Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A neural-counting model based on physiological characteristics of the peripheral auditory system. V. Application to loudness estimation and intensity discrimination

For pt.IV see ibid., vol.SMC-13, no.5, p.964-72 (1983). The psychophysical properties of a multiple-channel neural-counting model are investigated. Each channel represents a peripheral afferent fiber (or a group of such fibers) and consists of a cascade of signal-processing transformations, each of which has a physiological correlate in the auditory system. The acoustic signal is passed by a mathematical construct (which may be a pure tone or Gaussian noise) through a series of transformations. Spontaneous neural activity is independently incorporated into each channel by means of an additive refractoriness-modified Poisson process. A union process at a more distal center in the nervous system is generated by a parallel collection of such channels with a density (in frequency) determined by the cochlear mapping function. The statistics of the union count (in a fixed time) are then processed at a decision center in a manner that depends on the psychophysical paradigm under consideration. This random count number is assumed to contain all of the information for the examples considered. The model has been used to calculate psychophysical functions for pure-tone loudness estimation, pure-tone and variable-bandwidth noise intensity discrimination, and variable-bandwidth noise loudness summation. The theoretical results are in good agreement with human psychophysical data.
Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Photoluminescent Properties of 3,3′,4,4′-Tetraethyl-5,5′-divinyl-2,2′-bipyrrole Derivatives

Photoluminescent divinylbipyrroles were synthesized from 3,3′,4,4′-tetraetyl-2,2′-bipyrrole-5,5′-dicarboxaldehyde and activated methylene compounds via aldol condensation. For mechanistic clarity, molecular structures of Meldrum’s acid- and 1,3-dimethylbarbituric acid-derived divinylbipyrroles were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Photoluminescent properties of the synthesized divinylbipyrroles in dichloromethane were found to be dependent on the presence of electron withdrawing groups at the vinylic terminal. The divinylbipyrroles derived from malononitrile, Meldrum’s acid, and 1,3-dimethylbarbituric acid showed fluorescent peaks at 553, 576, and 602 nm respectively. Computational studies indicated that the alkyl substituents on the bipyrrole 3 and 3′ positions increased energy level of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) compared to the unsubstituted derivatives and provided rationale for the bathochromic shift of the ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectra compared to the previously reported analogs.
A Conceptual Cohesion Metric for Service Oriented Systems

Service conceptual cohesion has an incredible impact on the reusability and maintainability of service-oriented software systems. Conceptual cohesion indicates the degree of focus of services on a single business functionality. Current metrics for measuring service cohesion reflect the structural aspect of cohesion and therefore cannot be utilized to measure conceptual cohesion of services. Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), on the other hand, is an information retrieval technique widely used to measure the degree of similarity between a set of text based documents. In our previous work, a metric, namely SCD (Service Cohesion Degree), has been proposed that measures conceptual cohesion of services based on the LSI technique. SCD provides a quantitative evaluation to measure how much a service concentrates on a single business functionality. In addition, SCD is applied in the service identification step, i.e., when services are not yet available, and the designer plans for developing services with high cohesion. This paper has two contributions in comparison to our previous work. At first, it resolves two anomalies occurring in our previous method when calculating conceptual relationship between service operations. Secondly, as the main contribution of the paper, it presents details of a theoretical validation and an empirical evaluation of SCD. By using a small-scale controlled study, the empirical evaluation demonstrates that SCD could measure conceptual cohesion of services acceptably.
Defective ensheathment of motoric nerves in the Splotch mutant mouse.

Mouse embryos, homozygous for mutations at the Splotch locus, are afflicted with spina bifida and disturbances of neural-crest-derived tissues, e.g. spinal ganglia and pigment cells. The development of Schwann cells is affected in homozygotes to a varying degree along the rostrocaudal axis. In cervical motoric roots, nerves are associated with apparently normal Schwann cells. At the thoracic level, nerve-associated cells become more scarce and resemble the surrounding mesenchymal cells. They are not enveloped by a basal lamina and frequently show wide gaps between neighbouring cells. Lumbar motoric roots are mostly devoid of any associated cells. The Splotch mutant embryo is proposed to be a new animal model for the study of peripheral nerve ensheathment. The implications for Schwann-cell-mediated axon guidance are discussed.
CFTR Mutations in Congenital Absence of Vas Deferens

