Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
STRATEGIC INCENTIVES FOR KEPPING ONE SET OF BOOKS UNDER THE ARM’S LENGTH PRINCIPLE*

The OECD's recommendation that transfer prices between multinational enterprises and their subsidiaries be consistent with the Arm's Length Principle (ALP) for tax purposes does not restrict internal pricing policies. However, we show that under imperfect competition firms may choose to keep one set of books (i.e., to set transfer prices consistent with the ALP), as a way of softening competition in the external market. As a result, firms' profits are greater, and the surplus is smaller, than under vertical integration. In contrast, when firms keep two sets of books (i.e., their transfer prices differ from those used for tax purposes), competition intensifies in both markets relative to vertical integration.
Introduction to ISO 10303 - the STEP Standard for Product Data Exchange. pp

Since 1984 the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has been working on the development of a comprehensive standard for the electronic exchange of product data between computer-based product life-cycle systems. Initial concentration has been on design and manufacturing applications. This standard, ISO 10303 [1,2,3], is informally known as STEP (STandard for the Exchange of Product model data). Its scope is much broader than that of other existing CAD data exchange formats, notably the Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES), a US standard that has been in use for nearly twenty years. Whereas IGES was developed primarily for the exchange of pure geometric data between computer aided design (CAD) systems, STEP is intended to handle a much wider range of product-related data covering the entire life-cycle of a product.
Pay as you learn: student employment and academic progress

Increasing numbers of full‐time undergraduates are supplementing their income by seeking paid employment during term‐time. This article presents some preliminary findings from a research project which explores to what extent academic progress is affected by the part‐time, term‐time paid employment of full‐time undergraduates. It begins by considering changes made to the student funding mechanism over the past few decades and briefly contextualises the study in relation to other relevant studies. It then presents the initial findings of the study and discusses these in the light of the implications raised for: students; the institution; academic staff; employers.
Neural Network-based Question Answering System

The idea of a Question Answering (QA) system is to extract information (sometimes passages, or spans of words) directly from documents, conversations, online searches, etc., that will meet the user's information needs. In this work, we focus on the Stanford Question Answering Dataset (SQuAD) and propose an end-toend deep neural network model for machine comprehension, while achieving an F1 score of 61.13% and an Exact Match (EM) score of 46.92% on the test dataset. Codalab submission username: goyalk F1 score on test dataset: 61.13% EM score on test dataset: 46.92%
Outlier Labeling Method for Univariate Data for Module Test and Die Sort

Qorvo is a global leader in scalable and dynamic RF solutions for mobile, infrastructure, and defense. To ensure quality and compliance to customer specifications, a large number of product devices and die on wafers are tested every day. Typical data sets will contain unusually large or small values when compared with others in that data set, which may or may not pass specification limits. Such outliers will have negative effects on data analyses such as cpk-analysis, ANOVA, and regressions. More important, outliers, particularly those passing specification limits, may indicate defective parts or pose a reliability concern. For engineering teams in development and production, it is standard practice to identify or label outliers in their data sets, so that they can be removed to improve data analyses and to protect customers against receiving defective parts. The aim for this paper is to provide product engineering teams at Qorvo with reliable outlier labeling methods particularly for skewed distributions. While the ultimate goal is to label and to remove outliers, we also need to balance this with unnecessary yield loss for the financial bottom line.
High Potency of Indolyl Aryl Sulfone Nonnucleoside Inhibitors towards Drug-Resistant Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Reverse Transcriptase Mutants Is Due to Selective Targeting of Different Mechanistic Forms of the Enzyme

