Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bank Competition and Financial Stability: Evidence from the Financial Crisis

We examine the link between bank competition and financial stability using the recent financial crisis as the setting. We utilize variation in banking competition at the state level and find that banks facing less competition are more likely to engage in risky activities, more likely to face regulatory intervention, and more likely to fail. Focusing on the real estate market, we find that states with less competition had higher rates of mortgage approval, experienced greater inflation in housing prices before the crisis, and experienced a steeper decline in housing prices during the crisis. Overall, our study is consistent with greater competition increasing financial stability.
To keep a balance in disease specific intestinal insufficiency: Diagnostics and practical nutritional aspects

To keep a balance in disease specific intestinal insufficiency. Diagnostics and practical nutritional aspects Outline and introduction Two patients with a 'newly' short bowel syndrome after radical intestinal surgery due to inflammatory bowel disease, experiencing problems in their clinical work-up of diagnosis of remnant intestinal function (questioning whether they suffered from intestinal failure or insufficiency), and nutritional balance, were the direct reason to further study diagnostic tests on intestinal function and practical nutritional aspects of intestinal insufficiency. This thesis provides an introduction with motive and outline of the thesis (chapter1), the aforementioned case-study (chapter 2), an overview of gastrointestinal (GI) function test (chapter 3), studies on classical methodology of gastrointestinal function in health and disease (chapters 4-8), studies on advanced assessment of intestinal failure by means of citrulline (chapters 9-10) and a general discussion with concluding remarks and a summary (chapters 11-12). The general aim of this thesis was to (re)develop valid and reproducible diagnostic test(s) to assess intestinal function for clinical use in patients at risk of intestinal failure or intestinal insufficiency. By applying tests to assess digestive function, combined with nutritional assessments tests, we aimed to get a better understanding of the pathophysiological aspects of the individuals, and to improve the (nutritional) treatment and clinical outcome of these patients. Thus, patients played a central role in the creation of this thesis. The reduction of the intestinal absorptive function is elementary in diagnosis and treatment of patients. When, in case of a reduction of intestinal function, intravenous-supplementation (fluid or nutrition) is required to maintain or attain health or growth, intestinal failure is to be diagnosed; without intravenous-supplementation the syndrome is coined as intestinal insufficiency. Malabsorption, micronutrient deficiencies, fluid and electrolytes disturbances, diarrhea, dehydration or malnutrition comprise symptoms of these two types of intestinal dysfunction. Annexes 212 Main findings Classical methodology of intestinal function in health and disease We (re)introduced bomb calorimetry, a conventional technique from the 1950's, measuring the heat of combustion to assess the energetic content of a standardized (mostly freeze dried) fecal sample by a ballistic bomb calorimeter. We 'rediscovered' this methodology, combined it with adequately quantified caloric and macronutrient nutritional intake and proposed it as the putative gold standard test for assessing (remnant) intestinal absorption capacity for daily clinical practice. To start with, normative values of intestinal absorption of energy and macronutrients in healthy adults were provided; these appeared to be 90% or more. Then, bomb …
Cloud Services Orchestration: A Comparative Study of Existing Approaches

Cloud Computing is emerging today as a service model used to relocate locally-based data and applications to virtualized services available via Internet at a lower cost. A key to exploit the benefits of this model is orchestration which consists in coordinating effectively the deployment of a set of virtualized services in order to fulfill operational and quality objectives of end users and Cloud providers. Cloud orchestration can be carried out at two levels: hardware level orchestration and software level orchestration. In this paper, we highlight the main challenging points about the Cloud orchestration concept. Then, we carry on a comparative study of some existing research works involved with this concept at hardware and software levels.
WAVELET-BASED IMAGE FUSION OF LANDSAT ETM IMAGES : A CASE STUDY FOR DIFFERENT LANDSCAPE CATEGORIES OF ISTANBUL

The concept of image fusion refers to a process that integrates image data recorded at different resolutions or by different sensors to obtain more information from a single and more complete image. In this study, wavelet image fusion method was applied to merge Landsat ETM Panchromatic (P) and Multispectral (MS) imagery to produce a new image which is spectrally and spatially enhanced. Three different regions which contain the diversity of the land cover and use categories in European side of Istanbul were selected as test areas to investigate the spatial and spectral performance of wavelets. The general objective of this study is to examine the added value of multi-sensor wavelet based image fusion in terms of spatial and spectral enhancement. To evaluate spatial enhancement, different objects having different geometries were selected and a visual comparison conducted between original and fused image. To analyze the spectral improvement, some transects including different land cover types were selected. Spectral profiles of these transects were plotted for fused and MS image and a comparison was performed between them. Moreover, the correlation between MS and fused data was calculated for these transects for each band to find out the degree of spectral enhancement. All results obtained for three test sites were presented as graphics and statistics.
Unsupervised image segmentation based on a new fuzzy HMC model

