Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Valuation and Damages for Franchised Businesses

Valuation and Damages for Franchised Businesses by Patrick L. Anderson A large number of businesses operate as “franchises,” in which a separate entity creates a brand identity for a product or service that is sold through a system of franchised retailers or wholesalers. Examples include automobile dealers, hotels, beer distributors, restaurants, video, auto and other rental outlets. These businesses normally grant to the franchisor the rights to specify certain marketing and operational practices and define geographic sales territories. In return, the franchisee is normally granted the exclusive right to represent the brand within a certain area, and pays some royalty. Franchises in some industries are further governed by state and federal laws. We describe the sources of value in a franchisee business. We note that these sources include growth options for the brand itself, and the risk of termination of the brand, in addition to the expected discounted cash flow from the current business. These additional sources of value and risks mean that standard capitalized income approaches using recent earnings as a base will often produce erroneous value estimates. To address the magnitude of “brand risk” in a franchisee valuation, we outline a model to value future business earnings subject to termination risk for the franchise. We present a simple formula to incorporate that risk, which can be incorporated in a modified capitalized income approach for valuing franchised firms. To illustrate the magnitude of the errors that result from ignoring termination risk, and to validate the recommended formula, we present results of Monte Carlo trials of a simple model. We recommend a parameterization of the model, based on experience over the past 100 years in the automobile industry. Our results underline how “rules of thumb” can provide grossly misleading value or damages estimates. We also describe common sources to disputes between franchisees and franchisors, and recommend steps to take when estimating damages for a franchised firm. An appendix includes a mathematical derivation and summary Monte Carlo methodology. Patrick L. Anderson Principal, Anderson Economic Group 615 W. Ionia, Lansing MI 48933 517 374 2596 http://www.andersoneconomicgroup. com (c) 2003 Anderson Economic Group LLC. Permission to reproduce granted for private and research use. Introduction: Franchised Businesses Anderson Economic Group 2 Introduction: Franchised Businesses A large number of businesses operate under a “franchise. ” Industry sectors dominated by franchised businesses include automobile dealers, hotels, beer and wine distributors, “fast food” and other restaurants, rental car outlets, video rental, copy centers, luxury coffee shops, booksellers, and other retailers. OUTLINE OF THIS REPORT This report is organized in the following sections, each with a different focus:
An overview of OMG/CORBA

An increasing number of applications are now being developed in a distributed setting. The main focus of this paper is on OMG/CORBA (object management group/common object request broker architecture), a widely recognised middle-ware standard for heterogeneous and distributed application integration. We discuss CORBA's object model and its representation in the OMG interface definition language (IDL). Programming language bindings to IDL are discussed; static and dynamic invocations are distinguished and CORBA services are sketched. The paper concludes by indicating recent standardisation efforts undertaken by the OMG. (6 pages)
Algebraic Foundations of Proof Refinement

We contribute a general apparatus for dependent tactic-based proof refinement in the LCF tradition, in which the statements of subgoals may express a dependency on the proofs of other subgoals; this form of dependency is extremely useful and can serve as an algorithmic alternative to extensions of LCF based on non-local instantiation of schematic variables. Additionally, we introduce a novel behavioral distinction between refinement rules and tactics based on naturality. Our framework, called Dependent LCF, is already deployed in the nascent RedPRL proof assistant for computational cubical type theory.
User intent behind medical queries: an evaluation of entity mapping approaches with metamap and freebase

This work focuses on understanding the user intent in the medical domain. The combination of Semantic Web and information retrieval technologies promises a better comprehension of user intents. Mapping queries to entities using Freebase is not novel, but so far only one entity per query could be identified. We overcome this limitation using annotations provided by Metamap. Also, different approaches to map queries to Freebase are explored and evaluated. We propose an indirect evaluation of the mappings, through user intent defined by classes such as Symptoms, Diseases or Treatments. Our experiments show that by using the concepts annotated by Metamap it is possible to improve the accuracy and F1 performances of mappings from queries to Freebase entities.
Decentralized multi-agent entropy-driven exploration under sparsity constraints

