Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Efficiency Effects of Mergers and Acquisitions in Malaysian Banking Institutions

This paper analyses the efficiency and financial performance using CAMEL-type variables, three years before and after the consolidation programme for the domestic banking sector initiated by Bank Negara as a result of the 1997 financial crisis. The results suggest that the mergers did not seem to enhance the productive efficiency of the banks as they do not indicate any significant difference. The financial performance suggests that the banks are becoming more focussed on their intermediation activities to generate high net interest income. However, due to their conservative loan loss reserve policies and cost inefficiencies after the merger, it has somehow resulted in the loan growth and interest earning ratio variable giving a negative impact on ROE.
High-Redshift Galaxy Kinematics: Constraints on Models of Disk Formation

Integral field spectroscopy of galaxies at redshift z ∼ 2 has revealed a population of early-forming, rotationally supported disks. These high-redshift systems provide a potentially important clue to the formation processes that build disk galaxies in the universe. A particularly well-studied example is the z = 2.38 galaxy BzK 15504, which was shown by Genzel and coworkers to be a rotationally supported disk despite the fact that its high star formation rate and short gas consumption timescale require a very rapid acquisition of mass. Previous kinematical analyses have suggested that z ∼ 2 disk galaxies like BzK 15504 did not form through mergers because their line-of-sight velocity fields display low levels of asymmetry. We perform the same kinematical analysis on a set of simulated disk galaxies formed in gas-rich mergers of the type that may be common at high redshift, and show that the remnant disks display low velocity field asymmetry and satisfy the criteria that have been used to classify high-redshift galaxies as disks observationally. Further, we compare one of our remnants to the bulk properties of BzK 15504 and show that it has a star formation rate, gas surface density, and a circular velocity-to-velocity dispersion ratio that matches BzK 15504 remarkably well. We suggest that observations of high-redshift disk galaxies like BzK 15504 are consistent with the hypothesis that gas-rich mergers play an important role in disk formation at high redshift.
Using autonomous robotics to teach science and engineering

f you walked into our Autonomous Robotics class at Case Western Reserve University on a typical day, you might be surprised to find 30 college students from a variety of engineering and science disciplines sitting on the floor surrounded by LEGO blocks. Appearances can be deceiving; this course tackles serious issues in engineering and science education. In this course, students design, build, program and test their own autonomous robots that participate in a public competition. This course uses robotics to foster a hands-on, interdisciplinary, teamwork-oriented approach to the synthesis and analysis of integrated real-world systems, as well as teaching new approaches to robot control. Created in 1995, our Autonomous Robotics course grew out of ongoing research on biologically inspired robotics at CWRU [3]. The design of this course draws heavily on technology developed at MIT, first for K–12 education [11] and later for an undergraduate course similar to ours that has been offered since 1990 [8]. Related courses have been developed at the University of Edinburgh [7] and elsewhere. Two features of our course distinguish it from these other courses. First, our final competition is considerably more technically demanding. Second, we address a much broader set of educational goals. Our course attracts students from computer engineering and science, biology, electrical engineering, neuroscience, systems engineering, biomedical engineering, and physics. In this article, we describe the educational goals of the course, its overall design, the final competition, and student assessment.
Macroelasticities and the U.S. sequestration budget cuts

Microeconomic studies keep reporting that the intertemporal substitution in consumption and the Frisch elasticity of aggregate labor supply have significantly lower values than macroeconomic models find consistent with the dynamics of aggregate variables. The paper argues that in the U.S. such dynamics have been influenced since 2013 by the temporary spending cuts imposed by the so-called budget sequestration. The paper exploits the "policy experiment" features of that measure to gauge macroelasticity values from the evidence associated with it, adopting to that effect a macroeconomic model constructed according to the methodological principles advocated by the real business cycle literature. Readings of the preliminary evidence available at the time of this writing with such a measuring device do not particularly favor high values for either of the two macroelasticities under study. Although it's too early to be conclusive, this finding illustrates how existing disagreements about the value of key macroelasticities can eventually be narrowed down by applying the approach proposed in this paper to the evidence coming out of the budget sequestration policy, as it unfolds over time.
Boosting “shotgun denoising” by patch normalization

A recent seminal paper on the absolute bounds of image de-noising [1] proposes a patch denoising method effectively realizing the minimal mean square error, given all the known image patches. It is extremely important to reach these absolute limits, but they require processing a limitless database. In the above mentioned paper this database had 10 billion patches. In this paper we demonstrate that by factorizing the patch space the method can be sped up by a factor of more than a thousand, while maintaining the theoretical claim that the method is optimal. Using the method on real images demonstrates its potential to beat the state of the art, as it performs better on difficult patches.
Phytochemical Profiling of Flavonoids, Phenolic Acids, Terpenoids, and Volatile Fraction of a Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) Extract

