Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Agricultural financial market segments

Purpose - For agricultural bankers, agribusiness managers, and salespeople, understanding customers and their preferences and behaviors is crucial to success. The two goals of this paper are first to identify today's distinct market segments for financial products for US crop and livestock commercial producers, and second to predict segment membership based on observable characteristics. Design/methodology/approach - Cluster analysis was used to identify four distinct buyer segments for the purchase of financial products and services by US crop and livestock commercial producers. A multinomial logit model was used to predict segment membership based on demographic, behavioral, and business management factors. Findings - Although, traditionally, the financial services industry has segmented the market for commercial producers based primarily on sales/size categories; this research shows that this factor is not a significant predictor of behavior. Instead, this paper proposes a segmentation based on buying behaviors and identify four distinct market segments for financial products and services for US crop and livestock commercial producers: balance, price, convenience, and service. The balance segment being by far the largest segment. Research limitations/implications - Although the sample size means is representative of the US ag population, it may or may not be representative of the customers of a regional lender. Readers who are lenders are therefore advised to apply this methodology to their customer database and use the results of the paper as a quality check or benchmarking exercise. The findings also raise a number of issues, which require further research, such as how to implement a targeted marketing plan when there is one dominant segment and two other distinct segments. Practical implications - Lenders need to reconsider their market segmentation methodology. Originality/value - While there has been some research on market segments for retail financial markets, apparently there has been no work on market segments for agricultural financial products. This study exploits a unique dataset of 2,575 responses to Purdue's Large Commercial Producer Survey and the 2008 survey is the first time the survey included a series of detailed questions on how producers choose a financial service provider. This paper's findings will benefit agricultural bankers and agribusinesses that offer financing to their customers.
Adaptive radiation within New Zealand endemic species of the cockroach genus Celatoblatta Johns (Blattidae): a response to Plio‐Pleistocene mountain building and climate change

The South Island of New Zealand offers unique opportunities to study insect evolution due to long‐term physical isolation, recent alpine habitats and high levels of biotic endemism. Using DNA sequence data from cytochrome oxidase subunit 1, we investigated the phylogeographical pattern among 10 endemic cockroach species within the genus Celatoblatta Johns (Blattidae). We tested the hypothesis that an ancestral cockroach species underwent rapid speciation in response to major climatic differentiation induced by mountain building. Results suggest that speciation was a twofold process, with an interspecific radiation of Pliocene/Pleistocene age followed by intraspecific diversification during the mid Pleistocene. Average genetic distance (maximum likelihood GTR + I + Γ) was 9.17%, with a maximum of 14.5%. Data revealed eight deep well‐supported branches, each with terminal clades. Six clades were differentiated according to morphological species, while the seventh was composed of three sympatric species. We consider the latter to be a phylogenetic species, possibly as a result of hybridization within a defined geographical area. This finding seriously challenges species distinctions for these three cockroach species. Correlation between genetic distances and a Climate Similarity Index (CSI) was negative, suggesting that species found in similar habitats are also genetically closely related. A Mantel test on within‐clade genetic distances vs. linear geographical distance was positive, suggesting allopatric isolation for those haplotypes. We present a model of speciation for South Island Celatoblatta.
Organization of Informative Committees by a Rational Legislature

This paper combines an organization theory perspective with rational choice techniques to study legislative design. The specific focus is on how a legislature assigns members and transfers resources to standing committees with the aim of motivating committees to specialize and to share the benefits of specialization. The stimulus for the study comes from organization theory and a long tradition of empirical congressional studies. The main analytical tool, however, is a game of incomplete information. Several testable propositions about legislative organization are derived.
Mean-shifted surface curvature algorithm for automatic bone shape segmentation in orthopedic surgery planning: a sensitivity analysis