ABSTRACT Indolyl aryl sulfone (IAS) nonnucleoside inhibitors have been shown to potently inhibit the growth of wild-type and drug-resistant human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), but their exact mechanism of action has not been elucidated yet. Here, we describe the mechanism of inhibition of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) by selected IAS derivatives. Our results showed that, depending on the substitutions introduced in the IAS common pharmacophore, these compounds can be made selective for different enzyme-substrate complexes. Moreover, we showed that the molecular basis for this selectivity was a different association rate of the drug to a particular enzymatic form along the reaction pathway. By comparing the activities of the different compounds against wild-type RT and the nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-resistant mutant Lys103Asn, it was possible to hypothesize, on the basis of their mechanism of action, a rationale for the design of drugs which could overcome the steric barrier imposed by the Lys103Asn mutation.
Formulating standards for sustainable forest management in Canada

Over the past decade, but particularly in the years since Rio, many initiatives have surfaced in the name of sustainable forest management (SFM). There is now a growing literature recognizing new techniques in timber labelling and the certification of sustainable management systems. However, they have not yet been located adequately in wider political contexts, such as the new (non-governmental) approaches to regulatory compliance or the new corporate response to the western environmental movement. This article examines a leading SFM framework in Canada, known as the Z808 initiative. Co-ordinated by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), it advances a system of standards pertaining to sustainable forest management. As a politically-driven process to translate the concepts and practices of sustainable resource management into a concrete form, the CSA experience is very revealing. The article reviews the origins and the parameters of the Z808 system. This is followed by a commentary and critique of the system, centred on four dimensions: the pivotal role of the management system approach, the treatment of sustainability as a conceptual goal, the enclosure of the public interest, and the underlying convergence of business and state interests within this third-party certification approach. In the case of Z808, the most crucial political choices have been made already, and the operational logic of the system can be clearly discerned. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Permeability of the rat small intestinal epithelium along the villus-crypt axis: effects of glucose transport.

BACKGROUND & AIMS The aim of this study was to elucidate the permeability characteristics of the epithelium along the villus-crypt axis and investigate the effect of glucose transport on these characteristics along this axis. METHODS The disappearance rates of (14)C-mannitol and (51)Cr-EDTA or (3)H-inulin were determined as clearance (Cl(x)) from a recirculating perfusion system of the jejunal lumen in anesthetized rats. Net fluid transport was varied over a large range by exchanging mannitol with glucose in the perfusate solution and by inhibition of nervously mediated secretory processes with hexamethonium. The perfusion rate was 0.5 or 0.2 mL/min. RESULTS Cl(Man) enhanced significantly with increasing net fluid transport (secretion 8.50+/-1.88, to absorption 16.72+/-1.75 microL x min(-1) x g(-1)) and with glucose perfusates. Cl(Cr-EDTA) was constant irrespective of net fluid transport and was reduced to insignificant values at a perfusion rate of 0.2 mL/min. Cl(In) was not different from zero. CONCLUSIONS The absorbing apical part of the villus contains small pores (radius, <6 A) allowing passive transport via solvent drag of, e.g., monosaccharides, whereas the pores in the crypts are large (50-60 A) and inaccessible to the luminal content. The basal part of the villus contains medium-sized pores (10-15 A) through which no solvent drag occurs. Active glucose transport in the rat mainly increases the number of small pores accessible for passive transport, whereas the size of these pores seems to stay constant.
Elaboration of the 6,7,8 Oxygenation Pattern in Simple Coumarins: Biosynthesis of Puberulin in Agathosma puberula Fourc

Abstract Umbelliferone and scopoletin are well utilized as precursors of puberulin, a 7-O-prenyl ether of isofraxidin elaborated by Agathosm a puberula Fourc. (Rutaceae). As ferulic, sinapic, and caffeic acids were all more poorly utilized than 4′-hydroxycinnamic (p-coumaric) acid, the partial biosynthetic route: 4′-hydroxycinnamic acid →→ um belliferone → aesculetin → scopoletin →→ puberulin is suggested as the major pathway. Prenylether formation apparently occurs at or beyond the scopoletin stage. The implication that ferulic acid does not participate in the formation of scopoletin from 4′-hydroxycinnamic acid is at variance with the known role of ferulic acid as a scopoletin precursor in tobacco.
The single currency: strategic challenges for the European banking industry

