Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Excess-of-loss reinsurance for a company with debt liability and constraints on risk reduction

We consider a problem of risk control and dividend optimization for a financial corporation facing a constant liability payment. More specifically we investigate the case of excess-of-loss reinsurance for an insurance company. In this scheme the insurance company diverts a part of its premium stream to another company, the reinsurer, in exchange for an obligation to pick up that amount of each claim which exceeds a certain level a. The objective of the insurer is to maximize the expected present value of total future dividend pay-outs. We consider cases when there is restriction on the rate of dividend pay-outs and when there is no restriction. In both cases we describe explicitly the optimal return function as well as the optimal policy.
Corporate Competences in Subsidiaries of Brazilian Multinationals

ABSTRACT Emerging multinationals must seek and develop competences abroad and develop the skills to transfer such competences faster and more actively than traditional multinationals. This article aims to further the understanding of the development, transfer, and recognition processes of the competences of emerging multinationals' subsidiaries. Based on a review of the literature, a model was developed focusing on the relationships between (i) the strategic guidelines designed by corporate headquarters for subsidiaries (integration, entrepreneurial attitude), (ii) the management of subsidiaries (initiative), and (iii) the management of subsidiaries' relationships with the external environment (competitive context and external network). The model was applied to a survey of Brazilian multinationals and their subsidiaries. The results showed that the variables competitive context and external network (in which the subsidiary is embedded) are the most important for competence development, transfer to and recognition by the headquarters; the variable subsidiary initiative is important for recognition by headquarters only.
Uveitis and erythema nodosum in inflammatory bowel disease: clinical features and the role of HLA genes.

BACKGROUND & AIMS There are few systematic studies on the natural history or immunogenetic associations of erythema nodosum (EN) or ocular inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but they are reportedly more common in patients with other extraintestinal manifestations (EIMs), particularly arthritis. Immunogenetic associations have previously been described in IBD arthritis and in EN associated with sarcoidosis. This study examined the clinical features and HLA-B, DR, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) associations of ocular inflammation and EN and their clinical and immunogenetic relationship to arthritis in IBD. METHODS Details of EN and ocular inflammation were gathered by case-note review and questionnaire in 976 ulcerative colitis patients and 483 Crohn's patients. Sequence-specific PCR typing for polymorphisms in HLA-B, DR, and TNF-alpha was performed in 39 EN and 40 ocular patients. Results were compared with 490 IBD controls without EIMs, 38 patients with type 1 and 31 with type 2 peripheral arthritis, and 16 AS patients. RESULTS EN and ocular inflammation were more common in women, were associated with IBD relapse, and recurred in approximately 30% of patients. They occurred more commonly with arthritis and AS than expected by chance. Ocular inflammation was strongly associated with HLA-B*27, B*58, and HLA-DRB1*0103. There is a weak association between EN and HLA-B*15 but a strong association with the -1031 TNF-alpha. CONCLUSIONS EN, uveitis, and arthritis associated with IBD occur together commonly. They are associated with genes in the HLA region, and linkage disequilibrium between these genes may account for the clinical picture of overlapping but independent clinical manifestations.
Benefit Duration, Unemployment Duration and Job Match Quality: A Regression-Discontinuity Approach

The generosity of the Unemployment Insurance system (UI) plays a central role for the job search behavior of unemployed individuals. Standard search theory predicts that an increase in UI benefit generosity, either in terms of benefit duration or entitlement, has a negative impact on the job search activities of the unemployed increasing their unemployment duration. Despite the disincentive effect of UI on unemployment duration, UI benefit generosity may also increase job match quality by allowing individuals to wait for better job offers. In this paper we use a sharp discontinuity in the maximum duration of unemployment benefits in Germany, which increases from 12 months to 18 months at the age of 45, to identify the effect of extended benefit duration on unemployment duration and post-unemployment outcomes. We find a spike in the re-employment hazard for the unemployed workers with 12 months benefit duration, which occurs around benefit exhaustion. This leads to lower unemployment duration compared to their counterparts with 18 months benefit duration. However, we also show that those unemployed who obtain jobs close to and after the time when benefits are exhausted are significantly more likely to exit subsequent employment and receive lower wages compared to their counterparts with extended benefit duration.
Emergence of a novel swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus in humans.

