The Autism-Spectrum Quotient-Adult (AQ-Adult) is a screening tool for adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Chinese self- and ...parent-report versions of the AQ-Adult in Hong Kong (AQ-Adult-HK). Participants included adults with ASD (
n
= 27) and community controls (
n
= 345). Parents of a subset of adults with ASD (
n
= 21) and controls (
n
= 87) also participated as informants. The parent-report version showed significantly stronger psychometric properties, including a larger area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and higher sensitivity/specificity, than those of the self-report version. The stronger psychometric properties of the former were related to its significantly higher ratings of ASD symptoms in the ASD adults.
Fixing waterpipes using cryogenic technology is a complicated activity because it is difficult to see the transformation of water into ice inside a pipe. To solve this problem, a series of ...experiments and testing was carried out on three types of waterpipes—75, 100, and 150 mm cast-iron pipes (CIP), respectively—to monitor the external characteristics and the frost growth to accurately predict the completion of ice plug formation inside the pipe before applying the freeze-fixing method. A CCD camera was set up to capture four frosting images per minute and to send one image every 15 s to the computer for processing and for identifying the interface between frost and no frost. The results showed that when the brightness distribution along the pipe axis goes down from the 100% brightest and coldest region near the freezing jacket to 90% and hits the 1/10th mark away from the brightest area, which is the interface, the freezing process is finished, and the ice plug has completely formed and can effectively block water flow to allow safe repairs. In other words, the findings determined that the frost length was more or less equal to the ice plug length. Additional testing was done to increase water pressure up to 35 kg/cm2 for about 10 min on one end of the freezing jacket, which is higher than the regular pressure testing of 10 kg/cm2. When 0 kg/cm2 was recorded on the other end of the freezing jacket, it was concluded that the ice plug was strong enough to resist high pressure. The success of these experiments and testing confirmed that this innovative freezing method was safe, cost-effective, and suitable to be used efficiently in semiconductor factories and modern buildings.
Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a population-based optimization technique that has been applied extensively to a wide range of engineering problems. This paper proposes a variation of the ...original PSO algorithm for unconstrained optimization, dubbed the enhanced partial search particle swarm optimizer (EPS-PSO), using the idea of cooperative multiple swarms in an attempt to improve the convergence and efficiency of the original PSO algorithm. The cooperative searching strategy is particularly devised to prevent the particles from being trapped into the local optimal solutions and tries to locate the global optimal solution efficiently. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is verified through the simulation study where the EPS-PSO algorithm is compared to a variety of exiting “cooperative” PSO algorithms in terms of noted benchmark functions.
Share buybacks and corporate tax cuts Chang, Juin-Jen; Kuo, Chun-Hung; Lin, Hsieh-Yu ...
Journal of economic dynamics & control,
June 2023, 2023-06-00, Letnik:
151
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Since the mid-1980s, U.S. corporate tax cuts have become less expansionary and increasingly associated with rising share buybacks. Using dynamic general equilibrium models with endogenous financial ...allocations towards corporate investment and buybacks, we show that buybacks render corporate tax cuts less expansionary. Simulations based on the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act have optimal buyback responses much smaller than those observed. This implies that restricting buybacks enhances corporate tax cut effects. Most of the income increases from corporate tax cuts accrue to shareholders. Whether non-shareholders enjoy higher consumption depends on the financing mechanism.
In current semiconductor manufacturing, limited raw trace data pertaining to defective wafers make fault detection (FD) assignments extremely difficult due to the data imbalance in wafer ...classification. To mitigate, this paper proposes using a variational autoencoder (VAE) as a data augmentation strategy for resolving data imbalance of temporal raw trace data. A VAE with few defective samples is first trained. By means of extracting the latent variables that characterize the distribution of the defective samples, we make use of the statistical randomness of the latent variables to generate synthesized defective samples via the decoder scheme in the trained VAE. Two data representations and VAE modeling strategies, concatenation of multiple and individual raw trace data as the input of the VAE during the training stage, are investigated. A real-data plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process having only few defective samples is used to illustrate the performance enhancement to wafer classification arising from the proposed data augmentation framework. Based on the computational comparisons between noted classification models, the proposed generative VAE model via the individual strategy enables the adaptive boosting (AdaBoost) classifier to achieve perfect performances in every metrics if the 80% and 100% over-sampling ratios are adopted.
