Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FPGA Implementation of Pseudo Random Number Generators for Monte Carlo Methods in Quantitative Finance

FPGA based implementations of two classes of pseudo random number(PRN) generator, intended for use in Monte Carlo methods for finance, are presented. FPGA implementations potentially offer reduced cost and improved performance compared to general purpose processor (GPP) systems such as PCs or mainframes. The first class of PRN generator, which includes the mersenne twister, uses generalized feedback shift registers (GFSRs). The second class is based on multiplication of fixed precision integers (with overflow). In both cases we compare a high quality generator and a generator with minimal resource usage. Comparisons of FPGA resource usage, data throughput and the quality of the generated series are given with a view to applications in high performance computing (HPC) for computational finance. The two classes of generator are shown to be complementary in their use of FPGA resources.
AN INTELLIGENT SOLUTION SYSTEM FOR A VEHICLE ROUTING PROBLEM IN URBAN DISTRIBUTION

In this paper, we present an intelligent solution system for a vehicle routing problem (VRP) with rigid time window in urban distribution. The solution has three stages. The first stage uses Clustering Analysis in Data Mining to classify all customers by a number of attributes, such as distance, demand level, the density of customer, and city layout. The second stage introduces how to generate feasible routing schemes for each vehicle type. Specifically, a depth-first search algorithm with control rules is presented to generate feasible routing schemes. In the last stage, an integer programming model is constructed to identify the optimal routing schemes. Finally, we present a real VRP case to show that the approach and the system are efficient and provide a new way to solve the VRP problems with time-windows. Keywords: Vehicle routing problem (VRP), Artificial intelligence (AI), Routing schemes, Urban distribution
Composites of Quasi-Colloidal Layered Double Hydroxide Nanoparticles and Agarose Hydrogels for Chromate Removal

Composite hydrogels were prepared that consisted of quasi-colloidal layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanoparticles and agarose via the electrophoretic method, starting from three different agarose concentrations of 0.5, 1, and 2 wt/v%. The composite hydrogel was identified to have a uniform distribution of LDH nanoparticles in agarose matrix. Microscopic studies revealed that the composite hydrogel had a homogeneous quasi-colloidal state of LDHs, while the simple mixture of LDH powder and agarose hydrogels did not. It was determined that agarose concentration of the starting hydrogel did not significantly influence the amount of LDH that developed in the composite. The chromate scavenging efficiency of the composite hydrogel and corresponding agarose or mixture hydrogel was evaluated with respect to time, and chromate concentration. In general, the composite hydrogels exhibited much higher chromate removal efficacy compared with agarose or mixture hydrogels. Through estimating chromate adsorption by LDH moiety in the composite or mixture hydrogel, it was suggested that the agarose component facilitated the stability and dispersibility of the quasi-colloidal state of LDH nanoparticles in the composite resulting in high adsorption efficacy. From Freundlich isotherm adsorption fitting, composites were determined to possess beneficial cooperative adsorption behavior with a high adsorption coefficient.
Algorithms for the Job Shop Scheduling Problem – a comparison of different methods

The following paper introduces the results of an empirical study concerning the suitability of several methods for the solutions of the Job Shop Scheduling Problem. Part of the comparison are: single priority rules, priority rules combined by using the AHP-method, a Genetic Algorithm working on a permutation-based representation, Simulated Annealing, Threshold Accepting and the Flood-Method. The results show the enormous potential for the solving of job shop scheduling problems which especially the Local Search Techniques possess.
Romantic Relationships: An Exploration of the Lived Experiences of Young Women who identify with a Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Background: It is well established that diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders are increasing in numbers nationally. There has been a recent and growing awareness amongst clinicians of females on the autism spectrum having unique and different presentations, and that these females may be overlooked for diagnoses until later in life. This focus on females has not been reflected in published research; there is a paucity of research on the unique experiences of females on the autism spectrum. Furthermore, whilst research indicates that some young autistic adults aspire to have, and enter, romantic relationships, previous studies have had a quantitative focus and have not explored the unique experiences of females, hence the need for qualitative research on the lived experiences of romantic relationships of young autistic women. Current research: This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with six young women (aged 19-29) to gather data on their experiences and aspirations about romantic relationships. Five of these young women had received a formal diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder and one had self-diagnosed. This study takes a social constructivist epistemological perspective and used interpretative phenomenological analysis to analyse data. Key findings and implications: Key themes for individual participants included relationship violence and abuse, child sexual exploitation and grooming, non-monogamy, unassertiveness in relationships, and rejection. Themes which were found across more than one participant included vulnerability and naivety, asexuality and non-heterosexuality, gender identity and confusion about flirting. The implications of these findings are that young autistic women may be vulnerable to relationship abuse or exploitation. This is the first qualitative study where autistic young women have spoken about their non-typical gender identities and sexualities. A committed romantic partnership is an aspiration for some autistic young women and with an increasing focus on aspirations and preparing for adulthood, educational psychologists will have a role in helping support young women to reach these outcomes.
Verification of processor microarchitectures