This paper examines the strategic challenges for the European banking industry, arising from the process of European Monetary Union (EMU). The adoption of the euro will have profound impacts on the structure, conduct and performance of all players in the market. Strategic responses will have to focus on how to secure new profit streams in the context of both national and pan-European banking. This paper represents a timely contribution to the strategic development of banking in this final, most critical, stage of the EMU project. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Making headway towards a better understanding of service frequency valuations : a study of how the relative valuation of train service frequency and in-vehicle time vary with traveller characteristics

On-going urbanization has led to greater distances between homes and workplaces and more long-distance commuting, increasing the need for efficient inter-urban transport infrastructure. For sustainability, trains are preferred to private cars. Two key variables affecting door-to-door train travel time are in-vehicle time (IVT) and headway ; however, there is often a trade-off between speed and frequency in a system. If different categories of travellers value IVT and headway differently, their proportions on a route should affect traffic planning. Optimal system design might differ between routes carrying many commuters and routes carrying mainly passengers on single private or business trips. Knowledge of differences in relative valuations of headway versus IVT should therefore affect railway system design. We investigate whether the relative values of headway versus IVT differ between inter- urban commuting by train and single inter-urban trips by train, whilst also examining differences between socioeconomic groups. Stated choice (SC) data from 580 Swedish respondents are used in estimation. Individuals actually commuting and individuals not commuting but imagining that they are when answering the SC questions are asked about their preferences for headway versus IVT. Commuters are estimated to value increased headway 19 percentage points more than do non-commuters. Young people (under age 21 years) value headway more than do older people while people with children value headway less than do the childless.
Conditional involvement of striatal serotonin3 receptors in the control of in vivo dopamine outflow in the rat striatum

Serotonin3 (5‐HT3) receptors can affect motor control through an interaction with the nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) neurons, but the neurochemical basis for this interaction remains controversial. In this study, using in vivo microdialysis, we assessed the hypothesis that 5‐HT3 receptor‐dependent control of striatal DA release is conditioned by the degree of DA and/or 5‐HT neuron activity and the means of DA release (impulse‐dependent vs. impulse‐independent). The different DA‐releasing effects of morphine (1 and 10 mg/kg), haloperidol (0.01 mg/kg), amphetamine (1 and 2.5 mg/kg), and cocaine (10 and 20 mg/kg) were studied in the striatum of freely moving rats administered selective 5‐HT3 antagonists ondansetron (0.1 mg/kg) or MDL 72222 (0.03 mg/kg). Neither of the 5‐HT3 antagonists modified basal DA release by itself. Pretreatment with ondansetron or MDL 72222 reduced the increase in striatal DA release induced by 10 mg/kg morphine but not by 1 mg/kg morphine, haloperidol, amphetamine or cocaine. The effect of 10 mg/kg morphine was also prevented by intrastriatal ondansetron (1 µm) administration. Reverse dialysis with ondansetron also reduced the increase in DA release induced by the combination of haloperidol and the 5‐HT reuptake inhibitor citalopram (1 mg/kg). Considering the different DA and 5‐HT‐releasing properties of the drugs used, our results demonstrate that striatal 5‐HT3 receptors control selectively the depolarization‐dependent exocytosis of DA only when central DA and 5‐HT tones are increased concomitantly.
Index futures trading and spot price volatility

A modified Levene statistic and a switching GARCH(1,1)-MA(1) model are employed to examine the impact of index futures contracts on the volatility of the spot market. The findings suggest that, following the introduction of index futures, the volatility of stock returns in the USA, France, Japan and Australia, rose significantly, while no significant changes in the volatility were found in the UK and Hong Kong. The different results might be attributed to macroeconomic factors and the structure of the various markets.
Long-term Outcome of Endoscopic Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction with Patellar Tendon Autograft