The results of recent studies concerning statistical bone atlases and automated shape analysis are promising with a view to widening the use of surface models in orthopedic clinical practice, both in pre-operative planning and in the intra-operative stages. In this domain, automatic shape analysis is strongly advocated because it offers the opportunity to detect morphological and clinical landmarks with superior repeatability in comparison to human operators. Surface curvatures have been proposed extensively for segmentation and labeling of image and surface regions based on their appearance and shape. The surface curvature is an invariant that can be exploited for reliable detection of geometric features. In this paper, we investigate the potentiality of the algorithm termed mean-shift (MS), as applied to a non-linear combination of the minimum and maximum curvatures of a surface. We exploited a sensitivity analysis of the algorithm parameters across increasing surface resolutions. Results obtained with femur and pelvic bone surface data, reconstructed from cadaveric CT scans, demonstrated that the information content derived by the MS non-linear curvature overcomes both the mean and the Gaussian curvatures and the original non-linear curvature. By applying a threshold-based clustering algorithm to the curvature distribution, we found that the number of clusters yielded by the MS non-linear curvature is significantly lower (by a factor of up to 6) than that obtained by using the original non-linear curvature. In conclusion, this study provides valuable insights into the use of surface curvature for automatic shape analysis.
EARLY UNWINDING STRATEGY IN INDEX OPTIONS-FUTURES ARBITRAGE

We first re-examine buy-and-hold arbitrage strategies using both ex-post and ex-ante index options and futures data in Hong Kong. The results show that the arbitrage profit is not large enough to cover the transaction costs for both individual and institutional investors. Second, we find that, when an early unwinding strategy is employed, the arbitrage profit improves significantly under an ex-post analysis but only improves slightly under an ex-ante analysis. In addition, opportunities for same-day unwinding are very limited. Finally, our regression results indicate that the magnitude of the arbitrage profit is positively related to the volatility of the stock market.
Prostaglandin D2 Inhibits Airway Dendritic Cell Migration and Function in Steady State Conditions by Selective Activation of the D Prostanoid Receptor 1 1

PGD2 is the major mediator released by mast cells during allergic responses, and it acts through two different receptors, the D prostanoid receptor 1 (DP1) and DP2, also known as CRTH2. Recently, it has been shown that PGD2 inhibits the migration of epidermal Langerhans cells to the skin draining lymph nodes (LNs) and affects the subsequent cutaneous inflammatory reaction. However, the role of PGD2 in the pulmonary immune response remains unclear. Here, we show that the intratracheal instillation of FITC-OVA together with PGD2 inhibits the migration of FITC+ lung DC to draining LNs. This process is mimicked by the DP1 agonist BW245C, but not by the DP2 agonist DK-PGD2. The ligation of DP1 inhibits the migration of FITC-OVA+ DCs only temporarily, but still inhibits the proliferation of adoptively transferred, OVA-specific, CFSE-labeled, naive T cells in draining LNs. These T cells produced lower amounts of the T cell cytokines IL-4, IL-10, and IFN-γ compared with T cells from mice that received FITC-OVA alone. Taken together, our data suggest that the activation of DP receptor by PGD2 may represent a pathway to control airway DC migration and to limit the activation of T cells in the LNs under steady state conditions, possibly contributing to homeostasis in the lung.
Impaired Cyclic Electron Flow around Photosystem I Disturbs High-Light Respiratory Metabolism1

