Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New Directions in Corporate Governance Research

In this essay, we seek to identify the contributions that strategy and organizational researchers have made, and continue to make, in enhancing our understanding of a wide variety of important corporate governance questions. We begin by discussing how these research contributions stem from a willingness to draw from and contribute to different streams of intellectual thought, and we provide an orienting framework to situate this work.
Labor Force Status Dynamics in the German Labor Market - Individual Heterogeneity and Cyclical Sensitivity

The aggregate average unemployment rate in a given country is essentially the result of individual workers' transitions between the three core labor force states, employment, unemployment, and inactivity. The dynamics of these transitions depend both on individual duration in a particular state and the transition probabilities between states. Individual transitions, in turn, depend on personal characteristics, i.e. observable sociodemographic attributes and unobserved factors. Simultaneously, person-specific dynamics may be influenced by swings of the business cycle that differentially affect the likelihood of individual transitions. This paper analyzes these labor force status dynamics for the German labor market using comprehensive data on monthly transitions from the GSOEP, covering the time periods 1983-2003 for West Germany, and 1992-2003 for East Germany. For 18 demographic cells defined by sex, 3 age categories, and 3 education categories, the model uses loading factors to translate unobserved shocks to the labor market into observed cellspecific unemployment rates as well as bilateral transition probabilities between all states. This approach allows us to distinguish individual heterogeneity and cyclical volatility in describing labor force status flows. The results show that the experience of high unemployment rates is more sensitive to cyclical behavior for certain demographic groups, specifically unskilled and young workers. Heterogeneity in unemployment and transition rates differs between East and West Germany, as well as between the sexes. In East Germany, all demographic cells are almost entirely detached from the cycle. The unemployment structure of West German women is rather homogenous across age and education, in contrast to men and East-German women. The decisive component of the heterogeneity in unemployment dynamics is the re-employment rate.
Word segmentation and recognition for web document framework

It is observed that a better approach to Web information understanding is to base on its document framework, which is mainly consisted of (i) the title and the URL name of the page, (ii) the titles and the URL names of the Web pages that it points to, (iii) the alternative information source for the embedded Web objects, and (iv) its linkage to other Web pages of the same document. Investigation reveals that a high percentage of words inside the document framework are “compound words” which cannot be understood by ordinary dictionaries. They might be abbreviations or acronyms, or concatenations of several (partial) words. To recover the content hierarchy of Web documents, we propose a new word segmentation and recognition mechanism to understand the information derived from the Web document framework. A maximal bi-directional matching algorithm with heuristic rules is used to resolve ambiguous segmentation and meaning in compound words. An adaptive training process is further employed to build a dictionary of recognisable abbreviations and acronyms. Empirical results show that over 75% of the compound words found in the Web document framework can be understood by our mechanism. With the training process, the success rate of recognising compound words can be increased to about 90%.
Stable Isotopes in Aquatic Systems : Sample Preparation , Analysis , and Interpretation

v RÉSUMÉ. v INTRODUCTION.1 Stable isotope chemistry.1 International isotopic standards.1 Sample calculation.2 Isotope literature.2 SAMPLE PRESERVATION AND PREPARATION.3 Preservation methods.3 Submitting samples for analysis.3 Additional techniques.4 INTERPRETATION OF STABLE ISOTOPE DATA.5 Fractionation.5 Animal SI ratios relative to diet.5 Mechanisms responsible for fractionation.6 Equilibration with a diet in lab and field: Growth vs. turnover.6 FOOD WEBS.7 Primary productivity.8 APPLICATIONS.9 Contaminants.9 Migratory patterns.9 Mixing models.10 Nutrient input.12 Diet shifts.12 Otoliths.13 Large-bodied species.13
Topical Nonsteroidal Antiinflammatory Drugs in Ophthalmology

Topically applied nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely used in the management of postoperative ocular inflammation and for the prevention and treatment of cystoid macular edema (CME) after cataract surgery. In addition, they are useful for the prevention of intraoperative miosis during cataract surgery, for the relief of symptoms of seasonal allergic conjunctivitis, and for the reduction of ocular discomfort after refractive surgery. In this chapter, the current status of topically applied NSAIDs and their potential therapeutic benefit for ophthalmic disorders are summarized.
Using support vector machines to automatically extract open water signatures from POLDER multi-angle data over boreal regions

This study used support vector machines to classify multiangle POLDER data. Boreal wetland ecosystems cover an estimated 90 x 10/sup 6/ ha, about 36% of global wetlands, and are a major source of trace gases emissions to the atmosphere. Four to 20 percent of the global emission of methane to the atmosphere comes from wetlands north of 40/spl deg/N latitude. Large uncertainties in emissions exist because of large spatial and temporal variation in the production and consumption of methane. Accurate knowledge of the areal extent of open water and inundated vegetation is critical to estimating magnitudes of trace gas emissions. Improvements in land cover mapping have been sought using physical-modeling approaches, neural networks, and active-microwave, examples that demonstrate the difficulties of separating open water, inundated vegetation and dry upland vegetation. Here we examine the feasibility of using a support vector machine to classify POLDER data representing open water, inundated vegetation and dry upland vegetation.
Natural fiber polymer composites: A review

Natural fiber reinforced composites is an emerging area in polymer science. These natural fibers are low cost fibers with low density and high specific properties. These are biodegradable and non-abrasive. The natural fiber composites offer specific properties comparable to those of conventional fiber composites. However, in development of these composites, the incompatibility of the fibers and poor resistance to moisture often reduce the potential of natural fibers and these draw backs become critical issue. This review presents the reported work on natural fiber reinforced composites with special reference to the type of fibers, matrix polymers, treatment of fibers and fiber-matrix interface. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Adv in Polymer Techn 18: 351–363, 1999
First description of Candida nivariensis in Brazil: antifungal susceptibility profile and potential virulence attributes

This study evaluated the antifungal susceptibility profile and the production of potential virulence attributes in a clinical strain of Candida nivariensis for the first time in Brazil, as identified by sequencing the internal transcribed spacer (ITS)1-5.8S-ITS2 region and D1/D2 domains of the 28S of the rDNA. For comparative purposes, tests were also performed with reference strains. All strains presented low planktonic minimal inhibitory concentrations (PMICs) to amphotericin B (AMB), caspofungin (CAS), and voriconazole. However, our strain showed elevated planktonic MICs to posaconazole (POS) and itraconazole, in addition to fluconazole resistance. Adherence to inert surfaces was conducted onto glass and polystyrene. The biofilm formation and antifungal susceptibility on biofilm-growing cells were evaluated by crystal violet staining and a XTT reduction assay. All fungal strains were able to bind both tested surfaces and form biofilm, with a binding preference to polystyrene (p < 0.001). AMB promoted significant reductions (≈50%) in biofilm production by our C. nivariensis strain using both methodologies. This reduction was also observed for CAS and POS, but only in the XTT assay. All strains were excellent protease producers and moderate phytase producers, but lipases were not detected. This study reinforces the pathogenic potential of C. nivariensis and its possible resistance profile to the azolic drugs generally used for candidiasis management.
A novel robust signaling scheme for high-speed low-power communication over long wires

This paper describes a new capacitively coupled driver and a receiver with a new analog equalizer for high-speed low-power communication over long on-chip wires. The proposed signaling scheme improves upon state of the art capacitively driven interconnect based scheme for enhanced robustness and energy efficiency of the signaling scheme. The proposed signaling scheme has been designed in 90nm CMOS process. Simulations indicate that the proposed scheme can transmit and receive data at the rate of 3.22Gbps over a 10mm long channel while consuming only 0.107pJ/bit. This is the lowest reported energy/bit for high-speed on-chip communication over long on-chip wires. Monte Carlo and process corner simulations show that the proposed scheme allows up to 3Gbps of data rate even in the presence of intra-die and inter-die process variations.
An improved algorithm for indirect time domain analysis of thin wire structures

The algorithm for an indirect time domain (TD) analysis using arbitrary frequency domain method is presented. In previous work, an optimized version of the indirect time-domain method based on adaptive sampling iterative algorithm used in combination with Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) was presented. In this paper, the algorithm is further improved by circumventing the use of FFT altogether, and using the simple formula based on the analytical inverse Fourier transform. The proposed approach is faster and more convenient for use with the underlying iterative optimization method, as only a part of the frequency domain (FD) signal has to be transformed to the time domain during each iteration procedure.
Computing the Least Fixed Point of Positive Polynomial Systems

We consider equation systems of the form $X_1=f_1(X_1,\dots,X_n)$, $\dots$, $X_n = f_n(X_1,\dots,X_n)$, where $f_1,\dots,f_n$ are polynomials with positive real coefficients. In vector form we denote such an equation system by ${\bf X}={\bf f}({\bf X})$ and call ${\bf f}$ a system of positive polynomials (SPP). Equation systems of this kind appear naturally in the analysis of stochastic models like stochastic context-free grammars (with numerous applications to natural language processing and computational biology), probabilistic programs with procedures, web-surfing models with back buttons, and branching processes. The least nonnegative solution $\mu{\bf f}$ of an SPP equation ${\bf X}={\bf f}({\bf X})$ is of central interest for these models. Etessami and Yannakakis [J. ACM, 56 (2009), pp. 1-66] have suggested a particular version of Newton's method to approximate $\mu{\bf f}$. We extend a result of Etessami and Yannakakis and show that Newton's method starting at ${\bf 0}$ always converges to $\mu{\bf f}$. We obtain lower bounds on the convergence speed of the method. For so-called strongly connected SPPs we prove the existence of a threshold $k_{{\bf f}}\in\mathbb{N}$ such that for every $i\geq0$ the $(k_{{\bf f}}+i)$th iteration of Newton's method has at least $i$ valid bits of $\mu{\bf f}$. The proof yields an explicit bound for $k_{{\bf f}}$ depending only on syntactic parameters of ${\bf f}$. We further show that for arbitrary SPP equations, Newton's method still converges linearly: there exists a threshold $k_{{\bf f}}$ and an $\alpha_{{\bf f}}>0$ such that for every $i\geq0$ the $(k_{{\bf f}}+\alpha_{{\bf f}}\cdot i)$th iteration of Newton's method has at least $i$ valid bits of $\mu{\bf f}$. The proof yields an explicit bound for $\alpha_{{\bf f}}$; the bound is exponential in the number of equations in ${\bf X}={\bf f}({\bf X})$, but we also show that it is essentially optimal. The proof does not yield any bound for $k_{{\bf f}}$, but only proves its existence. Constructing a bound for $k_{{\bf f}}$ is still an open problem. Finally, we also provide a geometric interpretation of Newton's method for SPPs.
Drying shrinkage of red currants.

Drying shrinkage of red currants. The paper presents results of investigations on shrinkage of red currants dried under the natural convection conditions at temperature 60oC. The volume of dried fruits was measured in a vegetable oil. The drying shrinkage was determined basing on measurements of 12 selected samples of similar initial mass and volume. The shrinkage process was described with a linear function. The maximal shrinkage of 96% was found.
Video-based parking space detection

Finding a vacant parking lot in urban areas is time-consuming and, thus, not satisfying for potential visitors or customers. Efficient car-park routing systems could support drivers to get an optimal parking lot immediately. Current systems detecting vacant parking lots are either very expensive due to hardware requirement for each parking lot or do not provide a detailed occupancy map. In this paper, we propose a video-based system for low-cost vacant parking space detection. A wide-angle lens camera is used in combination with a desktop computer. Different feature extractors and machine learning algorithms were evaluated in order to retrieve accurate state information for each of the observed parking lots. We found a combination of feature extractors and classifiers which properly solved the given task. Our final system, incorporating temporal integration, reached an accuracy of 99.8 %.
Composite quarks and leptons from dynamical supersymmetry breaking without messengers

We present new theories of dynamical supersymmetry breaking in which the strong interactions that break supersymmetry also give rise to composite quarks and leptons with naturally small Yukawa couplings. In these models, supersymmetry breaking is communicated directly to the composite fields without {open_quotes}messenger{close_quotes} interactions. The compositeness scale can be anywhere between 10thinspTeV and the Planck scale. These models can naturally solve the supersymmetric flavor problem, and generically predict sfermion mass unification independent from gauge unification. {copyright} {ital 1998} {ital The American Physical Society}
Synchronizing N cart-pendulums using virtual holonomic constraints

A solution is presented to the problem of synchronizing a chain of N cart-pendulums using virtual holonomic constraints. The approach is based on a master-slave configuration whereby the first cart-pendulum is controlled so as to stabilize a desired oscillation around its unstable equilibrium. Then, each remaining cart-pendulum is controlled so as to fully synchronize it to the previous pendulum.
Range sensors on marble surfaces: quantitative evaluation of artifacts

While 3D imaging systems are widely available and used, clear statements about the possible influence of material properties over the acquired geometrical data are still rather few. In particular a material very often used in Cultural Heritage is marble, known to give geometrical errors with range sensor technologies and whose entity reported in the literature seems to vary considerably in the different works. In this article a deep investigation with different types of active range sensors used on four types of marble surfaces, has been performed. Two triangulation-based active sensors employing laser stripe and white light pattern projection respectively, and one PW-TOF laser scanner have been used in the experimentation. The analysis gave rather different results for the two categories of instruments. A negligible light penetration came out from the triangulation-based equipment (below 50 microns with the laser stripe and even less with the pattern projection device), while with the TOF system this came out to be two orders of magnitude larger, quantitatively evidencing a source of systematic errors that any surveyor engaged in 3D scanning of Cultural Heritage sites and objects should take into account and correct.
Evaluation of the new cobas® HCV genotyping test based on real-time PCRs of three different HCV genome regions

Abstract Background: Determination of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype and discrimination between HCV subtypes 1a and 1b is still mandatory prior to anti-HCV treatment initiation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of the recently introduced cobas® HCV GT assay (Roche) and to compare it to two comparator assays. Methods: The cobas® HCV GT assay is based on primer-specific real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). For comparison, the TRUGENE® HCV 5′NC Genotyping Kit (Siemens) and the VERSANT® HCV Genotype 2.0 Assay (Siemens) were employed. Accuracy of the new assay was determined using proficiency panels. For clinical evaluation, 183 residual clinical samples obtained from patients with chronic hepatitis C infection were included. Results: When accuracy was tested, panel members containing HCV subtypes 1a, 1b, and 3a were identified as expected; however, the new assay failed to identify low titer panel members containing HCV subtype 5a correctly. Of 183 clinical samples, 160 gave concordant results. For seven samples, an indeterminate result was reported with the cobas® HCV GT assay and the remaining 16 samples were found discordant with one of the comparator assays. When time-to-results of the assays were compared, the new assay showed shorter total time and similar hands-on time per sample. Conclusions: The cobas® HCV GT assay showed a good performance and proved to be suitable for use in the routine diagnostic laboratory. Due to the high level of automation, fast and reliable results are obtained with short hands-on time.
Primary Retinal Cultures as a Tool for Modeling Diabetic Retinopathy: An Overview

Experimental models of diabetic retinopathy (DR) have had a crucial role in the comprehension of the pathophysiology of the disease and the identification of new therapeutic strategies. Most of these studies have been conducted in vivo, in animal models. However, a significant contribution has also been provided by studies on retinal cultures, especially regarding the effects of the potentially toxic components of the diabetic milieu on retinal cell homeostasis, the characterization of the mechanisms on the basis of retinal damage, and the identification of potentially protective molecules. In this review, we highlight the contribution given by primary retinal cultures to the study of DR, focusing on early neuroglial impairment. We also speculate on possible themes into which studies based on retinal cell cultures could provide deeper insight.
Long-term evaluation of the antimicrobial susceptibility and microbial profile of subgingival biofilms in individuals with aggressive periodontitis

This study evaluates the antimicrobial susceptibility and composition of subgingival biofilms in generalized aggressive periodontitis (GAP) patients treated using mechanical/antimicrobial therapies, including chlorhexidine (CHX), amoxicillin (AMX) and metronidazole (MET). GAP patients allocated to the placebo (C, n = 15) or test group (T, n = 16) received full-mouth disinfection with CHX, scaling and root planning, and systemic AMX (500 mg)/MET (250 mg) or placebos. Subgingival plaque samples were obtained at baseline, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months post-therapy from 3–4 periodontal pockets, and the samples were pooled and cultivated under anaerobic conditions. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of AMX, MET and CHX were assessed using the microdilution method. Bacterial species present in the cultivated biofilm were identified by checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization. At baseline, no differences in the MICs between groups were observed for the 3 antimicrobials. In the T group, significant increases in the MICs of CHX (p < 0.05) and AMX (p < 0.01) were detected during the first 3 months; however, the MIC of MET decreased at 12 months (p < 0.05). For several species, the MICs significantly changed over time in both groups, i.e., Streptococci MICs tended to increase, while for several periodontal pathogens, the MICs diminished. A transitory increase in the MIC of the subgingival biofilm to AMX and CHX was observed in GAP patients treated using enhanced mechanical therapy with topical CHX and systemic AMX/MET. Both protocols presented limited effects on the cultivable subgingival microbiota.
A method inspired from differential coefficient for calculating danger signals in Artificial Immune System

Artificial Immune System is a computational system which is inspired from vertebrate immune system. For the characteristics of adaptability and diversity, Artificial Immune System is used to solve engineering problems, especially computer security problems. Danger Model is a new research focus of Artificial Immune System which is inspired from innate immune system. Previous researches have proved that Danger Model is effective in intrusion detection. The calculation of danger signals is the kernel of Danger Model, which is not effectively solved. In this paper we considered that danger comes from changes. Staring from monitoring the changes of computer systems, inspired from the principle of differential calculus, a calculating method based on changes is presented. Preliminary experiment has proved that such a danger signal calculating method based on changes can detect a certain kind of Trojan in Windows XP successfully, without any priori knowledge.
CHLORAMPHENICOL‐RESISTANT HAEMOPHILUS INFLUENZAE

ffi)PROTEA 13-19 Glebe st., Glebe. NSW 2037. Phone 6606533 the bowel mass revealed no organisms when paraffin sections were stained by Gram stain. The patient was discharged to a nursing home and died a week later without further investigation. The role of Yersinia enteroco/itica in this patient's illness could not be firmly established because of the possibility of underlying malignancy, or low antibody response, and because no autopsy was performed. His clinical improvement while on cotrimoxazole therapy may have indicated some pathogenic role of the Yersinia; however, the low agglutinin titres and absence of organisms within the mass do not substantiate the Yersinia as being invasive to the patient. The organism, although possibly not involved in a primary infection, may well have been the cause of a superimposed infection if malignancy