Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A game-theoretic analysis of competition over indivisible resources

In this dissertation, we build several game-theoretic models to explore animal contest behavior. Classical game theory predicts that respect for ownership or ”Bourgeois” behavior can arise as an arbitrary convention to avoid costly fights. The same theory also predicts that disrespect for ownership or ”anti-Bourgeois” behavior can evolve under the same conditions. However, Bourgeois is very common in nature, while anti-Bourgeois is very rare. In order to explain the rarity of antiBourgeois behavior, we create a single-round Hawk-Dove model with four pure strategies: Hawk or H, Bourgeois or B, anti-Bourgeois or X and Dove or D. We show that if intruders sometimes believe themselves to be owners, then the resulting confusion can broaden the conditions under which Bourgeois behavior is evolutionarily stable in the single-round Hawk-Dove game. We also develop a multi-period Hawk-Dove model that includes the effect of confusion over ownership. We determine the effect of ownership uncertainty on Bourgeois vs. anti-Bourgeois strategies, and we show how this effect can allow a fighting population to evolve to a non-fighting population under increasing costs of fighting. Another possible explanation for the rarity of anti-Bourgeois behavior in nature is that two Xstrategists would exchange roles repeatedly over many rounds in a costly ”infinite regress. ” Here we further analyze an existing infinite-regress model to allow for polymorphic ESSs, and thus explore conditions that favor partial respect for ownership. We identify a pathway through which respect for ownership can evolve from total disrespect under increasing costs of fighting.
Value at Risk Estimates for Brady Bond Portfolios

Estimation of value at risk in the case of emerging market bonds is not straightforward for several reasons. This study addresses estimation of VaR statistics for Brady bond portfolios using several versions of the GARCH(1, 1) framework, which explicitly models time-varying volatility. In a hybrid approach univariate ARCH models are used jointly with rolling correlation matrices. Variance-covariance and GARCH methodologies all produce reasonably accurate one-day VaR estimates. A GARCH(1, 1) model with stochastic shocks yields the most accurate VaR measures regardless of horizon, but variance-covariance, and two other GARCH variant models appear to underestimate portfolio risk, especially over longer horizons.
Reluctance synchronous and field intensified-PM motors for variable-gear electric vehicle drives

Reluctance synchronous (RS) and field-intensified permanent magnet (FI-PM) motors are designed and optimised for a variable-gear electric vehicle (EV) drive in this paper. Recent literature shows that EVs with variable-gear drive trains operate at higher drive-cycle efficiencies than fix-gear EV drive trains. The advantages and design challenges of variable-gear EV drives are discussed in the paper. With variable-gear, the operation field-weakening performance of the electric drive is not important, which makes the RS motor drive, amongst others, very suitable. The FI-PM motor with minimum amount of PM material is also attractive from the performance and position-sensorless-control points of view. It is found that both the optimum designed RS and FI-PM motors perform very well considering the volumetric space available and the required torque-speed specifications. In particular, the performance of the FI-PM motor with the same volume as the RS motor is surprising considering the simple FI-PM rotor structure proposed. The variable gear system was tested and the average efficiency was found to above 80%.
Taxing Education in Ramsey’s Tradition

Assuming a two-period model with endogenous choices of labour, education, and saving, it is shown to be second-best efficient to deviate from Ramsey's Rule and to distort qualified labour less than nonqualified labour. Furthermore, if the earnings function displays constant elasticity, the choice of education should not be distorted. With the necessary qualifications the results extend to the case when taxpayers are heterogeneous and when the planner trades off efficiency against equity.
New growth hormone assays: potential benefits

Three recently published new assays are described for the measurement of growth hormone (GH). Two of these – the eluted stain assay (ESTA) and the immunofunctional assay (IFA) – have been developed to measure the bioactivity of GH, rather than the immunoactivity as measured by conventional radioimmunoassays (RIAs). The third assay – the 22 kDa exclusion assay (22 k GHEA) – is designed to measure the concentrations of the different isoforms of GH present in the circulation. The ESTA is a variant of the Nb2 bioassay for lactogenic hormones, but has been adapted for specific GH measurement in serum samples. It has a lower detection limit than previous bioassays and permits the quantification of GH in large series of samples. The IFA uses a binding‐site‐specific antibody in combination with GH‐binding protein (GHBP) in order to quantify only those GH molecules that are able to dimerize the extracellular domain of the GH receptor (GHBP), which is a prerequisite for GH signal transduction in target cells. The IFA is as convenient to use as immunoassays and can be employed routinely for GH determinations. The clinical usefulness of the 22 k GHEA has not been established, but it should provide a means of augmenting our understanding of the regulation of GH and its various isoforms. Once the ESTA bioassay or the IFA become commercially and widely available, either could replace the RIA as the standard reference method for measuring GH, as both more closely reflect the biologically active proportion of GH in serum samples than that measured by RIA. □ Growth hormone assays, eluted stain assay, immunofunctional assay, bioassay, 22 kDa growth hormone exclusion assay, growth hormone isoforms
Update on Phospholipase D and Phosphatidic Acid in Signaling Regulatory Functions of Phospholipase D and Phosphatidic Acid in Plant Growth, Development, and Stress Responses

