Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Built Heritage Research and History of Architecture: Light and Acoustic in the Cistercian Monastic Church of S. Bento de Cástris (Portugal)

The research on the Cistercian legacy in Portugal is an innovative multidisciplinary study. Consequently, the results achieved in this research have many different approaches: the former monasteries and their architecture are the main subjects concerning morphology, architectonic rehabilitation but also acoustics, thermal comfort, or natural light. This research, carried out at the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture of the University of Beira Interior (DECA-UBI), was developed in connection with two other research centres - Lab2PT (Landscape, Heritage and Territory Laboratory) and CIDEHUS (Interdisciplinary Centre for History, Culture and Societies). In 2015, the curriculum of the Integrated Master Degree in Architecture of the University of Beira Interior underwent revision. Consequently, it was needed to allocate more time to the teaching of History of Architecture and the requirement to assign specific syllabus to the Portuguese History of Architecture, which is emphasized by the specific and multidisciplinary research performed linking with other sciences of engineering. The natural light in the Cistercian churches is closely linked not only with the liturgical requirements at the officium but also with the canonical hours based on the “ora et labora” dictated by the Rule of St. Benedict. The Cistercian Monastery of São Bento de Cástris (13th-19th centuries), in Évora, Portugal, includes a church, at the south-eastern corner. This church presents an unusual space setting with two choirs which seems to favour different positions for coral groups supporting liturgical and musical expression activities within the research scope of a Research Project. As the light in the Cistercian Monasteries, mainly, in their churches, is mostly related to the fulfilment of liturgical needs, this paper analyses the relationship between daylight conditions within the monastic choirs located within the monastic church. The chant was a very important way of oration and thus of the liturgy. This was the ORFEUS Project – “The Tridentine Reform and music in the cloistral silence: The Monastery of S. Bento de Cástris” which was based on a multidisciplinary approach around the Tridentine Reform with reflexes in the musical Cistercian feminine matrix between the 16th and 18th centuries on Cistercian Monasteries. This paper describes the objectives and methodology applied to the case study thus linking Built Heritage Research and History of Architecture, i.e., Research and Education.
Barriers to Putting Businesses on the Internet in Malaysia

Over fifty businesses in the Klang Valley, Malaysia that currently use e‐commerce responded to a survey asking them to identify potential barriers to e‐commerce expansion. The most frequently chosen categories were related to security and the uncertain nature of the legal contract between supplier and customer. Although some differences were found among certain types of companies, such concerns were generally felt by small and large companies and those with varying e‐commerce experience.
Current Sharing Control for Parallel DC–DC Buck Converters Based on Finite-Time Control Technique

The problem of current sharing controller for parallel dc–dc buck converter system is investigated in this paper. Specifically, to achieve the goal of sharing control and improve the systems dynamic performance, a new finite-time current sharing control algorithm is designed and employed. Under the proposed control algorithm, rigorous proofs show that not only the output voltage of the converter system can reach the desired reference voltage in a finite time, but also the objective of current sharing can be achieved within almost the same time. In addition, when the external load is time-varying and unknown, a finite-time load estimator is given to handle the load variation, and an adaptive finite-time current sharing control algorithm is subsequently developed. Experimental results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, and to show its advantages over some traditional control algorithms. It is shown that a faster convergence rate and a better load disturbance rejection performance can be yielded by the present algorithm. Finally, it is shown that the main results can be extended to the case of $n$ parallel dc–dc buck converters.
Role of Foreign Private Investment and Remittance in Stock Market Development: Study of South Asia

This paper is an effort to study the role of foreign private investment and foreign remittance in the stock market development of three major South Asian Countries i.e. Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Secondary data maintained by World Bank of 24 years from 1988-2011, are analyzed using E-view software. The dependent variable is stock market development (Market Capitalization) and the three independent variables are foreign remittance, foreign portfolio investment and FDI inflow. The stationarity of data is checked through ADF and PP tests. Correlation and co-integration tests are used. Further to check cause and effect relationship the Granger causality tests is used. The correlation results show that stock market development is correlated with FDI inflow, Portfolio Investment and foreign remittance respectively in all countries except negative correlation of 10.59 % between stock market development and Portfolio Investment in Bangladesh. The Granger Causality Tests result shows that FDI granger cause capitalization for India only. Capitalization granger causes FDI in Pakistan and India only. Portfolio investment granger causes in Pakistan and India only while Capitalization granger causes portfolio investment only in India. Foreign remittance granger causes capitalization for Bangladesh and India while Capitalization granger causes foreign remittance in Bangladesh.
Do Accounting Firm Consulting Revenues Affect Audit Quality? Evidence from the Pre- and Post-SOX Eras