This paper develops a new abstraction technique for processor microarchitecture validation. An abstract finite-state machine model is derived directly from the processor HDL description. This model, along with information about the instruction set, is used for validation coverage analysis. We also present automatic test generation algorithms for generating sequences for traversing state transition paths and covering snapshot and temporal events.
The n = 1 constraint in population genomics

A key objective of population genomics is to identify portions of the genome that have been shaped by natural selection rather than by neutral divergence. A previously recognized but underappreciated challenge to this objective is that observations of allele frequencies across genomes in natural populations often correspond to a single, unreplicated instance of the outcome of evolution. This is because the composition of each individual genomic region and population is expected to be the outcome of a unique array of evolutionary processes. Given a single observation, inference of the evolutionary processes that led to the observed state of a locus is associated with considerable uncertainty. This constraint on inference can be ameliorated by utilizing multi‐allelic (e.g. DNA haplotypes) rather than bi‐allelic markers, by analysing two or more populations with certain models and by utilizing studies of replicated experimental evolution. Future progress in population genomics will follow from research that recognizes the ‘n = 1 constraint’ and that utilizes appropriate and explicit evolutionary models for analysis.
Semantic Mining Dynamics for Games Language Processing

This paper attempts to determine conditions for `recogniseability' with application to games language processing. In its broadest sense, a biological reader of a string of characters has a `trial' internal model of the semantics of the lexical sequence being read. This internal model generates its own lexical string which is compared with the observed string. Errors between the two are fed back to the internal `semantic generator' to guide it to modify its lexical output closer to the observed string. The process continues dynamically until convergence, indicated by the observer `recognising' the meaning of the seen string. The theoretical foundations for this process are put forward and the conditions for successful `observation' using hybrid recurrent nets are reviewed. Semantic mining architectures are formulated and consist of a recurrent hybrid net hierarchy of multi-agents, extended such that the composite behavior of agents at any one level is determined by those of the level immediately above
A Novel Family of Cell Wall-Related Proteins Regulated Differently during the Yeast Life Cycle

ABSTRACT The Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ygr189c, Yel040w, and Ylr213c gene products show significant homologies among themselves and with various bacterial β-glucanases and eukaryotic endotransglycosidases. Deletion of the corresponding genes, either individually or in combination, did not produce a lethal phenotype. However, the removal of YGR189c and YEL040w, but not YLR213c, caused additive sensitivity to compounds that interfere with cell wall construction, such as Congo red and Calcofluor White, and overexpression of YEL040w led to resistance to these compounds. These genes were renamedCRH1 and CRH2, respectively, for Congo red hypersensitive. By site-directed mutagenesis we found that the putative glycosidase domain of CRH1 was critical for its function in complementing hypersensitivity to the inhibitors. The involvement ofCRH1 and CRH2 in the development of cell wall architecture was clearly shown, since the alkali-soluble glucan fraction in the crh1Δ crh2Δ strain was almost twice the level in the wild-type. Interestingly, the three genes were subject to different patterns of transcriptional regulation. CRH1 andYLR213c (renamed CRR1, for CRHrelated) were found to be cell cycle regulated and also expressed under sporulation conditions, whereas CRH2 expression did not vary during the mitotic cycle. Crh1 and Crh2 are localized at the cell surface, particularly in chitin-rich areas. Consistent with the observed expression patterns, Crh1–green fluorescent protein was found at the incipient bud site, around the septum area in later stages of budding, and in ascospore envelopes. Crh2 was found to localize mainly at the bud neck throughout the whole budding cycle, in mating projections and zygotes, but not in ascospores. These data suggest that the members of this family of putative glycosidases might exert a common role in cell wall organization at different stages of the yeast life cycle.
Competitive Memory: Bringing the Strategic Past into the Present

