Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Value of Changes in the Probability of Death or Injury

One of the more puzzling questions encountered in public investment decision making (especially in the health and transport fields) concerns the value placed on improvements (or reductions) in the safety of human life. Schelling (1968) appears to have been the first to suggest that any potential change in the fatal (or nonfatal) accident rate may be regarded as a (typically small) change in the probability of death (or nonfatal accident) for any particular individual. Mishan (1971) takes a similar view of the problem and argues that, if alternative resource allocations are to be compared solely on the basis of "potential Pareto improvements," then public investment projects which increase the safety of human life will be recommended only if the total of sums which individuals would be prepared to forfeit to effect such probability changes (and the other desirable consequences of the investment) exceeds the capital costs of the projects concerned. Given the manner in which Schelling and Mishan formalize the problem, the central question is therefore the nature of the Hicksian "compensating variations" in wealth1 for various changes in probability of death or injury. In fact, even if Mishan's potential Pareto improvement criterion is rejected as a basis for allocative decisions, information concerning these compensating variations will still be relevant for all but those public investment decisions which completely ignore private preferences. The primary purpose of this paper is to develop a qualitative analysis of compensating variations for changes in the probability of an individual's own2 fatal accident. In addition, brief consideration will also be given to
Expanding the Limits of Merger Arbitrage

In this paper we show that when bidders are in the S&P 500 Index, risk arbitrage portfolio returns are 85 percent larger than when they are not. We also show that acquisitions by S&P 500 buyers are more likely to be completed, and take less time to complete, than are deals by different buyers. These results indicate that risk arbitrage returns can be extended by strategies involving S&P 500 bidders. In addition, we find share price runups followed by price reversals on all buyer types when stock, and not cash, is used as currency for the acquisition. This phenomenon occurs around merger completion, which is a non-information day. Thus, our finding documents that the buyers' short-run demand curve exhibits inelastic behavior, and is evidence in support for Scholes' (1972) price-pressure hypothesis.
R-CBIST: an effective RAM-based input vector monitoring concurrent BIST technique

In this paper a novel input vector monitoring concurrent BIST technique based on a RAM (R-CBIST) is presented. This technique compares favorably to the other input vector monitoring concurrent BIST techniques proposed so far with respect to the hardware overhead and the time required for the concurrent test to be completed (concurrent test latency). R-CBIST can be used in practice for exhaustive testing of ROMs since it results in small hardware overhead whereas no need to stop the ROM normal operation is required.
Converting Retirement Savings into Income: Annuities and Periodic Withdrawals

To a worker contemplating retirement, there is perhaps no more important question than "How long will my money last? " Congress has a strong interest in the income security of older Americans because much of their income is either provided directly from public programs like Social Security, or in the case of pensions and retirement accounts, is subsidized through tax deductions and deferrals. This report looks at strategies to help deal with the following risks: longevity, investment, inflation, and unexpected events.
Acceleration of maximum likelihood reconstruction, using frequency amplification and attenuation compensation

Algorithms that calculate maximum likelihood (ML) and maximum a posteriori solutions using expectation-maximization have been successfully applied to SPECT and PET. These algorithms are appealing because of their solid theoretical basis and their guaranteed convergence. A major drawback is the slow convergence, which results in-long processing times. The authors present 2 new heuristic acceleration methods for maximum likelihood reconstruction of ECT images. The first method incorporates a frequency-dependent amplification in the calculations, to compensate for the low pass filtering of the backprojection operation. In the second method, an amplification factor is incorporated that suppresses the effect of attenuation on the updating factors. Both methods are compared to the 1-dimensional line search method proposed by Lewitt. All 3 methods accelerate the ML algorithm. On the authors' test images, Lewitt's method produced the strongest acceleration of the three individual methods. However, the combination of the frequency amplification with the line search method results in a new algorithm with still better performance. Under certain conditions, an effective frequency amplification can be already achieved by skipping some of the calculations required for ML.
Influence of electric charge and humidity upon the diffusion coefficient of radon decay products.

