 22 4.3 Unemployment rate . 23 4.4 Average hours worked . 23 4.5 Inflation . 24 4.6 Interest rates . 24 4.7 GDP projections . 24 5 Revenue . 25 6 Expenditure . 26 6.1 Health . 26 6.2 Education . 28 6.3 New Zealand Superannuation . 29 6.4 Welfare . 29 6.5 Law and order . 30 6.6 Other spending . 31 6.7 Fiscal assumptions: conclusions . 31 7 Fiscal-framing assumptions . 32 7.1 Level of debt constraint . 32 7.2 Forecast-projection transition timing . 34 8 Projection sensitivity to assumption change . 35 8.1 Sensitivity to demographic assumptions . 35 8.2 Sensitivity to economic assumptions . 36 8.3 Sensitivity to fiscal assumptions . 38 8.4 Sensitivity to assumptions: Conclusions . 40 9 Conclusion . 42 References . 45
Thrombomodulin domains attenuate atherosclerosis by inhibiting thrombin-induced endothelial cell activation.

AIMS Thrombin modulates the formation of atherosclerotic lesions by stimulating a variety of cellular effects through protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR-1) activation. Thrombomodulin (TM) inhibits thrombin effects by binding thrombin through its domains 2 and 3 (TMD23). We investigated whether recombinant TMD23 (rTMD23) could inhibit atherosclerosis via its thrombin-binding ability. METHODS AND RESULTS Wild-type mouse rTMD23 and three mutants with altered thrombin-binding sites, rTMD23 (I425A), rTMD23 (D424A/D426A), and rTMD23 (D424A/I425A/D426A), were expressed and purified in the Pichia pastoris expression system. Wild-type rTMD23 and rTMD23 (D424A/D426A) could effectively bind thrombin, activate protein C, and prolong thrombin clotting time, whereas rTMD23 (I425A) and rTMD23 (D424A/I425A/D426A) lost these functions. Wild-type rTMD23, but not rTMD23 (I425A), decreased both the thrombin-induced surface PAR-1 internalization and the increase in cytoplasmic Ca(2+) concentrations in endothelial cells (ECs). Wild-type rTMD23 and rTMD23 (D424A/D426A) also inhibited thrombin-induced adhesion molecules and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 expression and increased permeability in ECs, whereas rTMD23 (I425A) and rTMD23 (D424A/I425A/D426A) had no such effects. Furthermore, wild-type rTMD23 and rTMD23 (D424A/D426A) were effective in reducing carotid ligation-induced neointima formation in C57BL/6 mice and atherosclerotic lesion formation in apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE-/-) mice, whereas rTMD23 with the I425A mutation showed impairment of this function. Wild-type rTMD23, but not rTMD23 (I425A), also markedly suppressed the PAR-1, the adhesion molecules expression, and the macrophage content in the carotid ligation model and ApoE-/- mice. CONCLUSION rTMD23 protein significantly reduces atherosclerosis and neointima formation through its thrombin-binding ability.
Identification of a novel mutation in the coding region of the grey‐lethal gene OSTM1 in human malignant infantile osteopetrosis

Autosomal recessive malignant infantile osteopetrosis (ARO) is characterized by severe osteosclerosis, pathologic fractures, hepatosplenomegaly, and pancytopenia. The pathophysiological basis is inadequate bone resorption due to osteoclast dysfunction. In the majority of cases, mutations in either of two human genes cause this fatal disorder: TCIRG1, encoding a subunit of the osteoclast H+‐ATPase, and the voltage‐gated chloride channel gene CLCN7. We excluded both genes in a small inbred family with malignant infantile osteopetrosis and undertook linkage analysis of several candidate loci that are involved in murine osteopetrosis. A region spanning more than 20 cM between the markers D6S1717 and D6S1608 on chromosome 6q21 was found to be homozygous in the affected child. This locus is syntenic to the genomic region harboring the gene for the osteopetrotic mutant mouse grey‐lethal (gl). Recently, mutations in a novel gene of unknown function were described in the grey‐lethal mouse and in one human patient. Mutation screening of the grey‐lethal gene (OSTM1), revealed a homozygous 2‐bp deletion in exon 2 (c.415_416delAG) in the affected child. No mutations could be found in six independent ARO patients who had tested negative for mutations in TCIRG1 and CLCN7. In summary, we describe the identification of a novel mutation in the coding sequence of the human grey‐lethal gene, which is the second OSTM1 mutation found in human ARO, confirming the involvement of this gene in the pathogenesis of this severe bone disease. Hum Mutat 23:471–476, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Interpreting the Term Structure of Interbank Rates in Hong Kong