Abstract Although two decades have passed since the publication of Walsh and Ungson’s (1991) seminal article on organizational memory, there has been only limited theoretical elaboration and application of this critical aspect of cognition in the strategic management literature. We remedy this gap by advancing the construct of competitive memory, which we define as a firm’s dynamic capability consisting of stored information from its past competitive interaction with a given rival that can be brought to bear on present or future competitive actions. We theorize that competitive memory is composed of both procedural and declarative elements and can be accessed automatically and deliberatively. Additionally, we suggest that competitive memory is relational: As rivals within a competitive set interact in the market, competitive memory drives not only their strategic actions, but also their expectations about their competitors. Last, competitive memory is also dynamic, which can be constructed and reconstructed over time by an organization’s enactment of its internal and external environments and by purposive memory trials with its competitive set.
How long does celebrity meaning transfer last? Delayed effects and the moderating roles of brand experience, celebrity liking, and age

Extending previous research on celebrity endorsements, the study investigates whether the meaning of celebrities is transferred to endorsed brands and how transfer effects develop over time. Additionally, the moderating roles of brand experience, celebrity liking, and consumers’ age are investigated. The hypothesized effects are modeled using a propositional learning approach with an experimental repeated-measures design (panel data). Results confirm the assumed meaning transfer effect. In addition, the effects appear to be substantially stronger after about a week indicating some type of sleeper effect. Furthermore, the effects increase with increasing brand experience and celebrity liking. Adolescent consumers are not differently affected when compared to adults and controlled for the differing levels of brand experience. Results are discussed in light of propositional learning theory. Future areas of research are proposed.
Evidence of Protein Adsorption in Pegylated Liposomes: Influence of Liposomal Decoration

In order to contribute to a better knowledge of the events involved in the formation of the protein corona when nanoparticles (NPs) come in contact with proteins, we report a study about the changes on the physicochemical properties of pristine, PEGylated and Cyclic Arginine-Glycine-Aspartate peptide (RGD)-functionalized large unilamelar liposomes (LUVs) or magnetoliposomes (MLs) upon incubation with Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA). The main phospholipid component of both LUVs and MLs was l-α-phosphatydylcholine (PC) or 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) with 20% of cholesterol. The most obvious indication of the interaction of BSA-nanosystems is given by changes in the hydrodynamic diameter of the particles but other evidence is needed to corroborate the process. Our findings indicate that size modification is a process that is accomplished in few hours and that is strongly dependent not only on the surface decoration but also of the lipid composition of both LUVs and MLs. Fluorescence quenching experiments as well as cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (Cryo-TEM) images assessed these changes and confirmed that although each system has to be studied in a particular way, we can establish three distinctive features that turn into more reactive systems: (a) compositions containing PC compared with their DMPC counterparts; (b) the presence of PEG and/or RGD compared to the pristine counterparts; and (c) the presence of SPIONs: MLs show higher interaction than LUVs of the same lipid composition. Consequently, PEGylation (that is supposed to make stealth NPs) actually fails in preventing complete protein binding.
The church’s witness in a secular age: A Hauerwasian response to privatized and individualized religion

Stanley Hauerwas has been noted for his theology of missionary “witness. ” However, his theology is not uncontroversial. Of late, it is argued that his theology of witness does not often, or sufficiently, attend to the nature and complexity of belief for those people who live in contemporary, Western society. Part of this complexity, as highlighted by various sociologists and theologians, is that religion has become individualized and privatized. These are serious challenges to the church’s engagement with contemporary society, which Hauerwas does not always seem to adequately address. It will be the purpose of this article, however, to attempt to overcome this lacuna in Hauerwas’s theology, and explore if, and how, his theology might serve as a response to some of the specific challenges arising out of the growing trend towards “privatized religion” in the United States. This will be accomplished by bringing into dialogue Hauerwas’s later work on witness, with some of the sociological insights provided by Charles Taylor and Robert Wuthnow. It will be argued that Hauerwas’s theology of witness, though incomplete, does provide insights that might be helpful to the church in her missionary efforts in the United States.
The role of semantic abstractness and perceptual category in processing speech accompanied by gestures