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the phytochemical profile of a proprietary rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) extract rich in carnosic acid. A characterization of the (poly)phenolic and volatile fractions of the extract was carried out using mass spectrometric techniques. The (poly)phenolic composition was assessed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-MSn) and a total of 57 compounds were tentatively identified and quantified, 14 of these being detected in rosemary extract for the first time. The rosemary extract contained 24 flavonoids (mainly flavones, although flavonols and flavanones were also detected), 5 phenolic acids, 24 diterpenoids (carnosic acid, carnosol, and rosmanol derivatives), 1 triterpenoid (betulinic acid), and 3 lignans (medioresinol derivatives). Carnosic acid was the predominant phenolic compound. The volatile profile of the rosemary extract was evaluated by head space solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) linked to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Sixty-three volatile molecules (mainly terpenes, alcohols, esters, aldehydes, and ketones) were identified. This characterization extends the current knowledge on the phytochemistry of Rosmarinus officinalis and is, to our knowledge, the broadest profiling of its secondary metabolites to date. It can assist in the authentication of rosemary extracts or rosemary-containing products or in testing its bioactivity. Moreover, this methodological approach could be applied to the study of other plant-based food ingredients.
Clusters of Galaxies in the Local Universe

We use a matched filter algorithm to find and study clusters in both N-body simulations artificially populated with galaxies and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). In addition to numerous checks of the matched filter algorithm, we present results on the halo multiplicity function and the cluster number function. For a subset of our identified clusters we have information on X-ray temperatures and luminosities that we cross-correlate with optical richness and galaxy velocity dispersions. With all quantities normalized by the spherical radius corresponding to a mass overdensity of ΔM = 200 or the equivalent galaxy number overdensity of ΔN = 200Ω ≃ 666, we find that the number of L > L* galaxies in a cluster of mass M200 is log N*666 = (1.44 ± 0.17) + (1.10 ± 0.09) log(M200h/1015 M☉), where the uncertainties are dominated by the scatter created by three choices for relating the observed quantities to the cluster mass. The region inside the virial radius has a K-band cluster mass-to-light ratio of (M/L)K = (116 ± 46)h, which is essentially independent of cluster mass. Integrating over all clusters more massive than M200 = 1014 h-1 M☉, the virialized regions of clusters contain ≃7% of the local stellar luminosity, quite comparable to the mass fraction in such objects in currently popular ΛCDM models.
Reduced naive CD4 T cell numbers and impaired induction of CD27 in response to T cell receptor stimulation reflect a state of immune activation in chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

BACKGROUND Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is characterized by reduced numbers of functional HCV-specific T cells. In addition, chronically HCV-infected individuals have reduced response to vaccine. Alterations in naive CD4 T cell phenotype or function may contribute to these immune impairments. METHODS Using flow cytometric analysis and enzyme-linked immunospot assay, we examined peripheral naive CD4 T cell phenotype and function in chronically HCV-infected patients and control subjects. RESULTS We observed significantly lower absolute cell numbers of naive CD4 T cells in HCV-infected patients, localized to the CD127(+)CD25(low/-) and CD31(+) (RTE) subsets. Moreover, we found greater percentages of naive cells expressing CD25 and KI67 in HCV-infected patients, consistent with immune activation, further supported by higher plasma sCD27 levels. Functional analysis revealed an intact interferon-γ response to allogeneic B cell stimulus. However, after direct TCR stimulation, naive CD4 T cells from HCV-infected patients had altered up-regulation of KI67 and CD25 and less CD27 expression. The latter was associated with elevated baseline activation state. In addition, naive CD4 T cells from HCV-infected patients were more susceptible to cell death. CONCLUSIONS These numerical and functional defects may contribute to inadequate formation of virus and neoantigen-specific T cell responses during chronic HCV infection.
Externalizing problems, attention regulation, and household chaos: A longitudinal behavioral genetic study

Abstract Previous research documented a robust link between difficulties in self-regulation and development of externalizing problems (i.e., aggression and delinquency). In this study, we examined the longitudinal additive and interactive genetic and environmental covariation underlying this well-established link using a twin design. The sample included 131 pairs of monozygotic twins and 173 pairs of same-sex dizygotic twins who participated in three waves of annual assessment. Mothers and fathers provided reports of externalizing problems. Teacher report and observer rating were used to assess twin's attention regulation. The etiology underlying the link between externalizing problems and attention regulation shifted from a common genetic mechanism to a common environmental mechanism in the transition across middle childhood. Household chaos moderated the genetic variance of and covariance between externalizing problems and attention regulation. The genetic influence on individual differences in both externalizing problems and attention regulation was stronger in more chaotic households. However, higher levels of household chaos attenuated the genetic link between externalizing problems and attention regulation.
Assessing Evidence for a Common Function of Delay in Causal Learning and Reward Discounting