This paper studies the term structure of short-term interbank rates in Hong Kong. Principal components analysis suggests that the variation of the term structure can be largely attributed to two components which capture shifts in the level and slope of the yield curve. We find that term spreads contain no information about future short-term rates. The Expectations Hypothesis, which states that long-term rates depend on expected future short-term rates plus a constant term premium, is also soundly rejected by the data. However, we are unable to reject a modified version of the EH that incorporates timevarying term premia.
Regulated and Unregulated Substitutes: Aversion Effects of an Ethanol Mandate

One approach for handling more aggressive goals under an ethanol mandate is to use a “dual blend” mandate in which both the preferred new ethanol blend and the old (possibly ethanol‐free) blend of gasoline coexist. Highlighting the case of New South Wales, Australia, we show the dual nature of such a mandate can potentially lead to significant costs when consumers are averse. We show consumers en masse rejected the new blend and paid 43 cents per gallon more to avoid it. Not even the second of the mandate's four targets could be reached, and the consumer cost was substantial.
Informal Economic Activity

Introduction: What is informal activity? Part 1 The household sector: women's wages - unpaid household work and the national income accounts subsistence economics - the household in developing countries. Part 2 The informal sector: the informal sector - aid to development or barrier to modernization? , a safety valve for urban growth? Part 3 The irregular sector: the irregular sector - what is it and why does it matter? macroeconomic analysis of the irregular sector - how big is it, who is involved, how and where? perks, fiddles, fraud and the irregular sector the irregular sector in developing countries. Part 4 The criminal sector: organized crime in the developed countries crime in the developing countries.
A longitudinal study of euroscepticism in the Netherlands: 2008 versus 1990

With a unique longitudinal data set covering a time-span of 18 years, we test to what extent euroscepticism evolved among the Dutch between 1990 and 2008. We compare Eurosceptic attitudes on the eve of the signing of the Treaty of Maastricht with attitudes after the Dutch ‘no’ in the referendum on the European Constitution. We find a strong increase in euroscepticism among the Dutch. This change did not develop evenly across the educational strata. We propose to explain these differences through the utilitarian, political cueing, political cynicism and identity approaches. Over the years, the less educated have become more cynical about politics and have come to perceive a greater ethnic threat than before, which explains their stronger increase in euroscepticism. In contrast to 1990, perceived ethnic threat was the main predictor of euroscepticism in 2008.
Performance comparison of cloudlet scheduling policies

Cloud computing is widely accepted as the best computing and storage model for low cost and high resource utilization. User requests from public can be run in data centers of large datacenters whey they are idle. This brings in high profit for cloud providers and low cost for cloud users. The profit and response time can be improved by an optimal scheduling policy. This paper does a survey on various classes of existing cloudlet scheduling algorithms. Researchers have proposed linear algorithms, genetic algorithms and swarm intelligence algorithms. The merits and demerits of these classes of algorithms are analyzed in this paper.
A Comparison of U.S., Japanese and European Software Development Practices and Processes