The cytochrome oxidase pathway mediates photorespiratory glycine oxidation and amino acid synthesis under severe light stress, thus reducing photoinhibition when alternative oxidase is not induced. The cyclic electron flow around photosystem I (CEF-PSI) increases ATP/NADPH production in the chloroplast, acting as an energy balance mechanism. Higher export of reducing power from the chloroplast in CEF-PSI mutants has been correlated with higher mitochondrial alternative oxidase (AOX) capacity and protein amount under high-light (HL) conditions. However, in vivo measurements of AOX activity are still required to confirm the exact role of AOX in dissipating the excess of reductant power from the chloroplast. Here, CEF-PSI single and double mutants were exposed to short-term HL conditions in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Chlorophyll fluorescence, in vivo activities of the cytochrome oxidase (νcyt) and AOX (νalt) pathways, levels of mitochondrial proteins, metabolite profiles, and pyridine nucleotide levels were determined under normal growth and HL conditions. νalt was not increased in CEF-PSI mutants, while AOX capacity was positively correlated with photoinhibition, probably due to a reactive oxygen species-induced increase of AOX protein. The severe metabolic impairment observed in CEF-PSI mutants, as indicated by the increase in photoinhibition and changes in the levels of stress-related metabolites, can explain their lack of νalt induction. By contrast, νcyt was positively correlated with photosynthetic performance. Correlations with metabolite changes suggest that νcyt is coordinated with sugar metabolism and stress-related amino acid synthesis. Furthermore, changes in glycine-serine and NADH-NAD+ ratios were highly correlated to νcyt. Taken together, our results suggest that νcyt can act as a sink for the excess of electrons from the chloroplast, probably via photorespiratory glycine oxidation, thus improving photosynthetic performance when νalt is not induced under severe HL stress.
Blueprint for a green economy

Preface * Introduction * The Meaning of Sustainable Development * Valuing the Environment * Annex: Difficulties in the Application of Estimation Techniques * Accounting for the Environment * Project Appraisal * Discounting the Future * Prices and Incentives for Environmental Improvements * Annex: Sustainable Development i? A Gallery of Definitions * Index
The Management of Neoplastic Disorders of Haematopoeisis in Children with Down's Syndrome

Down's syndrome (DS) is the most common factor predisposing to childhood leukaemia. Children with DS have a 10to 20-fold excess risk of developing leukaemia (Table I) (Krivit & Good, 1957; Stewart et al, 1958; Wald et al, 1961; reviewed in Fong & Brodeur, 1987; Levitt et al, 1990; Robison, 1992; Zipursky et al, 1992; Avet-Loiseau et al, 1995). Roughly 1% of children with DS develop one or more of the following distinctive types of leukaemia: (i) a spontaneously regressing congenital or neonatal myeloproliferative disorder (TMD) (also known as transient myeloproliferative syndrome, congenital transient leukaemia, congenital leukaemoid reaction, transient leukaemoid proliferation and transient abnormal myelopoiesis); (ii) acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), usually acute megakaryoblastic leukaemia (AMKL) (or erythro/megakaryoblastic leukaemia before the age of 5 years); or (iii) common B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) (for a review, see Zipursky et al, 1987; Robison, 1992; Avet-Loiseau et al, 1995). The current management strategy for these disorders, with few exceptions and considerable caution, is simple: in TMD, `do nothing'; in AML, `do less'; and in ALL, `do more'. The rationale for this approach is the subject of this review.
Building a consensus for fiscal reform: The Chilean case

The financial crisis that started in Asia in 1997 brought up a renewed concern over public finances in emerging economies. As most observers failed to detect creeping fiscal disequilibria, large public contingent liabilities, vulnerable asset-liability structures and time inconsistencies of fiscal policy, international financial institutions committed themselves to promote higher transparency and efficiency in the management of public finances. This has resulted in a stream of transparency codes, guidelines and best practice reports over the last couple of years that intend to prevent such failures in the future.
Government Survival in Parliamentary Democracies

List of tables and figures Preface 1. Introduction: the government survival debates 2. The quantitative study of government survival 3. Basic attributes and government survival 4. The role of ideology 5. Economic conditions and government survival 6. The underlying trend in government survival 7. Model adequacy 8. Conclusion: an alternative perspective on government survival Appendix: a codebook of variables used in this study Notes References Index.
Agrarische Waldnutzungen in der Schweiz 1800–1950. Waldweide, Waldheu, Nadel- und Laubfutter | Agricultural use of forest in Switzerland 1800–1950. Wood pasture, wood hay collection, and the use of leaves and needles for fodder

