Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Management of Manufacturing Flexibility

Defines flexibility as the ability to change or react with little penalty in time, effort, cost or performance, and surveys the literature on manufacturing flexibility. Presents a framework for its analysis, which provides a common language about the various categories of flexibility the company needs to manage; allows the company to rank them in order of importance, or of the degree of management attention they will need; and enables managers to formulate clear implementation plans for maintaining, measuring and improving them. It also allows managers to determine and distinguish what is required of manufacturing operations, and provides a common base of understanding, so that all involved know what is to be improved. Presents two case examples illustrating the application of the framework to define the type of flexibility - in terms of its dimensions, time horizons and elements - of concern to each of the companies involved.
Structural changes, cointegration and the empirics of Thirlwall's law

Thirlwall's law establishes a relation between the long-run growth rate, the growth of exports and the long-run income elasticity of imports. The estimation of this parameter requires cointegration techniques, which in turn require a large span of data, thus exposing the estimates to risks of structural changes. While this problem has been recognized in the literature, the evidence produced is still partial, being concerned with a very limited number of countries, and in some respects unsatisfactory. In this article we fill this gap by assessing Thirlwall's empirical regularity on a sample of 22 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries using econometric techniques that allow for the presence of a shift of unknown date in the long-run parameters. The results are generally supportive of Thirlwall's hypothesis and allow us to reconcile and qualify the evidence provided in the existing literature.
Anti-programmed death-1 and anti-programmed death-ligand 1 antibodies in cancer therapy

Introduction: Multiple agents targeting the immune “checkpoint” programmed death-1 (PD-1) pathway have demonstrated early evidence of durable clinical activity and an encouraging safety profile in patients with various tumor types, including some cancers, such as non-small-cell lung cancer, historically perceived as non-immunogenic and thus nonresponsive to immunotherapy. Areas covered: Functions of the PD-1 pathway in normal immune responses are reviewed, along with the significance of expression of PD-1 and its ligands in malignant settings. Rationale for the development of PD-1 pathway-targeted therapies and associated clinical data are presented. Finally, efforts to date to identify and develop partner predictive or prognostic biomarkers for these new PD-1 pathway-targeted immunotherapies are discussed. Expert opinion: Rather than targeting the tumor directly, immunotherapies inhibiting PD-1 pathway signaling modulate the antitumor immune response. Indeed, these agents have already demonstrated promising antitumor activity and manageable toxicity in various cancers. If future data continue to support encouraging clinical profiles of anti-PD-1 and anti-programmed death-ligand 1 antibodies, the current paradigm of cancer therapy may shift. In select patient populations (ideally identified by a predictive biomarker), PD-1 pathway-targeted immunotherapy has the potential to serve as the backbone of cancer treatment, and trials evaluating combinations with chemotherapy and/or molecularly targeted therapies will determine whether additive or even synergistic responses can be achieved.
Reorganizing the welfare state administration

Abstract This article addresses the big welfare administration reform in Norway. The reform is a merger of the employment and national insurance administrations, combined with more formal collaboration with the local government social services administration. The reform introduced a mandatory partnership model between central and local government. This model is a hybrid of hierarchy and network. A substantial dilemma in the particular partnership model chosen is how to enhance vertical control at the same time as sustaining the autonomy of local government. The partnership model created to solve this dilemma represents a delicate and ambiguous balance between accountability to the central government and to the local council.
Media Content Analysis: Its Uses, Benefits and Best Practice Methodology

Mass media are believed to cause violence, sexual promiscuity and contribute to discrimination against women. Media advertising is used to sell products and services. News in leading media has been shown to significantly affect stock prices; lead to corporate collapses; cause falls in sales of products; result in the resignation of senior office-holders – even bring down Presidents. Further information on the effects of mass media is provided in Macnamara (2003), Mass Media Effects: A Review of 50 Years of Media Effects Research.
An Examination of the Incremental Usefulness of Balance-Sheet Information Beyond Earnings in Explaining Stock Returns

Until recently, studies in accounting research have predominantly focused on using earnings information to explain stock returns. This article examines how information provided by the other primary financial statement—the balance sheet—is incrementally useful for determining returns. Based on existing models of equity value, the author shows theoretically that returns should be related to three balance sheet–related variables—the previous period’s (equity) capital investment, contemporaneous capital investment, and the profitability change—in addition to the earnings variables used in previous studies. Our empirical analysis yields the following results. First, the three balance sheet–related variables each have a statistically and economically significant effect that is incremental to those of the earnings variables on equity returns, and together they improve the explanatory power of an earnings-only-based model from 11.5% to 13.9% in annual cross-sectional samples. Second, over time, the incremental explanatory power (IEP) of the balance-sheet variables is negatively correlated with the explanatory power of earnings. Third, in cross sections, the balance sheet–related variables have a greater IEP for firms whose earnings are less informative (negative vs. positive earnings firms and young vs. mature firms) and for firms whose future earnings are more uncertain (firms with high vs. low analyst forecast errors, and firms with high vs. low analyst forecast dispersions). These results suggest that information from the balance sheet complements that contained in the income statement about equity returns.
A Bayesian forecasting and anomaly detection framework for vehicular monitoring networks

