Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An investigation of the relationship between bond market volatility and trading activities: Korea treasury bond futures market

This study proposes a new proxy variable for the speculative trading activities in the analysis of relationship between volatility and trading activities. With the new variable, the dynamic interaction among underlying bond market volatility, futures trading volume, open interest and speculation ratio in Korea treasury bond and futures markets is examined under the vector autoregressive analysis (VAR) framework. A positive relationship is found between the bond market volatility and the speculation ratio. The result implies that the new variable could be a good candidate, reflecting the speculative trading activities in derivative markets.
2017 Military Supplement to Shock Journal PerftoranTM (VidaphorTM) - Introduction to Western Medicine.

Perftoran, which has been re-branded as Vidaphorfor marketing in North America, is an emulsion of perfluorocarbons in a surfactant and electrolyte mixture. It was developed in Russia as an oxygen-carrying intravenous plasma additive for hemorrhagic anemia and ischemic conditions from various etiologies. It was approved for clinical use in Russia in 1996 and used by the Russian Armed Forces and in civilian medical care. It was also approved in Mexico from 2005 to 2010. It has been reportedly administered to over 35,000 patients with significant evidence of benefit and relatively mild and manageable adverse effects. It may have significant potential for use in hemorrhagic shock if human red blood cells are not available, and for several other applications including treatment of vascular gas embolism, cerebral or spinal trauma, and regional ischemia. It is different from other perfluorocarbon preparations under development in the USA in that is uses a different primary perfluorocarbon (perfluorodecalin) and a surfactant (Proxanol 268) instead of egg-yok phospholipid as the emulsion vehicle. Perftoran has a much smaller particle size resulting in milder adverse effects. It has been safely administered to more patients than any oxygen carrier currently under development. A newly formed United States Corporation (FluorO2 Therapeutics, Inc.) intends to manufacture the product in the United States under GMP standards and make it available for clinical use in Mexico and Latin America and pursue research to support eventual approval in the USA for human and veterinary use. This article will briefly review key information about this product and provide references for the interested reader.
US Volatility Cycles of Output and Inflation, 1919-2004: A Money and Banking Approach to a Puzzle

The post-1983 moderation coincided with an ahistorical divergence in the money aggregate growth and velocity volatilities away from the downward trending GDP and inflation volatilities. Using an endogenous growth monetary DSGE model, with micro-based banking production, enables a contrasting characterization of the two great volatility cycles over the historical period of 1919-2004, and enables this puzzle to be addressed more easily. The volatility divergence is explained by the upswing in the credit volatility that kept money supply variability from translating into inflation and GDP volatility.
Experimental Evaluation of Modulation Formats’ Performance in Diffuse UV Channels

The fundamental properties of free space optical channels in the ultraviolet (UV) spectral range between 200 and 280 nm are the enhanced scattering and the solar blind operation. Exploiting these properties, point-to-point links in a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) regime were experimentally tested and the performance of pulse position modulation of fourth order (4-PPM) and flip–orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (Flip-OFDM) modulation formats was evaluated. At the transmitting side, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) emitting at 265 nm were used. At the receiving side, a photo-multiplier tube was combined with an optical filter. Distances up to 20 m were covered and kilobits/s rates were applied. The performance was also evaluated after modifying artificially the atmospheric conditions by the operation of a fog machine. In short, 4-PPM outperformed Flip-OFDM, whereas a medium that offers enriched scattering due to fog may boost the performance of short-range NLOS links in the UV spectral range.
A controlled clinical trial of bupropion for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults.

OBJECTIVE Despite the increasing recognition of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults, there is a paucity of controlled pharmacological trials demonstrating the effectiveness of compounds used in treatment, particularly nonstimulants. The authors report results from a controlled investigation to determine the anti-ADHD efficacy of bupropion in adult patients with DSM-IV ADHD. METHOD This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, parallel, 6-week trial comparing patients receiving sustained-release bupropion (up to 200 mg b.i.d.) (N=21) to patients receiving placebo (N=19). The authors used standardized structured psychiatric instruments for diagnosis of ADHD. To measure improvement, they used separate assessments of ADHD, depression, and anxiety symptoms at baseline and each weekly visit. RESULTS Of the 40 subjects (55% male) enrolled in the study, 38 completed the study. Bupropion treatment was associated with a significant change in ADHD symptoms at the week-6 endpoint (42% reduction), which exceeded the effects of placebo (24% reduction). In analyses using a cutoff of 30% or better reduction to denote response, 76% of the subjects receiving bupropion improved, compared to 37% of the subjects receiving placebo. Similarly, in analyses using Clinical Global Impression scale scores, 52% of the subjects receiving bupropion reported being "much improved" to "very improved," compared to 11% of the subjects receiving placebo. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate a clinically and statistically significant effect of bupropion in improving ADHD in adults. The results suggest a therapeutic role for bupropion in the armamentarium of agents for ADHD in adults, while further validating the continuity of pharmacological responsivity of ADHD across the lifespan.
The Sizes and Types of Cities