Space and shape are distinct perceptual categories. In language, perceptual information can also be used to describe abstract semantic concepts like a “rising income” (space) or a “square personality” (shape). Despite being inherently concrete, co-speech gestures depicting space and shape can accompany concrete or abstract utterances. Here, we investigated the way that abstractness influences the neural processing of the perceptual categories of space and shape in gestures. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that the neural processing of perceptual categories is highly dependent on language context. In a two-factorial design, we investigated the neural basis for the processing of gestures containing shape (SH) and spatial information (SP) when accompanying concrete (c) or abstract (a) verbal utterances. During fMRI data acquisition participants were presented with short video clips of the four conditions (cSP, aSP, cSH, aSH) while performing an independent control task. Abstract (a) as opposed to concrete (c) utterances activated temporal lobes bilaterally and the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) for both shape-related (SH) and space-related (SP) utterances. An interaction of perceptual category and semantic abstractness in a more anterior part of the left IFG and inferior part of the posterior temporal lobe (pTL) indicates that abstractness strongly influenced the neural processing of space and shape information. Despite the concrete visual input of co-speech gestures in all conditions, space and shape information is processed differently depending on the semantic abstractness of its linguistic context.
Rapid processing of emotional and voice information as evidenced by ERPs

Next to linguistic content, the human voice carries speaker identity information (e.g. female/male, young/old) and can also carry emotional information. Although various studies have started to specify the brain regions that underlie the diffe rent functions of human voice processing, few studies have aimed to specify the time course underlying these processes. By means of event-related potentials (ERPs) we aimed to determine the time-course of neural responses to emotional speech, speaker identification, and their interplay. While engaged in an imp licit voice processing task (probe verification) participants li stened to emotional sentences spoken by two female and two male speakers of two different ages (young and middle-aged). For all four speakers rapid emotional decoding was observed as emotional sentences could be differentiated from neutral sent ences already within 200 ms after sentence onset (P200). However, results also imply that individual capacity to encode emotional expressions may have an influence on this early emotion detec tion as the P200 differentiation pattern (neutral vs. emoti on) differed for each individual speaker.
Exploring experiences of informal carers of mental health: Developing community intervention in social work in Jordan

The purpose of this article is to generate meaningful understanding of the mental health informal carers’ experience and to identify a possible approach to social work intervention. A mixed method of quantitative and qualitative analysis was used for data collection. The findings reveal that most of the informal carers are female adult. They experience stress, domestic violence, social exclusion as a result of the caring role, and fear of stigma. Cultural and religious factors must be considered when translating the caring role. The findings suggest implications for social work practice at a community level, utilizing a familial and support-group approach, with a practice that is sensitive to gender and religion.
Interview data: a qualified defence against the radical critique

This article focuses on what has been referred to as the ‘radical critique’ of interview data, to which Paul Atkinson has been an important contributor. This critique challenges the two main uses of such data in qualitative research, and in other forms of social science: to tap the knowledge of informants; and to draw inferences about the typical beliefs, attitudes, etc. of some group or category of actor to which the informant belongs. I argue that this radical critique relies upon a constructionist attitude towards the social world, and I examine one source of this: the influence of ethnomethodology. However, I suggest that a naturalistic stance can take account of the features of interviews to which the radical critique properly draws attention, without undercutting the normal uses of interview data. I emphasise that this does not obviate the need for careful consideration of how such data are produced, and particularly of the discourse practices involved. I illustrate my argument by briefly examining the opening section of an interview.
The role of discourse context frequency in phonological variation: A usage-based approach to bilingual speech production

Missing from the body of literature on contact-induced phonological influence are studies that examine language variation as it occurs in speech production among members of a speech community. This study uses a corpus of naturally occurring Spanish/English code-switched discourse to determine whether cross-language phonological effects are evident in the data. Specifically, 2629 tokens of word-initial /d/ were analyzed in spontaneous interactions to identify the linguistic factors that condition the variable reduction (unreduced [d], reduced [ð]/Ø) of /d-/ in Spanish words. Cognate words (doctor) were found to reduce significantly less often than non-cognate words (después ‘after’). However, a significant effect is found for a novel, contextually informed measure that estimates words’ proportion of use in online contexts promoting reduction (Frequency in a Favorable Context). The greater a word’s prior exposure to online contexts promoting reduction, the greater the likelihood of reduced articulations. Indeed, this work argues that the distinction between cognates and non-cognates in fact emerges through this cumulative effect of significantly different patterns of use in discourse. Cognate /d/ words are used overall (considering speakers’ use of both English and Spanish) less often in contexts that promote reduction than non-cognate words. As a result of the diminished net exposure to reducing environments, per usage-based grammar, the lexical representations of cognate words have strengthened non-reduced exemplars ([d]). The distinct rates of variation for cognate words thus emerge from distinct usage patterns. This paper proposes such a focus on usage patterns within naturally occurring speech for phonological analyses within contact linguistics.