The Big 4 accounting firms have experienced a steady increase in the proportion of their revenues generated by providing consulting services post-SOX, primarily to nonaudit clients. Regulators have expressed concerns about the potential implications of this increase for audit quality. In contrast, the accounting firms assert that the expertise developed by their consulting professionals helps them to provide better quality audits. We examine the relation between the proportion of accounting firm consulting revenue to total revenue and audit quality, measured using financial statement misstatements. Our results suggest that, on average, higher consulting revenues are not associated with impaired audit quality. However, higher consulting revenues are associated with reduced audit quality among clients with lower litigation risk. These results support the argument that a cultural shift associated with the provision of more consulting services, even to nonaudit clients, can adversely affect audit quality in some circumstances (e.g., when litigation risk-related incentives for high audit quality are weaker). In addition, although the effect of higher consulting revenues only impacts audit quality among low litigation risk clients, results of earnings response coefficient tests suggest that investors perceive a deterioration in audit quality when a higher proportion of accounting firm revenue is generated from consulting services regardless of the client’s level of litigation risk. These results suggest that regulator and investor concerns about the provision of consulting services (at least at the levels we observe) may be warranted, but only among clients where opposing incentives to provide high audit quality are weaker.
The Value of Equity Analysts' Target Prices

We document that short-run deviations between prices and fundamentals can be identified in real time using equity analysts’ target price forecasts. The deviations are economically and statistically significant and of a magnitude not easily explained by transaction costs alone. Our benchmark portfolio of S&P500 stocks, for instance, earned an average risk-adjusted return of 195bps per month during the period 19992004. We show that the abnormal return is in part a premium required by investors for providing liquidity and is highly correlated with standard cross-sectional measures of liquidity such as the bid-ask spread, price impact and changes in trading volume. Our results contribute to the existing literature on analysts’ forecasts by pointing out that, while the target price itself need not provide an accurate estimate of true fundamental values, relative valuations of firms within an industry tend to be more precise. This finding is consistent with analysts having skill in analyzing the specifics of individual firms but limited ability to forecast systematic factors driving returns at the sector
The Relation Between Auditors' Fees for Non-Audit Services and Earnings Quality

We examine the association between the provision of non-audit services and earnings quality. Because of concerns regarding the effect of non-audit services on financial reporting credibility, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently issued revised auditor independence rules requiring firms to disclose in their annual proxy statement the amount of fees paid to auditors for audit and non-audit services. Using data collected from proxy statements filed between February 5, 2001 and June 15, 2001, we present evidence that firms purchasing more non-audit services from their auditor are more likely to just meet or beat analysts' forecasts and to report larger absolute discretionary accruals. However, the purchase of non-audit services is not associated with meeting other earnings benchmarks. We also find that the unexpected component of the non-audit to total fee ratio is negatively associated with stock returns on the filing date. These results are consistent with arguments that the provision of non-audit services strengthens an auditor's economic bond with the client and that investors price this effect.
Relationship between Government-owned Banks and Firm Size

This study examined the impact of Government-ownership of banks on the firm size using South Korean data. The impact of Government ownership of banks as both the largest lender of government banks and the bank loan dependency of firms on government-ownership bank were measured. Empirical models considering endogenous problems and various effects of firm size were developed. All results in this paper showed that government-ownership of the main banks might have a relationship with the smaller firms. In addition, the bank loan dependency of firms on government-ownership banks might have effects on the firm size. A higher loan dependency of firms on government-owned banks resulted in smaller firms. This study used micro firm level data to analyze, from several perspectives, the relationship between government-owned banks and firm size. The existing studies go as far as inferring the effects of government-owned banks showing theoretical evidence, performing surveys, or using international comparison data. This study is differentiated from existing studies in that it analyzed in a direct manner the effects of the government-owned banks on both the firm size. This study provides insights into the privatization of government-owned banks.
Densely Connected Convolutional Newal Networks for National Language Processing