This paper proposes a new algorithm, which uses the second order information of a Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) to achieve an active sensing approach driven by minimizing the entropy of sparse unknown environments, for the multi agent case. For this, a signal model, which restricts the agent's measurements according to its sensor's view, is introduced into the Distributed LASSO (DLASSO) framework. With the help of Compressed Sensing (CS), the DLASSO is able to estimate the environment with less measurements. After the DLASSO converged to a solution, each agent evaluates the proposed algorithm for choosing new measurement locations.
Yersinia enterocolitica: the charisma continues

Yersinia enterocolitica, a gram-negative coccobacillus, comprises a heterogeneous group of bacterial strains recovered from animal and environmental reservoirs. The majority of human pathogenic strains are found among distinct serogroups (e.g. O:3, O:5,27, O:8, O:9) and contain both chromosome- and plasmid (60 to 75 kb)-mediated virulence factors that are absent in "avirulent" strains. While Y. enterocolitica is primarily a gastrointestinal tract pathogen, it may produce extraintestinal infections in hosts with underlying predisposing factors. Postinfection sequelae include arthritis and erythema nodosum, which are seen mainly in Europe among patients with serogroups O:3 and O:9 infection and HLA-B27 antigen. Y. enterocolitica is acquired through the oral route and is epidemiologically linked to porcine sources. Bacteremia is prominent in the setting of immunosuppression or in patients with iron overload or those being treated with desferrioxamine. metastatic foci following bacteremia are common and often involve the liver and spleen. Of particular concern is blood transfusion-related bacteremia. Evidence has accumulated substantiating the role of Y. enterocolitica as a food-borne pathogen that has caused six major outbreaks in the United States. The diagnosis of Y. enterocolitica gastroenteritis is best achieved through isolation of the bacterium on routine or selective bacteriologic media. When necessary, serogrouping, biogrouping, and assessment for plasmid-encoded virulence traits may aid in distinguishing virulent from "avirulent" strains. Epidemiologically, outside of identified food-borne outbreaks, the source (reservoir) of Y. enterocolitica in sporadic cases is speculative. Therefore, prevention and control measures are difficult to institute.
FPGA implementation of extended reconfigurable Binary Edwards Curve based processor

Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem (ECC) is the next generation public key ciphers for securing communications. However, due to its inherent complex mathematical nature, it poses challenges to designers. In this paper, we present a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) design of scalar multiplication on Binary Edwards Curve (BEC) for state of the art field of GF(2233). The work contributes to develop shared data and control paths for the processor, to support two important curve operations, namely point halving and doubling based scalar multiplication. Such a unified design has the advantage of reduction in hardware and yet supporting both these important operations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported design of a BEC based processor which supports both point halving and doubling. Detailed experimental results are provided to show that with minimal overhead the design can perform both point doubling and halving based scalar multiplications.
Learning Task-Specific State Representations by Maximizing Slowness and Predictability

The success of reinforcement learning in robotic tasks is highly dependent on the state representation – a mapping from high dimensional sensory observations of the robot to states that can be used for reinforcement learning. Even though many methods have been proposed to learn state representations, it remains an important open problem. Identifying the characteristics existing methods are optimizing to find good state representations, combining them, and adding new characteristics will lead to a more robust method for state representation learning. We define a new characteristic – predictability – and combine it with slowness. We implement these characteristics in a neural network and show that this approach can find good state representations from visual input in simulated robotic tasks.
Development of a Quantitative Methylation-Specific Polymerase Chain Reaction Method for Monitoring Beta Cell Death in Type 1 Diabetes