This paper presents a simple general equilibrium model of an economy where production and consumption occur in cities. The paper focuses on the different sizes and types of cities generated by market forces and whether these market forces generate optimally size cities. Before the model is presented, four complex questions are naively answered, revealing the most basic concepts underlying the paper and intellectual debts to the existing literature. First the model of a single city is presented. How factor rewards and cost of living vary with city size is analysed. Given these results, the paper presents an analysis of market equilibrium and optimum city size. Finally, equilibrium in an economy with multiple types of cities is examined. At the end of the paper, we discuss how natural resources and transportation costs in trade can be integrated into the model. Throughout the paper, it is assumed that capital and labour are scarce resources and perfectly mobile within the economy. The economy is situated on a flat featureless plain, large enough so that land per se is never a scarce resource (although location will be a scarce resource). This non-critical assumption implies the opportunity cost of land is zero. Lastly, there are no specified transport costs of inter-city trade.
Attitudes to road safety and its implications for public policy

This paper provides an analysis of past survey data on community attitudes to safety, and investigates the following question: Can public policy impact community attitudes to safety? This is done by analysing the attitudes to mobile phone usage among a range of demographics (for example age, sex, and education) over a number of years and identifying high-risk groups. The conclusions should enable policy makers to understand how policy can better target high-risk groups. These high-risk groups are then recommended as a target for policy makers with a range of possible policy solutions. A unique approach of this paper is the use of two different modelling methods for data analysis. A multinomial regression model and an ensemble classifier based on regression trees are used to identify high-risk groups. Both approaches provide unique insights into the data. The comparison of the two models may be of particular interest to researchers, since it demonstrates their relative advantages in predictive capacity and in data handling.
Artifact-Free In-Stent Lumen Visualization by Standard Magnetic Resonance Angiography Using a New Metallic Magnetic Resonance Imaging Stent

Background—Metallic stents cause susceptibility and radiofrequency artifacts on MR images, which, up to now, have not allowed for complete visualization of the stent lumen by MR angiography. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of a new dedicated renal MRI stent for artifact-free in-stent lumen visualization in vitro and in a swine model. Methods and Results—In vitro investigations were performed with prototypes of balloon-expandable Aachen Resonance Renal MRI Stents dilated to diameters of 3 to 6 mm and placed in an aqueous gadolinium solution (1:25). Phase-contrast and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted gradient echo images were acquired. Renal MRI stents (n=12) were deployed in the renal arteries of 6 pigs. Renal arteries were examined with phase-contrast angiography and with flow measurements before and after stent placement in the stented area, respectively. Additionally, a contrast-enhanced, T1-weighted, spoiled-gradient echo sequence after administration of 0.2 mmol gadolinium-DTPA/kg body weight was performed after stent placement. The visibility of artifacts was analyzed on in vitro and in vivo images by two investigators who knew the stent positions. Stent positions were determined visually (in vitro) or by x-ray angiography (animal experiments). No artifacts were detected independent of the applied imaging sequence and the stent orientation to the main magnetic field. Conclusion—The examined prototypes of fully MR-compatible MRI stents allow artifact-free visualization of the stent lumen with phase-contrast and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted angiography, as well as phase-contrast flow measurements in the stented area.
Analysing one-month Euro-market interest rates by fractionally integrated models

This article considers the modelling of short-term interest rates with the ARFIMA model in six European countries based on daily data in the 1990s using the Modified Profile Likelihood estimation method. This allows one to study the different convergence processes that have been followed in each case. Empirical evidence shows that, even with this estimation method, the standard AIC tends to select models that in some cases are in accordance with traditional inference but in other cases may not be so. Analysing these results, the series for Switzerland appears to be an I(1) series, which conflicts with the findings in previous literature.
Multimoora Optimization Used to Decide on a Bank Loan to Buy Property