Phospholipase D (PLD) hydrolyzes membrane lipids to generate phosphatidic acid (PA) and a free-head group (Fig. 1), and this activity is widespread in plants. Recent results indicate that PLD plays multiple regulatory roles in diverse plant processes, including abscisic acid (ABA) signaling, programmed cell death, root hair patterning, root growth, freezing tolerance, and other stress responses (Fig. 1). In some cases, direct molecular targets of PLD and PA have been identified, providing insights into the mechanism by which the phospholipase and lipid messenger mediate plant functions. PLD is composed of a family of heterogeneous enzymes with distinguishable biochemical, regulatory, and structural properties. The PLD gene family in plants is more complex than that in other organisms: 12 PLD genes are in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), whereas two PLD genes are in mammals and one in baking yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Wang, 2002, 2004, and refs. therein). The 12 Arabidopsis PLDs can be classified into six types, PLDa(3), b(2), g(3), d, e, and z(2) (Fig. 2). Based on the overall protein domain structures, PLDs can be divided into two subfamilies, C2-PLD and PX/PH-PLDs (Fig. 2). C2 is a Ca and phospholipid-binding domain, and the PX and PH domains refer to two distinct phosphoinositide-interacting structural folds, phox homology and pleckstrin homology, respectively. Ten of the 12 Arabidopsis PLDs (a, b, g, d, and e) contain the C2 domain. The PLDzs contain the PX and PH domains, and this domain structure is present in mammalian PLDs (Elias et al., 2002; Qin and Wang, 2002). The overall sequences of PLDzs are more similar to mammalian PLDs than to other Arabidopsis PLDs. In addition, new structural motifs have been identified in PLDs that interact with G proteins, Ca, and phosphoinositides (Fig. 2; Zheng et al., 2002; Pappan et al., 2004; Zhao and Wang, 2004). Individual PLDs differ in key amino acid residues in these regulatory motifs. These differences underlie a structural basis for the distinguishable biochemical and regulatory properties in different PLDs. The information on the molecular, structural, and biochemical heterogeneity of PLDs provides clues as to the regulation and diverse functions of PLDs in plants. This Update focuses on the recent developments toward understanding the function of specific PLDs and PA that they produce.
Economic incentives in controlling pollution in the South African leather industry

Pollution of the environment is becoming an increasingly serious problem. A large contributor to this is industry which generates effluent as a by-product of its production process. Two methods of controlling the pollution generated by industry are the so-called “command and control” techniques and economic incentives. In theory, economic incentives promise a more economically efficient and equitable means of pollution control. This paper sets out to ascertain whether this would hold in practice by applying environmental economic theory to the practical problem of controlling the effluent generated by one particular industry, viz the South African leather industry.
What if Andersen Had Shredded in Toronto or Calgary? The Potential Criminal Liability of Canadian Public Accounting Firms

Both Canadians and Americans often assume that the legal system works, as with apparently many other aspects of our society, the same in both countries. Just as these other assumptions often fail to stand up to detailed scrutiny, so may the assumption that Arthur Andersen LLP could have been charged with and convicted of obstruction of justice in Canada. In this paper we examine the hypothetical question of what if a public accounting firm had shredded documents as a result of fearing a provincial securities' regulatory investigation in Toronto or Calgary. We examine the key differences between both the law and the institutional environment in Canada and the United States to seek to determine whether such a prosecution could occur in Canada. We find that the letter of the law would probably have resulted in a successful prosecution if it was undertaken. The differences in the institutional environments likely would never have lead to the decision to prosecute criminally a Canadian public accounting firm. Implications of this conclusion are discussed.
Do volatility determinants vary across futures contracts? Insights from a smoothed Bayesian estimator

We apply a new Bayesian approach to multiple‐contract futures data. It allows the volatility of futures prices to depend upon physical inventories and the contract's time to delivery—and it allows those parametric effects to vary over time. We investigate price movements for lumber contracts over a 13‐year period and find a time‐varying negative relationship between lumber inventories and lumber futures price volatility. The Bayesian approach leads to different conclusions regarding the size of the inventory effect than does the standard method of parametric restrictions across contracts. The inventory effect is smaller for the most recent contracts when the inventory levels are larger. In contrast, the Bayesian approach does not lead to substantively different conclusions about the time‐to‐delivery effect than do traditional classical methods. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 30:257–277, 2010
MEMS technology for Radar front end modules