Background Short-term results of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction are well reported; however, there are no studies evaluating endoscopic reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament with a minimum 10-year follow-up. Hypothesis Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with patellar tendon graft affords good subjective results and clinical laxity assessments but may be associated with development of osteoarthritis over the long term. Study Design Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Methods Endoscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction was performed in 67 consecutive patients without significant articular surface damage. Patients were assessed at 5, 7, and 13 years after surgery with the International Knee Documentation Committee Knee Ligament Evaluation Form, Lysholm knee score, hop tests, kneeling pain, and radiographs. Results At 13-year review, self-reported assessments remained excellent; 96% of patients reported normal or nearly normal knee function. Grade 0 or 1 results were seen in more than 92% of patients on laxity testing. Patients who had undergone meniscectomy at the time of reconstruction had increased laxity between 7 and 13 years on instrumented testing (P = .03) and 6 times greater odds of anterior cruciate ligament graft rupture than if they had not undergone meniscectomy (95% confidence interval, 1-37). Degenerative changes on radiographs were found in 79% of patients at 13 years and were associated with meniscectomy (P = .006), loss of extension (P = .05), and greater laxity on Lachman test (P = .04). Conclusions Endoscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with patellar tendon autograft affords and maintains good self-reported assessments and clinical ligament evaluation up to 13 years. Radiographic degenerative changes were seen in three quarters of patients. Almost half developed loss of extension, suggesting onset of early osteoarthritis. Patients who had undergone meniscectomy at the time of reconstruction had increased clinical ligament laxity over time and greater odds of graft rupture, possibly reflecting the effect of prolonged increased strain on the graft. Continued follow-up is required to resolve concerns regarding integrity of the patellar tendon graft beyond 13 years, particularly in the absence of meniscal tissue.
Interconnectivity of communications networks and international trade

In this study a multi-country model of trade is developed that captures the role of country-specific communications network interconnectivity, which enhances trade in intermediate business services. The number of countries connected to internationally interconnected networks is found to determine the structure of comparative advantage. That is, countries with interconnected networks have a comparative advantage in the good that requires business services provided via networks. In connected countries, producers of that good benefit from the efficient transmission of business services. This research also demonstrates that countries whose country-specific networks are not connected to the interconnected networks may become worse off as the result of trade.
A Nomogram of Fetal Lung Volumes Estimated by 3‐Dimensional Ultrasonography Using the Rotational Technique (Virtual Organ Computer‐Aided Analysis)

Objective. The purpose of this study was to build a nomogram of normal fetal lung volumes throughout gestational age estimated by 3‐dimensional ultrasonography using the rotational technique (Virtual Organ Computer‐Aided Analysis [VOCAL]; GE Healthcare, Kretztechnik, Zipf, Austria). Methods. Fetal lung volume was assessed in 146 healthy fetuses by 3‐dimensional ultrasonography using the technique of rotation of the multiplanar imaging (VOCAL). Inclusion criteria were healthy women with singleton normal pregnancies, normal fetal morphologic ultrasonographic findings, reliable dating established by dates and by ultrasonographic measurement of the crown‐lump length in the first trimester, and gestational age from 20 to 37 weeks. Exclusion criteria were discordance between clinical and ultrasonographic dating, patients lost to follow‐up, and birth weight disorders. Each patient was scanned once during pregnancy. Results. The right, left, and total mean pulmonary volumes ranged, respectively, from 5.37, 4.66, and 9.95 cm3 at 20 weeks to 46.06, 37.34, and 84.35 cm3 at 37 weeks. The logistic transformation analysis yielded the following formulas: right lung volume = exp(4.07/[1 + exp(21.90 − gestational age/5.44)]); left lung volume = exp(3.82/(1 + exp[22.03 − gestational age/5.17)]); and, total lung volume = exp(4.72/[1 + exp(20.30 − gestational age/6.05)]). Conclusions. A new nomogram of fetal lung (right, left, and total) volumes throughout gestational age using the rotational technique (VOCAL) is described, and reference values have been generated.
Moving target detection based on PERT background model