Abstract Different multiple objectives are expressed in different units, which makes optimization difficult. Therefore the internal mechanical solution of a Ratio System, producing dimensionless numbers, is preferred to Weights which are most of the time used to compare the different units. In addition, the ratio system creates the opportunity to use a second approach: a non-subjective Reference Point Theory. The two approaches form a control on each other. The choice of the objectives is even more non-subjective if the opinion of all stakeholders interested in the issue is involved by the use of the Ameliorated Nominal Group and Delphi Techniques. The overall theory is called MOORA (Multi-Objective Optimization by Ratio Analysis). The results are still more convincing if a Full Multiplicative Form is added to MOORA under the name of MULTIMOORA. At that moment the control by three different approaches forms a guaranty for a solution being as non-subjective as possible. MULTIMOORA is used to decide upon a .
Effect of Lung Volume on Lung Resistance and Elastance in Awake Subjects Measured during Sinusoidal Forcing

Background:Although lung volume may be changed by certain procedures during anesthesia and mechanical ventilation, dependence of the dynamic mechanical properties of the lungs on lung volume are not clear. Based on studies in dogs, the authors hypothesized that changes in lung mechanics caused by anesthesia in healthy humans could be accounted for by immediate changes in lung volume and that lung resistance will not be decreased by positive end-expiratory airway pressure if tidal volume and respiratory frequency are in the normal ranges. Methods:Lung resistance and dynamic lung elastance were measured in six healthy, relaxed, seated subjects during sinusoidal volume oscillations at the mouth (5 mL/kg; 0.4 Hz) delivered at mean airway pressure from —9 to +25 cmH2O. Changes in lung volume from functional residual capacity were measured with inductance plethysmographic belts. Results:Decreases in mean mean airway pressure that caused decreases in lung volume from functional residual capacity comparable to those typically observed during anesthesia were associated with significant increases in both dynamic lung elastance and lung resistance. Increases in mean mean airway pressure that caused increases in lung volume from functional residual capacity did not increase lung resistance and increased dynamic lung elastance only above about 15 cmH2O. Conclusions:Increases in dynamic lung elastance and lung resistance with anesthesia can be explained by the accompanying, acute decreases in lung volume, although other factors may be involved. Increasing lung volume by increasing mean airway pressure with positive end-expiratory pressure will decrease lung resistance only if the original lung volume is low compared to awake, seated functional residual capacity.
Evolving headquarters-subsidiary dynamics in international R&D: the case of Japanese multinationals

The paper identifies the evolving nature of headquarters-subsidiary relations during the whole process of R&D internationalization. In-depth data on five Japanese multinationals revealed that the role of overseas laboratories actually evolved over time, from the ‘starter’ to the ‘innovator’ and then to the ‘contributor’. Such a shift in role of overseas laboratories affected the nature of headquarters-subsidiary relationship accordingly. ‘Semi-connected freedom’ was identified as an optimal condition for the overseas laboratories to reconcile the two competing pressures: need for local autonomy and need for internal information connectivity. Various managerial steps were suggested for the laboratories to reach that state: increase in process linkage, active broker’s role, short-term socialization, and project-level socialization. Some practical and theoretical implications were drawn from this research, and future research direction was suggested.
SEM-based customer satisfaction measurement: On multicollinearity and robust PLS estimation

The performance of companies is traditionally rated by financial performance measures, such as EBITDA, EBIT, ROCE, cash-flow, etc. However, the use of non-financial performance criteria, such as human capital, brand equity, customer asset and environmental performance, as valuation tools additional to the financial performance measurement, has increased over recent years. Information on non-financial performance is used in Balanced Scorecards for corporate control of business units, and is reported internally as well as externally. One way of rating and assessing the customer asset is through customer satisfaction measurements. Some national indices for rating customer satisfaction have been developed over the last decade. One example is the European Performance Satisfaction Index (EPSI Rating), which has conducted surveys since 1997. Within the framework of EPSI Rating, Partial Least Squares (PLS) is applied as the common statistical method. The hypothesis of PLS being robust against various statistical specification problems, such as multicollinearity, is an important argument for using PLS. The aim of this article is to examine the effects on PLS estimates of the inner relations in a Structural Equation Model (SEM), when introducing multicollinearity in the data. This is done through Monte Carlo simulations. Overall, the simulations confirm the robustness hypothesis.
The research on service outsourcing and service characteristics: A case study of hotel

Service activities within the hotel industry are divided specifically and professionally. With growing business of the professional service firms, professional knowledge of service suppliers benefits the service outsourcing. And, outsourcing service activities becomes a common business decision. This research presents five case studies of hotel companies when making their service outsourcing decisions. From the view of service characteristics and service supplier firm's capability, this study try to understand service outsourcing decision-making. Through literature review and case studies, conclusion were draw: The degree of outsourcing will greater when (1) service supplier firm has high capability of customization; (2) service supplier firm has high capability of immediate responsiveness; (3) service activities are more assessable; (4) service suppliers' goal is more compatible with service organizations.
PRICE-QUANTITY STRATEGIC MARKET GAMES'