The diffusivity of freshly formed thoron decay products was studied under a variety of conditions with respect to relative humidity and electric charge and over a range of thoron concentrations from -340 nCill to 3.4 X los nCi/l. 8548% of ThB("'Pb) atoms carried a positive charge when formed. In moist air (30% 7 relative humidity 7 90%) the diffusivity of the positively charged ThB atoms was 0.068 * 0.004 cm2/sec; it was the same for neutral ThB atoms, regardless of humidity. In very dry air, the diffusivity of the charged atoms could not be established unequivocally, but it was about 0.024 cmz/sec.
Measuring efficiency of the hotel and restaurant sector: the case of India

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to provide exploratory insights on measurement of efficiency of the hotel and restaurant companies operating in India.Design/methodology/approach – This study will use a linear programming‐based approach, data envelopment analysis (DEA), to evaluate the efficiency of hotel and restaurant companies operating in India. DEA is a method of evaluating the relative efficiency of decision‐making units (DMUs). In this study the decision‐making units are the hotel and restaurant companies. The study further explores if there exists a relationship between the efficiency and size of the hotel and restaurant companies.Findings – The DEA model used in this study assigns efficiency scores to each of the hotel and restaurant companies taken in the sample of 68 companies for the year 2004‐2005. The study also explores whether there is a relationship between the efficiency and size of the hotel and restaurant companies.Practical implications – As this study evaluates the efficienc.
Securing Large and Distributed Enterprise VoIP Infrastructure Using Border Elements

Despite an increasing enterprise adoption of IPbased real-time communication systems, large and distributed enterprises have not yet fully realized the benefits of such deployments. Our work explores the architectural challenges and security concerns of a fully IP-based real-time communication infrastructure in such large, multi-site, multivendor enterprises. In this paper, we propose a novel hierarchical architecture and analyze the importance of Border Elements in securing the VoIP infrastructure. To this end, we built a pilot environment and evaluated the suitability of Session Border Controllers as border elements in pure enterprise environments. Based on our deployment experiences and real-world evaluations, we posit that Session Border Controllers are an optimal solution for meeting the security and edge services requirements to enable transition to a fully IP-based voice infrastructure.
Scholarship@Western Scholarship@Western Sustainable bio-based phenol-formaldehyde resoles using Sustainable bio-based phenol-formaldehyde resoles using hydrolytically depolymerized kraft lignin hydrolytically depolymerized kraft lignin

: In this study bio-based bio-phenol-formaldehyde (BPF) resoles were prepared using hydrolytically depolymerized Kraft lignin (DKL) as bio-phenol to partially substitute phenol. The effects of phenol substitution ratio, weight-average molecular weight ( M w ) of DKL and formaldehyde-to-phenol (F/P) ratio were also investigated to ﬁnd the optimum curing temperature for BPF resoles. The results indicated that DKL with M w ~1200 g/mol provides a curing temperature of less than 180 ◦ C for any substitution level, provided that F/P ratios are controlled. Incorporation of lignin reduced the curing temperature of the resin, however, higher M w DKL negatively affected the curing process. For any level of lignin M w , the curing temperature was found to increase with lower F/P ratios at lower phenol substitution levels. At 25% and 50% phenol substitution, increasing the F/P ratio allows for synthesis of resoles with lower curing temperatures. Increasing the phenol substitution from 50% to 75% allows for a broader range of lignin M w to attain low curing temperatures.
Trade, Materials Flows, and Economic Development in the South: The Example of Chile

Materials flow analysis (MFA) is internationally recognized as a key tool to assess the biophysical metabolism of societies and to provide aggregated indicators for environmental pressures of human activities. Economy‐wide MFAs have been compiled for a number of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, but so far very few studies exist for countries in the South. In this article, the first materials‐flow‐based indicators for Chile are presented. The article analyzes the restructuring of the Chilean economy toward an active integration in the world markets from the perspective of natural resource use in a time series from 1973 to 2000. Special emphasis is placed on the assessment of materials flows related to Chile's international trade relations. Results show that material inputs to the Chilean economy increased by a factor of 6, mainly as a result of the promotion of resource‐intensive exports from the mining, fruit growing, forestry, and fishery sectors. At more than 40 tons, Chile's resource use per capita at present is one of the highest in the world. The article addresses the main shortcomings of the MFA approach, such as weightbased aggregation and the missing links between environmental pressures and impacts, and gives suggestions for methodological improvements and possible extensions of the MFA framework, with the intent of developing MFA into a more powerful tool for policy use.
Identity based protocols for secure electronic content distribution and licensing

Contemporary systems for distribution of electronic media content and its respective licenses are limited in a way that neither the consumers nor the vendors can operate in a reliable and flexible way. Further, the security architecture that comprises these systems is based and literally mapped upon them from security architectures, which apply to distributed systems based on computer terminals and not necessarily on mobile devices. The attempt to apply such architectures on the world of mobile multimedia so far has lead to solutions, which mostly rely on one single certification authority. It is more than obvious that this fact introduces the fatal risk of having a single-point-of-attack, since a compromise of the CA's private key leads to a compromise of the entire system. Our proposal introduces protocols that utilize ID-based cryptographic methods, in order to provide electronic content delivery and licensing.
The effect of head-fractioned teletherapy on pulp tissue.

