Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Manufacturing under uncertainty: offsetting the inability to instantaneously adjust production with dynamic pricing

In many manufacturing systems the production rate cannot be instantaneously adjusted in response to inventory updates. This article addresses such a system under price-dependent stochastic demand. The objective of the system is to choose a time-invariant production rate and time-dependent product price that maximize the expected profit. This manufacturing system is compared to a benchmark system where both production rate and product price are adjustable. It is shown that the expected inventory level does not necessarily increase when the manufacturer can handle stock spikes only by leveling the demand with the product price. Although the inability to adjust production rate under a high level of uncertainty is difficult to offset with dynamic pricing, the non-linear components of the production and inventory costs can make a difference. For example, by reducing the non-linear component of the production cost and increasing price volatility, the manufacturer may close the profit gap between the two systems from 25% to only 5%.
Basic Research and Productivity Increase in Manufacturing: Additional Evidence

In a recent paper in this Review, Edwin Mansfield illustrated empirically (using a sample of ten petroleum and six chemical firms) that firm rates of productivity change are related to the amount of companyfinanced basic research performed, certeris paribus. In this note additional evidence is presented which is supportive of Mansfield's findings. This analysis is based on a sample of fifty- one major manufacturing firms active in R&D: it is unique in that the impacts of company-financeda nd governmentfinancedb asic researche xpendituresa re consideredd eterminantso f productivityg rowth. The following model was estimated
Optimal pollution level: a theoretical identification

In this paper, the optimal pollution level is identified under the assumptions of linear, quadratic and exponential cost functions. The corresponding optimal level of environmental policy is evaluated, with analytical forms in the linear and quadratic case, while in the exponential case, these values are obtained approximately. It is shown that, in principle, its existence obeys certain restrictions, which are investigated here. The evaluation of the benefit area is discussed and analytical forms for this particular area are calculated. The positive point, at least from a theoretical point of view, is that both the quadratic and the exponential case obey the same form when evaluating the benefit area. These benefit area evaluations can be used as indexes between different rival policies, and certainly the policy that produces the maximum area is the most beneficial policy.
Effect of preoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization on angiogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

AIM To evaluate the effects of four types of preoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) on angiogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. METHODS A total of 136 patients with HCC underwent liver resection. One to five courses of TACE prior to liver resection were performed in 79 patients (TACE group), in which one to four courses of chemotherapy alone were performed in 11 patients (group A); one to five courses of chemotherapy combined with iodized oil were performed in 33 patients (group B); one to three courses of chemotherapy combined with iodized oil and gelatin sponge were performed in 23 patients (group C); one to three courses of chemotherapy combined with iodized oil, ethanol and gelatin sponge were performed in 12 patients (group D). The other 57 patients only received liver resection (non-TACE group). The microvessels were marked by CD31. The expression of CD31 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein were detected by immunohistochemical methods. RESULTS The mean microvessel density (MVD) in HCC cells was significantly higher in groups A, B, C and D than in the non-TACE group (P < 0.05). The expression of VEGF protein in HCC cells were significantly higher in groups A, B, C and D than in the non-TACE group (P < 0.05). MVD and the expression of VEGF protein were positively correlated. Mean MVD and the expression of VEGF protein were closely related to the number of courses of TACE and the interval of TACE. CONCLUSION Four different types of preoperative TACE regimens enhanced angiogenesis in HCC cells by up-regulating the expression of VEGF protein. It is necessary to repress angiogenesis of liver cancer after TACE.
The Determinants of Overeducation: Different Measures, Different Outcomes?

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to assess the measurement sensitivity of the estimated determinants of overeducation. Design/methodology/approach - The paper analyses the determinants of overeducation among Flemish school leavers in their first job by means of probit regression analysis. Overeducation is measured on the basis of job analysis (JA), self-assessments and realised matches. Findings - The results demonstrate that the application of different overeducation measures sometimes leads to different outcomes. Only a few variables – for instance the student's academic grade in the final year – are consistently found to be important for the explanation of overeducation. Some outcomes are consistent with the supposition that several indicators actually measure other concepts. Research limitations/implications - Further research using JA measures that are based on alternative and more recent occupational classifications would be useful. Originality/value - The application of different measures provides further insight into the overeducation measurement problem.
Direct admission to the coronary care unit by the ambulance service for patients with suspected myocardial infarction