BACKGROUND On April 15 and April 17, 2009, novel swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus (S-OIV) was identified in specimens obtained from two epidemiologically unlinked patients in the United States. The same strain of the virus was identified in Mexico, Canada, and elsewhere. We describe 642 confirmed cases of human S-OIV infection identified from the rapidly evolving U.S. outbreak. METHODS Enhanced surveillance was implemented in the United States for human infection with influenza A viruses that could not be subtyped. Specimens were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for real-time reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction confirmatory testing for S-OIV. RESULTS From April 15 through May 5, a total of 642 confirmed cases of S-OIV infection were identified in 41 states. The ages of patients ranged from 3 months to 81 years; 60% of patients were 18 years of age or younger. Of patients with available data, 18% had recently traveled to Mexico, and 16% were identified from school outbreaks of S-OIV infection. The most common presenting symptoms were fever (94% of patients), cough (92%), and sore throat (66%); 25% of patients had diarrhea, and 25% had vomiting. Of the 399 patients for whom hospitalization status was known, 36 (9%) required hospitalization. Of 22 hospitalized patients with available data, 12 had characteristics that conferred an increased risk of severe seasonal influenza, 11 had pneumonia, 8 required admission to an intensive care unit, 4 had respiratory failure, and 2 died. The S-OIV was determined to have a unique genome composition that had not been identified previously. CONCLUSIONS A novel swine-origin influenza A virus was identified as the cause of outbreaks of febrile respiratory infection ranging from self-limited to severe illness. It is likely that the number of confirmed cases underestimates the number of cases that have occurred.
Improving the methodology of text entry experiments

In this paper, the methodology of text entry experiments is discussed and the current practice is compared to the text entry experiment standardized by ISO 9241-4. Text entry experiments focus on measuring and comparing performance of users entering text. Vast majority of research of new text entry methods does not follow the ISO 9241-4 methodology. We express the need for a new standard which should be discussed in the research community. A text entry method is usually examined in a series of text-copy tasks, a setup in which the user is requested to copy the presented phrase using the method that is being examined. The outcome of the text-copy task is influenced by many factors. This paper examines the effect of one of these factors - the relative position of the presented phrase and the transcribed text. We conducted a controlled experiment with 62 participants using 3 different text entry methods. We found that the position has a significant effect on the subjective evaluation of the text entry method.
The Public Utility Pyramids

In the 1920s and 1930s, many public utilities in the United States were controlled by holding companies organized in pyramid form. This structure can add value to subsidiaries but can also facilitate extraction of wealth from the subsidiaries’ public shareholders. I examine the effects of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA), which outlawed pyramid structures. The value of both top holding companies and their subsidiaries fall (rise) around the time of key legislative events favorable (unfavorable) to the enactment of PUHCA, supporting the hypothesis that public shareholders benefited from the presence of a controlling shareholder.
Comparison of Field Results and Digital Simulation Results of Voltage Source Converter-Based FACTS Controllers

This paper compares the field results of Voltage Source Converter (VSC)-based Flexible Altemating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS) Controllers, such as STATic synchronous COMpensator (STATCOM), Static Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC), and Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) with that obtained from the computer models of the FACTS controllers using an Electro-Magnetic Transients Program (EMTP) simulation package. The operational results of the actual equipment include the control of the line voltage and the control of the real and reactive power flow in the line. The correlation of the results establishes the validity of the models. The protection scheme of the FACTS controllers during faults and contingencies is also described. The simulation results can be used to accurately predict the behavior of an actual controller.
The Impact of Free Agency on Competitive Balance in North American Professional Team Sports Leagues

Free agency was reintroduced to professional team sport leagues in the 1970s. Sport enthusiasts expressed concern that competitive balance would diminish as star players congregated to large market cities. However, the economic invariance principle rejects this notion, indicating that balance should remain unchanged. This article empirically examines the effects of changes in free agent rules on competitive balance over time in the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and National Hockey League (NHL). Regression analysis using within-season and between-season measures of competitive balance as dependent variables provides mixed results. The NFL and NHL provide evidence that an aspect of competitive balance has improved, but results from the NBA indicate that balance has worsened since the introduction of free agency. We conclude that the ambiguous results suggest that the effects are not independent, but instead depend on the interaction of free agent rights with other la.
Between National Security and Ethno-nationalism

Although scholarly interest in Northeast India is growing there is still relatively little discussion of the high levels of poverty in the region and the failures of development. When mentioned they are viewed instrumentally as causes and/or symptoms of ongoing insurgency and counter-insurgency. However this does not fully explain how a region that receives an extraordinarily large amount of development funding from the Indian Government, has its own development ministry, has some of India’s highest human development indicators, and has an array of institutional layers assuring autonomy and decentralisation has poverty levels well above the Indian national average. Using the state of Meghalaya, this article examines the factors underpinning the development agenda in the region and the political space for contesting this agenda. The argument presented is three-fold; the regional development agenda is underpinned by national security imperatives which characterise relations between the various levels of governance ensuring minimal deviation, contestation of the development agenda is limited by national security from above and ethno-nationalism from below narrowing the political space for negotiating development alternatives, and this situation is the result of material and ideational factors embedding development in the politics of state-formation and ethnic identity.
Room For Manoeuvre: Local Organisations and Resource Tenure Administration in Highland Kafa, Southwest Ethiopia