A qualitative diagnosis of infertility requires attention to female and male physical abnormalities, endocrine anomalies and genetic conditions that interfere with reproduction. Many genes are likely to be involved in the complex process of reproduction. Cystic fibrosis (CF) incidence varies in different White people populations (a higher incidence of CF is observed in northern–western European populations than in southern European populations), and therefore the incidence of congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens (CBAVD) may also vary in different White people populations. As CF is mainly observed in White people, hardly any data are available of CBAVD in non-White people, but frequent polymorphisms such as 5T are observed in most populations. The spectrum and distribution of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene (CFTR) mutations differs between CBAVD and CF patients, and even compared with control individuals. Combinations of particular alleles at several polymorphic loci yield insufficient functional CFTR. The combination of the 5T allele in one copy of the CFTR gene with a cystic fibrosis mutation in the other copy is the most common cause of CBAVD in Iran. Because of techniques such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), CBAVD patients are now able to father children, however such couples have an increased risk of having a child with cystic fibrosis, and therefore genetic testing and counseling should be provided. Around 10% of obstructive azoospermia is congenital and is due to mutations the CF gene. This paper reviews the relationship of mutations in the CFTR gene with CBAVD.
Setting the Bar: Earnings Management During a Change in Accounting Standards

This study examines how European Union firms used the flexibility of IFRS 1 during the 2004/2005 mandatory transition from Local GAAPs to IFRS to set their 2004 reconciliated IFRS earnings. More precisely, we analyze earnings reconciliations published during the 2004/2005 mandatory transition from Local GAAPs to IFRS in Europe, a period during which firms had to disclose earnings both under the old GAAP and IFRS. Our sample is comprised of 1,635 firms from the nine countries subject to IFRS 1 where early adoption of IFRS was not allowed. We posit and find that firms with negative Local GAAP earnings are more likely to report positive Local GAAP-to-IFRS earnings reconciliations, while firms with large positive earnings under Local GAAP are more likely to report negative Local GAAP-to-IFRS earnings reconciliations. We also find firms that increase (decrease) their first benchmark IFRS earnings are more likely to show a decrease (increase) in earnings in subsequent reporting periods. Markets returns are associated with meeting or beating last year earnings only if managers set the bar high in the previous period, consistent with compensation related factors to this IFRS transition earnings management. Overall, this evidence is consistent with firms using the flexibility of IFRS1 and resulting reconciliations to manage their earnings.
High-Efficiency Organic Solar Concentrators for Photovoltaics

The cost of photovoltaic power can be reduced with organic solar concentrators. These are planar waveguides with a thin-film organic coating on the face and inorganic solar cells attached to the edges. Light is absorbed by the coating and reemitted into waveguide modes for collection by the solar cells. We report single- and tandem-waveguide organic solar concentrators with quantum efficiencies exceeding 50% and projected power conversion efficiencies as high as 6.8%. The exploitation of near-field energy transfer, solid-state solvation, and phosphorescence enables 10-fold increases in the power obtained from photovoltaic cells, without the need for solar tracking.
Pride and Shame

Understanding why people respect social norms and exhibit pro-social behavior, many times contrary to their material interest, is an important topic in social science. This paper studies the role of emotions such as pride and shame. Based on various psychological literature, we argue that pride and shame are (i) external (ii) context dependent and (iii) relative feelings. In order to accomodate those psychological matters, we study a preference relation over sets and interpret as a following two-stage decision making process. In the ex-ante stage, the decision maker privately chooses a set of lotteries. In contrast, in the ex-post stage, the decision maker publicly chooses a lottery from the chosen set of available lotteries. Given a reference behavior, our axioms yield a representation that identifies the individual’s selfish utility function, social norm function, benefit of pride and cost of shame. Compare with the reference behavior, the decision maker feels pride if she acts prosocially and feels shame if she acts antisocially and if those actions are publicly observed. ∗I would like to thank my adviser professor Hidehiko Ichimura for encouragement and support. I would like to also thank Akihiko Matsui, Daisuke Oyama, Kazuya Kamiya, Norio Takeoka and Satoru Takahashi for useful comments. All remaining errors are my own.
The Currency of the People’s Republic of China and Production Fragmentation

This paper examines how an appreciation of the currency of the Peopleâ€™s Republic of China (PRC)â€”renminbiâ€”affects the countryâ€™s exports in the context of production fragmentation, using a panel data set of the PRCâ€™s trade for 1992/93â€“2008/09. It constructs two exchange rates for renminbi : one is a bilateral real exchange rate and the other is a real effective exchange rate against East Asian component suppliers. It is found that appreciation of the renminbi would somewhat offset a reduction in the volume of the PRCâ€™s exports induced by lower importing costs of components. Hence, evidence casts further doubts on the efficacy of further unilateral reform of the renminbi exchange rate regime on correcting trade imbalances.
The Economic Impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on Systemically Important Financial Firms: Evidence from Market Reactions

