Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do fiduciary duties to creditors reduce debt-covenant avoidance?

Financial reports should provide useful information to shareholders and creditors. Directors, however, normally owe fiduciary duties to equity holders, not creditors. We examine whether this slant in fiduciary duties affects the likelihood that firms will use financial engineering to circumvent debt covenants. By avoiding debt covenants, firms prevent creditors from taking actions to reduce bankruptcy risk and recover their investment, and allow the firm to continue operating for the benefit of equity holders. We find that firms are more likely to circumvent covenant restrictions when directors owe fiduciary duties only to equity holders than when directors owe fiduciary duties to creditors as well. We also show board quality lowers the probability that firms will avoid covenants, only when directors owe a legal fiduciary duty to creditors. Collectively, our results suggest firms are more likely to structure transactions and circumvent debt covenants when corporate governance is designed to protect equity holders only, and not creditors.
EXPLORING STUDENT MATHEMATICAL ENGAGEMENT USING ADAPTED WATSON’ ANALYTICAL TOOL

This research was conducted with the aim of describing the engagement of junior high school students in the mathematics learning process measured using an adapted Watson analytical tool. This research is a qualitative study that analyzes video transcripts of a junior high school teacher in West Nusa Tenggara, East Indonesia who are carrying out mathematical teaching on probability. In this study, the teacher carried out mathematics teaching designed by researchers using the ELPSA (Experience, Language, Pictorial, Symbolic, and Application) framework. The learning process was recorded through a video and then transcribed so that it is easily analyzed. The results showed that the dimensions of student mathematical engagement that emerged during the mathematics learning process were dominated by activities comparing/classifying and justifying/reasoning. These results also have a positive impact that by using the adapted of Watson analytical tool to analyze the learning process of mathematics can help teachers to gain deeper insight into students' mathematical engagement. This technique can be used as a reference by the teacher to further analyze so that better teaching actions can be planned.
The Factors Behind the Success of Swedish Entrepreneurs – A quantitative approach of Swedish entrepreneurs , with an international comparison of the years 1800-2012

The entrepreneur as an economic agent is highlighted as being important by several researchers, mainly through their contribution to innovation and economic development. Yet there is no universal definition of what is characterized as being an entrepreneur. The elements affecting success of entrepreneurs has previously not been outlined extensively, the aim of this study is therefore to determine the factors of entrepreneurial success in Sweden. This is made possible by adopting statistical prosopography and reproducing the method used by Nuvolari, Toninelli & Vasta (2015). The method involves collecting qualitative information found in the Dictionary of Swedish National Biography and from a list of the most prominent entrepreneurs in Sweden, published by the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. The qualitative information is then rewritten into quantitative data, which enables the use of factor analysis along with ordinary least square regressions. The standardized research allows for comparison of other studies involving entrepreneurs active in different countries. In addition, the model is expanded using a cluster analysis, allowing for identifying structures and patterns within the sample of entrepreneurs. The study concludes that entrepreneurial success appears to be a multi-dimensional phenomenon, also shown in other case studies adopting similar method. The level of innovation intensity proves to enhance success of all dimensions. While an entrepreneur’s educational level is shown to have a positive relationship with the economic success, it appeared to be negatively related to the aspect of social mobility. Moreover, involvement in politics is also shown to have a negative impact on economic success. Finally, the cluster analysis proved the existence of six different types of entrepreneurs within the sample.
A study of the effects of vocal intensity variation on children's voices using long-term average spectrum (LTAS) analysis

Studies of adult voices have shown that, as vocal intensity is increased, the partials at higher frequencies gain more than those at lower frequencies. Investigations involving children's normal productions are uncommon, however, and there is, consequently, little knowledge of how children's vocal function differs from that of adults. Using LTAS analysis, this study investigates the effects of vocal intensity variation on the voices of 10-year-old schoolchildren singing in soft, mid and loud voice. A frequency-dependent gain factor was calculated which showed the increase in level to have been greater for partials at higher than at lower frequencies for these children. Also, gain within frequency bands was often different between boys and girls, although this was not demonstrated statistically.
NEMO: cancer subtyping by integration of partial multi-omic data