In this paper, we are concerned with the automated and runtime analysis of vehicular data from large scale traffic monitoring networks. This problem is tackled through localized and small-size Bayesian networks (BNs), which are utilized to capture the spatio-temporal relationships underpinning traffic data from nearby road links. A dedicated BN is set up, trained, and tested for each road in the monitored geographical map. The joint probability distribution between the cause nodes and the effect node in the BN is tracked through a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM), whose parameters are estimated via Bayesian Variational Inference (BVI). Forecasting and anomaly detection are performed on statistical measures derived at runtime by the trained GMMs. Our design choices lead to several advantages: the approach is scalable as a small-size BN is associated with and independently trained for each road and the localized nature of the framework allows flagging atypical behaviors at their point of origin in the monitored geographical map. The effectiveness of the proposed framework is tested using a large dataset from a real network deployment, comparing its prediction performance with that of selected regression algorithms from the literature, while also quantifying its anomaly detection capabilities.
Neurotoxins That Act Selectively on Voltage‐Dependent Cardiac Calcium Channels

We searched for and found a toxin that acts specifically on cardiac calcium channels. This toxin, which we have designated TaiCatoxin (TCX), was purified from the venom of the Australian Taipan snake (Oxyuranus s. scutellatus), one of the world's most poisonous snakes. TCX is a highly charged, basic polypeptide with a molecular weight of 8,000. It blocks high- but not low-threshold cardiac calcium channels in a voltage-dependent manner and has no effect on potassium or sodium channels. The block occurs at nanomolar concentrations, is reversible, and is due to binding at an extracellularly facing site on the channel It self.
Fifteen Years of Inequality in Latin America: How Have Labor Markets Helped?

Household income inequality has declined in Latin America in the past decades, contributing significantly to poverty reduction in the region. Although available evidence shows that changes in the labor income are among the main factors behind these inequality trends, few studies have analyzed more closely the labor market dynamics that have led to a decline in total income inequality in some countries, but also to an increase in others. Using household survey data for a sample of 15 countries in Latin America from 1995 to 2010, this paper uses an extension of the Juhn-Murphy-Pierce methodology to decompose changes in labor income inequality (hourly wages) into a quantity effect (capturing changes in the distribution of workers' skills), price effect (reflecting returns to skills), and unobservables effect (other components, within skill groups, affecting labor income). The results show that falling returns to skills for both education and experience is, on average, driving the decline in labor income inequality in Latin America. The quantity effect, in turn, has contributed little to inequality reduction, mostly attributable to a larger dispersion in years of experience, possibly linked to the region's demographic transition and to significant increases in female labor force participation. Additional findings show that wage inequality, still high in the region, is coupled with inequality in terms of hours worked. The paper complements the existing literature by presenting separate results for males and females, as well as formal and informal sector workers as an attempt to control for secular shifts in these characteristics.
The Pollination Biology and Mating System of a Peripheral Population of Witheringia solanacea (Solanaceae)

Pollinator visitation rates over the life of a flower are determined by pollinator abundance and floral longevity. If flowers are not visited frequently enough, pollen limitation may occur, favoring the evolution of self-compatibility (SC). In plant species with varying SC levels, central populations often are self-incompatible (SI) and peripheral populations are SC. Witheringia solanacea (Solanaceae) is a species that follows this trend with the exception of one population in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, which is peripheral yet SI. I investigated this population using multiple techniques including floral bagging, pollinator observations, microsatellite analysis, and floral longevity manipulations. My results confirmed the selfincompatibility of the Monteverde population and indicated low but perhaps adequate rates of pollinator visitation per flower per hour. I found reduced genetic diversity at Monteverde and gene flow occurring unidirectionally from San Luis (a central population) to Monteverde. In the greenhouse, there was more of an effect of male than female function on floral longevity, but the largest differences were environmental. Flowers stayed open substantially longer when cool, cloudy weather was simulated and shorter when conditions were hot and sunny. The results indicate that the Monteverde population of W. solanacea is SI because 1) it is unable to maximize its fitness due to gene flow from San Luis and its relatively recent colonization of the area and 2) pollen limitation may not be severe because of supplemental pollinator availability from other Witheringia species in the area and increased floral longevities due to cool and cloudy conditions.
Reliability analysis of self-aligned bipolar transistor under forward active current stress