We propose a technique, based on a fuzzy hidden Markov chain (HMC) model, for the unsupervised segmentation of images. Our main contribution is to use Dirac and Lebesgue measures simultaneously at the class chain level. This model allows the coexistence of hard and fuzzy pixels in the same picture. The fuzzy approach enriches the classical model by adding a fuzzy class, which has several interpretations in signal processing. One such interpretation in image segmentation is the simultaneous appearance of several thematic classes on the same pixel (mixture). Model parameter estimation is performed through an extension of the iterative conditional estimation (ICE) algorithm to take into account the fuzzy part. The fuzzy segmentation of a real image of clouds is studied and compared to the classification obtained with a "classical" hard HMC model.
Ultrasonographic Characteristics of Mammographically Occult Small Breast Cancer

Purpose To analyze significant ultrasonographic findings of small malignant breast mass (≤10 mm) which were occult on mammography. Methods The study included 190 small breast masses (≤10 mm), demonstrated on breast ultrasonography, but not mammography. Histopathology (when the masses were biopsied) or serial breast ultrasonography (for at least 24 months) were used to confirm benign or malignant condition of the masses. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to identify significant characteristic malignant findings on ultrasonography. Results Of 190 masses, 46 were cancer, and 144 were benign. On multivariate analyses, irregular shape (odds ratio [OR], 10.4) and not circumscribed margin (OR, 31.6) were significant features to differentiate between benign and malignant breast masses. However, low width/anteroposterior ratio, echogenic halo, hypoechogenecity and posterior acoustic shadow, which were predictors for malignancy in large breast mass, were not documented in small mass. Conclusion In conclusion, irregular shape and not circumscribed margin detected during ultrasonography were strong predictive signs of malignancy for small malignant breast mass.
Story and moral development in tourism education

ABSTRACT The purpose of this reflective, conceptual, and narrative article is to illuminate the promise of story in nurturing moral development, specifically in relation to nature and cultural difference, in and through tourism education. Representing both a reflection on and extension of Zachary’s experience in a graduate level course on Indigenous Knowledges taught primarily through stories, the paper traces how story enabled Zachary to shift into, or sense, new onto-epistemological perspectives relating to nature and begin to question his assumptions, privilege, and responsibilities. We focus in on the story of Mutandum – a narrative of transformation and connection – written by Zachary, which was constructed to represent his relationship to learning during the graduate course. In telling this story, and situating and reflecting on the narrative contexts within which it was crafted, we show the enabling promise of story as a moral pedagogical and epistemological tool. We argue that learning through story has much to offer tourism curricula, especially those focused on preparing values-engaged students with the competencies to take on the multitude of ethical issues in tourism and effectively navigate the moral encounters that arise in our tourism worlds.
Using Alienation at Work to Explain Why Managers' Dishonesty Does Not Lead to Firm Performance

Although prior studies provide growing evidence that managers' dishonesty is negatively related to firm performance, the reasons for this relationship remain unclear. The purpose of this study is to model the steps in the effect of the manager dishonesty on firm performance. Our model hypothesizes that followers' feelings of work alienation are mediators that explain why managers' dishonesty is negatively related to aspects of a company's financial performance (i.e., profit and growth). We used multi&#8208;source survey data collected from 100 banks in London and analyzed 100 team leaders and 100 triads of followers ( = 300). Results confirmed that managers' dishonesty is related to financial performance, and they supported (i.e., employee lack of control over their work) as the only studied element of work alienation that mediated in this link. Findings suggest that, when faced with managers' dishonesty, employees lose control over the product of their labor or the work process, which causes firm failure.
Making Smart Contracts Smarter

Cryptocurrencies record transactions in a decentralized data structure called a blockchain. Two of the most popular cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, support the feature to encode rules or scripts for processing transactions. This feature has evolved to give practical shape to the ideas of smart contracts, or full-fledged programs that are run on blockchains. Recently, Ethereum's smart contract system has seen steady adoption, supporting tens of thousands of contracts, holding millions dollars worth of virtual coins. In this paper, we investigate the security of running smart contracts based on Ethereum in an open distributed network like those of cryptocurrencies. We introduce several new security problems in which an adversary can manipulate smart contract execution to gain profit. These bugs suggest subtle gaps in the understanding of the distributed semantics of the underlying platform. As a refinement, we propose ways to enhance the operational semantics of Ethereum to make contracts less vulnerable. For developers writing contracts for the existing Ethereum system, we build a symbolic execution tool called Oyente to find potential security bugs. Among 19, 336 existing Ethereum contracts, Oyente flags 8, 833 of them as vulnerable, including the TheDAO bug which led to a 60 million US dollar loss in June 2016. We also discuss the severity of other attacks for several case studies which have source code available and confirm the attacks (which target only our accounts) in the main Ethereum network.
How do Black Caribbean-born Women Living in the UK Construct Their Experience of Retirement? A Discursive Psychology Analysis