We examine stock and bond market reactions to the key events leading to the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act to provide empirical evidence on the economic impact of the Act on systemically important financial firms. Using large foreign financial institutions and small/medium sized domestic financial institutions as control groups, we find that large financial institutions overall had negative abnormal stock returns and positive abnormal bond returns in response to these events. Further, we find that systemically more important and more interconnected financial institutions initially experienced more negative abnormal stock returns and more positive abnormal bond returns, followed by a reversal of these relations during the final phase of the legislative process. On the other hand, we find that both shareholders and bondholders of the Big 6 banks initially experienced strong negative returns, followed by a reversal of these negative returns during the final phase of the passage. These results suggest that the markets expect the early, but not the final version of the bill to have the potential to reduce risk-taking and to end the too-big-to-fail policy.
Overexpression of c-erb-B2 proteins in tumor and non-tumor parts of gastric adenocarcinoma--emphasis on its relation to H. pylori infection and clinicohistological characteristics.

BACKGROUND/AIMS This study was designed to test whether c-erb-B2 overexpression can be related to H. pylori infection or clinicohistological characteristics of patients with gastric cancers. METHODOLOGY One hundred patients with gastric cancer were included. Their gastric specimens were evaluated for the presence of H. pylori infection and overexpression of c-erb-B2 on both tumor and non-tumor mucosa. The clinicohistological characteristics, including stage, histological subtype, cell differentiation, and locations of gastric cancer were reviewed. RESULTS Seventy-five patients (75%) had H. pylori infection. The H. pylori infection rate was higher in the patients with non-cardiac cancers than those with cardiac cancers (87.5% vs. 25%, P < 0.05), higher in the patients with intestinal-type cancers than those with diffuse-type cancers (78.8% vs. 53.3%, P < 0.05). The overexpression of c-erb-B2 on gastric cancers was not significantly different between patients with and without H. pylori infection (30.7% vs. 36%, P = NS). Overexpression of c-erb-B2 on the gastric cancer tissues increased as the tumor stage turned upward (stage I: 10%; II: 23.3%, III: 32.5%, IV: 55%, P < 0.05), and highest in the poorly differentiated cancers (56.6%). Only patients with advanced stages as II to IV had c-erb-B2 overexpression on the non-tumor part of stomach (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS H. pylori infection is closely related with the non-cardiac, intestinal-type gastric cancers, but not with the c-erb-B2 overexpression on the gastric cancer. As c-erb-B2 overexpression on gastric cancer is significantly related with poor tumor differentiation and advanced stage, and it thus implicates a poor prognosis and late event of carcinogenesis.
Pengaruh kemampuan auditor, skeptisme profesional auditor, teknik audit dan whistleblower terhadap efektivitas pelaksanaan audit investigasi dalam pengungkapan kecurangan

The purpose of the research was to determine the ability of auditor BPK and BPKP representative of Riau Province. To know the effect of skepticism Professional owned by the auditors in the investigation audit. To determine the implementation of procedures/ techniques of effective investigative audit by the auditors in the fraud disclosure in BPK and BPKP representation in Riau Province. To find out how big a role in the investigation of a whistleblower in the case of an audit investigation. The research methods used in this study include, population in this research is an auditor who works in the Supreme Audit Agency ( BPK ) and the Board of Finance and Development examination (BPKP) representative of Riau province. The sample used in this study is the auditor who worked at BPK and BPKP representative Riau province with special criteria. The method of data analysis used in this research is multiple regression with the help of computers through SPSS 19.0 for Windows . The result of this research in the first hypothesis testing results show that the ability of the Auditor significantly influance the effectiveness of Investigation Audit in Fraud Disclosure. The successful testing of the first hypothesis proved significant. The second hypothesis testing results show that the attitude of the Auditor Professional Skepticism significantly influence the effectiveness of disclosure Audit in Fraud Investigation, meaning that the second hypothesis in this study received. The third hypothesis testing results show that the technique affects audit effectiveness of Investigation Audit in Fraud Disclosure. This test successfully prove the third hypothesis in this study received. The fourth hypothesis testing results indicate that the role of whistleblower effect on Audit Effectiveness of the Disclosure Fraud Investigation, meaning that the fourth hypothesis in this study states received. Based on the calculation of coefficient of determination ( R2 ) obtained a value of 0,839. This suggests that the effect of independent variables on the dependent 83.90 % and the rest is influenced by other variables that are not included in this research. Keywords: Ability of Auditor , Professional Skepticism of Auditor, Audit Techniques, Whistleblower, Investigation Audit, and Fraud Disclosure.
Male predominance in fetal distress during labor.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess the association between fetal sex and the occurrence of fetal distress during labor. STUDY DESIGN This was a prospective cohort study that incorporated data about 423,033 singleton pregnancies from the national perinatal database for secondary obstetric care in The Netherlands. All singleton pregnancies on record that were delivered under the responsibility of obstetricians in The Netherlands between January 1, 1990, and December 31, 1994, were analyzed. Data about fetal sex, gestational age at delivery, birth weight, fetal distress during labor, mode of delivery, signs of asphyxia at birth, and perinatal death were collected. The associations between sex and the occurrence of operative delivery for fetal distress, low 5-minute Apgar score (score, 0-3), and perinatal death were evaluated by logistic regression analysis. RESULTS Male fetuses are at increased risk for fetal distress during labor, for low Apgar scores, and for perinatal death. After adjustment for fetal birth weight and gestational age at delivery, the odds ratios were 1.48, 1.27, and 1.27, respectively. All three associations were highly statistically significant (P <.0001). CONCLUSION Male fetuses are at increased risk during labor and delivery.
Staphylococcal peritonitis in patients on continuous peritoneal dialysis