Background Direct access to the coronary care unit (CCU) for general practitioner (GP) referred cases of suspected acute myocardial infarction (AMI) (fast track admission) substantially reduces the time to thrombolysis. Until now, this policy has been confined to GP referrals. Objectives To determine the time taken to admission to CCU under the fast track policy (ambulance referrals and GP referrals) and the time taken to start administration of thrombolytics (ambulance referrals, GP referrals, and accident and emergency referrals). Methods Fast track admission policy was extended to include referrals from ambulance personnel who respond to emergency service calls. Ambulance personnel referred cases were also examined to see if they were referred appropriately to the CCU. Results 100 ambulance personnel referrals and 260 GP referrals to CCU with chest pain were studied. Forty accident and emergency referrals who had AMI requiring thrombolysis were also studied. In the ambulance referred group the time to admission from phone call was a median of 10 minutes (range 2 to 45), a saving of 30 minutes compared with GP referrals (median 40 minutes, range 2 to 217). The median diagnostic electrocardiogram (ECG) to thrombolysis time was longer in the accident and emergency referrals with AMI than either ambulance referrals or GP referrals admitted under the fast track policy. Diagnostic ECG to thrombolysis time: accident and emergency 50 minutes (range 15 to 385); ambulance referrals median 33 minutes (range 6 to 69); GP referrals median 29.5 minutes (range 5 to 110 minutes); (p = 0.056 accident and emergency compared with ambulance referrals, p < 0.002 accident and emergency compared with GP referrals). Of 100 ambulance referrals 52 patients exhibited symptoms suggestive of ischaemic heart disease (confirmed AMI, unstable angina, and angina) and a further 18 patients were required to stay in CCU for other cardiac problems. Thus a total of 70 (70%) were considered appropriate compared with 155 of 260 (55.8%) GP referred cases. Conclusions Extending the fast track admission policy to ambulance personnel reduces delay to admission for patients with suspected MI without adversely affecting the appropriateness of admissions.
Plasmids of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and other Neisseria species

a These species were shown to carry plasmids of various sizes which hybridized with probes made from the 2.6-MDa plasmid. b Related plasmids are found in the genus Haemophilus (4). Identical plasmids are found in clinical isolates of K. denitrificans and Eikenella corrodens (24). d Related plasmids are found in enteric bacteria and Eikenella corrodens
Kidney transplants for children under 1 year of age – a single‐center experience

Abstract: From September 20, 1970 to October 24, 2001, we performed 46 kidney transplants in infants under 1 yr old at the University of Minnesota. This article reviews the preoperative care, surgical technique, and immunosuppression. Recipients included 16 females and 30 males; the youngest recipient was 6 wk old. The mean pretransplant height was 62.8 cm, which increased to 77 cm at 1 yr post‐transplant and to 104 cm at 5 yr. We used 40 living donors (all but 1 were related to the recipient) and 6 cadaver donors. The overall actuarial graft survival was 85% at 1 yr and 70% at 5 yr. In the cyclosporine era, graft survival improved to 91% at 1 yr and 80% at 5 yr. Death with function was the most common cause of graft loss (n = 5), followed by biopsy‐proven chronic rejection (n = 4), biopsy‐proven recurrent disease (n = 3), and graft thrombosis (n = 2). Patient survival was 91% at 1 yr and 86% at 5 yr. In the cyclosporine era, patient survival was 100% at 5 yr and 85% at 10 yr. We concluded that an early transplant is the best treatment option for infants under 1 yr old with chronic renal failure. Whenever possible, adult living kidney donors should be used.
A Novel Mechatronic Body Weight Support System

A novel mechatronic body weight support (BWS) system has been developed to provide precise body weight unloading for patients with neurological or other impairments during treadmill training. The system is composed of a passive elastic spring element to take over the main unloading force and an active closed-loop controlled electric drive to generate the exact desired force. Both force generating units, the passive spring and the active electric drive, act on the patient via a polyester rope connected to a harness worn by the patient. The length of the rope can be adjusted with an electric winch to adapt the system to different patient sizes. The system is fully computer controlled. At unloading loads of up to 60 kg and walking speeds of up to 3.2 km/h, the mean unloading error and the maximum unloading error of the presented BWS system was less than 1 and 3 kg, respectively. The performance was compared with those of two purely passive BWS systems currently being used by most other rehabilitation groups. This comprised counterweight systems and static BWS systems with fixed rope lengths. Counterweight systems reached mean and maximum unloading errors of up to 5.34 and 16.22 kg, respectively. The values for the static BWS were 11.02 kg and 27.67 kg, respectively. The novel mechatronic BWS system presented in this study adjusts desired unloading changes of up to 20 kg within less than 100 ms. Thus, not only constant BWS, but also gait cycle dependent or time variant oscillations of the desired force can be realized with high accuracy. Precise and constant unloading force is believed to be an important prerequisite for BWS gait therapy, where it is important to generate physiologically correct segmental dynamics and ground reaction forces. Thus, the novel BWS system presented in this paper is an important contribution to maximize the therapeutic outcome of human gait rehabilitation
The Short‐Term Effect of Depressive Symptoms on Labor Market Outcomes