The suppression of agricultural uses of the forests was a prerequisite for the successful introduction of sustainable wood production in the 19th and early 20th century. Today, these agricultural uses of the forests, which have been neglected for a long time, are being re-evaluated. They foster less dense and more open forest stands, which are of interest to nature conservation. In the present review paper we discuss the characteristics, extent, and intensity of historical agricultural uses of forests in Switzerland. We especially focus on the relationships between local people with entitlement rights of supply, the interests of the forestry officials, and more general processes, such as agricultural modernization and changes in the infrastructure of transportation. We also consider the ecological aspects of the resulting changes in forest structure. In the first part presented here, we focus on wood pasture and wood hay collection, both of which conflicted with wood production and with the concept of pro.
Wireless application protocol overview

Wireless application protocol (WAP) is being heralded as the standard for communication of mobile Internet services to smart phone and personal digital assistant devices. The protocol utilises the low bandwidth, short battery power, quality of service and limited display facilities which are characteristic of current types of mobile device. This paper will examine the WAP architecture and the drivers and issues surrounding the development of services for this environment including the requirements for addressing, quality of service, security, billing, interoperability and performance engineering. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effect of PEGylated lipid and Lecinol S-10 on physico-chemical properties and encapsulation efficiency of palmitoleate–palmitoleic acid vesicles

Abstract A vesicle is a microscopic particle composed of a lipid bilayer membrane that separates the inner aqueous compartment from the outer aqueous environment. Palmitoleate–palmitoleic acid vesicles were prepared and their physico-chemical properties were investigated. Moreover, mixed vesicles composed of palmitoleic acid and PEGylated lipid and/or a mixture of phospholipids were also prepared. The stabilizing effects of these double-chain lipids on the formation of palmitoleate–palmitoleic acid vesicles were studied. Stability of the vesicle suspension was examined using particle size and zeta potential at 30 °C. The magnitude of the zeta potential was relatively lower in the vesicle suspension with the presence of phospholipid. Although some of the mixed vesicles that were formed were not very stable, they displayed potential for encapsulating the active ingredient calcein and the encapsulation efficiencies of calcein were encouraging. The palmitoleate–palmitoleic acid–DPPE-PEG2000 vesicle showed the most promising stability and encapsulation efficiency.
Inequality and Fiscal Redistribution in Middle Income Countries: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru and South Africa

Abstract This paper examines the redistributive impact of fiscal policy for Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru and South Africa using comparable fiscal incidence analysis with data from around 2010. The largest redistributive effect is in South Africa and the smallest in Indonesia. Success in fiscal redistribution is driven primarily by redistributive effort (share of social spending to GDP in each country) and the extent to which transfers/subsidies are targeted to the poor and direct taxes targeted to the rich. While fiscal policy always reduces inequality, this is not the case with poverty. When pensions are not considered a transfer, fiscal policy increases poverty in Brazil (over and above market income poverty) due to high consumption taxes on basic goods. Total spending on education is pro-poor except for Indonesia, where it is neutral in absolute terms. Health spending is pro-poor in Brazil, Chile and South Africa, roughly neutral in absolute terms in Mexico, and not pro-poor in Indonesia and Peru.
Volatility Estimation of Stock Prices using Garch Method

Economic decisions are modeled based on perceived distribution of the random variables in the future, assessment and measurement of the variance which has a significant impact on the future profit or losses of particular portfolio. The ability to accurately measure and predict the stock market volatility has a wide spread implications. Volatility plays a very significant role in many financial decisions. The main purpose of this study is to examine the nature and the characteristics of stock market volatility of Kenyan stock markets and its stylized facts using GARCH models. Symmetric volatility model namly GARCH model was used to estimate volatility of stock returns. GARCH (1, 1) explains volatility of Kenyan stock markets and its stylized facts including volatility clustering, fat tails and mean reverting more satisfactorily.The results indicates the evidence of time varying stock return volatility over the sampled period of time. In conclusion it follows that in a financial crisis; the negative returns shocks have higher volatility than positive returns shocks. Keywords: GARCH, Stylized facts, Volatility clustering
Study on the Marketing Strategy of the Family Planning Policy