ABSTRACT The present research explores Caribbean-born women’s constructions of retirement. Eight participants (self-identified as retired) were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling. Data were obtained using individual semi-structured interviews and analyzed using discursive psychology. Findings center around a discussion of the negotiating difference discourses. This construction consists of two sub-creations: work and retirement, and home. Both creations present participants engaging in a process of negotiation to merge the life they once knew with their retirement experience. Implications for participants and the construction of retirement are considered, and suggestions put forward for future research and for clinicians working with the studied population.
The potential of modelling culturally responsive teaching: pre-service teachers’ learning experiences

ABSTRACT This qualitative case study examined two pre-service teachers’ learning experiences in relation to encountering modelling culturally responsive teaching (CRT) in a multicultural education course. Using Constant Comparison Approach, the researchers searched for evidence of observing aspects of modelling in the course, and described the pre-service teachers’ learning experiences that occurred in relation to this observation, as well as the possible transformation they went through. The study revealed that the critical, justice-oriented teacher education course that implemented modelling CRT activities and behavior seemed to help pre-service teachers to transform and extend their conceptual knowledge of CRT, critically reflect and reconstruct prior knowledge, and connect these experiences to future teaching practice. Based on the data, a framework for modelling CRT in teacher education is delineated. Implications for teacher education are addressed.
Spa Typing of Staphylococcus aureus Strains Isolated From Clinical Specimens of Patients With Nosocomial Infections in Tehran, Iran

Background The incidence of nosocomial Staphylococcus aureus infection is increasing annually and becoming a true global challenge. The pattern of Staphylococcus aureus protein A (spa) types in different geographic regions is diverse. Objectives This study determined the prevalence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus and different spa types in S. aureus clinical isolates. Materials and Methods During a six-month period, 90 S. aureus isolates were recovered from 320 clinical specimens. The in vitro susceptibility of various S. aureus isolates to 16 antibiotic discs was assessed using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. Molecular typing was carried out with S. aureus protein A typing via polymerase chain reaction. Results The frequency of methicillin-resistant S. aureus in our study was 88.9%. Twenty-three (25.5%) isolates were positive for panton-valentine leukocidin encoding genes. S. aureus presented a high resistance rate to ampicillin (100%) and penicillin (100%). No resistance was observed to vancomycin, teicoplanin, or linezolid. The rates of resistance to the majority of antibiotics tested varied between 23.3% and 82.2%. The rate of multidrug resistance among these clinical isolates was 93.3%. The 90 S. aureus isolates were classified into five S. aureus protein A types: t037 (33.3%), t030 (22.2%), t790 (16.7%), t969 (11.1%), and t044 (7.7%). Eight (8.9%) isolates were not typable using the S. aureus protein A typing method. Conclusions We report a high methicillin-resistant S. aureus rate in our hospital. Additionally, t030 and t037 were the predominant spa-types among hospital-associated S. aureus. Our findings emphasize the need for continuous surveillance to prevent the dissemination of multidrug resistance among different S. aureus protein A types in Iran.
Neighbourhood preserving quantisation for LSH

We introduce a scheme for optimally allocating multiple bits per hyperplane for Locality Sensitive Hashing (LSH). Existing approaches binarise LSH projections by thresholding at zero yielding a single bit per dimension. We demonstrate that this is a sub-optimal bit allocation approach that can easily destroy the neighbourhood structure in the original feature space. Our proposed method, dubbed Neighbourhood Preserving Quantization (NPQ), assigns multiple bits per hyperplane based upon adaptively learned thresholds. NPQ exploits a pairwise affinity matrix to discretise each dimension such that nearest neighbours in the original feature space fall within the same quantisation thresholds and are therefore assigned identical bits. NPQ is not only applicable to LSH, but can also be applied to any low-dimensional projection scheme. Despite using half the number of hyperplanes, NPQ is shown to improve LSH-based retrieval accuracy by up to 65% compared to the state-of-the-art.
Author ' s personal copy Age differences in perceptions of online community participation among non-users : An extension of the Technology Acceptance Model