Policymakers in resource-rich developing countries often face complicated fiscal choices to manage natural resource revenues. While investing resource revenues in public capital may promote economic ...growth, spending without saving or borrowing against future revenues can expose the economy to debt sustainability risks. This paper presents the Debt, Investment, Growth, and Natural Resources (DIGNAR) model for analyzing the macroeconomic and debt sustainability effects of scaling up public investment in resource-rich developing countries. It captures pervasive problems of these countries that may be aggravated during scaling-ups, including investment inefficiency and limited absorptive capacity. It also allows for flexible fiscal specifications: investment can be jointly financed by resource revenues and debt; a resource fund may be used as a buffer; and distorting fiscal adjustments are subject to feasibility constraints. The application to an average low-income country shows that, when fiscal adjustment is implementable, a delinked public investment approach combined with the resource fund – such that government spending is a-cyclical with respect to resource revenues – can reduce macroeconomic instability relative to a spend-as-you-go approach. However, even with the fund, ambitious frontloading public investment plans combined with more borrowing can induce debt sustainability risks, especially with declining investment efficiency or when future resource revenues turn out to be lower than expected.
•DIGNAR is a DSGE model developed for resource-rich developing economies.•It helps assess the effects of public investment on growth and debt sustainability.•A delinked investment path with a resource fund can reduce macro instability.•Ambitious front-loaded public investment plans can bring debt sustainability risks.•Investment efficiency, absorptive capacity, and resource revenues play a key role.
Data-driven fault detection and root cause analysis methods become attractive in modern industrial production that can guarantee the safety and stability of process operation. If process monitoring ...technology is implemented for fault detection, and the root cause of faults is analyzed timely, it is beneficial to maintain and improve the quality of coming batches. In this paper, a framework of fault detection and root cause analysis is proposed to address the aforementioned issue, particularly for a batch process. First, a new algorithm, termed kernel entropy component analysis (KECA)–DISSIM that combines KECA and dissimilarity analysis (DISSIM), is proposed for the batch process monitoring purpose. The KECA can extract nonlinear characteristics of the batch process effectively based on nonlinear mapping with the Renyi quadratic entropy. Then, dissimilarity indices between normal reference datasets and testing datasets can be calculated. If the testing dataset is detected as the non-normal batch by KECA–DISSIM, a novel root cause analysis named comparative Granger causality analysis is introduced for root cause analysis. The testing dataset is decomposed into a series of data slices via the moving window along the time domain. A series of causality values for each pair of variables are obtained by performing Granger causality analysis on these time slices. Lastly, the case studies based on a typical seven-variable nonlinear numerical process and a benchmark fed-batch penicillin fermentation process are studied to illustrate the practicality and effectiveness of the proposed framework.
OBJECTIVE:Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as a bridge to lung transplantation has traditionally been associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. A major contributor to these ...complications may be weakness and overall deconditioning secondary to pretransplant critical illness and immobility. In an attempt to address this issue, we developed a collaborative program to allow for active rehabilitation and physical therapy for patients requiring life support with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation before lung transplantation.
DESIGN:An interdisciplinary team responded to an acute need to develop a mechanism for active rehabilitation and physical therapy for patients awaiting lung transplantation while being managed with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. We describe a series of three patients who benefited from this new approach.
SETTING:A quaternary care pediatric intensive care unit in a childrenʼs hospital set within an 800-bed university academic hospital with an active lung transplantation program for adolescent and adult patients.
PATIENTS, INTERVENTIONS, AND MAIN RESULTS:Three patients (ages 16, 20, and 24 yrs) with end-stage respiratory failure were rehabilitated while on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation awaiting lung transplantation. These patients were involved in active rehabilitation and physical therapy and, ultimately, were ambulatory on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation before successful transplantation. Following lung transplantation, the patients were liberated from mechanical ventilation, weaned to room air, transitioned out of the intensive care unit, and ambulatory less than 1 wk posttransplant.
CONCLUSIONS:A comprehensive, multidisciplinary system can be developed to safely allow for active rehabilitation, physical therapy, and ambulation of patients being managed with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Such programs may lead to a decreased threshold for the utilization of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation before transplant and have the potential to improve conditioning, decrease resource utilization, and lead to better outcomes in patients who require extracorporeal membrane oxygenation before lung transplantation.
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