Densely connected convolutional neural networks are currently one of the best object recognition algorithms. Given the plasticity of neural networks, the DenseNet algorithm should perform similarly in NLP tasks. In its attempt to verify whether the DenseNet algorithm can yield equally impressive results on NLP tasks, this paper has modified the DenseNet algorithm and tested it on text classification. For this purpose, three differently sized datasets have each been encoded as Tf-IDf vectors and word vectors and then the DenseNet’s performance on these different feature sets was compared to more conventional methods including Naïve Bayes classifiers and other neural networks. The paper finds that DenseNets can perform on par with these algorithms but scale especially well with large datasets and semantically rich features.
A Picture of the Energy Landscape of Deep Neural Networks

Author(s): Chaudhari, Pratik Anil | Advisor(s): Soatto, Stefano | Abstract: This thesis characterizes the training process of deep neural networks. We are driven by two apparent paradoxes. First, optimizing a non-convex function such as the loss function of a deep network should be extremely hard, yet rudimentary algorithms like stochastic gradient descent are phenomenally successful at this. Second, over-parametrized models are expected to perform poorly on new data, yet large deep networks with millions of parameters achieve spectacular generalization performance.We build upon tools from two main areas to make progress on these questions: statistical physics and a continuous-time point-of-view of optimization. The former has been popular in the study of machine learning in the past and has been rejuvenated in recent years due to the strong correlation of empirical properties of modern deep networks with existing, older analytical results. The latter, i.e., modeling stochastic first-order algorithms as continuous-time stochastic processes, gives access to powerful tools from the theory of partial differential equations, optimal transportation and non-equilibrium thermodynamics.The confluence of these ideas leads to fundamental theoretical insights that explain observed phenomena in deep learning as well as the development of state-of-the-art algorithms for training deep networks.
The meaning of wooden historic architecture in the cultural heritage of small towns in the Podlasie region on the basis of Bielsk Podlaski1

In this article the issue of preserving the identity of cultural landscape in small towns in the Podlasie region was analyzed. A great presence of wooden objects is the characteristic feature of their land development. Bielsk Podlaski was the main subject of consideration. The role of wooden land development in shaping the town identity was taken into account. The issue was analyzed in historic terms, and what is more, the current meaning of wooden landscape development in preserving the identity of cultural town landscape was discussed.
Incidence and Characteristics of Infants with Retinopathy of Prematurity in Croatia

PURPOSE: To study the incidence of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in a neonatal intensive care unit in Croatia and obtain information on risk factors associated with ROP. There have been limited studies on ROP in Croatia where the screening for ROP and its treatment is still insufficient and not introduced in many intensive care units. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This retrospective study included 247 premature infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of University Hospital Split, over a 5-year period between January 2012, and December 2016. In this paper the relationship between clinical risk factors and the development of ROP was analyzed. RESULTS: The overall incidence for ROP was 23,9 % (59 infants), for Type 1 ROP was 9,3% (23 infants); for Type 2 ROP was 14,6% (36 infants). Median gestational age (GA) and birthweight (BW) were significantly lower among infants with ROP versus those without ROP (29: 23-34 vs. 31: 23-34,p<0,001 and 1,180:630-2,000 vs. 1485:590-2000, p<0,001 respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that only BW (p=0,029) and small for gestational age (SGA) (p=0,045) predicted the development of ROP. CONCLUSION: Birth weight and small for gestational age were the most significant risk factors for developing ROP. In comparison with studies from highly developed countries, infants with a much wider range of gestational age and birth weights are developing Type 1 ROP.
The Portrayal of Women in English Films Localized into Persian

Audiovisual translation, the same as other forms of intercultural communication, tends to intervene with the original in order to comply with the norms of the receiving culture. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the Iranian cinema has resorted to a conservative approach wherein the portrayal of the role of women, among other cultural issues, has been controlled to adapt to the Islamic thoughts, which constitute the pivotal Iranian ideological framework. The underground cinema, on the other hand, resists this official practice and adopts a more norm-breaking approach. This study examines the portrayal of women in a selection of dubbed and subtitled films into Persian. The findings reveal that the gender-related content in dubbed films was altered due to the socio-cultural considerations and ideologically charged motivations as well as the norms and cliches prevalent in the Iranian society. Similar measures, however, were not taken in the subtitles of the foreign films, which were produced by the amateurs.
A Highly Efficient Blind Image Quality Assessment Metric of 3-D Synthesized Images Using Outlier Detection