Time occupies a central role in both the induction of causal relationships and determining the subjective value of rewards. Delays devalue rewards and also impair learning of relationships between events. The mathematical relation between the time until a delayed reward and its present value has been characterized as a hyperbola-like function, and increasing delays of reinforcement tend to elicit judgments or response rates that similarly show a negatively accelerated decay pattern. Furthermore, neurological research implicates both the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex in both these processes. Since both processes are broadly concerned with the concepts of reward, value, and time, involve a similar functional form, and have been identified as involving the same specific brain regions, it seems tempting to assume that the two processes are underpinned by the same cognitive or neural mechanisms. We set out to determine experimentally whether a common cognitive mechanism underlies these processes, by contrasting individual performances on causal judgment and delay discounting tasks. Results from each task corresponded with previous findings in the literature, but no relation was found between the two tasks. The task was replicated and extended by including two further measures, the Barrett Impulsiveness Scale (BIS), and a causal attribution task. Performance on this latter task was correlated with results on the causal judgment task, and also with the non-planning component of the BIS, but the results from the delay discounting task was not correlated with either causal learning task nor the BIS. Implications for current theories of learning are considered.
Organizational Dynamics : Diagnosis and Intervention

1. Introduction. 2. The Major Conceptual Elements. 3. System Dynamics in the Short-Run. 4. Moderate-Run Dynamics. 5. Long-Run Dynamics. 6. Some Implications for Organizational Effectiveness. 7. Using the Model. Appendix A: Summary of Questions to Guide Diagnosis and Intervention.
A ratchet mechanism for amplification in low-frequency mammalian hearing

The sensitivity and frequency selectivity of hearing result from tuned amplification by an active process in the mechanoreceptive hair cells. In most vertebrates, the active process stems from the active motility of hair bundles. The mammalian cochlea exhibits an additional form of mechanical activity termed electromotility: its outer hair cells (OHCs) change length upon electrical stimulation. The relative contributions of these two mechanisms to the active process in the mammalian inner ear is the subject of intense current debate. Here, we show that active hair-bundle motility and electromotility can together implement an efficient mechanism for amplification that functions like a ratchet: Sound-evoked forces, acting on the basilar membrane, are transmitted to the hair bundles, whereas electromotility decouples active hair-bundle forces from the basilar membrane. This unidirectional coupling can extend the hearing range well below the resonant frequency of the basilar membrane. It thereby provides a concept for low-frequency hearing that accounts for a variety of unexplained experimental observations from the cochlear apex, including the shape and phase behavior of apical tuning curves, their lack of significant nonlinearities, and the shape changes of threshold tuning curves of auditory-nerve fibers along the cochlea. The ratchet mechanism constitutes a general design principle for implementing mechanical amplification in engineering applications.
Understanding Static Intercell Interference Coordination Mechanisms in LTE

This work identifies the factors which determine the behaviour of static interference avoidance schemes: SINR distribution shift, MCS mapping, and proportional MCS usage. The work goes on to challenge the common assumption that it is "best" to give resources with a high reuse factor to those at the cell-edge, by showing for a fixed rate service class, that it is best to be greedy and give these resources to those at the cell-centre. The work is performed using monte-carlo simulations, only in the downlink direction, on a London scenario with realistic path loss and network data. All work is statistically quantified using appropriate tests.
A Survey of Data Prefetching Techniques

The expanding gap between microprocessor and DRAM performance has necessitated the use of increasingly aggressive techniques designed to reduce or hide the latency of main memory accesses. Although large cache hierarchies have proven to be effective in reducing this latency for the most frequently used data, it is still not uncommon for scientific programs to spend more than half their run times stalled on memory requests. Data prefetching has been proposed as a technique for hiding the access latency of data referencing patterns that defeat caching strategies. Rather than waiting for a cache miss to perform a memory fetch, data prefetching anticipates such misses and issues a fetch to the memory system in advance of the actual memory reference. To be effective, prefetching must be implemented in such a way that prefetches are timely, useful, and introduce little overhead. Secondary effects in the memory system must also be taken into consideration. Despite these obstacles, prefetching has the potential to significantly improve overall program execution time by overlapping computation with memory accesses. Prefetching strategies are diverse and no single strategy has yet been proposed which provides optimal performance. The following survey examines several alternative approaches and discusses the design tradeoffs involved when implementing a data prefetch strategy. Note to the Reviewer : The survey style of this paper has necessarily led to a larger number of references than is normally allowed in IEEE Computer articles. The authors ask your assistance in identifying any references which may be excluded, either because they seem unnecessary or because the referenced topic adds little to the paper. Steven VanderWiel David J. Lilja svw@ee.umn. edu lilja@ee.umn. edu
Effects of Salinity and Drought Levels in Seed Germination of Five Crop Species

