Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Novel printed UWB array based on a versatile and low-cost antenna configuration

A novel topology of planar array is investigated for typical radar and communication UWB applications ranging from C to K bands. It provides inexpensive and compact realization, dual polarization and wide beam scanning. The basic element exploits an original configuration having a number of printed dipoles in rhombic geometries on multilayered substrates. The antenna shape is designed and optimized in the 5-25 GHz band by means of advanced parametric analyses, taking into account practical aspects such as the choice of low-cost commercially-available dielectric layers and appropriate feeding. The relevant behavioral features are analyzed for arrays with both large and small number of elements. Interesting radiation features are observed in terms of pattern shape and gain as a function of frequency and phase shift.
Expression of homeobox genes in the mouse olfactory epithelium

Homeobox genes constitute a large family of genes widely studied because of their role in the establishment of the body pattern. However, they are also involved in many other events during development and adulthood. The main olfactory epithelium (MOE) is an excellent model to study neurogenesis in the adult nervous system. Analyses of homeobox genes during development show that some of these genes are involved in the formation and establishment of cell diversity in the MOE. Moreover, the mechanisms of expression of odorant receptors (ORs) constitute one of the biggest enigmas in the field. Analyses of OR promoters revealed the presence of homeodomain binding sites in their sequences. Here we characterize the expression patterns of a set of 49 homeobox genes in the MOE with in situ hybridization. We found that seven of them (Dlx3, Dlx5, Dlx6, Msx1, Meis1, Isl1, and Pitx1) are zonally expressed. The homeobox gene Emx1 is expressed in three guanylate cyclase+ populations, two located in the MOE and the third one in an olfactory subsystem known as Grüneberg ganglion located at the entrance of the nasal cavity. The homeobox gene Tshz1 is expressed in a unique patchy pattern across the MOE. Our findings provide new insights to guide functional studies that aim to understand the complexity of transcription factor expression and gene regulation in the MOE. J. Comp. Neurol. 524:2713–2739, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Corporate Governance and Capital Structure Decisions of the Chinese Listed Firms

This paper studies the relationship between some characteristics of the corporate board and the firm’s capital structure in Chinese listed firms. The findings provide some preliminary empirical evidence and seem to suggest that managers tend to pursue lower financial leverage when they face stronger corporate governance from the board. However, the empirical results of the relationships are statistically significant only in the case of the board composition and the CEO tenure. The results are statistically insignificant in the case of the board size and fixed CEO compensation. This may in general suggest that, up to the time period of our investigation, the corporate board structures and processes in Chinese listed firms might not as yet be fully working in the manner, or as well, as might have been so far assumed on the basis of Western theoretical finance literature.
Poverty, risk, and the supply of soil carbon sequestration

ABSTRACT We explore poor farmers' incentives to adopt production systems that increase soil carbon sequestration, focusing on the impact of risk. A dynamic optimization model of conservation agriculture adoption is presented, where farmers optimize over expected utility of profits from agriculture and carbon sequestration. Adoption impacts on agricultural productivity are modeled as a combination of the technological effects of the new system, and productivity effects of changes in soil carbon on agricultural output. Comparative static results indicate increases in soil carbon sequestration price and the discount rate have unambiguous impacts on equilibrium soil carbon levels; the former leading to higher, and the latter to lower, carbon levels. Increases in the price of agricultural output and risk aversion have ambiguous impacts, depending on the relative strength of the productivity and technology effects. The paper concludes with a discussion of designing soil carbon payment mechanisms to benefit low income farmers.
Downtown Redevelopment Strategies in the United States: An End-of-the-Century Assessment

Abstract The downtowns of American cities present a dilemma. Civic and business leaders view downtown as the key but troubled ingredient of the overall metropolitan fabric. Downtowns are seen as definitive of overall city identity, so cities of all sizes and in all regions are committed to successful downtown redevelopment. Yet, despite three decades of continuous redevelopment policies and projects, most American downtowns still have serious economic problems and are perceived, particularly by suburbanites, as inconvenient, obsolete, and even dangerous places. Hence some critics would declare that downtown redevelopment policies have failed. Others, however, believe that redevelopment has contributed to shaping a new downtown, one with a more specialized role in the metropolitan region. This Longer View describes and evaluates contemporary policy on downtown redevelopment in the United States, in particular seven widely-used strategies of planning and design: pedestrianization, indoor shopping centers, h.
Temperature Field FDTD Simulation of Self-Focusing and Electronic Phased Focusing in Human Body Tissues