Motivation: Cancer subtypes were usually defined based on molecular characterization of single omic data. Increasingly, measurements of multiple omic profiles for the same cohort are available. Defining cancer subtypes using multi-omic data may improve our understanding of cancer, and suggest more precise treatment for patients. Results: We present NEMO (NEighborhood based Multi-Omics clustering), a novel algorithm for multiomics clustering. Importantly, NEMO can be applied to partial datasets in which some patients have data for only a subset of the omics, without performing data imputation. In extensive testing on ten cancer datasets spanning 3168 patients, NEMO outperformed nine state-of-the-art multi-omics clustering algorithms on full data and on imputed partial data. On some of the partial data tests, PVC, a multiview algorithm, performed better, but it is limited to two omics and to positive partial data. Finally, we demonstrate the advantage of NEMO in detailed analysis of partial data of AML patients. NEMO is fast and much simpler than existing multi-omics clustering algorithms, and avoids iterative optimization. Availability: Code for NEMO and for reproducing all NEMO results in this paper is in github. Contact: rshamir@tau.ac. il Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available online.
Approximating Clustered Millimeter Wave Vehicular Channels by Sparse Subband Fitting

Understanding millimeter wave (mmWave) vehicular channels is crucial for the application of mmWave technologies in vehicle-to-anything settings. However, as of yet, few attempts of low-complexity approximation of such channels exist. Prior results have shown that such channels are often composed of clustered multipath components, and this work builds on those results. We present an approach to project a measured mmWave channel into subbands. Sufficiently narrow subbands do not resolve the cluster structures and are efficiently approximated as sparse channels. We thereby render sparse tapped delay line model fits possible. In this contribution, we optimize sparse fits in subbands, and then combine all fits to approximate the full band. We evaluate this approach using vehicular mmWave channel measurements, and demonstrate that subband fitting results in efficient leveraging of sparse structures of mmWave channel data.
Breast Tumors Diagnosis Using Finite Element Modelling

In this paper, new model had been proposed applied on real experimental elastography images. These images were for different cases of breast cancers (benign and malignant). In this model, the elastography technique has been applied depending on imaging the breast deformation after applying multi forces on the breast. These forces had been applied breast’s model after constructing for different positions and sizes of the tumors within the breast with practical cases. The collected results had been compared with in vitro experimental results and had shown the accuracy of this model.
Galaxy Zoo: finding offset discs and bars in SDSS galaxies

We use multiwavelength Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) images and Galaxy Zoo morphologies to identify a sample of ∼270 late-type galaxies with an off-centre bar. We measure offsets in the range 0.2–2.5 kpc between the photometric centres of the stellar disc and stellar bar. The measured offsets correlate with global asymmetries of the galaxies, with those with largest offsets showing higher lopsidedness. These findings are in good agreement with predictions from simulations of dwarf–dwarf tidal interactions producing off-centre bars. We find that the majority of galaxies with off-centre bars are of Magellanic type, with a median mass of 109.6 M⊙, and 91 per cent of them having M⋆ < 3 × 1010 M⊙, the characteristic mass at which galaxies start having higher central concentrations attributed to the presence of bulges. We conduct a search for companions to test the hypothesis of tidal interactions, but find that a similar fraction of galaxies with offset bars have companions within 100 kpc as galaxies with centred bars. Although this may be due to the incompleteness of the SDSS spectroscopic survey at the faint end, alternative scenarios that give rise to offset bars such as interactions with dark companions or the effect of lopsided halo potentials should be considered. Future observations are needed to confirm possible low-mass companion candidates and to determine the shape of the dark matter halo, in order to find the explanation for the off-centre bars in these galaxies.
Characterization of Silica Produced from Rice Husk Ash: Comparison of Purification and Processing Methods

As a byproduct of the combustion of rice husk to generate energy, rice husk ash (RHA) is formed by silica and carbon, apart from small amounts of other constituents. Several treatments can be used to increase the purity of the silica obtained, or even produce pure silica. The present study tested the efficiency of different techniques to obtain silica, characterizing and comparing the silicas obtained from RHA. A literature review was conducted, and then selected techniques were used to produce silica, which was characterized by XRF, XRD, particle sizing, specific weight, specific surface area, total carbon, and SEM. The literature review showed that most techniques include a pretreatment like acid or alkaline leaching followed by thermal treatment to increase the amount of silica produced by reduction of carbonaceous materials. The results showed that it is possible to produce silica from RHA using simple methods, and that these produced silica with purity above 98%. The treatments that afforded the best results were acid leaching followed by thermal treatment at 800oC, and alkaline extraction at low temperature, with silica purity of 99.3% and 99.6%, respectively.
Tidal modulation on the Changjiang River plume in summer