THIS PAPER IS yet another in a rapidly growing series (e.g. [2]-[11]) on strategic approaches to economic equilibrium. Our aim here is to make precise the remark implicitly due to Bertrand [1 or 10, Ch. 4, 5] that if the agents in an economy use price-setting strategies then the strategic Nash equilibria will, in fact, be Walrasian; and this without any assumption of a "large number of small agents. " However, in our models, not only prices but also quantities are set by the agents. Thus it might actually be more appropriate to call them "Bertrand-Cournot" types of models. We begin with a standard Walras exchange economy with a finite number of traders and commodities. This is recast as a game in strategic form in essentially two different ways. There is a trading-post for each commodity to which traders send contingent statements about how much they wish to buy and sell, and at what prices. In Model 1, the trading point is determined by the intersection of the aggregate supply and demand curves. In Model 2, trade takes place so as to meet as many contingent statements as possible. Each buyer whose orders are filled pays the price he quoted, using a fiat money which can be borrowed costlessly and limitlessly. But after trade is over there is a settlement of accounts and a penalty is levied on those who are bankrupt. No attempt is made to model the penalty in any detail. It is simply described in the form of a disutility. But this in turn may be imagined to stem from confiscation of assets (see Remark 5) or the necessity of procuring highly-priced loans, etc. Call a noncooperative equilibrium "active" if it turns out that no trader is isolated, i.e., trapped as the sole buyer or seller at some trading-post. Then our results may be described as follows. In Model 1, the active2 N.E. of the game coincide with the C.E. of the market; furthermore there is a subset of tight, active N.E. which also coincide with the C.E. , and each N.E. in this subset is strong
Fault classification on Tennessee Eastman process: PCA and SVM

A problem focused on fault classification is studied in detail in this article. Two classification method, support vector machine and principal component analysis, are utilized to process this issue. Support vector machine, a common used binary classifier, is utilized as a multi-class classifier in this paper. There are several approaches to modify the binary classifier into multi-class classifier, and the “one against one” approach is chosen in this paper. Principal component analysis (abbreviated as PCA), regularly utilized to process interrelated variables and dimensionality reduction problems, is used as a fault classification algorithm in this essay. A simple comparison is made in the end of this article from the aspect of classification accuracy, and principal component analysis classifier shows a better classification performance.
From Budgetary Forecasts to Ex Post Fiscal Data: Exploring the Evolution of Fiscal Forecast Errors in the European Union

This paper splits the ex post error in the budget balance, defined as the final budget figure minus the planned figure, into implementation and revision errors, and investigates the determinants of these errors. The implementation error is the difference between the nowcast, published toward the end of the year of budget implementation, and the planned budget, while the revision error is the difference between the final figure and the nowcast. The split takes account of differences in reporting incentives at the different budgeting stages. The predictive content of fiscal plans is important, because it determines the reliability of the budget, while that of the nowcasts is important also because these figures are an input for the next budget and may contain important signals about the fiscal stance. Implementation and revision errors may arise for political and strategic reasons. Our results suggest that an improvement in the quality of institutions, whether measured by the tightness of national fiscal rules, the medium‐term budgetary framework or budgetary transparency, increases the quality of budgetary reporting at both the planning and the nowcast stage. This supports the recently adopted requirements on national fiscal frameworks. It also strengthens the case for a close monitoring by the European Commission of national budgeting.
Destination Competitiveness: An Analysis of Determinant Attributes

The aim of this study was to develop an insight into the importance and impact of attributes which affect the competitiveness of tourism destinations. Using a general conceptual model of destination competitiveness, 36 competitiveness attributes were evaluated by “expert” judgment in the form of an online survey of destination managers and tourism researchers. These judgments were integrated and analyzed using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). In addition to estimating the importance of the attributes of competitiveness, the results of the AHP were further analyzed to produce measures of attribute determinance. These measures were then tested statistically to identify which attributes were judged to exert the greatest determinant impact on destination competitiveness. Ten of the 36 attributes were found to have determinance measures statistically significantly greater than average.
If Happiness is so important, why do we know so little about it?

Challenging the economist’s idea that choices are synonymous with preferences, Tibor Scitovsky asked what role joyful stimulation, and novelty and variety, can play in individual and social wellbeing. In particular, he contrasted two different sorts of consumption activities as sources of human satisfaction: those comfort-oriented, which have low costs of access in terms of knowledge and skills but decreasing returns because of habituation, and those pleasure-oriented which might have increasing returns but involve higher costs in terms of consumption skills and human resources involved. The paper explores the competitive disadvantages that these second forms of consumption might suffer, and the possible consequences in terms of social welfare configurations.