The marketing theory has important guidance and reference value in many fields in modern society, and is applied widely in practice. The study shows that the family planning work also has various attributes of the marketing, so the marketing can be widely used to carry out the marketing of family planning. Its basic framework is the 6Ps marketing mix of the family planning policy marketing.
Order Imbalance Based Strategy in High Frequency Trading

This thesis aims to investigate the performance of an order imbalance based trading strategy in a high frequency setting. We first analyze the statistical properties of order imbalance and investigate its capabilities as a trading strategy motivated by ideas introduced in [4, 7, 11]. We try to understand how the strategy performs on different futures contracts and its relationship with trading volume. Finally, we attempt to improve the trading strategy by including other imbalance-based signals, adjusting for bid-ask spread, and optimizing the model and trading parameters.
Design of an 8:1 MUX at 1.7 Gbit/s in 0.8 /spl mu/m CMOS technology

The design of an 8:1 multiplexer circuit, for SDH/SONET data transmission systems, is presented. In order to achieve maximum transmission rates, new circuits, high speed input/output converters for ECL-CMOS levels and modified true single phase clocked (TSPC) cells, as well as new techniques for clock buffer optimization, were applied. The multiplexer was implemented in a 0.8 /spl mu/m CMOS process (0.7 /spl mu/m effective length) achieved 1.7 Gbit/s rate and 42.6 /spl mu/W/MHz power consumption at 5 V. These results were compared to a previous implementation (in the same process), and to other recently published works, showing superior performances.
Noninvasive Optical Imaging of UV‐Induced Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Murine Skin: Studies of Early Tumor Development and Vitamin D Enhancement of Protoporphyrin IX Production

Better noninvasive techniques are needed to monitor protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) levels before and during photodynamic therapy (PDT) of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin. Our aim was to evaluate (1) multispectral fluorescent imaging of ultraviolet light (UV)‐induced cancer and precancer in a mouse model of SCC and (2) multispectral imaging and probe‐based fluorescence detection as a tool to study vitamin D (VD) effects on aminolevulinic acid (ALA)‐induced PpIX synthesis. Dorsal skin of hairless mice was imaged weekly during a 24‐week UV carcinogenesis protocol. Hot spots of PpIX fluorescence were detectable by multispectral imaging beginning at 14 weeks of UV exposure. Many hot spots disappeared after cessation of UV at week 20, but others persisted or became visible after week 20, and corresponded to tumors that eventually became visible by eye. In SCC‐bearing mice pretreated with topical VD before ALA application, our optical techniques confirmed that VD preconditioning induces a tumor‐selective increase in PpIX levels. Fluorescence‐based optical imaging of PpIX is a promising tool for detecting early SCC lesions of the skin. Pretreatment with VD can increase the ability to detect early tumors, providing a potential new way to improve efficacy of ALA‐PDT.
Optimal Taxation with Home Production

Optimal taxes for Europe and the U.S. are derived in a realistically calibrated model in which agents buy consumption goods and services and use home capital and labor to produce household services. The optimal tax rate on services is substantially lower than the tax rate on goods. Specifically, the planner cannot tax home production directly and instead lowers the tax rate on market services to increase the relative price of home production. The optimal tax rate on the return to home capital is strictly positive and the welfare gains from switching to optimal taxes are large.
Madagascar - Labor markets, the non-farm economy and household livelihood strategies in rural Madagascar

In this paper, the author assesses the conditions in the rural labor markets in Madagascar in an effort to better understand poverty there. In doing so, the author focus our attention on labor outcomes in the context of household livelihood strategies that include farm and non-farm income earning opportunities. The author identify distinct household livelihood strategies that can be ordered in welfare terms, and estimate multinomial logit models to assess the extent to which there exist barriers to choosing dominant strategies. Individual employment choice models, as well as estimates of earnings functions, provide supporting evidence of these barriers.