Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strategic transformation in the value-added wood products companies

Purpose – China is a leading country in the production, consumption and exports of value-added wood products. Despite this fact, the sources of competitiveness and the existing strategies in the Chinese wood products companies have not been profoundly studied in an international context. The purpose of this paper is to fill these gaps by exploring managerial perceptions of these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical ingredients originating from the value chain theory, functional upgrading, the dynamic capability perspective and the natural resource-based view were combined to explore the shift of business functions and sources of the firm-level competitiveness in the Chinese wood products companies. In the empirical part, data from qualitative semi-structured interviews made with 28 managers of seven companies in China based on the case study method were used. Findings – Our results indicate a transition from non-branded manufacturing to original equipment manufacturing to original brand m.
Undecidable Event Detection Problems for Odes of Dimension One and Two

The ability of dynamical systems of various kinds to simulate Turing machines and thus manifest at universat computation power (and beyond) has gathered a lot of interest lately, see e.g. [16]. |5|. |6| and |4|. A similar line of investigation for ordinary differential equations was startest in [11] and continued in [12] and [13]. In this context the minimum dimension required for universal computation is of interest. The dynamical systems in [5] and [6] are of small dimension and the topic of [4] is to find the smallest dimension for certain types of dynamical systems. The results in this paper show that for ODEs dimension two can be reached and, allowing somewhat complicated events, even dimension one.
Extracting Semantics from Microposts

In recent years, the microblogging services like Twitter has become a major tool for sharing events, expressing opinions and communicating with friends. Several thousand of microblogs are posted each second describing the ongoing events around the world. Because of this recent rise in the popularity and size of social media, there is a growing need for system that can extract useful information from social media. The use of limited words (140 characters), special vocabulary with incomplete sentences and emoticons, heavy use of abbreviations and misspellings make traditional text analysis methods less effective on Twitter. Entity Linking is the task of extracting semantics from text by linking the entities present within the text to the knowledge base. For example, given a text “India is my country”, we need to extract important mentions like ‘India’ and link them to their corresponding Wikipedia pages. Entity Linking is an important task as it not only provides important meta-information about the linked entities but also helps us in extracting the relations among various entities present within the text. Meta-information and relations are really helpful in extracting other important information like documents’ topics etc. Since this also removes the problem of synonymy and polysemy, therefore it is more easy for computers to analyse the text. So, entity linking is really helpful in making computers understand the text usually meant for human consumption. In this thesis, we device a method for efficient entity linking. We have devised various features that helps in detecting and linking entities present within the tweet. Firstly, the mentions present within the tweets are identified. We experimented various approaches like heuristics based approach, probabilistic approach and sequence labelling based approach for detecting mentions in the tweet. Finally, we proposed a classification approach for mention detection. Along with identification, the detected mentions are also ranked based on their predicted informativeness content. The user can select the mentions by setting the threshold on the ranks based on application. All the approaches are evaluated using various datasets like NEEL Challenge Dataset, User Dataset, TagMe Dataset and IITB dataset. Classification based methods performs best on all the datasets with performance of 0.59 F-measure on NEEL Dataset. The detected mentions are then disambiguated on the basis of context. Disambiguation means selecting the best entity from the set of candidate entities for the given mention. Due to limited characters, context is usually not sufficient to disambiguate all the entities present within the tweet. So, we have also explored users’ interests and recent tweet information to improve the disambiguation on the short and noisy tweets. The information provided by users’ previous tweets is modeled to build users’ topic
Just Pensions: Reply to Myles, Oksanen and Fornero

In an attempt to describe how close we are, Elsa Fornero states that ‘justice and efficiency are not competitors (or at least not too much so) in the reform process, and that the main disagreement is dictated by political preferences not by economic or ethical evaluations’. What she means may be correct, but the formulation is misleading. A sensible conception of justice must take efficiency on board. Our own does so by opting for a ‘sustainable maximin’, taking all incentive (and other efficiency-relevant) consequences into account when assessing the value of an existing or proposed policy. Sensible ethics, in other words, must not sit next to economics but incorporate it. But by no means does it follow that ‘good for economic growth’ and ‘ethically justified’ are synonymous. A reform can therefore involve an economic cost due to ‘excessive redistribution’, to use Fornero’s phrase, and yet be perfectly justifiable ethically speaking. An ethical evaluation can also, indeed must, inspire ‘political preferences’. For publicly defensible political preferences cannot just be based on personal or categorical interests. They must rest on ethical principles and on empirical conjectures about the facts which these principles identify as relevant. But they must not rush to incorporate constraints of political feasibility. For ethically rooted arguments are part of what shapes and must shape political feasibility. Take the idea of a flat-rate basic pension, which we favour – more than a ‘minor point’ of divergence from the ‘Bismarckian’ consensus which Fornero asserts we share. When discussing it, John Myles notes in passing that, whatever its normative merits (which he does not deny) there has been ‘a political retreat from this design in countries where it was well established’ and that he is ‘dubious about its adoption elsewhere’. While it is important to listen to and understand any serious objection to the desirability of what one proposes, it is of no less crucial importance not to be too easily inhibited by assertions of political feasibility. As academics active in this area, it is part of our job to indefatigably open and reopen the realm of the publicly discussable in order to help make politically feasible what is, all things considered, ethically desirable.
The Theory of Raising Rivals’ Costs and Evidence from the International Labour Organisation

The strategy of raising rivals’ costs may be adopted by firms in a market, a cartel or interest group or by political majorities in a federal state or international organisation. We provide a first survey and formal exposition of the theory and present examples for each of these applications. In an international cross-section analysis using unpublished data for the period 1980–98, we explain roll-call voting of government representatives in ILO committees drafting international labour standards. Using four different indices of regulation and country samples, we find that governments vote for tighter standards if labour regulation is high in their own country. Our evidence rejects the hypothesis of Brown, Deardorff and Stern that countries exporting low-skill labour-intensive products vote for ILO standards in order to restrict their own supply and increase their terms of trade. As expected, left-party governments vote more in line with labour unions than other governments do. Domestic regulation has a considerably larger effect on voting if the convention in question would raise labour costs in ILO member states. This indicates that highly regulated countries try to raise others’ costs.
The LMA CTrach in patients with difficult airways.

THE LMA CTrach™ system (The Laryngeal Mask Company, Singapore) was developed from the LMA Fastrach™ system (The Laryngeal Mask Company) and consists of an LMA CTrach™ airway with fiberoptic channels and a detachable liquid crystal display viewer cum light source. The LMA CTrach™ enables ventilation, glottis visualization, and tracheal intubation via a laryngeal mask conduit. 1 In this report, we describe our experience with the LMA CTrach™ in 48 patients with difficult airways.
Early Childhood Learning Guidelines in Latin America and the Caribbean

This report details a comparative analysis of early learning guidelines (ELGs) for infants and toddlers less than 3 years of age in Latin America and the Caribbean. The 19 ELGs evaluated are utilized by 12 national and 7 regional programs located in 13 countries in the region. Three types of programs are included in this report: parenting programs (n=3), community centers (n=4) and child development centers (n=12). Two of the twelve child development center programs fall beyond the age range of this research (0-3 years) and are included as case studies. While parenting programs are included in this analysis, caution should be given to directly comparing their results to the results from community center or child development center programs. As described in the paper, parenting programs represent a distinct type of intervention.
Implications of decreased hippocampal neurogenesis in chronic temporal lobe epilepsy

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), characterized by spontaneous recurrent motor seizures (SRMS), learning and memory impairments, and depression, is associated with neurodegeneration, abnormal reorganization of the circuitry, and loss of functional inhibition in the hippocampal and extrahippocampal regions. Over the last decade, abnormal neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus (DG) has emerged as another hallmark of TLE. Increased DG neurogenesis and recruitment of newly born neurons into the epileptogenic hippocampal circuitry is a characteristic phenomenon occurring during the early phase after the initial precipitating injury such as status epilepticus. However, the chronic phase of the disease displays substantially declined DG neurogenesis, which is associated with SRMS, learning and memory impairments, and depression. This review focuses on DG neurogenesis in the chronic phase of TLE and first confers the extent and mechanisms of declined DG neurogenesis in chronic TLE. The available data on production, survival and neuronal fate choice decision of newly born cells, stability of hippocampal stem cell numbers, and changes in the hippocampal microenvironment in chronic TLE are considered. The next section discusses the possible contribution of declined DG neurogenesis to the pathophysiology of chronic TLE, which includes its potential effects on spontaneous recurrent seizures, cognitive dysfunction, and depression. The subsequent section considers strategies that may be useful for augmenting DG neurogenesis in chronic TLE, which encompass stem cell grafting, administration of distinct neurotrophic factors, physical exercise, exposure to enriched environment, and antidepressant therapy. The final section suggests possible ramifications of increasing the DG neurogenesis in chronic epilepsy.
Scalable Multi-Class Gaussian Process Classification using Expectation Propagation

This paper describes an expectation propagation (EP) method for multi-class classification with Gaussian processes that scales well to very large datasets. In such a method the estimate of the log-marginal-likelihood involves a sum across the data instances. This enables efficient training using stochastic gradients and mini-batches. When this type of training is used, the computational cost does not depend on the number of data instances $N$. Furthermore, extra assumptions in the approximate inference process make the memory cost independent of $N$. The consequence is that the proposed EP method can be used on datasets with millions of instances. We compare empirically this method with alternative approaches that approximate the required computations using variational inference. The results show that it performs similar or even better than these techniques, which sometimes give significantly worse predictive distributions in terms of the test log-likelihood. Besides this, the training process of the proposed approach also seems to converge in a smaller number of iterations.
GABA‐evoked chloride currents do not differ between dendrites and somata of rat neocortical neurons

1 We performed patch‐clamp recordings on acutely isolated somata and dendritic segments of rat neocortical neurons, in order to compare the reversal potential (EGABA) and relative density of GABAA receptor‐mediated Cl− currents in these two cellular compartments. 2 Currents were recorded with the Cl−‐impermeable pore former gramicidin (25‐75 μg ml−1) in HCO3−‐free bath solution. Voltage ramps (‐110 to −30 mV) from a holding potential (Vh) of −60 mV in the absence and presence of 2 μM GABA were used to construct instantaneous current‐voltage relationships. Currents were abolished by co‐application of GABA with the GABAA receptor antagonist bicuculline (40 μM). 3 GABA conductance, normalized to membrane surface area, was not different in somata and dendrites. In addition, EGABA was not different in the two compartments. 4 Replacement of intracellular K+ with Cs+ resulted in a significantly more depolarized EGABA in both somata and dendrites. These results suggest that the resting intracellular Cl− concentration ([Cl−]i) is similar in somata and dendrites and that an outward Cl− transporter system maintains low [Cl−]i.
The decomposition of US and Euro area stock and bond returns and their sensitivity to economic state variables

This paper decomposes US and Euro area excess stock and bond return innovations into news factors using the Campbell–Schiller methodology. The results indicate that stock return volatility is mostly due to volatility of future excess return news. Inflation news plays a minor role although it is significantly correlated with excess return innovations. For the bond market too, it is future return news—not inflation news—that moves bond returns most. For finite investment horizons, however, asset market movements give a differential importance to the various news components. Results are comparable for the US and the Euro area, but differ in terms of magnitudes. In addition, sensitivities (‘betas’) to a set of state variables are estimated, yielding high interest rate betas and low money growth betas. Generally, inflation, unemployment and leading indicator betas are significant. Asset market exposures to oil and exchange rate changes are more significant for the Euro area than in the US.
A Passive Imaging System for Geometry Measurement for the Plasma Arc Welding Process

Automatic and flexible geometry measurement of the weld pool surface can help better understand the complex welding processes and even provide feedback to better control this process. Most of existing imaging systems use an additional source of illumination to remove the light interference coming from the welding arc but it is usually costly. This paper introduces a novel low-cost optical-sensor-based monitoring system working under passive mode to monitor the wire + arc additive manufacture process, particularly for plasma arc welding. Initially, configurations and parameters of camera are investigated to achieve good visualization of weld pool. A novel camera calibration methodology using the nozzle of a computer numerical control (CNC) machine is then proposed for this imaging system, allowing estimation of the camera position with respect to the inspecting surface and its orientation in an easy-to-use approach. The verification tests show that the average error of the calibration is less than 1 pixel. As a case study, an image analysis routine is proposed to measure the width of the bead during the welding process. The results show that the proposed system is effective to measure the dimension of weld pool.
Psychosocial Aspects of Group Communication Treatment - Preliminary Findings

This article discusses preliminary psychosocial data from an efficacy study on the effects of group communication treatment in adults with chronic aphasia. Using a qualitative interview approach, participants with aphasia and their relatives/caregivers reported many positive psychosocial changes following treatment. The results suggest that group communication treatment had an impact on participants' home and community lives without direct treatment in those settings. Results are discussed in the context of managed care, group theory, and positive health.
More than a Woman's Issue: The Making of Family Policy in the US and UK Since 1960