— The heterotrophic seedling growth can be defined as a product of two components: (1) the weight of mobilized seed reserve, and (2) conversion efficiency of utilized seed reserve to seedling tissue. The first component can be further divided into (1) initial seed weight, and (2) the fraction of seed reserve, which is mobilized. The objective of this study was the identification of the sensitive seedling growth component(s) in response to drought and salinity stresses. Two experiments were separately conducted using various salinity levels (osmotic pressure) of 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1, 1.25 and 1.5 MPa created using NaCl as first experiment and by polyethylene glycol (drought stress) of 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1, 1.2 and 1.4 MPa in second experiment. Seeds of five crops species ( Hordeum vulgare, Brassica napus, Zea mays, Medicago sativa and Medicago scutellata ) were used in each experiment. In both experiments, seedling growth, fraction of seed reserve utilization and weight of mobilized seed reserve decreased with increasing drought and salt intensity. However, drought and salinity stresses had no effect on the conversion efficiency. It was concluded that the sensitive component of seedling growth is the weight of mobilized seed reserve.
Reciprocal autoreceptor and heteroreceptor control of serotonergic, dopaminergic and noradrenergic transmission in the frontal cortex: relevance to the actions of antidepressant agents

The frontal cortex (FCX) plays a key role in processes that control mood, cognition and motor behaviour, functions which are compromised in depression, schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. In this regard, there is considerable evidence that a perturbation of monoaminergic input to the FCX is involved in the pathogenesis of these states. Correspondingly, the modulation of monoaminergic transmission in the FCX and other corticolimbic structures plays an important role in the actions of antipsychotic and antidepressant agents. In order to further understand the significance of monoaminergic systems in psychiatric disorders and their treatment, it is essential to characterize mechanisms underlying their modulation. Within this framework, the present commentary focuses on our electrophysiological and dialysis analyses of the complex and reciprocal pattern of autoand heteroreceptor mediated control of dopaminergic, noradrenergic and serotonergic transmission in the FCX. The delineation of such interactions provides a framework for an interpretation of the influence of diverse classes of antidepressant agent upon extracellular levels of dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin in FCX. Moreover, it also generates important insights into strategies for the potential improvement in the therapeutic profiles of antidepressant agents.
Prolonged Diuretic Activity and Calcium-Sparing Effect of Tropaeolum majus: Evidence in the Prevention of Osteoporosis

Although several studies indicate high effectiveness in the use of the hydroethanolic extract from Tropaeolum majus (HETM) as a diuretic, the impact of its prolonged use in the presence of low estrogen levels remains unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the diuretic effects of prolonged administration of HETM in ovariectomized rats and their interrelationship between calcium excretion and bone turnover. Forty-two female Wistar rats were ovariectomized (OVX) and treated orally with different doses of HETM (3, 30, and 300 mg/kg) for 4 weeks. On the first day of treatment and at weekly intervals for four weeks the diuretic activity was evaluated. Electrolyte concentrations and creatinine levels were estimated from urine sample of each rat. The serum lipids, urea, creatinine, and osteocalcin were also measured at the end of the experiment. The data revealed that the HETM was able to sustain its diuretic effect after prolonged treatment. Moreover, its use has not affected the urinary calcium or potassium excretion, reduces lipid levels, and maintains osteocalcin levels similarly to untreated rats. These findings support the potential of HETM as a candidate to be used in clinical conditions in which the renal loss of calcium is not desired.
Neutral oligosaccharide content of preterm human milk

Human milk oligosaccharides are known to play a role in protection against certain infectious diseases. Previous reports indicate that the content of human milk oligosaccharides varies widely among individuals at term but such information on preterm milk is lacking. After removal of the fat, protein and most of the lactose from non-pooled human milk samples, a total neutral oligosaccharide fraction was isolated by ion-exchange chromatography followed by gel filtration. A Dionex high-performance anion-exchange chromatography system equipped with a pulsed electrometric detector was then employed to measure the levels of ten neutral oligosaccharides in the individual milk samples. Twenty-three milk samples from thirteen mothers who delivered at a mean gestational age of 29·5 (sd 3·1) weeks were collected between days 0 and 33 of lactation, and compared with three samples of term milk from two mothers. The ranges of the total and individual levels of the ten neutral oligosaccharides in preterm milk were similar to those in term milk. Further, as previously described in term milk, preterm milk exhibited a quantitative individual variation. This variation was independent of the gestational age, day of lactation, and postconceptional age. In conclusion, levels of ten neutral oligosaccharides did not differ between preterm and term human milk.