In 1990, Cusumano and Kemerer examined a statistically comparable sample of Japanese and American software development projects to assess whether significant differences could be identified in software development practices that would help to explain American dominance of the software market. This study extends the work of Cusumano and Kemerer by examining software development practices for knowledge-based systems and by including European projects as well as those from Japan, and the United States. The findings of our study confirm what Cusumano and Kemerer found and also confirm a study of quality assurance technology in Japan done by Kishida,Teramoto, Torii, Urano (1987). That is, there is no significant difference in Japanese, American and European software development practices, choice of software tools or level of project complexity. We will discuss U.S. dominance of the software market (U.S. suppliers hold more than 74% of world market share despite the fact that foreign demand now accounts for over 55% of all software revenue. U.S. Department of Commerce, 1994, pg. 27-5)1 and suggest that the concept of American dominance is more likely to be explained by economic and cultural factors than by differences in software development practices or access to the latest technology.
Backtesting Parametric Value-at-Risk With Estimation Risk

One of the implications of the creation of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision was the implementation of Value-at-Risk (VaR) as the standard tool for measuring market risk. Since then, the capital requirements of commercial banks with trading activities are based on VaR estimates. Therefore, appropriately constructed tests for assessing the out-of-sample forecast accuracy of the VaR model (backtesting procedures) have become of crucial practical importance. In this article we show that the use of the standard unconditional and independence backtesting procedures to assess VaR models in out-of-sample composite environments can be misleading. These tests do not consider the impact of estimation risk, and therefore, may use wrong critical values to assess market risk. The purpose of this article is to quantify such estimation risk in a very general class of dynamic parametric VaR models and to correct standard backtesting procedures to provide valid inference in out-of-sample analyses. A Monte Carlo study illustrates our theoretical findings in finite-samples and shows that our corrected unconditional test can provide more accurately sized and more powerful tests than the uncorrected one. Finally, an application to the S&P 500 Index shows the importance of this correction and its impact on capital requirements as imposed by the Basel Accord.
Hopping and swimming in the leopard frog, Rana pipiens: I. Step cycles and kinematics

This study presents a model for the step cycle patterns used during both hopping and swimming by the leopard frog, Rana pipiens. The two behaviors are essentially similar in movement pattern and in the ways they are modified from quadrupedal gaits. In hopping, there is marked hind limb extension throughout stance. The swing begins with a suspension equivalent to the leap that occurs in a galloping or bounding quadruped. Following suspension, as the frog descends from the apex of its leap, the hind limbs remain posterior and in line with the spine while they flex. Near the end of flexion, there is a rapid downward rotation of the hindquarters to bring the hind feet underneath the body. This movement utilizes the planted forelimb as a pivot. A similar pattern of movement occurs in swimming; the stance (propulsion) phase involves extension at all hind limb joints. The swing (recovery) phase begins with the hind feet fully extended and includes a protracted gliding phase, equivalent to the suspension in the hop. The hind limb then recovers to its initial position during a flexion phase. Since there is no landing and the hind limbs remain lateral rather than ventral to the pelvis, less flexion occurs in the spine or the limb joints. In both behaviors, the extensor muscles of hip (M. semimembranosus), knee (M. cruralis), and ankle (M. plantaris longus) achieve their longest lengths, when they likely can produce near maximal force, at the beginning of extension. All three muscles shorten during extension, but, because they are multiple‐joint muscles, the amount of shortening is relatively small (≈ 15%). Hopping and swimming in frogs are comparable asymmetrical gaits with the same relative contact intervals (25% of stride). The step cycles in both gaits are modified from quadrupedal locomotion in the same ways: by 1) loss of knee and ankle extension toward the ground prior to landing (or end of flexion in swimming), 2) loss of a yield phase on landing (or end of flexion in swimming), and 3) inclusion of extended suspensions in both gaits. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Becoming Cognisant of Research Informed by Kaupapa Māori in Early Childhood Education: Issues and Contexts

This paper outlines tensions existing within student teacher self-study action research projects undertaken as a requirement of a Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood Education) at Te Whare Waananga o Wairaka Unitec Institute of Technology (Unitec). Whilst student teachers in our programme are expected to engage in Kaupapa Māori knowledge, the meaningfulness of this engagement is questionable for student teachers undertaking selfstudy action research. In response to these tensions a research framework is proposed which would serve to guide student teachers as researchers to engage more meaningfully with Kaupapa Māori knowledge. The framework draws on the seminal works of Rangimarie Rose