We estimated the short‐term effects of symptoms of depression on labor market outcomes using data from the 2004–2009 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. After accounting for the endogeneity of depression through a correlated random effects panel data specification, we found that exhibiting depressive symptoms reduces the likelihood of employment. We did not, however, find evidence of a causal relationship between depressive symptoms and hourly wages or weekly hours worked. Our estimates are substantially smaller than those from previous studies and imply that depressive symptoms reduce the contemporaneous probability of employment by 2.4 percentage points. In addition, we examined the effect of depression on work impairment and found that exhibiting depressive symptoms increases annual work loss days by about 1.4 days (33%), which implies that the annual aggregate productivity loses because of depression‐induced absenteeism range from $900m to $1.9bn in 2009 USD. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Aggregate Comovements, Anticipation, and Business Cycles

This paper shows that negative comovements between major macroeconomic variables at business-cycle frequencies are commonly observed, but that standard Real Business Cycle (RBC) theory fails to predict this feature of the data. We show that allowing for “anticipation effects” in response to “news shocks” enables standard RBC models to predict both the observed patterns of negative comovement and overall positive correlations. Anticipation also improves magnification of shocks in the model without harming predictions for the other second moments central to RBC studies. Anticipation effects improve on standard RBC frameworks by offering an empirically plausible explanation for the nontrivial fraction of time that aggregate variables are observed to comove negatively.
Measuring Reference Price Formation: Analysis In A Virtual Experimental Context

As many surveys stated, companies are investing in better pricing processes, tools and capabilities. Among these companies, 42% consider that capturing the full value of products and services is one of the top challenges related to price setting and optimization. In addition, many improvements have been made recently in the way companies set an optimal price level and adapt their pricing processes. However, pricing decision-makers have to face a paradox: price setting is a left-brained (rational) process, whereas price perceptions and evaluations are right-brained (subjective). Tools available to solve this paradox are limited. Direct measures (price tresholds,.), Van Vestendorp’s PSM approach, conjoint measurement can be useful in assessing price evaluations but fail in measuring how consumers compare, evaluate and memorize price offers. Reference price, viewed as a standard against which the purchase price of a product is judged (Monroe, 1973), is one of the most studied constructs in research on strategic pricing decisions. As Kalyanaram and Winer (1995) stated, “ reference price is a psychological construct which, when incorporated into normative models, can change the way marketing managers make decisions about price and promotions ”. One stream of research has identified antecedents of reference price and has assessed their effects through experimentation, others have reported effects of reference price models on brand choice and other purchase decisions (Mazumdar et al. 2005). Many studies have examined and called for greater integration of different measures of reference price, noting that the research area is highly context specific (Lowe and Alpert, 2007). The purpose of this research is to operationalize a tool to measure and control contextual influences on reference price formation using a simulated experiment. The decision environment is generated and controlled in a lab setting using a software that simulates a purchase decision context and records the behaviours induced by that process. Contextual and temporal influences can be measured monitoring the total amount of information consulted for competing products (attributes and prices), as well as the time spent on information search. More specifically, this research evaluates the impact of search effort on the perceived reference price in the market at different points in time in the decision process.
Orbital Penetration Associated with Tooth Extraction

Three cats and 2 dogs were evaluated for ophthalmologic complications associated with teeth extraction procedures. Orbital penetration leading to ocular and. in one case, brain trauma was secondary to iatrogenic injury from a dental elevator. Outcomes included enucleation of the affected eye in 3 cases, and death from brain abscessation in 1 case. Early treatment or, preferably, referral to a veterinary ophthalmology specialist may prevent such outcomes. Awareness of the anatomical proximity of caudal maxillary tooth roof, and the orbit, appropriate interpretation of diagnostic intraoral dental radiographs, and technical proficiency in tooth extraction techniques will minimize these complications in veterinary dental practice.
Entrepreneurship in American Higher Education

