Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Supply Chain Contracting with Quality Choice

We analyze a firm designing and selling a seasonal product with demand uncertainty and a single ordering opportunity. Prior to the start of the selling season, product quality and inventory must be jointly determined; a higher quality product results in a greater selling price but also greater marginal production cost. We consider both a centralized supply chain, in which a single firm determines quality and inventory, and a decentralized supply chain, in which a manufacturer determines product quality and a retailer determines inventory. In a centralized supply chain, we provide a simple characterization of the optimal inventory and quality, and demonstrate that at the optimal inventory-quality pair the sales function elasticity is equal to the reciprocal of the cost function elasticity. In a decentralized supply chain, we demonstrate that standard wholesale price contracts cannot coordinate the supply chain in inventory or quality, and discuss the impact of these contracts on quality and inventory levels; interestingly, we show that quality is often higher under wholesale price contracts than in a centralized system due to substitutability with inventory, despite the fact that double marginalization reduces manufacturer incentives to invest in quality, all else being equal. We also show that, surprisingly, standard revenue sharing contracts can coordinate the supply chain in quality choice in some cases; however, this requires truthful sharing of the manufacturer’s cost structure, which we demonstrate is not in the manufacturer’s interests to reveal. We conclude that simultaneously coordinating product design and inventory in decentralized supply chains, while feasible, is likely to be challenging in practice, perhaps helping to explain the value of the recent surge of “direct-to-consumer” distribution that avoids coordination problems by having the same firm design and sell seasonal goods.
Low-grade spindle-cell ameloblastic carcinoma: report of an unusual case with immunohistochemical findings and review of the literature.

Spindle-cell differentiation in ameloblastic carcinoma is a rare event. Although reported by many authors, it was first described as a separate entity in 1999 by Slater under the heading "low-grade spindle-cell ameloblastic carcinoma. " Here, we report a case of low-grade spindle-cell ameloblastic carcinoma arising in pre-existing unicystic ameloblastoma.The patient, a 60-year-old Indian woman, had a large irregular swelling in the left mandibular region. Histologically, the lesion was composed of a large cystic cavity with an ameloblastomatous lining and areas showing spindle-cell proliferation. The spindle cells showed hyperchromatism, nuclear pleomorphism, and scattered mitotic figures. To our knowledge, 6 cases of spindle-cell ameloblastic carcinoma have been published to date, and this case appears to be the first reporting malignant transformation with spindle-cell differentiation in unicystic ameloblastoma.
Logarithmic Transformations in Cross Section Regression Models of the Long Run Relation between Market and Accounting Values

Empirical evidence, mostly cross-sectional, is provided in this paper supporting the theory that the market accounting-relation is best understood as a multiplicative relation, when the modeled variables are positive. The theory is shown to work well with large sets of cross section and pooled data as well as in time series analysis with more limited numbers of observations. The distributions of market value and the main accounting aggregates, net book value of firm assets, earnings and dividends are all better approximated by a log-normal form, when the data are positive. The error term in regressions of market value on these variables is also more closely approximated by a log-normal distribution. Together these findings are consistent with the long-run market-accounting relation and the cross-section of market value being better explained by a geometric mean of the fundamental accounting variables, rather than an arithmetic mean of those variables, which is invariably used in the accounting literature. Implications for the interpretation of coefficients in cross-section regressions of market value and for the theories of market valuation are discussed.
Integrated Schistosomiasis and Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis Control over Five Years on Kome Island, Tanzania

Integrated control strategies are important for sustainable control of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis, despite their challenges for their effective implementation. With the support of Good Neighbors International in collaboration with National Institute of Medical Research, Mwanza, Tanzania, integrated control applying mass drug administration (MDA), health education using PHAST, and improved safe water supply has been implemented on Kome Island over 5 years for controlling schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). Baseline surveys for schistosomiasis and STHs was conducted before implementation of any integrated control strategies, followed by 4 cross-sectional follow-up surveys on randomly selected samples of schoolchildren and adults in 10 primary schools and 8 villages, respectively, on Kome islands. Those follow-up surveys were conducted for impact evaluation after introduction of control strategies interventions in the study area. Five rounds of MDA have been implemented from 2009 along with PHAST and improved water supply with pumped wells as other control strategies for complementing MDA. A remarkable steady decline of schistosomiasis and STHs was observed from 2009 to 2012 with significant trends in their prevalence decline, and thereafter infection rate has remained at a low sustainable control. By the third follow-up survey in 2012, Schistosoma mansoni infection prevalence was reduced by 90.5% and hookworm by 93.3% among schoolchildren while in adults the corresponding reduction was 83.2% and 56.9%, respectively. Integrated control strategies have successfully reduced S. mansoni and STH infection status to a lower level. This study further suggests that monitoring and evaluation is a crucial component of any large-scale STH and schistosomiasis intervention.
THE EFFECT OF NCLB ON STATE BOARD AND LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD RELATIONS: A PENNSYLVANIA EXAMPLE