Moving object detection is one of the important researches in computer vision. The traditional background subtraction approaches need to get an ideal background image which does not include any moving target. However, it is difficult to obtain an ideal background image in reality. The main idea of updating background model is using an update rate to reflect the impact of outside scene changes on the background image, which has less impact of environment changes on the background image. However, the initial background image affects the updating of the background greatly. To solve these problems, the algorithm based on PERT background model is proposed in this paper, where the pixel gray value is assumed to follow beta distribution and the background model is created and updated by the three-time estimation method. To minimize the effects from illumination changes, it is necessary to compensate the detection results with dynamic factor. Experimental results show the algorithm is more effective and reliable.
Reforming against all odds: Multi‐pillar pension systems in the Czech Republic and Romania

Attempts to replace pay-as-you-go pension schemes with private funded systems came to a halt in Central and Eastern Europe after 2005. However, more recently, the region has witnessed two belated reformers: the Czech Republic and Romania. Both countries decided to partially privatize pensions despite the rising tide of evidence concerning the challenges associated with the policy. We argue that while part of the domestic political elite remained supportive of private funded pensions, the difficulties experienced by earlier reformers and reduced support from International Financial Institutions led to the adoption of small funded pension pillars. Such cautious attempts at privatization might become more common in the future as large reforms have proven politically unsustainable.
Treating offending children: What works?

There is little evidence on the effectiveness of interventions with offending children and juveniles, either in Europe or North America. We present the evaluation findings of an innovative intervention and relate these to the existing evidence-base for young offenders and to the more extensive literature on older offenders. Methods Using an established risk predictor (LSI-R), we measured the criminogenic risks and needs of the intervention group and a non-intervention group of child and juvenile offenders at six-monthly intervals. Local police charges data were also collected for both groups as an indicator of offending behaviour. Results Over the first thirty months of the project, a statistically significant drop was seen in the LSI-R scores of the project participants, with favourable effect sizes. Effect sizes improved markedly with longer-term intervention. There were also strong indications that the level of offending behaviour had decreased during the intervention. The comparison group showed no change in risks, needs or offending rate. Conclusions We suggest this study provides an important contribution to the evidence-base of what works with child and juvenile offenders and we suggest that an increased focus on understanding effective intervention with very young offenders is required.
Beneficial Role of Pancreatic Microenvironment for Angiogenesis in Transplanted Pancreatic Islets

Pancreatic islets implanted heterotopically (i.e., into the kidney, spleen, or liver) become poorly revascularized following transplantation. We hypothesized that islets implanted into the pancreas would become better revascularized. Islets isolated from transgenic mice expressing enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP) in all somatic cells were cultured before they were implanted into the pancreas or beneath the renal capsule of athymic mice. Vascular density was evaluated in histological sections 1 month posttransplantation. EYFP was used as reporter for the transgene to identify the transplanted islets. Islet endothelial cells were visualized by staining with the lectin Bandeiraea simplicifolia (BS-1). Capillary numbers in intrapancreatically implanted islets were only slightly lower than those counted in endogenous islets, whereas islets implanted beneath the renal capsule had a markedly lower vascular density. In order to determine if this high graft vascular density at the intrapancreatic site reflected expansion of remnant donor endothelial cells or increased ingrowth of blood vessels from the host, also islets from Tie2-green fluorescent protein (GFP) mice (i.e., islets with fluorescent endothelial cells) were transplanted into the pancreas or beneath the renal capsule of athymic mice. These islet grafts revealed that the new vascular structures formed in the islet grafts contained very few GFP-positive cells, and thus mainly were of recipient origin. The reason(s) for the much better ingrowth of blood vessels at the intrapancreatic site merits further studies, because this may help us form strategies to overcome the barrier for ingrowth of host vessels also into islets in heterotopic implantation sites.