Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shrinking Horizon Model Predictive Control With Signal Temporal Logic Constraints Under Stochastic Disturbances

We present shrinking horizon model predictive control for discrete-time linear systems under stochastic disturbances with constraints encoded as signal temporal logic (STL) specification. The control objective is to satisfy a given STL specification with high probability against stochastic uncertainties while maximizing the robust satisfaction of an STL specification with minimum control effort. We formulate a general solution, which does not require precise knowledge of probability distributions of (possibly dependent) stochastic disturbances; only the bounded support of the density functions and moment intervals are used. For the specific case of disturbances that are normally distributed, we optimize the controllers by utilizing knowledge of the probability distribution of the disturbance. We show that in both cases, the control law can be obtained by solving optimization problems with linear constraints at each step. We experimentally demonstrate effectiveness of this approach by synthesizing a controller for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system.
Value Relevance of Advertising Expenditure: A Review of the Literature

This paper presents a review of the relevant empirical literature on advertising value relevance. The current dominant accounting practice is to treat advertising as a current period expense. There has been growing evidence, however, to suggest that advertising should be viewed as an investment in long-term brand equity. While the primary focus is on the valuation studies of advertising expenditure, the paper also provides an overview of various other studies that relate advertising to profitability or sales of the firm or industry to investigate the effects of advertising expenditure. As a consequence, it is emphasized that there has been a recent shift to the use of valuation models in exploring the nature of advertising expenditure. Since market value captures both the current and future profitability effects of advertising, valuation models are often seen as a better alternative in exploring the intangible nature of advertising expenditure. It is found that the bulk of evidence on advertising value relevance comes from the US, where there has historically been greater disclosure of advertising expenditure. There appears to be little evidence on this matter in the UK, however. This may largely be attributed to the lack of advertising data availability in the UK.
Exploring variations in employment practices in the emerging economies of Europe: assessing the impact of foreign ownership and European integration

Few studies have assessed the impact of European Union (EU) integration on the emerging economies of Europe, especially with regard to employment practices. In this study, we focus on three aspects of employment practices and assess whether EU integration has lead to any differences between the emerging economies aligned to the EU and those that remain out of the EU fold. This comparison is quite valid because the emerging economies that we compare have all had a similar background in terms of their economic systems. We use a large World Bank database to compare domestically owned and foreign-owned firms separately. The results show that, while there is some level of divergence between the two blocs of countries in terms of the percentage of temporary employees and education level of employees, in terms of the percentage of skilled workers employed, however, there is no divergence between firms in the two blocs of countries.
Development of load models for fault induced delayed voltage recovery dynamic studies

As a result of a multiple contingency fault and breaker failure event at two Metro Atlanta 230 kV substations in 1999, Southern Company experienced a wide area voltage depression lasting around 15 seconds. The event resulted in a 1900 MW load loss. Dynamic simulations utilizing standard static stability load models were not successful in replicating the event. However, the actual response of the transmission system was replicated utilizing dynamic simulations with aggregate load models that included the effect of induction motors and distribution system impedances. Since the event in 1999, load has grown exceptionally in the North Georgia region. As a result of the load growth, capital projects are being implemented in Southern Company to appropriately manage the exposure to both NERC reliability standard category B and D fault induced delayed voltage recovery events. Therefore, it is critical that the load models used in dynamic studies correctly represent the behavior of actual load. This is necessary to ensure that the timing and effectiveness of capital projects are appropriately quantified. Both the formulation of the aggregate load models used to replicate the 1999 event, and ongoing efforts to refine the load model used to assess future exposure to fault induced delayed voltage recovery are discussed in this paper.
Advancing the Empirical Study of Performance Management

Interest in performance management has never been higher. But what does actual research on this topic tell us about the effects of performance management, reform efforts, and governance more generally? Historically, the answer often seemed to be that such reforms did not work very well. This article focuses on a recent chapter in the history of performance management at the U.S. federal government, the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART). PART was created by the George W. Bush administration, and ended by the Obama White House. PART, like many management initiatives, came and went. What distinguishes it, however, is the quality and breadth of the research it prompted—research that has increased our knowledge of performance management and reform implementation as well as a whole host of fundamental governance phenomena such as political ideology, administrative burden, performance information use, leadership commitment, and goal ambiguity.
Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome after Laparoscopic Appendectomy in a Young Adult

Severe acute respiratory distress syndrome after laparoscopic appendectomy for acute appendicitis in a young adult is an uncommon complication. We describe the case of a 25-year-old male who developed severe acute respiratory distress syndrome after an uneventful laparoscopic appendectomy for a perforated appendix, requiring mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit.
Urbanisation and Water Consumption: Influencing Factors in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona

This paper is concerned with the relationships between urbanisation and residential water consumption, taking as a case study the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona. More precisely, it investigates the influence of certain demographic, behavioural and housing factors on this consumption using descriptive statistics and a regression analysis. The data are derived from a sample of 532 households in 22 municipalities of the study area. Results show that income, housing type, members per household, the presence of outdoor uses (garden and swimming pool), the kind of species planted in the garden and consumer behaviour towards conservation practices play a significant role in explaining variations in water consumption. It is concluded that, along with prices and incomes, further research is needed on other demographic and housing variables in order to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the determinants of domestic water consumption in areas periodically affected by water stress.
Accounting Based Valuation Models: What Have We Learned?

The present survey article formed the basis of a presentation by G. Richardson to the 8 July 2003 plenary session of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference in Brisbane, Australia. The present article reconciles the historical and forecasting branches in the published accounting literature. Prior survey articles have primarily focused either on the historical branch or the forecasting branch. While these approaches have yielded useful insights, they do not attempt to synthesize the link between the two branches of the published literature. An obvious link between the two branches is that the Ohlson model begins with the Residual Income Model as an initial assumption. We believe that there are other links that need further emphasis. In the process, we also review the empirical issues and the evidence within these two branches. We know of no paper to date that has surveyed the empirical evidence on both the historical and forecasting branches of the published literature. In particular, we draw inferences on the following question: on balance, what have we learned from nearly a decade of research on accounting based valuation models and its applications?
Safety and customer service: contemporary practices in diversity, organizational development and training and development in the global civil aviation industry

The commercial aviation industry is an extremely competitive, safetysensitive high technology service industry. Socio‐technical systems, employees and customers must be the arenas of an organization’s core competencies. The implications are vast and pervasive affecting no less than the organization’s structure, strategy, culture and numerous operational activities. In this article, select findings of a human resource management (HRM) audit are compared to the findings of a review of the literature on diversity, organization development (culture) and training and development. The audit, conducted by 13 executives from their respective organizations, contains extensive data on airlines from nine countries from around the globe. In this article we seek to extend the discussion of excellence in safety and customer service to applied systemic organizational HRM issues and critical success factors. Human resource management (HRM) expertise is required now, more than ever, to spearhead internal marketing strategies in order to gain employee commitment in order to foster excellence in safety and customer service.
Role of Ki-67 labeling index as an adjunct to the histopathological diagnosis and grading of astrocytomas.

AIM OF THE STUDY Ki-67 labeling index (LI) is used in the assessment of cell proliferating activity. It has been widely documented for various human tumors, including the brain neoplasms. The aim of the present study is to evaluate Ki-67 as proliferative index in the grading of astrocytomas in order to predict the biological behavior of the tumor and prognosis of patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS In the present study, a total of 105 patients with astrocytomas were included. Ki-67 LI was done on all the astrocytomas and was compared in correlation with World Health Organization histological grading of astrocytomas. RESULTS The mean Ki-67 LI in Grade I astrocytomas was 3.36 ± 4.59 standard deviation (SD), 7.05 ± 4.16 SD in Grade II astrocytomas, 28.24 ± 6.23 SD in Grade III astrocytomas and 38.7 ± 7.19 SD in Grade IV astrocytomas. P values were significant between all grades of astrocytomas except between Grade I and Grade II tumors which was 0.5076. CONCLUSIONS Assessment of astrocytic tumor proliferative potential provides important prognostic information that supplements standard histological grading. Ki-67 LI is the simplest and most reliable methods of all. This study demonstrates that, Ki-67 LI serves as an important prognostic marker in human astrocytomas. Ki-67 LI solely correlates with a grade of the tumor. Average level of Ki-67 LI varies between different grades of astrocytic tumors but some overlap of values does exist.
The relationship between hospital mortality rates, and hospital, market and patient characteristics