The political environment created by the high expectation for educational systems by voters, coupled with the requirements of federal legislation, and the political gains to be made by educational reform politicians exert a downward pressure on local school boards. As a result, school boards are being isolated from the local control that they have traditionally enjoyed. Federal efforts such as NCLB have required state bureaucratic reforms demanding higher levels of conformity with centralized state education policy in many jurisdictions. As a result, school boards may no longer be the representatives of local control but simply the administrators of state policy at a local level. This qualitative study investigates whether a set of school boards in Pennsylvania is losing traditional autonomy and how this may be occurring. Using a critical case study design, the relationship between local school boards in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania State Board of Education (PSBE) is considered in relation to principal agent theory (PAT). PAT is a widely used theory in the social sciences that provides a basic framework for investigating the role of individual and organizational interests, information flows, and incentives in governance settings. Data was collected by interview and sorted by codes based on an a priori content analysis. These codes were then combined to create themes from which the interplay of the relationship between the PSBE and the local school boards can be examined. The key finding of this study supports the idea that Pennsylvania is centralizing authority over education. However, local school boards are also maintaining a high degree of local control as the implementation of state policy has generally been left to the local boards. Findings indicate that those involved in the study feel that state standards and the prescribed Annual Yearly Progress goals have been a positive influence in Pennsylvania. Additional findings of this study are that authority over education in Pennsylvania is more broadly distributed among the state government than expected. This study also provides a policy recommendation that the role of local school boards be reviewed as their function in the new centralized policy environment lacks definition.
Research on job shop scheduling aiming at Instant Customerisation

The characteristic of instant customerization (IC) production model and its job-shop scheduling problem is described. Considering the conventional algorithmspsila low efficiency of search especially global search, PSO-based to job shop scheduling problem of IC is presented. According to the characteristics of the problem, the PSO coding and optimization are studied to determine the way of coding and operation, which is more adaptable to job shop scheduling. The job shop scheduling part of the system is then programmed with the algorithm. Simulation results show that setting the suitable parameters can provide an suitable working sequence to adapt to the IC job-shop problem. At last, a suggestion about this problem is presented.
The Impact of External Events on the Emergence of Social Herding of Economic Sentiment

We investigate the impact of an exogenous environment on the emergence of social herding of economic sentiment. An interactions-driven dynamics of economic sentiment is modeled by an Ising model on a large (two-dimensional) square lattice. The individual states are called optimism and pessimism. The exogenous environment is modeled as a sequence of random events, which might have a positive or negative influence on economic sentiment. These exogenous events can be frequent or rare, have a lasting impact or a non-lasting impact. Impact of events is inhomogeneous over the lattice, as individuals might fail to perceive particular events. We introduce two notions of social herding: permanent herding refers to the situation where an ordered state (i.e. a state with an overwhelming majority of optimists or pessimists) persists over an infinite time horizon, while temporary herding refers to the situation where ordered states appear, persist for some time and decay. The parameter of the inter-agent interaction strength is such as to engender permanent herding without the influence of the environment. To investigate the impact of an environment we determine whether an initially ordered state decays. We consider two cases: in the first case positive and negative events have both the same empirical frequencies and strengths, while in the second case events have the same empirical frequencies but different strengths. (In the first case the environment is ``neutral''in the long term), In the neutral case we find temporary herding if events are sufficiently ``strong'' and/or perceived by a sufficiently large proportion of agents, and our results suggest that permanent herding occurs for small values of the parameters. In the ``non-neutral'' case we find only temporary herding.
Using integrated system theory approach to assess security for SCADA systems cyber security for critical infrastructures: A pilot study

The security of system that monitor critical infrastructure are vital. The possibility of critical infrastructure services being disrupted would have a significant impact on the wider society as it involves energy, water, gas, transport, and many more utilities. This paper examines critical infrastructure and the system that monitors and controls critical services. It also measures the information security aspects of the system by adopting Integrated System Theory which covers the importance of enforcing cyber security policies, assessing and managing risks, internal control-management, technical and process controls and information auditing. This study was initiated by preliminary interviews with experts from different countries on the themes of awareness, compliance and assessments, and measures and controls. Subsequently, a pilot study was done by conducting online surveys to practitioners from different countries, and several different critical infrastructure sectors on the existing information security practices in their organisations. We examined the constituents of existing policies, and controls implemented by the organisations. The conclusion was made the pilot study would provide a good basis for estimating and measuring the security awareness and controls implemented at the organisation level.
Right Ventricular Fibrosis and Conduction Delay in a Patient With Clinical Signs of Brugada Syndrome: A Combined Electrophysiological, Genetic, Histopathologic, and Computational Study