[1] Tide effects on the structure of the near-field Changjiang River plume and on the extension of the far-field plume have often been neglected in analysis and numerical simulations, which is the focus of this study. Numerical experiments highlighted the crucial role of the tidal forcing in modulating the Changjiang River plume. Without the tidal forcing, the plume results in an unrealistic upstream extension along the Jiangsu coast. With the tidal forcing, the vertical mixing increases, resulting in a strong horizontal salinity gradient at the northern side of the Changjiang River mouth along the Jiangsu coast, which acts as a dynamic barrier and restricts the northward migration of the plume. Furthermore, the tidal forcing produces a bidirectional plume structure in the near field, and the plume separation is located at the head of the submarine canyon. A significant bulge occurs around the head of the submarine canyon and rotates anticyclonically, which carries a large portion of the diluted water toward the northeast and merges into the far-field plume. A portion of the diluted water moves toward the southeast, which is mainly caused by tidal rectification. This bidirectional plume structure is more evident under certain wind conditions. During the neap tide with the reduced tidal energy, the near-field plume extends farther offshore, and the bulge becomes less evident. These dynamic behaviors are maintained and are fundamentally important in the region around the river mouth even under the summer monsoon and the shelf currents, although in the far field the wind forcing and shelf currents eventually dominate the plume extension.
Basic Needs as a Predictors of Prospective Teachers' Self-Actualization.

The purpose of this study is to compare the predictive power of prospective teachers' basic needs on self-actualization. This is a correlational research which is one of the descriptive research methods. The study was conducted on 1033 prospective teachers studying in Bulent Ecevit University Eregli Faculty of Education in the spring term of the academic year of 2013-2014. Data were collected with "self-actualization scale" which is subscale of "Healthy Life Style Behaviour Scale" and "University Students' Basic Needs Scale". Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient technique and stepwise-regression analysis were used to analyze the data. As a result of the study, it has been identified that the most effective factor on prospective teachers' self-actualization is the fun need which is one of the sub-dimension of basic needs.
Mortality in Female and Male French Olympians

Background: Whereas intense physical activity has been associated with deleterious effects on elite athletes’ health, in particular due to cardiovascular anomalies, long-term follow-ups have suggested lower mortality rates among elite athletes. Causes of death for French Olympic athletes and female elite athletes have not been studied. Hypothesis/Purpose: We aimed to measure overall and disease-specific mortality of French female and male Olympians compared with the French general population. We hypothesize that Olympians, both women and men, have lower mortality rates. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: French elite athletes (601 women and 1802 men) participating in summer or winter Olympic Games from 1948 to 2010 had their vital status verified by national sources and were followed until 2013. Causes of death were obtained via the National Death registry from 1968 to 2012. Overall and disease-specific mortalities of Olympians were compared with those of the French general population through standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and 95% CIs. Olympians’ observed and expected survivals were illustrated by Kaplan-Meier curves. Results: At the endpoint of the study, 13 women and 222 men had died. Overall mortality in Olympians compared with that of their compatriots was 51% lower (SMR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.26-0.85) among women and 49% lower (SMR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.45-0.59) among men. Olympic athletes’ survival is significantly superior to that of the French general population (women, P = .03; men, P < .001). According to the total deaths occurring from 1968 to 2012 (12 among women, 202 among men), female Olympians died from neoplasm (50.0%), external causes (33.3%), and cardiovascular diseases (16.6%). The main causes of death among men were related to neoplasms (36.1%), cardiovascular diseases (24.3%), and external causes (14.4%). Regarding the main causes of mortality among male Olympic athletes, the SMRs were as follows: 0.55 for neoplasms (95% CI, 0.43-0.69), 0.55 for cardiovascular diseases (95% CI, 0.41-0.73), and 0.66 for external causes (95% CI, 0.44-0.94). Conclusion: French Olympians live longer than their compatriots: A lower overall mortality of similar magnitude is observed among male and female athletes compared with the general population. The main causes of death in French Olympians are neoplasms, cardiovascular diseases, and external causes.
Design and Analysis of 3D-MAPS (3D Massively Parallel Processor with Stacked Memory)

This paper describes the architecture, design, analysis, and simulation and measurement results of the 3D-MAPS (3D massively parallel processor with stacked memory) chip built with a 1.5 V, 130 nm process technology and a two-tier 3D stacking technology using 1.2 \microm-diameter, 6 \micro m-height through-silicon vias (TSVs) and 3.4\nbsp\microm-diameter face-to-face bond pads. 3D-MAPS consists of a core tier containing 64 cores and a memory tier containing 64 memory blocks. Each core communicates with its dedicated 4KB SRAM block using face-to-face bond pads, which provide negligible data transfer delay between the core and the memory tiers. The maximum operating frequency is 277 MHz and the maximum memory bandwidth is 70.9 GB/s at 277 MHz. The peak measured memory bandwidth usage is 63.8 GB/s and the peak measured power is approximately 4 W based on eight parallel benchmarks.
Voltage Sag Compensation with Energy Optimized Dynamic Voltage Restorer