DNA methylation is a mechanism by which cells control gene expression, and cell-specific genes often exhibit unique patterns of DNA methylation. We previously reported that the mouse insulin-2 gene (Ins2) promoter has three potential methylation (CpG) sites, all of which are unmethylated in insulin-producing cells but methylated in other tissues. In this study we examined Ins2 exon 2 and found a similar tissue-specific methylation pattern. These methylation patterns can differentiate between DNA from insulin-producing beta cells and other tissues. We hypothesized that damaged beta cells release their DNA into circulation at the onset of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and sought to develop a quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (qMSP) assay for circulating beta cell DNA to monitor the loss of beta cells. Methylation-specific primers were designed to interrogate two or more CpG in the same assay. The cloned mouse Ins2 gene was methylated in vitro and used for development of the qMSP assay. We found the qMSP method to be sensitive and specific to differentiate between insulin-producing cells and other tissues with a detection limit of 10 copies in the presence of non-specific genomic DNA background. We also compared different methods for data analysis and found that the Relative Expression Ratio method is the most robust method since it incorporates both a reference value to normalize day-to-day variability as well as PCR reaction efficiencies to normalize between the methylation-specific and bisulfite-specific components of the calculations. The assay was applied in the streptozotocin-treated diabetic mouse model and detected a significant increase in circulating beta cell DNA before the rise in blood glucose level. These results demonstrate that this qMSP assay can be used for monitoring circulating DNA from insulin-producing cells, which will provide the basis for development of assays to detect beta cell destruction in early T1DM.
Silymarin Accelerates Liver Regeneration after Partial Hepatectomy

Partial hepatectomy (PHx) is a liver regeneration physiological response induced to maintain homeostasis. Liver regeneration evolved presumably to protect wild animals from catastrophic liver loss caused by toxins or tissue injury. Silymarin (Sm) ability to stimulate liver regeneration has been an object of curiosity for many years. Silymarin has been investigated for use as an antioxidant and anticarcinogen. However, its use as a supportive treatment for liver damage is elusive. In this study, we fed silymarin (Sm, 25 mg/kg) to male Sprague-Dawley rats for 7 weeks. Surgical 2/3 PHx was then conducted on the rats at 6 hrs, 24 hrs, and 72 hrs. Western blot and RT-PCR were conducted to detect the cell cycle activities and silymarin effects on hepatic regeneration. The results showed that silymarin enhanced liver regeneration by accelerating the cell cycle in PHx liver. Silymarin led to increased G1 phase (cyclin D1/pRb), S phase (cyclin E/E2F), G2 phase (cyclin B), and M phase (cyclin A) protein and mRNA at 6 hrs, 24 hrs, and 72 hrs PHx. HGF, TGFα, and TGFβ1 growth factor expressions were also enhanced. We suggest that silymarin plays a crucial role in accelerated liver regeneration after PHx.
A MetaPhoneme inventory

This paper focuses on the sharing of phonolog-ical information in a multilingual inheritance-based lexicon. It explores the possibility of establishing a phoneme inventory for a group of languages in which language-speciic phonemes function as \allophones" of newly deened meta-phonemes. Danish, Dutch, English, and Ger-man were taken as a test bed and their vowel phoneme inventories were studied. The results of the cross-linguistic analysis are presented in this paper. The paper concludes by showing how these metaphonemes can be incorporated in a multilingual inheritance-based lexicon.
When Relevance Is No Longer the Question

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are not monolithic as they differ in size, curriculum specializations, and a host of other characteristics. However, HBCUs share a mission of providing a higher education for Black students within the broader context of a discriminatory social environment. The ability to understand and articulate the fundamental characteristics, which shape Black colleges, can provide more nuanced conversations about these institutions’ contributions toward addressing equity and access for Black students in higher education. Historically, scholars have used social and cultural capital to explain the role HBCUs play in Black students’ academic careers. However, this article uses Community Cultural Wealth to discuss the various forms of capital that HBCUs impart to their students. Specifically, in this article, we argue that using such a lens when discussing HBCUs is important because it provides a more holistic and broader outlook regarding the forms of culture HBCUs provide to their students.
Visceral hyperalgesia and intestinal dysmotility in a mouse model of postinfective gut dysfunction.