The effects of forward active current stress on the electrical characteristics of self-aligned bipolar transistors are reported. The dominant emitter-base junction degradation appears to be due to interface-state generation underneath the sidewall oxide. The leakage current increase in the collector mainly results from electron trapping at the field-oxide/silicon interface. Electromigration at the contact was identified to be the cause of increased collector resistance on those devices without adequate reach-through post-implant annealing treatment.
Explaining different approaches to voluntary standards: A study of forest certification choices in Norway and Sweden

Abstract This paper explores divergent approaches to forest certification in Sweden and Norway. While the NGO-supported Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has five times the endorsement in Sweden than the industry-dominated Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC), virtually all commercially productive forests in Norway are certified by the PEFC-endorsed Living Forests scheme. The PEFC scheme leaves forest companies with less stringent sustainable forest management standards than the FSC, and greater leeway to apply those standards. Three explanations for the divergent approaches to forest certification are explored: public policy and government support; advocacy-group and market pressures; and industry structure. It is found that although the government in both countries facilitated and legitimized certification processes, environmental group activism and supply chain pressure were more important for certification initiatives. A group of large Swedish forest companies responded to market and advocacy group pressures by choosing the widely recognized FSC scheme. Non-industrial forest owners in both Norway and Sweden rejected this scheme due to narrower market and public exposure and their belief that environmental, social and forest company interests dominate the FSC decision-making process. While showing that states influence non-state governance projects, these findings challenge traditional conceptions of political spaces constituted by sovereignty.
Participation of Lipopolysaccharide Genes in the Determination of the Enterobacterial Common Antigen: Analysis of R Mutants of Salmonella minnesota

A series of R (rough) Salmonella minnesota mutants with rfb, rfe, and rfa mutations leading to various defects in the biosynthesis of cell wall lipopolysaccharide was analyzed as to their enterobacterial common antigen (CA) content. All mutants that had functional rfe genes were CA+ as is the wild-type parent. This includes mutants with the most defective lipopolysaccharide core types, demonstrating that core structures are not a necessary part of CA. All rfe− mutants (complete lipopolysaccharide core, defective synthesis of O side chains) were defective in the synthesis of CA. A smooth strain was accidentally found to be CA−; the mutation responsible for this defect was also located, like rfe, very close to ilv.
The Effects of Stock Characteristics on the Direction and Extent of Herding by Foreign Institutional Investors in the Taiwan Stock Exchange

We use a dynamic herding measure to explore the causes of foreign institutional investor (FII) herding in the Taiwan stock market and examine the effects of stock characteristics on the direction and extent of such herding. We find that FII herding primarily results from cascades rather than habit investing or momentum trading. The result of a panel smooth transition regression shows that FIIs' negative cascades focus on their largest net purchases of stocks, but FIIs' positive cascades focus on winner and small-sized stocks. To increase portfolio returns, investors can use FIIs' cascades to inform their stock purchases.
Performance analysis of AMCLM protocol (adaptive multi-services cross-layer MAC protocol)

The weakness of radio transmission is due to the variation of link quality which is disturbed by noise interference, multipath free space loss and multipath. In Wifi MAC protocols, devices don't take into account the radio link transmission quality when they decide to transmit. In a previous study, we have pro- posed a new MAC protocol which is named AMCLM (Adaptive Multi-services Cross-Layer MAC protocol). It CONSIDERS PHY layer's constraints. Thus, if the node transmission channel SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) is under specified threshold, the protocol decides to disassociate the node in order to improve quality of service of other connected nodes in the BSS (Basic Service Set). In this study we make performance analysis of this protocol using analytical method based on discrete time markov chains. Keywords: 802.11, QoS, Cross-layer, PHY, MAC, SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio), Interlacing, Makov chain, Performance evaluation. I. INTRODUCTION The CSMA/CA MAC protocol is developed in order to share bandwidth in efficient manner between all users con- nected to an access point (BSS Basic Service Set) in WIFI net- works. This protocol is an adaptation of CSMA/CD protocol in wireless networks which avoid a collision. However, it does not include the radio link vulnerability attributed to the effects such as noise, interference, free-space loss, shadowing and multipath fading. In (7) they show that the maximal throughput always falls to the minimal one of all nodes and that the effective bandwidth is the available one divided on the mobile nodes number. Based on this last point we have developed in (2) a new technique which increases the quality of service of all nodes in the BSS by disassociating a node if the SNR is very low. The originality of our approach is that it can be easily designed in existing systems only by adding software in devices. In this study we make performance evaluation of our technique using analytical method based on discrete Markov Chain resolution. We will discuss in next section related works to our field of study. Then after a brief description of our new protocol, we will give an overview of our mathematical model, finally we will summarize the main contribution of this work.
eROSE: guiding programmers in eclipse