During 1984, 35 patients undergoing continuous peritoneal dialysis experienced 77 cases of peritonitis with 55 cases (71.4%) related to staphylococci. Coagulase-negative staphylococci were isolated in 41 cases, while Staphylococcus aureus was found in 14. A coexisting tunnel infection was more often associated with S. aureus (7/14) than with coagulase-negative staphylococci (2/41) (P less than 0.01). Likewise, eradication of the infection necessitated catheter removal more frequently with S. aureus (5/14) than with coagulase-negative staphylococci (2/41) (P less than 0.01). Of the 41 coagulase-negative staphylococci, 35 were characterized as to species, adherence, and production of two exopolysaccharides. Staphylococcus epidermidis was the most frequent coagulase-negative species (29/35). Peritonitis cases caused by coagulase-negative staphylococci that lacked adherence and exopolysaccharides were more frequently associated with complications (4/6) than were those organisms with either or both properties of adherence or exopolysaccharide production (5/29). There were no appreciable differences in antibiotic susceptibilities. Staphylococcal peritonitis remains a significant cause of morbidity in continuous peritoneal dialysis patients. The incidence of complications was not directly linked to staphylococcal properties of adherence or exopolysaccharide production.
Does SBA Guaranteed Lending Improve Economic Performance in Low-Income Areas?

Recent studies have provided evidence that financial market development leads to higher rates of economic growth. This is further investigated by focusing on the rationale that financial market development may increase the amount of external finance available to small firms. In particular, a test of whether Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed lending positively impacts economic performance in low-income markets is conducted. It is hypothesized that credit market frictions, that is, costly information-gathering and verification of a small firm's project, lead to socially suboptimal credit allocation that negatively impacts the labor employment rate in the local market. If SBA guaranteed lending mitigates credit market frictions, a positive relationship should be seen between SBA guaranteed lending and level of employment, particularly in low-income financial markets. Loan-specific data on the borrower and lender was obtained from 1991 through 2002, including 360,000 loans. Economic data were also obtained for that time period. Results show a positive and significant correlation between the average annual level of employment in a local market and the level of SBA guaranteed lending that market. The intensity of the correlation increases for low-income markets.
Service Operations Management: Improving Service Delivery

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION1. Introduction to service operations management2. The service conceptPART TWO: CUSTOMER AND SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS3. Customers and relationships4. Customer expectations and satisfaction5. Managing supply relationshipsPART THREE: SERVICE DELIVERY6. Service processes7. Service people8. Resource utilisation9. Networks, technology and informationPART FOUR: PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT10. Performance measurement11. Linking operations decisions to business performance12. Driving operational improvementPART FIVE: MANAGING STRATEGIC CHANGE13. Service strategy14. Service culture15. Operational complexity
Determinants of Trade Credit Demand and Supply in the Tanzanian Rice Market: A Structural Modelling Approach

This paper analyzes the determinants of trade credit demand and supply in the Tanzanian rice market, using data from individual trade transactions between rice wholesalers and rice retailers. We use a structural modelling approach to disentangle the supply and demand effects that may drive the use of trade credit in this market. We find evidence that trade credit demand is determined primarily by the extent to which retailers need external short-term funds to finance trade and business activities. With respect to trade credit supply, our analysis suggests that it is mainly determined by incentives wholesalers have to keep clients and/or attract new ones. Moreover, supply may be driven by the extent to which wholesalers have information about the default probability of their customers. Finally, both trade credit supply and demand are determined by transaction cost considerations.