Background— The mechanism of ECG changes and arrhythmogenesis in Brugada syndrome (BS) patients is unknown. Methods and Results— A BS patient without clinically detected cardiac structural abnormalities underwent cardiac transplantation for intolerable numbers of implantable cardioverter/defibrillator discharges. The patient’s explanted heart was studied electrophysiologically and histopathologically. Whole-cell currents were measured in HEK293 cells expressing wild-type or mutated sodium channels from the patient. The right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) endocardium showed activation slowing and was the origin of ventricular fibrillation without a transmural repolarization gradient. Conduction restitution was abnormal in the RVOT but normal in the left ventricle. Right ventricular hypertrophy and fibrosis with epicardial fatty infiltration were present. HEK293 cells expressing a G1935S mutation in the gene encoding the cardiac sodium channel exhibited enhanced slow inactivation compared with wild-type channels. Computer simulations demonstrated that conduction slowing in the RVOT might have been the cause of the ECG changes. Conclusions— In this patient with BS, conduction slowing based on interstitial fibrosis, but not transmural repolarization differences, caused the ECG signs and was the origin of ventricular fibrillation.
ISOSCAPES 15 N isoscapes in a subtropical savanna parkland : spatial-temporal perspectives

Spatial patterns of soil dN reflect variation in rates of N-cycling processes across landscapes. However, the manner in which soil dN is affected by vegetation and topoedaphic properties under nonsteady state conditions is understood poorly. Here we propose and evaluate a conceptual model that explains how soil dN values will respond to changes in disturbance regimes (intensification of grazing and removal of fire) and the resultant invasion of a subtropical grassland by woody vegetation dominated by Prosopis glandulosa (honey mesquite), a N-fixing tree legume. Spatially-specific sampling along a catena (hill-slope) gradient where woody plants are known to have displaced grasses over the past 100 years revealed a positive relationship between soil dN and dC, and a negative relationship between NDVI and soil dN on upland portions of the landscape, indicating that plant cover is a critical determinant of dN spatial patterns. Because the dominant woody invader is a N-fixer, its invasion has increased N input and reduced soil dN. However, while honey mesquite also invaded and came to dominate lowland portions of the landscape, soil dN values in woodlands of intermittent drainages were significantly elevated relative to those in uplands. This is likely attributable to higher soil moisture, clay content, and total N in the lower portions of the catena gradient, which create conditions favoring more rapid Ntransformation rates, higher preferential N losses (e.g., gaseous), and thus enrichment of N. Thus, while spatial and temporal variation of soil dN has the potential to be an indicator of disturbance-induced changes in the net N balance, its sensitivity is compromised in topoedaphic settings with where rates of Ntransformation are high. Continued improvements in our understanding of controls over the spatial variability of soil dN at the landscape-scale will enhance our ability to use dN as a diagnostic tool for inferring N dynamics under both steady-state and disturbed conditions.
Stochastic Backpropagation and Approximate Inference in Deep Generative Models

We marry ideas from deep neural networks and approximate Bayesian inference to derive a generalised class of deep, directed generative models, endowed with a new algorithm for scalable inference and learning. Our algorithm introduces a recognition model to represent approximate posterior distributions, and that acts as a stochastic encoder of the data. We develop stochastic back-propagation -- rules for back-propagation through stochastic variables -- and use this to develop an algorithm that allows for joint optimisation of the parameters of both the generative and recognition model. We demonstrate on several real-world data sets that the model generates realistic samples, provides accurate imputations of missing data and is a useful tool for high-dimensional data visualisation.
The Radio Structure of High-Energy-Peaked BL Lacertae Objects

We present VLA and first-epoch VLBA observations that are part of a program to study the parsec-scale radio structure of a sample of 15 high-energy–peaked BL Lacertae objects (HBLs). The sample was chosen to span the range of logarithmic X-ray to radio flux ratios observed in HBLs. As this is only the first epoch of observations, proper motions of jet components are not yet available; thus, we consider only the structure and alignment of the parsec- and kiloparsec-scale jets. Like most low-energy–peaked BL Lacertae objects (LBLs), our HBL sample shows parsec-scale core-jet morphologies and compact, complex kiloparsec-scale morphologies. Some objects also show evidence for bending of the jet 10–20 pc from the core, suggesting interaction of the jet with the surrounding medium. Whereas LBLs show a wide distribution of parsec- to kiloparsec-scale jet misalignment angles, there is weak evidence that the jets in HBLs are more well aligned, suggesting that HBL jets are either intrinsically straighter or are seen further off-axis than LBL jets.
Design, Implementation, and Operation of a Mobile Honeypot