The role of local organisations in tenure administration is examined, giving particular emphasis to past and present processes of forest law enforcement and settlement of forest use-related disputes in highland Kafa, Ethiopia. The involvement of local rural organisations in tenure administration is mainly a consequence of the 1975 Land Reform Proclamation. Recently community-initiated local organisations have become increasingly involved in dispute settlement along with statesponsored ones. This has in turn created the conditions for a synergetic relationship between these organisations in tenure administration. Ineffectual forest legislation and limited government capacity to implement the tenurial provisions have, inadvertently, allowed local organisations to adopt tenure rules to suit local interests, which at times tended to favour the powerful and disregarded forest conservation imperatives. It is argued that tenure administration should aim at sustainability and equitability, and these necessitate enactment of livelihood-oriented forest tenure reform that builds upon and reinvigorates local institutional capital.
The Demand for Illicit Drugs

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the effects of heroin prices, cocaine prices and marijuana decriminalization on the demand for these three drugs, respectively. There are few prior empirical studies in this area because data have been difficult to acquire. This paper makes use of newly available data on drug prices and is the first to link these data to a sample of 49,802 individuals from the National Household Survey of Drug Abuse. The new drug price data comes from the Drug Enforcement Agency. The results provide empirical evidence that drug use is more price responsive than has been previously thought. The results show that the participation price elasticity for heroin is about -. 90 to -. 80 and that the participation price elasticity for cocaine is about - . 55 to -. 36. Marijuana decriminalization was also found to increase the probability of marijuana participation by about 4 to 6 percent. The price elasticity for heroin is estimated at about -1.80 to -1.60 and for cocaine at about -1.10 to -. 72. It is estimated that legalization would lead to about a 100 percent increase in the quantity of heroin consumed and about a 50 percent increase in the quantity of cocaine consumed.
Brand switching in clothing: the role of variety‐seeking drive and product category‐level characteristics

The study explores the impact of internal factors such as variety-seeking drive, loyalty, involvement, perceived risk, pleasure and similarity perceptions on brand-switching propensity in clothing purchases using multiple regression. The model derived shows that five internal factors including involvement, perceived risk, loyalty and variety-seeking drive have an impact on brand switching propensity. The findings highlight that highly involved and loyal consumers are likely to show brand-switching propensities in their clothing purchases, thus buying from a repertoire of brands and stores. These findings imply that retailers should ensure that their clothing brands or stores are among those in the multi-brand repertoire of the consumer.
Inhibition of angiogenesis in vivo by interleukin 12.

BACKGROUND In previous animal studies, interleukin 12 (IL 12) was shown to inhibit the growth of a wide spectrum of tumors in vivo but to have no direct effect on tumor cells in vitro. Also, contrary to the expectation of a T-cell-mediated effect, the antitumor activity of IL 12 was not completely abrogated in tests of T-cell-deficient mice. These observations suggest that IL 12 may possess antiangiogenic properties that account for its tumor-inhibitory effects in vivo. PURPOSE Our goal was to investigate the hypothesis that IL 12 has antiangiogenic properties. METHODS A model of basic fibroblast growth factor-induced corneal neovascularization in mice was used to evaluate the effects of IL 12 and interferon gamma (IFN gamma) on angiogenesis in vivo. Different strains of male mice, e.g., immunocompetent C57BL/6 mice, severe combined immune-deficient (SCID) mice, natural killer cell-deficient beige mice, and T-cell-deficient nude mice, were treated with IL 12 (1 microgram/day) intraperitoneally for 5 consecutive days. The extent of neovascularization in response to a basic fibroblast growth factor pellet and the inhibition of neovascularization by IL 12 or IFN gamma were assessed by measuring the maximal vessel length and the corneal circumference involved in new blood vessel formation. The antitumor activities of IL 12 and of the angiogenesis inhibitor AGM-1470 were evaluated in Lewis lung carcinoma-bearing mice. In vitro proliferation studies were performed on bovine capillary endothelial cells, mouse pancreatic islet endothelial cells, and mouse hemangioendothelioma cells. RESULTS IL 12 treatment almost completely inhibited corneal neovascularization in C57BL/6, SCID, and beige mice. This potent suppression of angiogenesis was prevented by the administration of IFN gamma-neutralizing antibodies, suggesting that the suppression was mediated through IFN gamma. In addition, the administration of IFN gamma reproduced the antiangiogenic effects observed during treatment with IL 12. Treatment with IL 12 and AGM-1470 combined did not increase toxicity and showed a trend toward enhanced antitumor efficacy in Lewis lung carcinoma-bearing mice. CONCLUSIONS IL 12 strongly inhibits neovascularization. This effect is not mediated by a specific cell type of the immune system. Instead, IL 12 has been shown to induce IFN gamma, which, in turn, appears to play a critical role as a mediator of the antiangiogenic effects of IL 12. IMPLICATIONS Recognition of the mechanisms of the antiangiogenic properties of IL 12 may be crucial in planning its clinical applications, including a possibility of coadministration with other inhibitors of neovascularization.
On the Statistical Estimation of Parametric Frontier Production Functions