BACKGROUND & AIMS We established the concept that transient enteric infection may lead to persistent gut dysfunction, evident in vitro, in nematode-infected mice. The present study determined whether gut dysfunction in this model involves motor and sensory changes reminiscent of changes found in patients with postinfective irritable bowel syndrome (PI-IBS) and investigated underlying mechanisms. METHODS Mice infected up to 70 days previously with Trichinella spiralis (Tsp) underwent videofluoroscopy with image analysis to assess upper gastrointestinal motility. Pseudoaffective responses to colorectal distention (CRD) were assessed using a barostat and validated by single fiber recordings from spinal nerves during CRD. Tissues were examined at different time points for histology, immunohistochemistry, and cytokine analysis. Some mice received dexamethasone intraperitoneally on days 23-25 PI or Tsp antigen orally on days 29, 43, and 57 PI. RESULTS From day 28 PI, no discernible inflammation was present in the gut. Frequency and propagation velocity of intestinal contractions decreased, and retroperistalsis increased at days 28 to 42 PI. CRD induced an allodynic and hyperalgesic response in PI mice, which was accompanied by increased single unit discharge. Gavage of Tsp antigen induced T-cell responses and sustained gut dysfunction for 70 days PI. Administration of dexamethasone postinfection normalized dysmotility and visceral hyperalgesia. CONCLUSIONS Long-lasting gut dysmotility and hyperalgesia develop in mice after transient intestinal inflammation. These changes are maintained by luminal exposure to antigen and reversed by corticosteroid treatment. The findings prompt consideration of this as a model of PI-IBS.
Identification of correct regions in protein models using structural, alignment, and consensus information

In this study we present two methods to predict the local quality of a protein model: ProQres and ProQprof. ProQres is based on structural features that can be calculated from a model, while ProQprof uses alignment information and can only be used if the model is created from an alignment. In addition, we also propose a simple approach based on local consensus, Pcons‐local. We show that all these methods perform better than state‐of‐the‐art methodologies and that, when applicable, the consensus approach is by far the best approach to predict local structure quality. It was also found that ProQprof performed better than other methods for models based on distant relationships, while ProQres performed best for models based on closer relationship, i.e., a model has to be reasonably good to make a structural evaluation useful. Finally, we show that a combination of ProQprof and ProQres (ProQlocal) performed better than any other nonconsensus method for both high‐ and low‐quality models. Additional information and Web servers are available at: http://www.sbc. su.se/∼bjorn/ProQ/.
Teaching Software Engineering through Robotics

This paper presents a newly-developed robotics programming course and reports the initial results of software engineering education in robotics context. Robotics programming, as a multidisciplinary course, puts equal emphasis on software engineering and robotics. It teaches students proper software engineering -- in particular, modularity and documentation -- by having them implement four core robotics algorithms for an educational robot. To evaluate the effect of software engineering education in robotics context, we analyze pre- and post-class survey data and the four assignments our students completed for the course. The analysis suggests that the students acquired an understanding of software engineering techniques and principles.
TCP Performance in the Presence of Congestion and Corruption Losses

Työn nimi — Arbetets titel — Title Oppiaine — Läroämne — Subject Työn laji — Arbetets art — Level Aika — Datum — Month and year Sivumäärä — Sidoantal — Number of pages Tiivistelmä — Referat — Abstract Avainsanat — Nyckelord — Keywords Säilytyspaikka — Förvaringsställe — Where deposited Muita tietoja — Övriga uppgifter — Additional information The wireless environment of slow and lossy links presents a challenge for efficient data transport. We have performed an experimental evaluation of TCP in an emulated wireless environment. We consider a network model including a lossy wireless link and a last-hop router with a limited-size buffer. We have explored how well the state-of-art TCP perform, identified key reasons behind the behavior, and measured the effect of different optimizations. We experimented with TCP connections with different values of the initial window, receiver window, with or without SACK and New Reno over the emulated network with different error rates and buffer sizes. The experimental data is obtained with a state-of-art TCP implementation of the Linux operating system and a real-time network emulator Seawind. Our main result is a comparative study and analysis of different TCP optimizations.
Safety and efficacy of spinal cord stimulation for the treatment of chronic pain: a 20-year literature review.