AIM To evaluate the early and delayed effects of fractioned teletherapy (radiotherapy) on the dental pulps of rats using Co(60). METHODOLOGY In group 1 - rats (n = 15) were subjected to fractioned teletherapy by 30 daily sessions fractioned in doses of 200 cGy day(-1), totaling 60 Gy and the rats were killed immediately after the final dose of irradiation; group 2 - same protocol but killed 30 days following the final irradiation dose; groups 3 (n = 7) and 4 (n = 8) - formed controls without irradiation. Following perfusion, the left mandible of each rat was dissected and processed for histopathology. Serial sections (5 microm) were obtained and stained with HE or picrosirius. Observations were recorded for the coronal pulp tissue. A blinded observer evaluated HE sections using pre-defined indices of inflammation, nuclear alterations and extracellular matrix (ECM) hyalinization. Images of sections stained with picrosirius were converted to black and white for analysis by image-pro plus; areas in black (collagen) were measured as percentage area. The pulps of mandibular incisors of the specimens prepared for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were subjected to descriptive analysis. Magnifications of 6300 and 10000 x were used to observe 10 pulp fibroblasts from each group. RESULTS No inflammatory reactions or modification of the ECM status were found (P = 0.428) in any specimens. The collagen content also displayed no significant changes (P = 0.067) as a result of treatment. Groups 1 and 2 displayed significantly more nuclear alterations than the control groups (P < 0.05). The bubble-like aspect was more pronounced in group 1, and the bubbles looked smaller in group 2. The ECM showed no differences in the hyalinization status and there were no differences in the collagen area within the pulps. Under TEM, the pulp fibroblasts in group 1 displayed nuclear alterations that resembled circular, oval or elongated perforations; perforations also appeared in the cytoplasm. CONCLUSION Fractioned teletherapy is capable of producing nuclear alterations in the dental pulp tissue of rats.
SHEA Guideline for Preventing Nosocomial Transmission of Multidrug-Resistant Strains of Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus

Abstract Background: Infection control programs were created three decades ago to control antibiotic-resistant healthcare-associated infections, but there has been little evidence of control in most facilities. After long, steady increases of MRSA and VRE infections in NNIS System hospitals, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Board of Directors made reducing antibiotic-resistant infections a strategic SHEA goal in January 2000. After 2 more years without improvement, a SHEA task force was appointed to draft this evidence-based guideline on preventing nosocomial transmission of such pathogens, focusing on the two considered most out of control: MRSA and VRE. Methods: Medline searches were conducted spanning 1966 to 2002. Pertinent abstracts of unpublished studies providing sufficient data were included. Results: Frequent antibiotic therapy in healthcare settings provides a selective advantage for resistant flora, but patients with MRSA or VRE usually acquire it via spread. The CDC has long-recommended contact precautions for patients colonized or infected with such pathogens. Most facilities have required this as policy, but have not actively identified colonized patients with surveillance cultures, leaving most colonized patients undetected and unisolated. Many studies have shown control of endemic and/or epidemic MRSA and VRE infections using surveillance cultures and contact precautions, demonstrating consistency of evidence, high strength of association, reversibility, a dose gradient, and specificity for control with this approach. Adjunctive control measures are also discussed. Conclusion: Active surveillance cultures are essential to identify the reservoir for spread of MRSA and VRE infections and make control possible using the CDC's long-recommended contact precautions.
Engaging students in reflective practice through a process of formative peer review and peer assessment

The benefits of engaging students in reflective practice through a process of peer learning and peer assessment are said to include increased awareness of the quality of their work, increased self reflection on their learning and on their performance as peer evaluators, improved student learning outcomes and the development of life long learning skills. Despite these potential benefits, several studies have reported unfavourable student attitudes to peer assessment, including student fears about the effects of rivalries and competition, a lack of confidence about their qualifications to carry out the work, doubts about their ability to be objective and lack of training for the task. The literature also reports various strategies that can be adopted to address these concerns, such as the provision of training for students and tutors in self, peer and collaborative assessment, and ensuring students understand the benefits to be gained from participation in the assessment process. This paper explores the potential of these alternative assessment models by drawing on the experience of the authors who have employed collaborative formative peer review and peer assessment in their undergraduate media arts courses over the last three years. The benefits for students and teachers engaged in a process of reflective practice are reported as well as the challenges in moving from formative review to a peer assessment approach. In the concluding section of the paper, the authors discuss suggested strategies aimed at addressing the identified challenges and facilitating student engagement in the peer assessment process.
Laboratory markets in counterfeit goods: Hong Kong versus Las Vegas