This paper reports on the potential of RF-MEMS technology to improve and miniaturize new functions in Radar front end and antenna modules. The insertion of new MEMS components and subsystems, using RF-MEMS switches, filters and phase shifters, in radar front end are reported in this article and their characterization results are discussed.
The foundations of a slow growth economy: globalization and induced technological change towards a knowledge economy

The slow growth of advanced economies since the late 90s is interpreted as the transient and apparent consequence of the discontinuity engendered by the sequence of institutional, technological and structural changes towards a knowledge intensive economy. The origins of such discontinuity can be grasped with an interpretative frame based upon the grafting of the localized technological change approach on the Heckesher-Ohlin model of international trade. This approach enables to identify the gale of information and communication technologies as the result of the efforts to cope with the institutional changes and their effects in terms of a strong bias towards knowledge intensive activities and the decline role of capital in advanced economies. The identification of the bias in technological change provides the tools to understand the determinants of the rapid transformation of the economic and social structure of the advanced economies more and more centered on the intensive use of knowledge as a production factor. The bias accounts for the apparent and transient decline of the rates of growth of output and labor productivity. This interpretative framework enables to grasp the foundations of regime shift in the growth of advanced economies and helps to spell out the significant risks of the dangerous transition to a knowledge economy.
A study of IEEE 802.11aa

Legacy IEEE 802.11 fails to efficiently support multicast transmissions. To handle the rising need for multicast, which is typically forced to provide multimedia traffic, the IEEE 802.11aa Task Group (TGaa) has consistent cutting edge mechanisms meant for providing successful and robust transmission of multicast flows in wireless local area networks (WLAN). Still, the regular enables the utilization of various mechanisms for this reason, and makes available the option which one to employ in a specified scenario. In this paper, we show an analytical model for looking at the performance of the mechanisms as part of the 802.11aa conventional thereafter examine their performance. Our study illustrates that there is virtually no definite successful using these kind of mechanisms and to improve Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities firmly will depend on the OBSS scenario.
A direct, experimental test of resource vs. consumer dependence: comment.

Consumer-resource system dynamics hinge upon the rate at which consumers capture, consume, and convert resources into biomass. In classical functional and numerical response theory, this rate is assumed to depend on resource density but not on consumer density (reviewed in Jeschke et al. [2002]). In assuming that both densities determine this rate, consumer-dependent func tional responses (e.g., Hassell and Varley 1969, Bed dington 1975, DeAngelis et al. 1975, Arditi and Ginzburg 1989) challenge the resource-dependent tradi tion. This challenge has produced a long-standing debate (reviewed in Abrams and Ginzburg 2000). The traditional approach of fitting functional response models to time series data has yielded equivocal results (e.g., Jost and Arditi 2001) and may not be capable of resolving the debate (Lundberg and Fryxell 1995). In a recent issue of Ecology, Fussmann et al. (2005) tried to enrich the debate with empirical data. They described functional response experiments in the rotifer-algae system Brachionus calyciflorus-Monoraphidium minutum that detected consumer dependence only at unnaturally high Brachionus densities and concluded that consumer dependence plays only a minor rule for planktonic rotifers in natural environments. Here, we outline why this conclusion is an over-interpretation of their results. Their experimental approach only considers direct physical interference between Brachionus and excludes all other and more important forms of consumer dependent effects (e.g., chemically mediated interfer
A pure credit money economy: a simple steady-state model

The paper presents a model of a simplified pure credit money economy, in the setting of the steady-state growth. Despite obvious limitations coming from drastic simplifications, the resulting simplicity brings into sharp relief some important points related to the endogeneity of money. Arguments are presented in the framework of the Cambridge-type model; in particular, by way of the discussion of the existence of one or more social classes, we support the proposition that money is essential for the continued existence of the economy.
Thinking (Some more) about Competitive Balance

Analyzing competitive balance seems to produce insights in two fundamental areas. On one hand, we can evaluate the efficacy of league and government competition policy choices. On the other hand, following the large uncertainty of outcome literature, we can evaluate the impact of competitive balance on fan demand both during the season and between seasons in the playoffs. This is more interesting than it might seem at first, because it helps explain a current point of confusion concerning the actual measured behavior of competitive balance itself and the level of concern over competitive balance. Within-season competitive balance in baseball has improved generally by decade. The 1990s are a bit of a roller-coaster ride, but recent seasons prove that this decade was no excep tion to this general trend. In addition, although the names of the larger revenue mar ket teams change occasionally, competitive imbalance remains much, as always, in the playoffs.But fans and other observers seem increasingly dissatisfied with this state of affairs(although I am unaware of any comprehensive historical analysis that actually finds this is true). There is no paradox here once we recognize something important. Quality of competition is simply a preference issue, and preferences can change over time. Fans can feel however they want to about competitive balance! And economists may find the impact of quality of competition affects demand more now than ever despite the observed fact that competitive balance as a measurable attribute of league outcomes has not worsened.
From Policy Beliefs to Policy Choices: The Resurgence of Tariff Retaliation in the U.S. Pursuit of Fair Trade