Direct and Cross Demand Elasticities in a Model with Many Sectors," Econometrica (Apr. 1959). Goldberger, A. S. , Econometric Theory (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1964). Jorgenson, D. W. , Lecture Notes: Economics 241 Part IV: The Multivariate Structural Model (Berkeley, California: Committee on Econometrics and Mathematical Economics, Institute of Business and Economic Research, University of California at Berkeley, 1962). Lemke, C. E. , "A Method of Solution for Quadratic Programs," Management Science (Aug. 1962), 442-453. Mangasarian, 0. L. , "Duality in Nonlinear Programming," Quarterly Journal of Applied Mathematics 20 (1962), 300-302.
A Fluoroquinolone Resistance Protein from Mycobacterium tuberculosis That Mimics DNA

Fluoroquinolones are gaining increasing importance in the treatment of tuberculosis. The expression of MfpA, a member of the pentapeptide repeat family of proteins from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, causes resistance to ciprofloxacin and sparfloxacin. This protein binds to DNA gyrase and inhibits its activity. Its three-dimensional structure reveals a fold, which we have named the right-handed quadrilateral β helix, that exhibits size, shape, and electrostatic similarity to B-form DNA. This represents a form of DNA mimicry and explains both its inhibitory effect on DNA gyrase and fluoroquinolone resistance resulting from the protein's expression in vivo.
Tailoring Incentives for Researchers

ONE MIGHT LEGITIMATELY question the need for incentive systems for scientists since they are considered well paid and have professional stature. But a 1970 study found an inordinately high incidence of turnover among scientists. Among the factors mentioned as a reason for changing jobs were change in career direction, more interesting work, opportunity for advancement, and salary. The study’s author suggested that incentives to remain should be built into the job in the first place because substantial &dquo;losses in output occur whenever scientists change employers,&dquo; to say nothing of the loss of invest-
Involvement and the tourist shopper: Using the involvement construct to segment the American tourist shopper at the mall

There is great interest in understanding the complex behaviors of consumers. One facet of consumer behavior is the ‘involvement’ construct. Involvement is a person’s perceived relevance of the object based on inherent needs, values, and interests. There is a plethora of shopping malls all over the US. Major metropolitan cities are over-malled! Despite the abundance of malls close to their residence, American travelers shop at comparable malls while tourists in another city. There exists a gap in the literature about this phenomenon. This study surveyed 485 tourist shoppers residing in metropolitan areas to address this gap. It examined the interplay of their shopping involvement with demographics, push motivators, pull motivators, shopper-tourist cluster typologies, and the amount of time and money spent shopping while on a trip. This study created a profile of tourists based on their level of shopping involvement. It segmented them into high-, medium-, or low-involvement tourist shoppers. The more highly involved tourist shoppers were female and had limited formal education. Further, they indicated they were more interested in shopping than in many other activities. Involvement levels were consistently associated with both push and pull factors in a hierarchical manner. Respondents strongly motivated to shop by push and pull factors were consistently found to be highly involved tourist shoppers. Involvement was a significant predictor of overall satisfaction with a shopping center. Involvement levels were significantly linked to tourist-shopper cluster typologies. High-involvement tourist shoppers were significantly more likely to have saved for shopping on their trip. However, involvement was not found to be a predictor of time or money spent on shopping while on a trip.
Making teacher education relevant for practice: The pedagogy of realistic teacher education

The gap between theory and practice in teacher education has led to much criticism regarding the eectiveness of teacher education. In this article, the causes of this gap are discussed and related to a framework for teacher behaviour and teacher learning. Using this framework, the so- called 'realistic approach' to teacher education has been developed, which marks a new direction in the pedagogy of teacher education. This approach, developed at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, is described in this article, and its basic principles are discussed. Several evaluative studies into the realistic approach show its positive outcomes. Important conclusions are presented for (1) programme design, based on (2) a view of the intended process of student teacher learning, (3) the pedagogical interventions and arrangements used, and (4) the professional development of teacher educators.