Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Finite-size scaling in the Kuramoto model.

We investigate the scaling properties of the order parameter and the largest nonvanishing Lyapunov exponent for the fully locked state in the Kuramoto model with a finite number N of oscillators. We show that, for any finite value of N, both quantities scale as (K-K_{L})^{1/2} with the coupling strength K sufficiently close to the locking threshold K_{L}. We confirm numerically these predictions for oscillator frequencies evenly spaced in the interval [-1,1] and additionally find that the coupling range δK over which this scaling is valid shrinks like δK∼N^{-α} with α≈1.5 as N→∞. Away from this interval, the order parameter exhibits the infinite-N behavior r-r_{L}∼(K-K_{L})^{2/3} proposed by Pazó [Phys. Rev. E 72, 046211 (2005)]PLEEE81539-375510.1103/PhysRevE.72. 046211. We argue that the crossover between the two behaviors occurs because at the locking threshold, the upper bound of the continuous part of the spectrum of the fully locked state approaches zero as N increases. Our results clarify the convergence to the N→∞ limit in the Kuramoto model.
Contracts, Externalities, and Incentives in Shopping Malls

This paper demonstrates that mall store contracts are written to internalize externalities through both an efficient allocation and pricing of space, and an efficient allocation of incentives across stores. Certain stores generate externalities by drawing customers to other stores, whereas many stores primarily benefit from external mall traffic. Therefore, to varying degrees, the success of each store depends upon the presence and effort of other stores, and the effort of the developer to attract customers to the mall. Using a unique data set of mall tenant contracts, we show that rental contracts are written to (i) efficiently price the net externality of each store and (ii) align the incentives to induce optimal effort by the developer and each mall store according to the externality of each store's effort.
Regulation of Alternative Splicing of CD45 by Antagonistic Effects of SR Protein Splicing Factors1

CD45 is a transmembrane glycoprotein possessing tyrosine phosphatase activity, which is involved in cell signaling. CD45 is expressed on the surface of most leukocytes and can be alternatively spliced by the inclusion or skipping of three variable exons (4, 5, and 6 or A, B, and C) to produce up to eight isoforms. In T cells, the splicing pattern of CD45 isoforms changes after activation; naive cells express high m.w. isoforms of CD45 which predominantly express exon A (CD45RA), whereas activated cells lose expression of exon A to form low m.w. isoforms of CD45 including CD45RO. Little is known about the specific factors controlling the switch in CD45 splicing which occurs on activation. In this study, we examined the influence of the SR family of splicing factors, which, like CD45, are expressed in tissue-specific patterns and have been shown to modulate the alternative splicing of a variety of transcripts. We show that specific SR proteins have antagonistic effects on CD45 splicing, leading either to exon inclusion or skipping. Furthermore, we were able to demonstrate specific changes in the SR protein expression pattern during T cell activation.
Measuring the Weather Risk in Manufacturing and Service Sectors in Korea

: Given the presence of global warming, the economic impact of climate changes on output sales has been discussed in the literature, but rarely with empirical evidences. In this present study, a simple log-model was employed to identify the economic impacts of weather changes in manufacturing and service sectors in Korea. For this empirical exercise, weather variables including the CDD (cooling degree days) and HDD (heating degree days) were computed using the Korea's meteorological records covering the period 1970-2012. According to estimation results, 26.7% (144 over 539) and 27.9% (64 over 229) of the manufacturing and service sectors, respectively, are found to be weather-sensitive.
The Relationship between Achievement Motivation and Job Efficiency of Agricultural Faculty Staff, Islamic Azad University, Shoushtar Branch