With multitudes of image processing applications, image quality assessment (IQA) has become a prerequisite for obtaining maximally distinctive statistics from images. Despite the widespread research in this domain over several years, existing IQA algorithms have a number of key limitations concerning different image distortion types and algorithms’ computational efficiency. Images that are synthesized using depth image-based rendering have applications in various disciplines, such as free viewpoint videos, which enable synthesis of novel realistic images in the referenceless environment. In the literature, very few no-reference (NR) quality assessment metrics of three-dimensional (3-D) synthesized images are proposed, and most of them are computationally expensive, which makes it difficult for them to be deployed in real-time applications. In this paper, we attribute the geometrically distorted pixels as outliers in 3-D synthesized images. This assumption is validated using the three $sigma$ rule-based robust outlyingness ratio. We propose a novel fast and accurate blind IQA metric of 3-D synthesized images using nonlinear median filtering since the median filtering has the capability of identifying and removing outliers. The advantages of the proposed algorithm are twofold. First, it uses a simple technique, i.e., median filtering, to capture the level of geometric and structural distortions (up to some extend). Second, the proposed algorithm has higher computational efficiency. Experiments show the superiority of the proposed NR IQA algorithm over existing state-of-the-art full-, reduced-, and NR IQA methods, in terms of both predicting accuracy and computational complexity.
A Typology of Ancient Purépecha (Tarascan) Architecture from Angamuco, Michoacán, Mexico

The morphological study of architectural features, the building arrangement within urban spaces, and multiscalar variation are critical for understanding urbanism as a process. Building types and architectural typologies form the foundational blocks of urban morphology and are essential for identifying architectural patterning. We use a process-typological approach to present an architectural typology from the ancient Purépecha (Tarascan) city of Angamuco, located in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, Mexico. Using archaeological survey, lidar analysis, and excavation, we analyze building foundations from houses and public structures; storage facilities; monumental architecture such as pyramids, altars, and public buildings; and landscape features such as plazas, roads, terraces, and raised roadways locally known as huatziri. Our typology enhances understanding of the dense urban environment of this important prehispanic city during and after the formation of the Purépecha Empire. El estudio morfológico de los rasgos arquitectónicos, de la configuración de construcciones dentro de espacios urbanos y de la variación multiescalar es fundamental para entender el urbanismo como proceso. Los tipos de edificios y las tipologías arquitectónicas forman los bloques fundamentales de la morfología urbana y son esenciales para identificar patrones arquitectónicos. Aquí usamos un enfoque procesual-tipológico para presentar una tipología arquitectónica de la antigua ciudad Purépecha (Tarasca) de Angamuco, ubicada en la cuenca del Lago de Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, México, basada en prospecciones arqueológicas, análisis de datos lidar y excavaciones. Este trabajo incluye cimientos de edificaciones habitacionales y estructuras públicas, construcciones para almacenamiento, estructuras monumentales tales como pirámides, altares y edificios públicos y elementos del entorno construido tales como plazas, caminos, terrazas y calzadas elevadas conocidos localmente como huatziri. Nuestra tipología nos permite comenzar a comprender el denso entorno urbano de esta importante ciudad prehispánica durante y después de la formación del imperio Purépecha.
Realization of Model-Driven Engineering for Big Data: A Baseball Analytics Use Case

REALIZATION OF MODEL-DRIVEN ENGINEERING FOR BIG DATA: A BASEBALL ANALYTICS USE CASE by Kaan Tamer Koseler Data collection and analysis is widespread across all industries, leading to a glut of data and a dearth of specialists who can use this data to derive insights. Accompanying the new “Big Data” paradigm is a resurgence in interest in machine learning techniques. Using machine learning techniques to work with "Big Data” is a complex task, often requiring specialized knowledge of the problem space as well as appropriate computer algorithms and approaches. However, such specialists who also possess programming ability are difficult to find and expensive to train. The gap between the problem space and the software solution often includes developers who lack the requisite domain-specific knowledge. The Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) paradigm helps close this gap by allowing developers to implement quality software by modeling it using high-level domain specific concepts. In this thesis, we attempt to demonstrate the plausibility of applying MDE to big data by considering a use case of machine learning baseball analytics, specifically, prediction of the next pitch. We model and implement MDE solutions to this use case by employing and updating an existing, but untested, Domain-Specific Modeling Language (DSML). We implement model instances considering different prediction factors and a code generation scheme for this DSML that is targeted at a binary classification problem of fastball versus non-fastball. Our goal is to help demonstrate the viability of the MDE paradigm in the machine learning domain, make machine learning software development more accessible and formalized, and help facilitate future research in this area. REALIZATION OF MODEL-DRIVEN ENGINEERING FOR BIG DATA: A BASEBALL ANALYTICS USE CASE