“Black markets” represent an extreme challenge to empirical researchers due to the almost insurmountable obstacle of obtaining high-quality data. The dearth of high-precision data precludes not only empirical analysis—including the quantification of various elasticities—but also the informed policy analysis that results from the integration of empirical results with government, market, and social institutions. We propose and conduct a controlled laboratory market in counterfeit goods on several groups of subjects in Hong Kong and Las Vegas. The data generated in the experiments are used to estimate a random-effects model of individual choice behavior. The main empirical findings are that subjects in Hong Kong are more likely to purchase the counterfeit good than are subjects in Las Vegas; the price and penalty elasticities are substantially larger (in absolute value) in Las Vegas than in Hong Kong; and that in both locations the price effects of legitimate and counterfeit goods are asymmetrical in the monetary price and expected penalty cost. An equal increase in the price of an authentic good and the expected penalty cost of a counterfeit good increases the probability that a consumer will purchase the authentic good.
Human perspiration.

If you really want to be smarter, reading can be one of the lots ways to evoke and realize. Many people who like reading will have more knowledge and experiences. Reading can be a way to gain information from economics, politics, science, fiction, literature, religion, and many others. As one of the part of book categories, human perspiration always becomes the most wanted book. Many people are absolutely searching for this book. It means that many love to read this kind of book.
Sorting Nexin 9 Participates in Clathrin-mediated Endocytosis through Interactions with the Core Components*

Sorting nexin 9 (SNX9) belongs to a family of proteins, the sorting nexins, that are characterized by the presence of a subclass of the phosphoinositide-binding phox domain. SNX9 has in its amino terminus a Src homology 3 domain and a region with predicted low complexity followed by a carboxyl-terminal part containing the phox domain. We previously found that SNX9 is one of the major proteins in hematopoietic cells that binds to the αand β2-appendages of adaptor protein complex 2 (AP-2), a protein with a critical role in the formation of clathrin-coated vesicles at the plasma membrane. In the present study we show that clathrin and dynamin-2, two other essential molecules in the endocytic process, also interact with SNX9. We found that both AP-2 and clathrin bind to the low complexity region in SNX9 in a cooperative manner, whereas dynamin-2 binds to the Src homology 3 domain. In the cytosol, SNX9 is present in a 14.5 S complex containing dynamin-2 and an unidentified 41-kDa protein. In HeLa cells, SNX9 co-localized with both AP-2 and dynamin-2 at the plasma membrane or on vesicular structures derived from it but not with the early endosomal marker EEA1 or with AP-1. The results suggest that SNX9 may be recruited together with dynamin-2 and become co-assembled with AP-2 and clathrin at the plasma membrane. Overexpression in both K562 and HeLa cells of truncated forms of SNX9 interfered with the uptake of transferrin, consistent with a role of SNX9 in endocytosis.
Detection of cognitive states and their correlation to speech recognition performance in speech-to-speech machine translation systems

An analysis of possible associations between speech recognition performance and three cognitive states that arise in dialogues mediated by a speech-to-speech machine translation sys-tem is reported. This analysis is based on a new corpus of inter-lingual interactions in a map task which includes precisely syn-chronised speech, video, and physiological data streams (blood-volume pulse, skin conductance, electroencephalogram, and eye movements). While no evidence is found that cognitive states occurring prior to utterances sent to the speech recogniser affect the speech recognition performance, the onset of cognitive states – especially frustration – is found to be clearly associated with speech recognition performance. Given this association, methods for automatic detection of these cognitive states were explored by using features of the two physiological signals, features of the speech signal, and combinations of speech and physiological features. Combined biosignals yields detection performance well above the baseline (71% accuracy) when the time window is restricted to the perceived duration of the state. Extending the window to the end of the utterance following the cognitive state yields poor detection on biosignals alone, but improves considerably when features of the speech signal are added, thus showing the potential usefulness of speech features as a biosignal.
Self-help Housing and Co-operation in Post-war Australia

Australia experienced a self-help housing boom after World War Two which played an important part in overcoming a serious housing shortage. This paper looks at the magnitude of the boom and at the factors which made it possible. It argues that the basic factor motivating amateur builders was the absolute scarcity of accommodation rather than its high cost. There were significant regional variations in the extent of self-help activity. These are best explained by the extent of public housing provision. Where state governments invested heavily in public housing there was less self-help activity. The paper also traces the sources of finance used by owner-builders and the extent of co-operation amongst them.
The political economy of UK foreign aid

In the first part of this paper we provide an overview and comparative assessment of the UK's foreign aid performance over the past 15 years. In the second part, we provide an empirical investigation of the allocation of the UK bilateral aid budget over the period 1970–81. It is concluded that UK political interests were the major determinant of aid allocation during this period with the needs of the less developed countries playing a relatively minor role.