The compensation capability of a dynamic voltage restorer (DVR) depends primarily on the maximum voltage injection ability and the amount of stored energy available within the restorer. A new phase advance compensation (PAC) strategy for the DVR is proposed in order to enhance the voltage restoration property of the device. The scheme requires only an optimum amount of energy injection from the DVR to correct a given voltage sag. Supply voltage amplitude and phase detection scheme as well as a phase advance determination scheme are also included. The resulting DVR design is shown to be superior in terms of lower storage energy need compared to the conventional in-phase boosting method. The analytical results are validated by laboratory tests carried out on a prototype of the restorer. The efficacy of the proposed method is illustrated.
Design and fabrication of a scalable liver-lobule-on-a-chip microphysiological platform

The design and fabrication of a very large-scale liver-lobule (VLSLL)-on-a-chip device, providing a microphysiological niche for hepatocytes, is described. The device consists of an integrated network of liver-lobule-like hexagonal tissue-culture chambers constructed in a hybrid layout with a separate seed-feed network. As a key feature, each chamber contains a central outlet mimicking the central vein of a liver lobule. Separating chamber walls located between the culture area and feed network protects cells from the shear force of the convective flow. Arrays of designated passages convey nutrients to the cells by diffusion-dominated mass transport. We simulated the flow velocity, shear stress and diffusion of glucose molecules inside and outside the culture chambers under a continuous flow rate of 1 μl min−1. As proof of concept, human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) were cultured for periods of 5 and 14 days and human-induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived hepatocytes for 21 days. Stabilized albumin secretion and urea synthesis were observed in the microfluidic devices and cells maintained morphology and functionality during the culture period. Furthermore, we observed 3D tissue-like structure and bile-canaliculi network formation in the chips. Future applications of the described platform include drug development and toxicity studies, as well as the modeling of patient-specific liver diseases, and integration in multi-organ human-on-a-chip systems.
A novel self-healing methodology for RF Amplifier circuits based on oscillation principles

This paper proposes a novel self-healing methodology for embedded RF Amplifiers (LNAs) in RF sub-systems. The proposed methodology is based on oscillation principles in which the Device-under-Test (DUT) itself generates the output test signature with the help of additional circuitry. The self-generated test signature from the DUT is analyzed by using onchip resources for testing the LNA and controlling its calibration knobs to compensate for multi-parameter variations in the LNA manufacturing process. Thus, the proposed methodology enables self-test and self-calibration of RF circuits without the need for external test stimulus. The proposed methodology is demonstrated through simulations as well as measurements performed on a RF LNA.
Radar Volume Backscatter From Spatially Extended Geophysical Targets in a "Slice" Approach

This paper presents an assessment of the radar backscatter from a spatially extended geophysical target (SEGT) based on a semiempirical (SE) model. An SEGT is any geophysical object that is at least semitransparent to radar illumination (clouds, rain, snowfall in the atmosphere, thick snow cover of the ground). The existing SE model does not take into account the statistical properties of the SEGT's media. To improve the SE model, a so-called ldquoslicerdquo approach is applied. In this approach, the particles located close to the wavefront of the radar illumination are assumed to produce backscatter that is mainly coherent. This method allows the contribution of the microphysical parameters of the scattering media to the volume component of the radar cross section to be described more comprehensively than the SE model based on the incoherent approach. It is shown that the slice concept results in the original SE model in the particular case when the particle number fluctuation within the slices pertains to the Poisson law.
Expressive Languages for Path Queries over Graph-Structured Data

For many problems arising in the setting of graph querying (such as finding semantic associations in RDF graphs, exact and approximate pattern matching, sequence alignment, etc.), the power of standard languages such as the widely studied conjunctive regular path queries (CRPQs) is insufficient in at least two ways. First, they cannot output paths and second, more crucially, they cannot express relationships among paths. We thus propose a class of extended CRPQs, called ECRPQs, which add regular relations on tuples of paths, and allow path variables in the heads of queries. We provide several examples of their usefulness in querying graph structured data, and study their properties. We analyze query evaluation and representation of tuples of paths in the output by means of automata. We present a detailed analysis of data and combined complexity of queries, and consider restrictions that lower the complexity of ECRPQs to that of relational conjunctive queries. We study the containment problem, and look at further extensions with first-order features, and with nonregular relations that add arithmetic constraints on the lengths of paths and numbers of occurrences of labels.