The eROSE plugin for ECLIPSE uses version archives to guide programmers: You changed fKeys[] and eROSE suggests you to change initDefaults(), because both items always have been changed together in the past. In addition, eROSE points out item coupling that is undetectable by program analysis, for instance between fKeys[] and a properties file. All eROSE needs is a CVS repository; we designed eROSE to be as efficient and unobtrusive as possible.
Allergenicity of acid protease secreted by Candida albicans

We have previously reported the cases of Candida albicans (C. alb) acid protease (CAAP)‐induced atopic asthma. In this study, the allergenicity of the released enzyme CAAP was examined among asthmatic patients with positive immediate skin response to crude C. alb antigen. Among 49 patients with positive skin response to crude C. alb, anti‐crude C. alb IgE antibodies were detected in 40 and anti‐CAAP IgE antibodies were detected in 18. Moreover, anticrude C. alb IgE antibodies were detected in all of the patients in whom anti‐CAAP IgE antibodies were detected. No correlations between IgG antibodies to both antigens or between IgE and IgG antibodies to CAAP were observed. CAAP induced significant T‐cell proliferation in 20/28 patients showing positive T‐cell proliferation response to crude C. alb antigen. Most of the patients showing positive conjunctival response to crude C. alb antigen also showed positive response to CAAP. Most of the patients showing high levels of serum IgE antibody and positive histamine‐release response of peripheral blood leukocytes to CAAP showed positive conjunctival response. The results indicate that CAAP is an important allergen in C. alb‐related mucosal allergy.
International Patterns of Union Membership

This paper examines changes in unionization that have occurred over the last decade or so using individual level micro data on many countries, with particular emphasis on the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. I document an empirical regularity not hitherto identified, namely the probability of being unionized follows an inverted U-shaped pattern in age, maximizing in the mid- to late 40s in 34 of the 38 countries I study. I consider the question of why union membership seems to follow a similar inverted U-shape pattern in age across countries with such diverse industrial relations systems. I find evidence that this arises in part because of cohort effects, but even when cohort effects are removed a U-shape remains.
Governance in Permanent Whitewater: The Boards Role in Planning and Implementing Organisational Change

Theoretical perspectives on organisational governance tend to position boards and top management teams in relationships characterised either as control or collaboration. These perspectives may not take into account the realities faced by organisations needing to undertake changes to meet the demands of turbulent environments. What are the critical roles that boards should play to successfully accomplish organisational change? This study first examines research on organisational change in order to identify critical contributions that boards can make to successful planning and implementation of organisational change. Testable propositions are then presented that suggest roles boards should play in effectively guiding organisational change while protecting the interests of an organisation's stakeholders. Copyright (c) 2007 The Author; Journal compilation (c) 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Intangible expenses: a solution to increase the French wine industry performance?

This paper presents an empirical investigation of the link between intangible expenses of French wine companies and their financial performance. A flexible moment-based approach is used to analyse the impact of tangible and intangible expenses on the mean, variance and skewness of profit. Econometric evidence shows that a high level of intangible expenses has a positive impact on performance by increasing the expected profit and reducing variance risk. A lower level of intangible expenses reduces risk and mean of profit of corporations. This study provides insights on the use of intangible expenses as a risk management tool. , Oxford University Press.
Packing topological minors half‐integrally

The packing problem and the covering problem are two of the most general questions in graph theory. The Erdős–Pósa property characterizes the cases when the optimal solutions of these two problems are bounded by functions of each other. Robertson and Seymour proved that when packing and covering H$H$ ‐minors for any fixed graph H$H$ , the planarity of H$H$ is equivalent to the Erdős–Pósa property. Thomas conjectured that the planarity is no longer required if the solution of the packing problem is allowed to be half‐integral. In this paper, we prove that this half‐integral version of Erdős–Pósa property holds for packing and covering H$H$ ‐topological minors, for any fixed graph H$H$ , which easily implies Thomas' conjecture. In fact, we prove an even stronger statement in which those topological minors are rooted at any choice of prescribed subsets of vertices. A number of results on H$H$ ‐topological minor‐free or H$H$ ‐minor‐free graphs have conclusions or requirements tied to properties of H$H$ . Classes of graphs that can half‐integrally pack only a bounded number of H$H$ ‐topological minors or H$H$ ‐minors are more general topological minor‐closed or minor‐closed families whose minimal obstructions are more complicated than H$H$ . Our theorem provides a general machinery to extend those results to those more general classes of graphs without losing their tight connections to H$H$ .