This study examined age differences in perceptions of online communities held by people who were not yet participating in these relatively new social spaces. Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), we investigated the factors that affect future intention to participate in online communities. Our results supported the proposition that perceived usefulness positively affects behavioral intention, yet it was determined that perceived ease of use was not a significant predictor of perceived usefulness. The study also discovered negative relationships between age and Internet self-efficacy and the perceived quality of online community websites. However, the moderating role of age was not found. The findings suggest that the relationships among perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and intention to participate in online communities do not change with age. Theoretical and practical implications and limitations were discussed. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The Use of Reflective Questioning as a Peer Coaching Strategy in an Asynchronous Online Cognitive Apprenticeship

THE USE OF REFLECTIVE QUESTIONING AS A PEER COACHING STRATEGY IN AN ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP Jennifer Ashley Scott Brown Old Dominion University, 2017 Director: Dr. Jill Stefaniak The cognitive apprenticeship framework melds situated, authentic learning with social learning theory. The learning strategies included in a cognitive apprenticeship are modeling, coaching, scaffolding, articulation, reflection, and exploration. Previous research indicates that the most beneficial strategy for the learner is coaching, and is also the most time-consuming strategy for the instructor. However, no previous research has been conducted to determine which coaching strategies can be utilized in order to lessen the burden on the instructor, while being beneficial to the learner. The purpose of this study was to explore the use of guided reflective questions as a strategy for enhancing cognitive presence in peer dyad groups. These dyads were created in order to provide a platform for peer coaching in an online, asynchronous professional development course designed using the cognitive apprenticeship framework for the professional development of professional programming librarians and paraprofessional programmers. The current study found a significant difference in cognitive presence levels between the control and treatment groups, and no significant difference in learning outcomes between the two groups. Additionally, the study highlighted the challenges faced by participants, such as lack of time to devote to professional development and lack of peer engagement from their peer coach. Participants also valued the fresh perspectives that they experienced during peer interactions and the availability of resources that were provided during the course. Discussion of the results highlights constraints, limitations, challenges, and positive aspects of participation in an
Social Robots for Language Learning: A Review

In recent years, robots have increasingly been implemented as tutors in both first- and second-language education. The field of robot-assisted language learning (RALL) is developing rapidly. Studies have been published targeting different languages, age groups, and aspects of language and using different robots and methodologies. The present review presents an overview of the results obtained so far in RALL research and discusses the current possibilities and limitations of using social robots for first- and second-language learning. Thirty-three studies in which vocabulary, reading skills, speaking skills, grammar, and sign language were taught are discussed. Beside insights into learning gains attained in RALL situations, these studies raise more general issues regarding students’ motivation and robots’ social behavior in learning situations. This review concludes with directions for future research on the use of social robots in language education.
Data association performance measures: Fidelity and selection

Target tracking in clutter is usually evaluated using simulations. The statistics of the overall tracking performance are gathered, including the false track discrimination, the root mean square trajectory tracking errors, or some combined measure of performance, e.g. OSPA. These performance measures treat the target tracking filter as a black box; i.e. the performance of separate target tracking algorithm components is neither considered nor evaluated. In this paper we partition the target tracking algorithm into the estimation and the data association components and consider the performance measures for the data association component. Three performance measures are proposed and evaluated: the fidelity measure, the selection measure and the competence measure which combines capabilities of the fidelity and the selection measures.
Using /'* in Requirements Projects: Some Experiences and Lessons

The i* approach, although the result of mature research, has yet to be applied widely in practice. This chapter reports three major industrial projects in which we applied i* to specify complex socio-technical systems. It provides the rationale for adopting i* and results that were obtained in the projects. From these experiences we report and demonstrate 10 lessons learned about using i* effectively in industrial projects, and the benefits that can be gained from its effective use. We believe that these lessons have broader implications for the uptake of requirements modelling techniques.
A Hybrid Control Structure for Vision Based Soccer Robot System

ABSTRACTA soccer robot system consists of multi-agents with highly coordinated operations and movements so as to fulfill specific objectives, even under adverse situations. The coordination of multi-agents is associated with lot of supplementary work in advance. The associated issues are position correction, prevention of communication congestion, local information sensing in addition to the need for imitating human-like decision making. A hybrid control structure for vision-based soccer robot system is designed and several behaviors and actions for a soccer robot system are proposed. The hybrid control scheme has hierarchical and behavioral structures. The effectiveness of the proposed structure is validated by implementing the same in a real soccer robot system. Variable zone defense as a basic strategy, formation strategies and set-position play strategies for fouls applied to SOTY II team during MiroSot are discussed.