High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) tumor therapy is a new treatment technique of solid tumors and attracts interest of many researchers. In this study, a three-dimensional computational model, associated with finite difference time domain (FDTD) and Pennes Bio-heat transfer equation, is presented for studying the differences of the temperature field between self-focusing and electronic phased focusing. The effects of frequency on the temperature field of two different focusing techniques were also touched. Our results demonstrated that the area of focal region formed by self-focusing technology obtained a significant reduction, with a relative decrease in the temperature rise of skin and subcutaneous adipose tissue. This decrease made it possible to obtain a lower occurrence of skin burning, compared with the electronic phased focusing technique. The computation also suggested that the actual focal length and the area of focal region were inversely proportional to the acoustic frequency, whereas the temperature rise of the skin is proportional to it.
Fair Value Accounting for Property-Liability Insurers and Classification Decisions under FAS 115

The first objective of this study is to describe the substantial differences across property-liability insurers in accounting classification decisions for fixed maturity securities during 1991–1995. This period includes the years before adoption, upon initial adoption, and after adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 115 (FAS 115, “Accounting for Certain Investments in Debt and Equity Securities”). The second and more important objective of this study is to test two risk-based explanations for differences in investment classification decisions under FAS 115. Under this new standard, firms are required to classify fixed maturity investment securities into trading portfolios, available-for-sale portfolios, or held-to-maturity portfolios. These classification decisions determine whether these securities are recognized at fair value or historical cost. On one hand, the decision to classify securities as available-for-sale rather than held-to-maturity (and thus apply fair value accounting) increases the time-series volatility of key accounting numbers such as owners' equity and total assets, which may be costly for insurers with low tolerance for accounting volatility. On the other hand, the choice to classify securities as available-for-sale (and thus apply fair value accounting) reduces liquidity risk because the accounting standards (and SEC enforcement practices) limit management's ability to sell securities that are not recognized at fair value. The empirical analyses examine whether the security classification decisions of the sample property-liability insurers are associated with firm specific characteristics that reflect liquidity risk and the tolerance for accounting volatility. The findings show that managers of property-liability insurers make tradeoffs between liquidity risk and concerns about accounting volatility when making investment classification decisions under FAS 115.
Choosing Teaching Methods Based on Learning Objectives: An Integrative Framework

This paper develops a comprehensive framework for choosing teaching methods in accounting courses. Since teaching methods vary as to the conditions they can create and different types of learning objectives require different conditions for achievement, the premise guiding the framework is that the choice of teaching methods should be based primarily on the type of learning objective. The development of the framework yields two important conclusions. First, a single teaching method typically cannot create all the conditions necessary for a given learning objective. Second, learning objectives involving complex skills require teaching methods that promote active learning on the part of students, while learning objectives involving simpler skills can be achieved with more passive teaching methods. In practical terms, an accounting instructor needs to carefully employ multiple teaching methods to achieve all the learning objectives of a given accounting course, since these objectives likely encompass the full.
Skiers' sense of snow: tourist skills and winter holiday attribute preferences.

Winter sports holidaymaking is an essential part of tourism, but skiers and their preferences and perceptions have not been much researched in academic contexts. This article presents certain factors influencing alpine skiers' destination choices and incorporates an examination of how these holidaymakers regard various attributes in relation to their destination choice. The study encompasses three types of destination aspects: ski attributes, price attributes, and destination/facility attributes. Alpine ski holidaymaking is here regarded as a skilled activity, and the skiers' destination choices and the related information sources are analyzed in relation to their winter holiday expertise, operationalized here as skiing skill level.
Immune‐mediated control of Chlamydia infection

Infection with the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis can lead to a variety of diseases, including ectopic pregnancy, infertility and blindness. Exposure of the host to C. trachomatis stimulates multiple innate and adaptive immune effectors that can contribute towards controlling bacterial replication. However, these effectors are often insufficient to resolve the infection and prevent re‐infection, and the continued presence of C. trachomatis within the host may induce immune effectors to chronically produce inflammatory cytokines. This may eventually lead to the tissue pathologies associated with the infection. Reducing the incidence and sequelae of infection will ultimately require the development of a C. trachomatis vaccine that can stimulate sterilizing immunity while avoiding immune‐mediated pathology.
Republished review: Cardiac stem cell therapy: progress from the bench to bedside

In the rush to assess the role of stem cell therapy for cardiovascular disease the details of translation are easily overlooked. This review summarises the progress to date in translating the exciting preclinical results of cardiac repair into man and considers the questions that this area of research has stimulated about the challenges of moving from bench to bedside.
Predation Under Perfect Information

In an oligopoly configuration characterized by high barriers to (re-)entry, a finite horizon, perfect information about demand and costs and the presence of three identical firms, we show that two of them (the predators) can choose to charge an initial price that is so low that the third (the prey) decides to exit immediately, after which the predators can enjoy higher profits, even if they do not raise their price. Predatory prices are thus observed on the equilibrium path and the predators end up earning more than in the best Bertrand (or even, collusive) equilibrium with three firms.
Social Indentity And The Problem of Loyalty In Knowledge‐Intensive Companies

This paper treats the significance of organization-based social identity for loyalty versus exit reactions with special reference to knowledge-intensive companies. The centrality of network relations and close contact with clients in combination with the sometimes drastic consequences of knowledge workers defecting in many knowledge-intensive companies makes social identification and loyalty crucial themes for management. The paper discusses different kinds of and modes of accomplishing loyalty and also addresses post-exit management, how companies may deal with employees that have left the company.
Reduced calibration by efficient transformation of templates for high speed hybrid coded SSVEP brain-computer interfaces

Brain-computer interfacing (BCI) based on steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) is one of the most promising techniques due to its high performance. A state-of-the-art is a BCI based on hybrid frequency and phase coded SSVEP, which needs a large set of calibration data as reference signals, so-called individual templates. The aim of this study is to propose an approach to calibration reduction by generating from individual templates corresponding to a part of commands (source templates) to new templates corresponding to the rest of commands. The new templates can be obtained by shifting the frequency and phase of the source template to the desired frequency and phase. In this way, time and cost for calibration can be greatly reduced. The experimental results suggested that the proposed approach successfully transferred the source template, closely achieving the performance using the full calibration dataset.
The market reaction to auditor resignations

Abstract Under UK company law, external auditors who resign must warn shareholders and creditors of any matter that ought to be brought to their attention. Auditor resignations and the subsequent change in auditor are informative corporate events. Resignation from office is likely to be a costly signal for the audit firm, particularly when the client is a quoted company. Our analysis of daily data suggests that there is a negative reaction to the auditor resignation on the date of the resignation letter, even though very few auditors indicate there were problems of which the shareholders and creditors should be made aware. This provides backing for the statutory rules on disclosure of the auditor resignation. We also find that the extent of the market reaction on the day of the resignation is related to the size of the resigning audit firm.
Corporate communication: the challenge of transparency

When organizations set out to manage their communications in accordance with the corporate ideal, they seem to take for granted that they are transparent, not only to their surroundings but also to themselves. The notion of corporate communications, in other words, builds on the assumption that organizations are able to have a general view of themselves as communicating entities. But is this really the case? And, if not, is it possible to articulate the challenge of corporate transparency in alternative, strategic terms? Since contemporary organizations increasingly relate to their surroundings as if they are transparent, these and related questions are highly relevant in both theoretical and practical terms. Discusses the notion of transparency both as a condition and as a strategy, and deconstructs conventional assumptions associated with the use of the term. Looking at corporate transparency as a staging process that involves strategic disclosure, institutionalisation and mimetic behaviour, asks fundam.
Pattern formation in a patch occupancy metapopulation model: a cellular automata approach.

The explicit consideration of space in ecological research is of paramount importance to understand the structure and functioning of ecological systems. In this paper we develop a simple spatially explicit metapopulation model in which colonization is constant and independent of the number of occupied patches (i.e. propagule-rain effect, Gotelli, 1991). Extinction, on the other hand, is modelled as a stochastic process whose intensity depends on the number of occupied patches in the neighborhood of each focal patch. Our model is the CA counterpart of two classical patch occupancy metapopulation models. We analytically prove this by showing that our CA converges to the differential equation in the mean-field approximation. The asymptotic behaviour of the system, expressed as the proportion of occupied patches, agrees with the equilibrium proportion of patches derived by using ODEs. In both models, the existence of a rescue-effect increases the range of extinction and colonization parameters over which the system attains complete occupancy of patches. However, in our model this result is strongly influenced by the degree of coupling among patches and is apparent only for local interactions. With local interactions and particular parameter values of colonization and extinction, self-organized spatio-temporal patterns emerge with a fractal-like clustering, even though the environment is spatially homogeneous. Our results point out that the importance of being spatial and discrete (Durrett & Levin, 1994a) in our model is a result of local interactions.
Influence of Uncertain Demand on Product Variety: Evidence from the International Tourist Hotel Industry in Taiwan

Hotels provide many different types of rooms in terms of capacity as well as quality to diversify their products. This paper examines the relationship of uncertain demand and product variety by using monthly operation data from international tourist hotels in Taiwan during 2007–2009. First, the authors apply the two-stage least squares (2SLS) and random-coefficients models to estimate the demand function in Taiwan's international tourist hotel industry. They then examine the relationship between uncertain demand and product variety. The empirical results indicate that the market's uncertain demand significantly induces the hotels to expand their product variety.
Contrast Effects in Judgments of Health Hazards

Abstract Researchers commonly use 2 models to explain contrast effects (CEs): the standard-of-comparison model and the set-reset model. The 2 models focus on the role of categorization to predict when a CE (instead of an assimilation effect) will happen, while minimizing the role of knowledge accessibility and relevance in determining whether any effect will occur. A 3rd model, the selective-accessibility model (F. Strack & T. Mussweiler, 1997), focuses on knowledge accessibility and relevance, but it is a model of assimilation effects in the anchoring bias. In the present study of CEs, the authors tested 3 predictions implied by the selective-accessibility model. The authors found a CE only when anchor- and target-rating dimensions matched and only in the 1 st of multiple targets rated. The CE required a minimum amount of attention to the anchor. These results support the account that selective knowledge accessibility and relevance play an important role in CEs.
Descriptive epidemiology of multiple sclerosis in Europe in the 1980s: A critical overview

The oversimplified but commonly accepted belief, based on the comparison of the prevalence studies conducted until 1980, that the distribution of multiple sclerosis (MS) in Europe is related to latitude has been contradicted by a great number of prevalence and incidence studies carried out since 1980. The most recent studies, based on more appropriate methods, clearly indicate that the MS distribution in Europe is much more complex than supposed in the past. The MS distribution in Europe now appears to be very uneven, with great variations not only between areas at the same latitude, but also within the countries themselves. However, even the most recent European studies cannot be reliably compared because of differences in the denominator characteristics, case ascertainment accuracy, diagnostic criteria, and definitions of prevalence and incidence. Despite these problems, descriptive data since 1980 indicate that ethnicity plays an important role in determining the European MS distribution. Furthermore, variations in both prevalence and incidence rates in ethnically homogenous populations confirm the importance of environmental factors in determining the primary acquisition of the disease. Further descriptive studies based on more comparable methods and better control for ethnicity would more precisely define the role of genetic susceptibility as well as suggest more valuable clues regarding environmental factors affecting the primary acquisition of MS.
Effects of climatic changes on carbon dioxide and water vapor fluxes in boreal forest ecosystems of European part of Russia

Effects of possible climatic and vegetation changes on H2O and CO2 fluxes in boreal forest ecosystems of the central part of European Russia were quantified using modeling and experimental data. The future pattern of climatic conditions for the period up to 2100 was derived using the global climatic model ECHAM5 (Roeckner et al 2003 The Atmospheric General Circulation Model ECHAM 5. PART I: Model Description, Report 349 (Hamburg: Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology) p 127) with the A1B emission scenario. The possible trends of future vegetation changes were obtained by reconstructions of vegetation cover and paleoclimatic conditions in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, as provided from pollen and plant macrofossil analysis of profiles in the Central Forest State Natural Biosphere Reserve (CFSNBR). Applying the method of paleoanalogues demonstrates that increasing the mean annual temperature, even by 1–2 °C, could result in reducing the proportion of spruce in boreal forest stands by up to 40%. Modeling experiments, carried out using a process-based Mixfor-SVAT model, show that the expected future climatic and vegetation changes lead to a significant increase of net ecosystem exchange (NEE) and gross primary productivity (GPP) of the boreal forests. Despite the expected warming and moistening of the climate, the modeling experiments indicate a relatively weak increase of annual evapotranspiration (ET) and even a reduction of transpiration (TR) rates of forest ecosystems compared to present conditions.