Te purpose of research was identifying the relationship between achievement motivation and efficiency of agricultural faculty staff, Islamic Azad University Shoushtar Branch. The method of research was a descriptive-correlative. The sample size was agricultural faculty staff (n=45). A fivepoint Likert-type scale was used as the instrument to gather data in order to measure the achievement motivation. A quantitative analysis using data gathered by the survey questionnaire and Likert scale was used. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Questionnaire reliability was estimated by calculating Cronbach’s alpha and it was appropriate for this study (Mean Cranach's alpha 0.82). Te result of research revealed that the correlation between achievement motivation, responsibility adoption, activity rate, goal oriented and efficiency of staff at the level of 0.05 was significant. Liner regression was used to predict changes in efficiency by different variables. Based on the results achievement motivation, activity rate, responsibility adoption and goal oriented may well explain for 33.8% changes (R 2 = 0.338) in efficiency of staff.
Ear Identification Based on Sparse Representation

Biometrics based personal authentication is an effective way for automatically recognizing, with a high confidence, a person’s identity. Recently, 3D ear shape has attracted tremendous interests in research field due to its richness of feature and ease of acquisition. However, the existing ICP (Iterative Closet Point)-based 3D ear matching methods prevalent in the literature are not quite efficient to cope with the one-to-many identification case. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap by proposing a novel effective fully automatic 3D ear identification system. We at first propose an accurate and efficient template-based ear detection method. By utilizing such a method, the extracted ear regions are represented in a common canonical coordinate system determined by the ear contour template, which facilitates much the following stages of feature extraction and classification. For each extracted 3D ear, a feature vector is generated as its representation by making use of a PCA-based local feature descriptor. At the stage of classification, we resort to the sparse representation based classification approach, which actually solves an l1-minimization problem. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work introducing the sparse representation framework into the field of 3D ear identification. Extensive experiments conducted on a benchmark dataset corroborate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach. The associated Matlab source code and the evaluation results have been made publicly online available at http://sse.tongji.edu.cn/linzhang/ear/srcear/ srcear.htm. Citation: Zhang L, Ding Z, Li H, Shen Y (2014) 3D Ear Identification Based on Sparse Representation. PLoS ONE 9(4): e95506. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0095506 Editor: Wang Zhan, University of Maryland, College Park, United States of America Received February 4, 2014; Accepted March 26, 2014; Published April 16, 2014 Copyright: 2014 Zhang et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China under grant no. 61201394, the Shanghai Pujiang Program under grant no. 13PJ1408700, and the Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission under grant no. 12ZZ029. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: yingshen@tongji.edu.cn
International Marketing in UK Higher Education: Some Issues in Relation to Marketing Educational Programmes to Overseas Students

The development of international marketing principles and practices in UK universities is considered with specific reference to a study of two institutions. First there is an outline of how a marketing approach has emerged in relation to overseas students. Then the way in which clients′ needs are assessed; the development of an appropriate marketing mix; and the management of marketing operations are appraised.
The Psychological Costs of Pay-for-Performance: Implications for the Strategic Compensation of Employees

Most research linking compensation to strategy relies on agency theory economics and focuses on executive pay. We instead focus on the strategic compensation of non-executive employees, arguing that while agency theory provides a useful framework for analyzing compensation, it fails to consider several psychological factors that increase costs from performance-based pay. We examine how psychological costs from social comparison and overconfidence reduce the efficacy of individual performance-based compensation, building a theoretical framework predicting more prominent use of team-based, seniority-based, and flatter compensation. We argue that compensation is strategic not only in motivating and attracting the worker being compensated, but also in its impact on peer workers and the firm’s complementary activities. The paper discusses empirical implications and possible theoretical extensions of the proposed integrated theory.
Performance, Expenses and Cash Flows: Evidence from Greek Equity Funds

This paper seeks to exploit the factors that affect performance, expense ratio and cash flows of Greek equity mutual funds in the time period 2002-05. In the first step, we apply the well-known Jensen's model and we find that the funds of the sample do not present significant and consistent superior risk-adjusted performance in relevance to the average market portfolio, even though we record slight statistical evidence for the opposite. Consequently, we demonstrate that the performance is contrarily related to the expense ratio. Further, we provide denotations that the expense ratio is affected negatively by the length of fund's assets and risk-adjusted return, while expense ratio is amplified by the increase of the risk, the purchase and the redeeming charges. Finally, we indicate that the flows towards funds are reduced due to accretions in expenses, while flows are positively influenced by the age of funds, the return and the magnitude of family's assets.
Institutional Investors and Information Content of Earnings Announcements Over Time

The investor composition in the US stock market has been undergoing a dramatic shift towards greater institutional ownership. In this paper, we show that the increase in the stock ownership by institutions over time, especially those with focus on short-term performance, is positively related to the increase over time in stock market response to earnings announcements. Our findings offer an additional explanation to the increase over time in the information content of earnings announcements, and provide a rationale for the frequently expressed view by corporate managers that they are increasingly pressured to meet short-term earnings targets due to the fixation of their investors on near-term corporate performance.
Purchasing behaviour in the Northern Ireland wine market

A dynamic process of structural change is currently under way in the global wine industry. Historically, the wine industry has been dominated by the traditional wine‐producing countries of Europe. However, forces of change in the commercial environment have encouraged an influx of wines from countries such as California, Chile, Australia and New Zealand, to name but a few. As the portfolio of wines on the market continues to expand, the challenge for survival of both new and traditional wine‐producing countries is intensified. This study of the Northern Ireland wine market is based on the results of a questionnaire which was distributed through off‐licences in Northern Ireland. Two hundred and ten questionnaires were distributed with a response rate of 57 per cent. Key findings included: country of origin is the most important factor when customers are selecting wine; word of mouth recommendation is most likely to influence the type of wine chosen; most of those surveyed usually spend between £3.50 and £4.
[Effective factors in the outcome of head injury].

BACKGROUND In this study, the data that could be obtained from our patient record system were investigated with respect to factors affecting the outcome in adult patients with head injury. METHODS The records of 356 adult head-injury patients (308 males, 48 females; mean age 43.1 +/- 18.6 years; range 17 to 87 years) hospitalized in Trakya University Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery and the Intensive Care Unit were examined. Results of the obtained data were analyzed statistically. RESULTS Age (p = 0.012), use of airway tube (p < 0.001), Glasgow Coma Scale values determined at the injury site and in the Emergency Unit (p < 0.001), clustered systolic and diastolic tricuspid annulus values (p < 0.001), accompanying chest (p = 0.001) and abdominal (p = 0.041) injury, anisocoria (p = 0.001), pupillary light response (p < 0.001), intracranial radiologic findings such as subdural hematoma (p < 0.001), brain contusion (p = 0.006), traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (p < 0.001), traumatic intracranial hemorrhage (p = 0.005), and brain edema ( p < 0.001), performance of a surgical procedure (p < 0.001), and presence of nosocomial infection (p < 0.001) were demonstrated to cause significant differences in the outcome. CONCLUSION The main aim must be to reduce accidents in an effort to reduce the number of deaths due to head injuries; additionally, emergency and hospital care facilities should be developed with respect to head injury cases.
How Reliable Is Song Learning Accuracy as a Signal of Male Early Condition?

That many species of songbirds learn their songs imitatively is well established, but it is less clear why they do so. A component of the developmental-stress hypothesis posits that young males in good condition learn songs more accurately than males in poor condition and that females use learning accuracy as an honest signal of male developmental history. An unresolved problem is how females reliably assess learning accuracy when they are not certain of the identity of the male’s tutor and thus the specific model from which a song was copied. We therefore investigated whether song learning accuracy assessment (SLAA) can be reliable, using evolutionary simulation models of song learning. We found that SLAA is indeed less reliable than assessment in which male signals are compared to an unlearned standard, as a result of three types of errors in matching songs to their models. In the simplest models, SLAA was particularly unreliable, but when the model is made more realistic by including features such as geographically constrained learning, repertoire complexity, and, in particular, song categorization, the reliability of SLAA increased. Our results demonstrate a range of conditions under which the assessment of song learning accuracy might be reasonably reliable and therefore likely to evolve.
Efficacy and safety of sunitinib in previously treated, advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): Preliminary results of a multicenter phase II trial.

7001 Background: Sunitinib malate (SU11248) is an oral, multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting VEGFR, PDGFR, KIT, FLT3 and RET on tumor cells, tumor neovasculature and pericytes. This is the initial report of an open-label, two-stage, multicenter phase II trial evaluating the single-agent activity of sunitinib in refractory NSCLC. METHODS Eligibility criteria included confirmed diagnosis of NSCLC, ECOG PS 0-1, no recent gross hemoptysis, no brain metastases, patients (pts) previously treated with 1-2 chemotherapy regimens, and adequate end-organ function. Pts received sunitinib at 50 mg/day po for 4 weeks (wks) followed by 2 wks off treatment (6 wks considered a cycle). RESULTS A total of 64 pts were enrolled and 63 pts treated, median age 61 yrs (range 33-87); adenocarcinoma (64%), squamous cell carcinoma (22%), other (14%); 66% male; PS 0:1, 45%:55%; median number of prior regimens: 2 (range 1-4); median time since the prior regimen: 2 months (range 1-21). To date, 63 pts have started cycle 1, 46 cycle 2, 22 cycle 3, 6 cycle 4 and 1 cycle 5. Grade 3-4 toxicities included fatigue/asthenia (21%), nausea (7%), vomiting (7%), abdominal pain (7%), and hypertension (5%). Most toxicities were grade 1-2 and included asthenia/fatigue (68%), anorexia (40%), dyspnea (37%), cough (35%), nausea (33%), mucositis (32%), dysgeusia (25%), diarrhea (21%), vomiting (19%), and constipation (19%). Grade 5 toxicities include pulmonary hemorrhage (n=2) and cerebral hemorrhage (n=1). Thus far, 6 confirmed partial responses have been observed among 63 treated pts (9.5%, 95% CI: 3.6-19.6%). Stable disease has been observed in an additional 12 pts (19.0%). Survival data are pending and will be presented. CONCLUSIONS Sunitinib has provocative single-agent activity in previously treated pts with recurrent and advanced NSCLC, with the level of activity similar to currently approved agents. Sunitinib is well tolerated in this population. The trial is being extended to explore a continuous dosing strategy of sunitinib at 37.5 mg/day po. Based on these results, further trials are warranted and are ongoing with sunitinib in combination with standard agents/regimens. [Table: see text].
Brand preference in Islamic banking

Purpose – University students have a clear need for bank accounts as they have fees, expenses and cash needs. The usefulness of a current account is therefore pre‐evident and Islamic banks need to focus on their brand image and the services they offer. Indeed, understanding bank selection from Muslim customer's perspective can provide useful information to banks' senior management to help them allocate resources and design products that promise to attract and better satisfy customers. Literature collected so far suggests a strong Islamic brand reputation as well as better financial and banking services are the main factors which influence the selection of a brand. The purpose of this paper is to test this within a positivistic empirical framework and amongst the younger generation in Malaysia.Design/methodology/approach – The sample was based on 300 students at the International Islamic University of Malaysia. The study utilised five selection criteria based on previous research, personal experience and i.
Non-neuronal cholinergic system and signal transduction pathways mediated by band 3 in red blood cells.

BACKGROUND Non-neuronal acetylcholine (ACh) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) have been recognized in the past. Vascular ACh has been associated by us with the regulation of microcirculatory flow by modulating nitric oxide (NO) intracellular mobilization, metabolism (NOx) and release from erythrocytes, as well as the glycolytic flux. Velnacrine maleate is a well-known AChE inhibitor which plays a competitive role by decreasing NO-mediated erythrocyte responses. A plausible hypothesis to explain the mechanisms underlying those events hinges on the NO translocation among nitrosylated molecules and phosphorylated/dephosphorylated states of band 3 protein, processed by major tyrosine-kinases (PTK: p72syk, p53/56lyn and p59/61hck) and phosphotyrosine-phosphatases (PTP). METHODS To assess this hypothesis under the influence of AChE effectors (acetylcholine/velnacrine), blood samples from healthy donors were harvested and Western blot analysis was subsequently used to determine the degree of band 3 phosphorylation, in the presence and absence of PTK/PTP inhibitors. NO and nitrites/nitrates were quantified using an amperometric method and the Griess Reaction, respectively, in erythrocyte suspensions. Measurements of erythrocyte metabolites (2,3-bisphosphoglycerate; glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase; glucose-6-phosphodehydrogenase; lactate), hemoglobin and cyclic nucleotides were conducted afterwards. RESULTS Increased levels of phosphorylated-band 3 obtained upon p72syk inhibition suggest p59/61hck and p53/56lyn as secondary involved kinases. As to NO/NOx quantification, in the presence of PTKi we reported higher levels with velnacrine-AChE, as opposed to acetylcholine-AChE. Calpeptin, a PTP inhibitor which triggers full band 3-phosphorylation, led to the opposite NO mobilization, being reinforced by ACh. Oxy-hemoglobin, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase and glucose-6-phosphodehydrogenase were found to decrease with ACh, whereas P50, lactate and both cGMP/cAMP happened to increase. CONCLUSION Changes on human erythrocyte NOx mobilization and metabolic fluxes occur under influence of non-neuronal ACh/AChE, in turn dependent on the degree of band 3-phosphorylation. Since these vascular events may potentially change under pathological conditions, coadjuvant drugs could become accessible in the setting of microcirculation disease.
Control Methods Used in a Study of the Vowels

Relationships between a listener's identification of a spoken vowel and its properties as revealed from acoustic measurement of its sound wave have been a subject of study by many investigators. Both the utterance and the identification of a vowel depend upon the language and dialectal backgrounds and the vocal and auditory characteristics of the individuals concerned. The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the control methods that have been used in the evaluation of these effects in a vowel study program at Bell Telephone Laboratories. The plan of the study, calibration of recording and measuring equipment, and methods for checking the performance of both speakers and listeners are described. The methods are illustrated from results of tests involving some 76 speakers and 70 listeners.
Defined Benefit Pension Plans and Regulation

In this paper, it is investigated to what extent optimal investment policy by Dutch pension funds is affected by changes in regulation. It turns out that a complete market valuation method increases the cost of the defined benefit pension relative to a fixed discount rate method, as high pension premiums are to be payed exactly when expected future returns are the lowest. In practice, this timing problem does not seem to be severe for Dutch pension funds as solvency requirements are only applied to guaranteed pension rights, whereas a major part of pension benefits (indexation) is conditional. Moreover, a fixed interest rate may still be used to calculate pension premiums. Regarding the asset mix, the optimal duration of bonds in portfolio seems higher than currently observed, both under market valuation and under a fixed discount rate method. The new regulatory rules only slightly reduce the attractiveness of equity investment.
Organizational Structure and Corporate Payout Policy

We examine how organizational structure affects corporate payout policies. Conglomerates (multi-segment firms) pay out more than pure plays (single-segment firms) in both cash dividends and total payouts (defined as cash dividends plus share repurchases). Further, corporate payouts increase as the cross-segment correlation (cash flow or investment) in a conglomerate decreases. The above effects are more pronounced for regular cash dividends than for special cash dividends or stock repurchases. To address the endogeneity issues, we also examine corporate payout changes around M&As. Corporate payouts increase after M&As, especially among M&As in which acquirers and targets are less correlated (earnings or investments). The results suggest that retaining earnings to keep financial slack is an important consideration when firms make corporate payout decisions.