OBJECT The purpose of this report was to examine the available literature to determine the safety and efficacy of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for the treatment of chronic pain of the trunk and limbs. METHODS The author identified 68 studies that fulfilled the efficacy inclusion/exclusion criteria, grouped on the basis of pain indication, with an overall population of 3679 patients. Fifty-one studies fulfilled all safety inclusion/exclusion criteria. Based on the literature review, the author found that SCS had a positive, symptomatic, long-term effect in cases of refractory angina pain, severe ischemic limb pain secondary to peripheral vascular disease, peripheral neuropathic pain, and chronic low-back pain, and that, in general, SCS was a safe and effective treatment for a variety of chronic neuropathic conditions. CONCLUSIONS Despite the positive findings, there is an urgent need for randomized, controlled, long-term studies on the efficacy of SCS involving larger patient sample sizes.
GSK-3β: A Bifunctional Role in Cell Death Pathways

Although glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3β) was originally named for its ability to phosphorylate glycogen synthase and regulate glucose metabolism, this multifunctional kinase is presently known to be a key regulator of a wide range of cellular functions. GSK-3β is involved in modulating a variety of functions including cell signaling, growth metabolism, and various transcription factors that determine the survival or death of the organism. Secondary to the role of GSK-3β in various diseases including Alzheimer's disease, inflammation, diabetes, and cancer, small molecule inhibitors of GSK-3β are gaining significant attention. This paper is primarily focused on addressing the bifunctional or conflicting roles of GSK-3β in both the promotion of cell survival and of apoptosis. GSK-3β has emerged as an important molecular target for drug development.
Asymptotic Performances of Multiple Turbo Codes using the Gaussian Approximation Didier

In his thesis, Wiberg [1] has observed that if the MAP decoder inputs are gaussian and independent, then its outputs can also be approximated as gaussian random variables. Recently, El Gamal [2] has proposed to use this gaussian approximation to study the asymptotic performances of the iterative decoder of different families of concatenated codes (LDPC, turbo codes [3], .). From this approximation, it is possible to find the minimum ratio Eb/N0S corresponding to the limit from which the signal to noise ratio of the extrinsic information SNREXTR → ∞ (and the bit error ratio Pe → 0) when the number of iterations m → ∞. This method can be used to choose the best constituent codes of parallel concatenated convolutional codes (PCC codes) from the point of view of the iterative decoder.
Circular Security Counterexamples for Arbitrary Length Cycles from LWE

We describe a public key encryption that is IND-CPA secure under the Learning with Errors (LWE) assumption, but that is not circular secure for arbitrary length cycles. Previous separation results for cycle length greater than 2 require the use of indistinguishability obfuscation, which is not currently realizable under standard assumptions.
SN 2003lw and GRB 031203: A Bright Supernova for a Faint Gamma-Ray Burst

Optical and near-infrared observations of the gamma-ray burst GRB 031203, at z = 0.1055, are reported. A very faint afterglow is detected superposed onto the host galaxy in our first infrared JHK observations, carried out ~9 hr after the burst. Subsequently, a rebrightening is detected in all bands, peaking in the R band about 18 rest-frame days after the burst. The rebrightening closely resembles the light curve of a supernova like SN 1998bw, assuming that the GRB and the SN went off almost simultaneously, but with a somewhat slower evolution. Spectra taken close to the maximum of the rebrightening show extremely broad features as in SN 1998bw. The determination of the absolute magnitude of this SN (SN 2003lw) is difficult owing to the large and uncertain extinction, but likely this event was brighter than SN 1998bw by 0.5 mag in the VRI bands, reaching an absolute magnitude MV = -19.75 ± 0.15.