This comparative historical analysis explores how and why family policies such as parental and maternity leave are made and what drives policymaking since the 1960s; a time of significant social and economic change both in regards to the dramatic increase in the number of women in the workforce, heightened awareness of civil rights issues, and growing strength of the women’s movement. The United States and United Kingdom share much in the way of culture, history, politics, and demographics. Further, scholars of the welfare state classify both nations as liberal regimes that provide minimal protections to families for caregiving. But counter to expectations, the US and UK guarantee quite different levels of benefits for families. To explain the divergent trajectory of family policy, I examine the following explanatory factors: the activity and strength of civil society advocacy groups including labor unions and women’s organizations; the evolution of gender norms over time; and access women have to governmental agencies and elected officials. Analysis draws on field research, interviews, archival sources, and data collection from governmental and nongovernmental organizations. Analysis suggests that changing gender norms and frameworks have a powerful impact not only on policymaking in this arena, but also on the other variables explored in the study.
Students and the Market for Schools in Haiti

Uniquely among Latin American and Caribbean countries, Haiti has a largely non-public education system. Prior to the earthquake of January 2010, just 19 percent of primary school students were enrolled in public schools, with the remainder enrolled in a mix of religious, for-profit, and non-governmental organization-funded schools. This paper examines changes in Haitian schooling patterns in the last century and shows the country experienced tremendous growth in school attainment, driven almost entirely by growth in the private sector. Additionally, it provides evidence that the private market"works"to the extent that primary school fees are higher for schools with characteristics associated with education quality. The paper also analyzes the demand and supply determinants of school attendance and finds that household wealth is a major determinant of attendance. Given these findings, the authors conclude that in the near-term paying school fees for poor students may be an effective approach to expanding schooling access in Haiti.
Preparation and Evaluation of Soft Gellan Gum Gel Containing Paracetamol

The objective of this study was to develop soft paracetamol gel using gellan gum as a gelling agent and sodium citrate as a source of cation. Different batches were prepared using three different concentrations of gellan gum (0.1, 0.3, and 0.5%), each with two different sodium citrate concentrations (0.3 and 0.5%). The consistency of the paracetamol gel was dependent on the concentration of gellan gum, sodium citrate and co-solute. The results of dissolution study of soft gel containing 0.3% gellan gum and 0.3% sodium citrate revealed that paracetamol was completely released in 30 min. Polyethylene glycol 400 worked as a solubilizer for paracetamol. All the gels possessed acceptable sensory characteristics when evaluated by human volunteers. Short term stability study carried out for four weeks at different temperatures revealed no considerable changes in performance characteristics of developed optimized formulation.
Organisational benefits and implementation challenges of mandatory integrated reporting

Purpose – This study aims to summarise the findings of the perceptions of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and senior executives of South African listed companies on the perceived benefits and implementation challenges as a result of implementing integrated reporting (IR) requirements, as well as motives for preparing an integrated report; it is performed two years into the South African IR regime,. South African-listed companies are among the first in the world to be subject to compliance with IR requirements in terms of stock exchange listing requirements. IR, as a novel and evolutionary step in corporate reporting, along with the influence that integrated thinking and IR principles will have on companies, has been the subject of global debate in recent years. Design/methodology/approach – The research instrument used in the study comprised a self-administered Web-based survey aimed at CEOs and CFOs of all South African listed companies. The survey was validated by a pre-.
Political Uncertainty and the Peso Problem

This paper analyses the relation between political uncertainty and the Peso Problem in emerging markets. Initially, it is assumed that the country has a hard peg system (the present government will never devalue). As for the political opposition, however, it is open to the possibility of leaving the fixed regime when it comes to power. Assuming that the change of government follows a Poisson distribution, our model shows that the expectations of a devaluation under the subsequent new government may drive up country risk premium under the first government. Sovereign spreads in Argentina in 2001 are used to illustrate the argument.
Financing health care in the European Union: challenges and policy responses

Health care systems across the European Union face a common challenge: the high cost of health care. Governments strive to ensure that cost pressures do not undermine values such as universal coverage and equitable financing and access. Focusing on the three health care financing functions – collection, pooling and purchasing – as well as on coverage, this book analyses the organization of health care financing in the Member States of the European Union, discusses the principal financing reform trends of recent years, and assesses their capacity to help ensure fiscal sustainability. The book includes a useful annex detailing the health care financing systems of each of the 27 Member States of the European Union. It will inform the deliberations of policy- and decision-makers, both within and beyond the European Union, faced with reconciling rising costs with equitable and sustainable health care.