Mobile nodes, in particular smartphones are one of the most relevant devices in the current Internet in terms of quantity and economic impact. There is the common believe that those devices are of special interest for attackers due to their limited resources and the serious data they store. On the other hand, the mobile regime is a very lively network environment, which misses the (limited) ground truth we have in commonly connected Internet nodes. In this paper we argue for a simple long-term measurement infrastructure that allows for (1) the analysis of unsolicited traffic to and from mobile devices and (2) fair comparison with wired Internet access. We introduce the design and implementation of a mobile honeypot, which is deployed on standard hardware for more than 1.5 years. Two independent groups developed the same concept for the system. We also present preliminary measurement results.
Systematic Reviews and Meta-and Pooled Analyses Welding and Lung Cancer in a Pooled Analysis of Case-Control Studies

Benjamin Kendzia, Thomas Behrens, Karl-Heinz Jöckel, Jack Siemiatycki, Hans Kromhout, Roel Vermeulen, Susan Peters, Rainer Van Gelder, Ann Olsson, Irene Brüske, H. -Erich Wichmann, Isabelle Stücker, Florence Guida, Adonina Tardón, Franco Merletti, Dario Mirabelli, Lorenzo Richiardi, Hermann Pohlabeln, Wolfgang Ahrens, Maria Teresa Landi, Neil Caporaso, Dario Consonni, David Zaridze, Neonila Szeszenia-Dabrowska, Jolanta Lissowska, Per Gustavsson, Michael Marcus, Eleonora Fabianova, Andrea ‘t Mannetje, Neil Pearce, Lap Ah Tse, Ignatius Tak-sun Yu, Peter Rudnai, Vladimir Bencko, Vladimir Janout, Dana Mates, Lenka Foretova, Francesco Forastiere, John McLaughlin, Paul Demers, Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita, Paolo Boffetta, Joachim Schüz, Kurt Straif, Beate Pesch*, and Thomas Brüning
Cenozoic Planktonic Marine Diatom Diversity and Correlation to Climate Change

Marine planktonic diatoms export carbon to the deep ocean, playing a key role in the global carbon cycle. Although commonly thought to have diversified over the Cenozoic as global oceans cooled, only two conflicting quantitative reconstructions exist, both from the Neptune deep-sea microfossil occurrences database. Total diversity shows Cenozoic increase but is sample size biased; conventional subsampling shows little net change. We calculate diversity from a separately compiled new diatom species range catalog, and recalculate Neptune subsampled-in-bin diversity using new methods to correct for increasing Cenozoic geographic endemism and decreasing Cenozoic evenness. We find coherent, substantial Cenozoic diversification in both datasets. Many living cold water species, including species important for export productivity, originate only in the latest Miocene or younger. We make a first quantitative comparison of diatom diversity to the global Cenozoic benthic ∂18O (climate) and carbon cycle records (∂13C, and 20-0 Ma pCO2). Warmer climates are strongly correlated with lower diatom diversity (raw: rho = .92, p<.001; detrended, r = .6, p = .01). Diatoms were 20% less diverse in the early late Miocene, when temperatures and pCO2 were only moderately higher than today. Diversity is strongly correlated to both ∂13C and pCO2 over the last 15 my (for both: r>.9, detrended r>.6, all p<.001), but only weakly over the earlier Cenozoic, suggesting increasingly strong linkage of diatom and climate evolution in the Neogene. Our results suggest that many living marine planktonic diatom species may be at risk of extinction in future warm oceans, with an unknown but potentially substantial negative impact on the ocean biologic pump and oceanic carbon sequestration. We cannot however extrapolate our my-scale correlations with generic climate proxies to anthropogenic time-scales of warming without additional species-specific information on proximate ecologic controls.
Likelihood-maximizing beamforming for robust hands-free speech recognition

Speech recognition performance degrades significantly in distant-talking environments, where the speech signals can be severely distorted by additive noise and reverberation. In such environments, the use of microphone arrays has been proposed as a means of improving the quality of captured speech signals. Currently, microphone-array-based speech recognition is performed in two independent stages: array processing and then recognition. Array processing algorithms, designed for signal enhancement, are applied in order to reduce the distortion in the speech waveform prior to feature extraction and recognition. This approach assumes that improving the quality of the speech waveform will necessarily result in improved recognition performance and ignores the manner in which speech recognition systems operate. In this paper a new approach to microphone-array processing is proposed in which the goal of the array processing is not to generate an enhanced output waveform but rather to generate a sequence of features which maximizes the likelihood of generating the correct hypothesis. In this approach, called likelihood-maximizing beamforming, information from the speech recognition system itself is used to optimize a filter-and-sum beamformer. Speech recognition experiments performed in a real distant-talking environment confirm the efficacy of the proposed approach.