Abstract Policymakers hold and seek to act on beliefs concerning trade strategies as well as those concerning trade tactics and instruments. In contrast to prominent hypotheses in the literature, this article argues that constraints placed on specific dimensions of trade policy by societal groups and state institutions appear to play a greater role in shaping the impact of beliefs on policy choices than overall shifts in discretion accorded to policymakers. Insights into the resurgence of the retaliatory tariff in U.S. trade policy during 1985–88 are at the interaction of policy beliefs and variation in executive discretion. Although lending support to scholarship focusing on the interaction of ideas and institutions, these findings raise questions concerning prominent claims about the significance of policy beliefs.
Comparison of qSOFA with current emergency department tools for screening of patients with sepsis for critical illness

Objective We sought to compare the quick sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA) to systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), severe sepsis criteria and lactate levels for their ability to identify ED patients with sepsis with critical illness. Methods We conducted this multicenter retrospective cohort study at five US hospitals, enrolling all adult patients admitted to these hospitals from their EDs with infectious disease-related illnesses from 1 January 2016 to 30 April 2016. We abstracted clinical variables for SIRS, severe sepsis and qSOFA scores, using values in the first 6 hours of ED stay. Our primary outcome was critical illness, defined as one or more of the composite outcomes of death, vasopressor use or intensive care unit (ICU) admission within 72 hours of presentation. We determined diagnostic test characteristics for qSOFA scores, SIRS, severe sepsis criteria and lactate level thresholds. Main results Of 3743 enrolled patients, 512 (13.7%) had the primary composite outcome. The qSOFA scores were ≥1, >2 and 3 in 1839 (49.1%), 626 (16.7%) and 146 (3.9%) patients, respectively; 2202 (58.8%) met SIRS criteria and 1085 (29.0%) met severe sepsis criteria. qSOFA ≥1 and SIRS had similarly high sensitivity [86.1% (95% CI 82.8% to 89.0%) vs 86.7% (95% CI 83.5% to 89.5%)], but qSOFA ≥1 had higher specificity [56.7% (95% CI 55.0% to 58.5%) vs 45.6% (43.9% to 47.3%); mean difference 11.1% (95% CI 8.7% to 13.6%)]. qSOFA ≥2 had higher specificity than severe sepsis criteria [89.1% (88.0% to 90.2%) vs 77.5% (76.0% to 78.9%); mean difference 11.6% (9.8% to 13.4%)]. qSOFA ≥1 had greater sensitivity than a lactate level ≥2 (mean difference 24.6% (19.2% to 29.9%)). Conclusion For patients admitted from the ED with infectious disease diagnoses, qSOFA criteria performed as well or better than SIRS criteria, severe sepsis criteria and lactate levels in predicting critical illness.
Profitability of the Short-Run Contrarian Strategy in Canadian Stock Markets

Using a time-varying three-factor pricing model, this paper examines the profitability of the short-term contrarian strategy in Canadian stock markets from January 1964 to December 1998. This strategy, which consists in buying losing stocks and selling winning stocks of the previous month, generates statistically significant excess unrestricted returns. However, we show that this result is mainly driven by small firms, especially in January. Moreover, results indicate that short-term contrarian investing is not economically profitable when we account for transaction costs. Resume La presente eetude utilise un modele d'evaluation conditionnelle a trois facteurs pour examiner la rentabilitee a cours terme de la strategie dite «contrarian» sur les marches boursiers canadiens entre janvier 1964 et decembre 1998. Cette strategie, qui consiste a acheter les titres les mains performants et a vendre les titres les plus performants du mois precedent, genere des rendements anormaux statistiquement significatifs. Cependant, nous montrons que ce resultat est principalemenl attribuable aux titres des firmes de petite taille, surtout en janvier. Plus encore, la strategie contrarian n'est pas economiquement rentable lorsqu'on prend en consideration les couts de transaction.
Improved Precision of Initial Chest Pain Evaluation With Fractional Flow Reserve Computed Tomography

Following publication of the FAME (Fractional Flow Reserve Versus Angiography for Multivessel Evaluation) trial,[1][1] there has been a noticeable increase in the use of fractional flow reserve (FFR) in the cardiac catheterization laboratories across the country. The FAME study provided evidence in