Higher education is basic to the future of American life. The nation's ability to prosper and to thrive in an increasingly knowledge-based global society and economy depends on our having a progressively well-educated population. The values and practices of pure research-discovery, originality, innovation-shape and motivate American university learning. The American bachelor's degree has other objectives as well. Among the most frequently stated are critical thinking, scientific and quantitative reasoning, preparation for citizenship, moral reflection, readiness for work, respect for diversity, broad intellectual knowledge, the transmission of culture, and appreciation of our national values. At the root of all these legitimate and important goals is an even more fundamental purpose of learning: intelligibility. We cannot improve a world we do not understand, and we cannot advance if we do not comprehend ourselves, our strengths, limitations, and motivations. By making the world and ourselves increasingly comprehensible and thereby manageable, education establishes a foundation for human growth, creativity, fulfillment, and progress.If intelligibility is a fundamental goal of learning, then American higher education must reflect the experience and conditions of contemporary life. Higher education cannot make intelligible a world from which it is removed or does not address. College learning must teach students how to make sense of and how to affect the reality in which they will actually live. Education cannot succeed if it becomes insular and static. To be sure, studying great works of the past and the persisting questions of human nature is basic to becoming an educated person. But a distinctive strength of American higher education also should be dynamism and adaptability, a capacity to address urgent, current questions of nature, society, and human experience as well as classic ones. Entrepreneurship is a dominant force in contemporary America. It generates ongoing innovation and improvement of our goods, services, and institutions. It makes them more efficient, affordable, and, thus, effective. Entrepreneurship enhances the quality of our collective and individual lives. It changes the way we work, the way we communicate, the way we live. Innovation and improvement depend on intelligibility. In the final analysis, we cannot devise or enhance the incomprehensible. We cannot repair what is mysterious to us. Because intelligibility is a fundamental purpose of higher education, and generating new knowledge is the highest expression of American learning, entrepreneurship and college education are inextricably bound to one another. Each has an ineluctable interest in the success of the other. Against this background, entrepreneurship should be both a legitimate subject in American undergraduate education and a pervasive approach to learning and the management of universities.
Monetary policy when one size does not fit all

The European Central Bank recently raised its target interest rate for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis. When compared with a simple interest rate rule, this rate hike appears consistent with the euro area's nascent economic recovery and rising inflation. However, economic conditions vary greatly among the countries in the euro area and the ECB's new target rate may not be suitable for all of them.
Dual parameter fiber optic sensor combining a Fabry-Perot and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer

A new concept for dual parameter fiber optic sensor has been developed and characterized, both in a two-fiber and single-fiber configuration. The liquid sensor measures ethanol concentration with a stimuli responsive hydrogel which constitutes a low finesse Fabry-Perot cavity, and refractive index with a Mach-Zehnder type fiber optic interferometer. The two-fiber configuration utilize a fiber optic 1310/1550 nm wavelength division multiplexer to separate the two parameters, while a versatile filtering algorithm extracts and separates the two parameters in the single-fiber configuration. No cross talk were observed for the measured parameters of free spectral range and refractive index for the two-fiber configurations, while for the single fiber configuration cross-talk were observed. The two configurations prove to be versatile dual parametric fiber optic sensor concepts for accurate detection of specific parameters, based on stimuli responsive hydrogels.
Maturation of Renal Tubular Transport of Digoxin

Summary: Previous data have suggested an age-related increase in renal tubular secretion of digoxin in infants and children receiving long-term digoxin therapy. This phenomenon could be the result of a maturational process or secondary to chronic substrate stimulation. To investigate this question, two groups of 2-week-old paired littermate rats received intraperitoneal injections of either digoxin or an equal volume of normal saline (control) on alternate days until sacrificed at 4, 6, and 8 wk of age. An additional group of 12-wk-old-rats were studied as controls. 125I-labeled digoxin uptake was measured in renal cortical slices as the cPM/mg wet tissue slice/medium ratio (S/M). Both digoxin-treated and control rats demonstrated significant age-related increments in digoxin uptake. S/M ratios at 4, 6, 8, and 12 wk in the control group were 1.34 × 0.06, 1.39 × 0.14, 1.62 × 0.18 and 1.93 × 0.23, respectively (mean × S.D.) (r = 0.81; P < 0.001). S/M ratios in the digoxin-treated animals at 4, 6, and 8 wk were 1.28 × 0.16, 1.33 × 0.09, and 1.52 × 0.23, respectively (r = 0.50; P < 0.025), but did not differ significantly at each age from those in the control group. 125I uptake was significantly reduced by both dinitrophenol and sodium azide, as well as by a 100% nitrogen atmosphere.These results indicate that renal tubular transport of digoxin is an age-related energy dependent process which probably is not subject to substrate stimulation.Speculation: An age-dependent increase in renal digoxin excretion exists in treated infants and children. This augmentation is due to nonspecific renal maturational phenomena and not to specific substrateinduced tubular transport.
The Importance of Doctors' and Patients' Preferences in the Prescription Decision

This paper studies the contribution of doctor and patient "habit" to persistence in market shares in prescription drug markets. My unique panel dataset allows me to estimate the probability of switching brands as a function of patient and doctor attributes, with an emphasis on past prescribing behaviour so as to capture the degree of persistence. I find significant evidence of time-dependence in prescription choices for both doctors and patients, which seems to imply that in molecular submarkets in which brands are not allowed to compete on the basis of price, doctor and patient "habit" at the micro-level can translate into sticky and persistent market shares at the aggregate level. Copyright 2000 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd