Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A New Physical Modeling of Parasitic Capacitances of Deep-Submicron LDD MOSFETs

In mixed circuit simulation, the estimation of parasitic capacitances of deep-submicron MOSFETs is very important. With the continuous scaling of the devices, the extrinsic capacitance, i.e. the overlap and fringing capacitances become a growing fraction of the total gate capacitance. We found the major existing models do not predict correctly the overlap capacitance and the inner fringing capacitance (which is often ignored). In this paper, we present a new approach to model these two capacitances in currentless regime. The bias dependence of each components of the extrinsic capacitance is investigated and a study of the influence of the LDD doping dose is also led. Then, an efficient, simple and continuous model describing the evolution of the extrinsic capacitance in all operating regimes of a nchannel LDD MOSFET is developed. This model is finally incorporated in a existing compact-model for circuit simulation. We show the new model leads to excellent results in comparison with full 2D numerical device simulations.
Seasonality of Birth in Children (0-14 years) and Young Adults (0-29 years) with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus in Sardinia Differs from that in the General Population

A cohort of 1,118 children (0-14 years) and 810 adolescents and young adults (15-29 years) with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) diagnosed in Sardinia between 1989 and 1998 were analyzed for seasonality of month of birth, and compared to the pattern registered in 314,084 live births. Patients with DM of both age groups had a statistically significant different seasonality pattern from the general population, revealing an increased birth rate during the summer months, a mirror image of the seasonality of onset of disease.
Psychosocial antecedents and adverse health consequences related to substance use.

OBJECTIVES We examined the relationship between psychosocial antecedents in earlier adolescence and problems related to substance use and related adverse health consequence (e.g., respiratory diseases, neurocognitive symptoms, and general malaise) in adulthood. We specifically focused on parent-child bonding in earlier adolescence and internalizing behaviors in later adolescence and their effects on problems related to substance use in the mid-20s and health problems in the mid-30s. METHODS Our team interviewed a community-based sample of 502 participants over a 30-year period (1975, 1983, 1985-1986, 1997, 2002, and 2005). RESULTS We found a strong relationship between internalizing behaviors in later adolescence and adverse health consequences in the mid-30s. Internalizing behaviors in later adolescence served as a mediator between low parent-child bonding in earlier adolescence and later adverse health consequences. Problems related to substance use in the late 20s and early 30s were related directly to later adverse health consequences and indirectly as mediators between earlier psychosocial difficulties (i.e., internalizing behaviors, externalizing behaviors, poor ego integration, and maladaptive coping) and later adverse health consequences. CONCLUSIONS Policies and programs that address parent-child bonding and internalizing behaviors should be created to reduce problems related to substance use and, ultimately, later health problems.
CONTEXTUAL AMBIDEXTERITY IN SMEs IN INDONESIA: A STUDY ON HOW IT MEDIATES ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND FIRM PERFORMANCE AND HOW MARKET DYNAMISM INFLUENCES ITs ROLE ON FIRM PERFORMANCE

During the last decades, we have recognized the critical importance for firm to contextually balance two opposing tensions of exploration and exploitation. However, the mechanisms and processes associated with each are still not understood well enough. Contextual ambidexterity is a firm’s paramount conduct for the short-term and long-term success, especially when the firm operates in a dynamic environment where uncertainty is high. In this paper, drawing on data from 133 Indonesia’s SMEs in creative industry, we conceptualize organizational culture as a multidimensional construct consisting of bureaucratic and innovative culture, and examine its impact on contextual ambidexterity and firm performance in the setting of high and low market dynamism. Using partial least squaresstructural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the researchers find that the there are significant relationships between organizational culture, contextual ambidexterity and firm performance. Further, contextual ambidexterity mediates the impact of organizational culture on firm performance. This study also finds that the influence of contextual ambidexterity on firm performance is dependent on organizational culture and its effectiveness also depends on market dynamism, rather than the size and age of the firm.
Scottish theme towns: have new identities enhanced development?

Three small towns in southwest Scotland have recently been branded as distinct theme towns, based on books, artists and food. This is an attempt to make them more attractive to visitors and thereby improve their economy. The objective of this research is to establish whether the new identities possessed by the towns have enhanced their development. It is argued, using data reviewing the past decade, that they have all developed, albeit at different rates, in terms of the economy and culture. Moreover, it is maintained that social capital has been enhanced and is a factor whose importance has been under-appreciated by planners and observers of this type of process. The relevance of the new identity to the pre-branding identity is also seen as a factor in successful development and ideas of authenticity and heritage are brought to bear on the relationship.
Value in an online health community: It's more than health information

Online health communities are a self-service source of information and social support, yet are rarely studied as a form of consumption. This study surveys members of an online community for sufferers of Crohn’s Disease. Building upon work of sociologists who identify the presence of social capital in online communities, we examine the relationship between social capital and consumer value within the Crohn’s Disease online community. Results indicate that consumers co-create value not only in the form of timely, quality health information that can be used to improve quality of life, but also spiritual value in the form of connectedness and hope. It is important that health professionals and sponsors of online health communities understand participants are seeking more than health information from their online community. Consumers also experience value through a shared experience, co-creating value whilst generating social capital.
The effects of judicial efficiency on credit market development

Judicial enforcement of contracts can have an effect on credit market performance because it influences the risk and costs of credit transactions. This paper documents this point by empirically investigating the relation between the efficiency of judicial systems and credit market development around the world. Data from a new database, the World Bank's Doing Business Database, are applied for the research. The efficiency of the judicial system is measured by its speed and simplicity. Regression results show that, apart from traditional variables such as the level of income or inflation rate, indicators of judicial enforcement were also statistically significant in explaining credit market development. Long litigation processes and complex procedures inversely correlated to indicators of credit market development. Countries with better judicial enforcement display more developed credit markets, represented by a larger size of the banking sector and a higher proportion of credit granted to the private sector.
The Effects of Ti Additions and Deposition Parameters on the Structural and Mechanical Properties of Stainless Steel-Nitride Thin Films

This study examines the structure and properties of stainless steel coatings deposited to incorporate large concentrations of nitrogen along with varying amounts of titanium. Deposition was carried out using magnetron co-sputtering of stainless steel and titanium from separate targets in a mixed Ar/N2 gas atmosphere. Composition analysis by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that while films with up to 4 at. % Ti exhibited little change in nitrogen content (compared to films deposited without Ti) and remained sub-stoichiometric with respect to N content. Films with 7–8 at. % Ti had a higher N level and further increasing the Ti level to 11–12 at. % resulted in stoichiometric N levels. X-ray diffraction showed that the films all had a nominally FCC structure with no additional phases. However, the peak locations for the (111) and (200) reflections indicated a distorted lattice characteristic of the S-phase, with calculated c/a values ranging from 1.007 to 1.033. The Ti additions, along with the corresponding increase in N content, helped reduce the extent of lattice distortion. The film microstructure of the higher (11–12 at.%) Ti films also showed higher density, lower surface roughness, and a finer grain structure. As a result, these films had a higher hardness compared to the sub-stoichiometric films, with hardness levels in the range of 18–23 GPa, typical of transition metal nitrides coatings.
Comparative permeability of canine visceral and parietal pleura.

To determine the permeability of canine pleural mesothelium, visceral and intercostal parietal pleura from mongrel dogs was carefully stripped from the underlying tissue and mounted as a planar sheet in a Ussing-type chamber. The hydraulic conductivity (Lp) was determined from the rate of volume flux in response to hydrostatic pressure gradients applied to either the mucosal or serosal surface of the pleural membrane. The diffusional permeability (Pd) of radiolabeled water, sucrose, inulin, and albumin was determined under equilibrium conditions from the unidirectional tracer flux. The Lp of the visceral pleura was 0.39 +/- 0.032 (SE) X 10(-4) ml.s-1.cmH2O-1.cm-2 and that Lp of parietal pleura was 1.93 +/- 0.93 X 10(-4) ml.s-1.cmH2O-1.cm-2 (P less than 0.001). The Pd of the visceral pleura ranged from 12.21 +/- 0.45 X 10(-4) cm/s for 3H2O to 0.34 +/- 0.03 X 10(-4) cm/s for [3H]albumin. The Pd of the parietal pleura for water and sucrose was similar to that of the visceral membrane, whereas its Pd for the larger inulin and albumin molecules was greater than that of visceral pleura (P less than 0.01). A spontaneous potential difference could not be detected across either membrane. The relatively higher parietal pleural Lp and Pd for larger solutes is probably due to the presence of stomata in this membrane. These results indicate that both the parietal and the visceral pleura are extremely permeable tissues which offer little resistance to water and solute flux.
FLEXIBLE WORK SCHEDULES: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The business case for the provision of flexible work schedules relies on their ability to enhance recruitment and retention, job satisfaction and commitment and reduction of work-life conflict among employees. It makes intuitive sense that offering work-life balance practices would attract individuals to an organization, and that using these practices would result in improved employee attitudes and behaviours within the organization. However, the critical literature review on flexible work schedule revealed that despite the provision of these schedules, employee take-up may be low due to concerns that using work-life practices will result in reduced advancement opportunities or perceptions of the employee as being less committed to the organization. The need for supportive organizational culture, team work, proper communication and training of managers may be at the fore front in addressing this issue. The article offered a critical review of the literature on flexible work schedules through examining the types of flexible work schedules and supporting theoretical foundations. It also examined the conditions necessary for the success of flexible work schedules and the possible outcomes. There was further evaluation of the challenges involved and recommendation therefore. Key word : Flexible Work Schedules, Work-Life Practices, Employee Commitment & Satisfaction CITATION: Omondi, A. A. , Obonyo, P. K. (2018). Flexible work schedules: A critical review of literature. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 5(4), 2069 - 2086.
Distinct Patterns of Cognitive Aging Modified by Education Level and Gender among Adults with Limited or No Formal Education: A Normative Study of the Mini-Mental State Examination.

BACKGROUND Dementia is increasingly prevalent due to rapid aging of the population, but under-recognized among people with low education levels. This is partly due to a lack of appropriate and precise normative data, which underestimates cognitive aging in the use of screening tools for dementia. OBJECTIVE We aimed to improve the precision of screening for cognitive impairment, by characterizing the patterns of cognitive aging and derived normative data of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for illiterate and low-educated populations. METHODS This community-based study included data from 2,280 individuals aged 40 years or older from two rural areas. Multiple linear modeling examined the effect of aging on cognition reflected by the MMSE, stratified by education level and gender. Threshold effect of age on cognition was performed using a smoothing function. RESULTS The majority of participants (60.4%) were illiterate or had attended only primary school (24.6%). The effect of aging on cognition varied by gender and education. Primary-school educated females and males remained cognitively stable up to 62 and 71 years of age, respectively, with MMSE score declining 0.4 and 0.8 points/year in females and males thereafter. Illiterates females scored 2.3 points lower than illiterate males, and scores for both declined 0.2 points/year. According to these results, normative data stratified by age, education and gender was generated. CONCLUSION This study suggests gender and educational differences exist in cognitive aging among adults with limited or no formal education. To improve screening precision for cognitive impairment with the use of MMSE in low-educated population, age, gender, and education level should be considered.
Automatic detection of retinal vascular bifurcations and crossovers based on isotropy and anisotropy

The analysis of retinal blood vessels is very important in the detection of some diseases in early stages, such as hypertension, diabetes, arteriosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. The bifurcations and crossovers are important feature points, which play important roles in the analysis of the retinal vessel tree. These feature points have been demonstrated to be important features in many visual tasks such as image registration, mosaicing, and segmentation. In this paper, a new method is proposed to detect vascular bifurcations and crossovers in fundus images. The Gaussian filter is applied to the blue channel of the original color retinal images to suppress the central reflex and reduce the candidate points. The eigenvalues and eigenvectors of Hessian matrix are then obtained in multiple scales to provide the structural and directional information. By computing the anisotropy and isotropy of neighboring image segments for each pixel in a retinal image, we define a multi-scale vessel filter which combines the responses of tubular structures and the responses of bifurcations and crossovers. Finally, the proposed method has been tested with publicly available database STARE and DRIVE. The experimental results show that bifurcations, crossovers and tubular structures can be detected simultaneously. And the proposed method performs well in detecting the bifurcations and crossovers which are in thin vessels or low contrast vessels.
House Price Synchronicity, Banking Integration, and Global Financial Conditions

We examine the relationship between house price synchronicity and global financial conditions across 40 countries and about 70 cities over the past three decades. The role played by cross-border banking flows in residential property markets is examined as well. Looser global financial conditions are associated with greater house price synchronicity, even after controlling for bilateral financial integration. Moreover, we find that synchronicity across major cities may differ from that of their respective countries’, perhaps due to the influence of global investors on local house price dynamics. Policy choices such as macroprudential tools and exchange rate flexibility appear to be relevant for mitigating the sensitivity of domestic housing markets to the rest of the world.
Indapamide (Natrilix): the agent of choice in the treatment of recurrent renal calculi associated with idiopathic hypercalciuria.

OBJECTIVE To compare the hypocalciuric and potential side-effects of hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) to indapamide (IND; a thiazide-like drug) in patients with idiopathic hypercalciuria. PATIENTS, SUBJECTS AND METHODS Twelve patients with recurrent renal calculi and renal hypercalciuria were studied using a randomized double-blind cross-over protocol. In addition, because the side-effects of HCT are attenuated using small doses, the hypocalciuric effect of 12.5, 25 and 50 mg daily was assessed in six normal subjects. RESULTS There was a significant reduction in urinary calcium excretion using both agents, with a mean (SD) of 6.06 (2.68) and 3.37 (2.00) mmol/24 h using IND, and 5.58 (1.98) and 3.93 (2.35) mmol/24 h using HCT, before and after treatment (P < 0.05). The treatment was not sufficiently prolonged to assess adequately all the side-effects of either agent but both produced a similar decrease in serum potassium, whilst HCT significantly increased the mean (SD) serum urate levels, from 0.34 (0.09) to 0.43 (0.08) mmol/L (P < 0.01). There was also a significant decrease in mean (SD) urinary citrate excretion in those receiving HCT, from 1.41 (1.05) to 1.00 (0.71) mmol/24 h (P < 0.001), but not in those receiving IND, from 1.19 (0.71) to 1.18 (0.79) mmol/24 h. Although there was a hypocalciuric effect with doses of 12.5 and 25 mg HCT, it was sub-therapeutic when compared with the dose of 50 mg. CONCLUSION At a daily dose of 2.5 mg, IND is at least as effective as 50 mg HCT in controlling hypercalciuria. Because of its safety profile and lack of effects on urinary citrate excretion, this agent should be the preferred therapy for patients with idiopathic hypercalciuria and recurrent renal calculi.
[Flu vaccine effectiveness: a metaanalysis].

INTRODUCTION Seasonal influenza is a disease of great interest in public health due to its high rates of infection and big costs, especially in high-risk population. This situation has motivated studies related to development of control measures necessary to mitigate its impact. Immunization constitutes a key role in providing the necessary interventions; however, little information is available about its effectiveness as public health measure in tropical countries. OBJECTIVE The vaccine effectiveness was evaluated by means of published results in the scientific literature. MATERIALS AND METHODS Meta-analysis techniques were used to summarize the results of epidemiological analytical studies. A critical evaluation was undertaken for each study to identify the potential biases and methodological limitations. RESULTS Two hundred and fifty-seven relevant studies were located, of which 28 were included in the analysis. The pooled estimator of the vaccine effectiveness for hospitalization was 0.74 [95% CI 0.68-0.81] in older adults (65 years and older) in cases-control studies. For cohort studies, the obtained estimator was 0.80 [95% CI 0.68-0.91]. CONCLUSION Other conclusions were analyzed, and in general, a protective effect was demonstrated in the vaccine. About 1,200,000 were involved, 530,000 of them were vaccinated. Geographically, the analyzed studies came from developed countries in Europe, America and Asia.
Time–Temperature Superposition of Phase Separating Polymer Blend Films

We have examined the structure formations in symmetric blend films of polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) during phase separation and coalescence in the melt. We qualitatively verify the principle of time–temperature superposition by observing morphology development in which characteristic structures develop independently of annealing temperature and initial morphology. Domain structures proceed to qualitatively similar morphologies regardless of the initial morphology due to the intrinsic viscosity of the blend films.
Corporate governance and public reprimand

Public reprimand is a form of enforcement actions taken by Bursa Malaysia against companies that violate listing requirements, with intention to deter future breach and to cultivate good standards of corporate governance and business conduct in the market. Corporate governance is put in place to ensure that companies are managed to the best interest of shareholders. Empirical evidences show that corporate governance and enforcement actions are significantly related. However, none of the studies are done in Malaysian setting. The nature of capital market and the rules and regulations of relevant authority are different from country to country. Hence, it is important to investigate whether enforcement actions is also related to corporate governance in Malaysia. When companies were reprimanded, their reputations and most often share prices will be affected, compromising the wealth of shareholders. If actions were not taken by the relevant authority, confidence in the market may subside and this will affect the development of capital market. The reprimand should also serves as educating mechanism in which the affected companies are expected not to repeat the same offence. This has yet to be investigated. This study therefore extends existing knowledge on public reprimand by providing empirical evidence on Malaysia setting and more importantly whether or not public reprimand serves as educating mechanism. This study employs a cross-section, match-pair design with a sample of 110 companies. Results from logistic regression indicate that there are significant differences in board characteristics between companies that have been reprimanded and those which are not. The test on board characteristics two years after public reprimand however shows that there is no significant changes in board characteristics. Small sample size is among limitations of this study. The findings give insight on the role of enforcement actions in regulating companies and what need to be done by authority.
Dual-Band Microstrip Bandstop Filter With Multiple Transmission Poles Using Coupled Lines

A novel dual-band microstrip bandstop filter with multiple poles using open/shorted coupled lines is proposed in this paper. Nine transmission poles near the two stopbands can be easily realized by conventional coupled lines and transmission lines. The two center frequencies of the dual-band bandstop filter can be adjusted flexibly by only changing the even/odd-mode of the coupled lines. The planar microstrip dual-band bandstop filter (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\varepsilon r = 2.65$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$h = 0.5$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm) with nine transmission poles is designed and fabricated. High selectivity and good in-band performances can be achieved in the proposed filter.