This study analyses the relationship between hospital outcome, specifically mortality rates, and various hospital and market characteristics. The data are for all general acute-care hospitals in California in 1991 that had at least 50 Medicare cases selected by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) for their computation of 1991 observed and predicted mortality rates. The dependent variable was constructed from these mortality rates. Hospital and market characteristics were obtained from California's Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development 1991 tapes, the American Hospital Association's annual 1991 report, 1990 Census data, and HCFA's 1991 Medicare Hospital Mortality Information Report. Highly significant results (p < 0.01) were found for three of the predictor variables: improved mortality rates were associated with a lower proportion of Medicaid patients, with a larger market, and with a higher prior-year profit margin. Other factors that contributed to improved mortality rates (p < 0.05 or 0.10) were more concentrated hospital markets, a lower percentage of HMO patients, and a higher percentage of residents with at least a Bachelor's degree. Characteristics without significant coefficients were hospital size, the percentage of residents below poverty level, more 'high-tech' services, the proportion of Medicare patients, having a residency programme, and membership in COTH (Council of Teaching Hospitals).
Home Bias in Leveraged Buyouts

In this paper, we examine cross-border investments in 2,260 portfolio companies by 102 buyout funds raised between 1995 and 2004. Using proprietary data compiled by AlpInvest Partners, we calculate the aggregate home bias of these funds as well as their home bias at the fund level. We find significant variation across funds. While UK-based funds are on average least home-biased, they show a high degree of intra-European bias. In comparison, US funds are found to be least home-biased in terms of inter-regional acquisitions, with Europe being the most important destination for US buyout capital. Furthermore, we find that buyout funds tend to be less home-biased than portfolio investors and, more specifically, mutual funds. This finding is consistent with the optimal ownership theory of the home bias, which predicts that foreign direct investment - as opposed to portfolio investment - represents the preferred choice of entry in countries where the quality of governance is perceived to be inferior, promoting insider ownership. Copyright 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Rapid high-yield expression of full-size IgG antibodies in plants coinfected with noncompeting viral vectors

Plant viral vectors allow expression of heterologous proteins at high yields, but so far, they have been unable to express heterooligomeric proteins efficiently. We describe here a rapid and indefinitely scalable process for high-level expression of functional full-size mAbs of the IgG class in plants. The process relies on synchronous coinfection and coreplication of two viral vectors, each expressing a separate antibody chain. The two vectors are derived from two different plant viruses that were found to be noncompeting. Unlike vectors derived from the same virus, noncompeting vectors effectively coexpress the heavy and light chains in the same cell throughout the plant body, resulting in yields of up to 0.5 g of assembled mAbs per kg of fresh-leaf biomass. This technology allows production of gram quantities of mAbs for research purposes in just several days, and the same protocol can be used on an industrial scale in situations requiring rapid response, such as pandemic or terrorism events.
The Impact of national auditing standards on the quality of auditors' opinions: Iranian experience

The objective of this paper is to investigate auditors’ perception with regard to the effects of national auditing standards on the quality of auditors’ opinions. In order to examine the effects of national auditing standards on auditing quality, seven hypotheses have been developed. A questionnaire is used as the instrument to test the developed hypotheses. The average number of questions used for each hypothesis amounted to 6 to 7 questions. Then, the questionnaire was distributed among the sample populations which are members of Iranian Association of Certified Public Accountants. Based on the results achieved, four hypotheses revealed the effects of national auditing standards on the quality of auditors’ opinions, while the remaining three failed to reveal such effects. According to the auditors’ opinions, the findings show that employing national auditing standards by auditors enhances the quality of auditing through a better documentation. It also improves auditing evidence, the framework and content of auditors’ reports and produces more consistent and uniform results. Since increasing the quality of auditors’ opinions is instrumental to the improvement of attestation role, it can be concluded that developing and applying national auditing standards is a critical step toward the promotion of auditing profession and should be taken seriously. Key words: Auditors’ perception, auditing standards, quality, auditors’ opinion, auditors’ reports, audit quality.
[Procollagen III and laminin in chronic viral hepatopathies].

OBJECTIVES We measured serum concentrations of the N-terminal peptide of type III procollagen (PIIIP) and laminin (Lam-P1) in patients with chronic viral liver disease in the various stages of the clinical course, to judge their value in assessing liver fibrogenesis, and also compared them with a number of liver function tests and histological scores of inflammation and fibrosis. METHODS Twenty-nine patients with chronic persistent hepatitis, 39 with chronic active hepatitis and 42 with liver cirrhosis were studied. The control group was composed of 45 healthy blood donors. Serum PIIIP and Lamp-P1 were determined by radioimmunoassay; hepatic function was measured by routine assay; liver fibrosis and inflammation were graded on a 0-3 score scale. RESULTS A significantly higher increase in serum levels of PIIIP and Lam-P1 was found in the liver cirrhosis group compared with the other groups (p < 0.05). Serum PIIIP correlated with transaminase levels in the chronic active hepatitis group and with gammaglobulin and total bilirubin in the liver cirrhosis group. A positive correlation was found only with gammaglobulin and total bilirubin in the cirrhosis group. A positive correlation was found between serum PIIIP levels and the rating scale of liver necrosis. In contrast, for Lam-P1 values, a correlation with the rating scale of necrosis and fibrosis was found. CONCLUSION Our findings confirmed the increase of PIIIP and Lamp-P1 in chronic viral liver disease, but because of the frequent overlap values, they cannot be used as substitutes for liver biopsy for diagnosis. The correlations with the histological findings indicate that these two markers can be used during the follow-up of patients receiving anti-inflammatory or anti-fibrotic treatment.
Class Consciousness Pays: Characteristics of Index Funds with Diverse Expense Ratios

This paper investigates the characteristics of 189 retail index mutual funds that track eight primary benchmarks across diverse expense ratio classes. These performance measures and attributes are the Sharpe ratio, Jensen’s alpha, annualized total return, Morningstar rating, portfolio turnover, load and 12b-1 fees, fund size, age, and manager tenure. In general, our results support the notion that retail index funds with low expense ratios outperform those with excessive expense ratios. In addition, expense ratios tend to decrease as turnover, loads, and 12b-1 fees decline and as fund size and age increase. Experienced managers do not necessarily run these low-cost funds. Instead, higher-cost funds have managers with a longer tenure at the fund.
International Diversity Management: Global Ideals and Local Responses

While the concern with demographic diversity in organizations has increased during recent years, international diversity management still remains an understudied area. This is unfortunate since the transfer of diversity management practices within multinational corporations faces particular challenges in balancing between global integration and local responsiveness. The aim of this paper is to illustrate some of the central problems that multinational corporations need to deal with when transferring diversity management practices from headquarters to local subsidiaries. This is illustrated by the results of an ethnographic field study on Danish expatriates in a Saudi subsidiary. Implications of the findings are discussed in detail.
On the distinction between density and crowding: some implications for future research.

A distinction is drawn between the physical condition, density, denned purely in terms of spatial parameters, and the experience of crowding, a motivational state aroused through the interaction of spatial, social, and personal factors, and directed toward the alleviation of perceived spatial restriction. The implications of this distinction for future research are discussed.
Electromagnetic Bandgap Structure for suppressing Ground Bounce Noise

In present work a compact and simple to design electromagnetic band-gap (EBG) structure is introduced. EBG structures are used for mitigating the power bus noise in GHz band due to parallel running high frequency signals in multilayer printed circuit board. The proposed structure has two layer separated by dielectric material having nine unit cells on top layer, resulting in the stop-band ranging from 1.2 4.8 GHz below -25 dB. Size of the board is 90 x 90 mm. The structure is compared with the recently reported research work also.
Nuclear localization of 68 kDa calmodulin‐binding protein is associated with the onset of DNA replication

In Chinese hamster embryo fibroblast cells, an increase in intracellular calmodulin levels coincided with the nuclear localization of a calmodulin‐binding protein of about 68 kDa as the cells progressed from G1 to S phase. When cells were limited from entering into S phase, by omitting insulin a defined medium, intracellular CaM levels did not increase and the 68 kDa calmodulin‐binding protein was completely absent from the nuclei. Corresponding to the nuclear localization of calmodulin and the 68 kDa calmodulin‐binding protein in S phase cells, there was a dramatic increase in DNA polymerase and thymidine kinase activities in the nuclei of S phase cells as compared to G1 phase cells. In addition, the 68 kDa calmodulin‐binding protein along with calmodulin, is observed to be an integral component of replitase complex responsible for nuclear DNA replication in S phase cells. These observations point to the association of calmodulin and calmodulin‐binding protein(s) with the replication machinery responsible for nuclear DNA replication during S phase. A possible regulatory role of these proteins in the onset of DNA replication and cell proliferation is discussed.
Revisiting the Health Belief Model: nurses applying it to young families and their health promotion needs.

The Health Belief Model (HBM) was reviewed with the aim of modifying it so that it reflected a health promotion stance for young families. Since this model's inception, health professionals like nurses have been involved in using the HBM to guide their practice. It is argued that to assist families, nurses now need a model that is focused on "health. " In support of this approach, reorienting the HBM and basing it on "positive" health definitions associated with health promotion, by modifying it through adding the constructs "perceived behavioral control" (representing health locus of control) and "behavioral intention" from Ajzen will provide nurses with a more appropriate and useful model for interacting with families and their preschool children. A summary of positive and negative aspects of the modification of the HBM is presented, followed by a strategy for the process of validating the revised HBM for young families.