Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Working Paper 17 / 04 March 2017 Credit Misallocation During the European Financial Crisis by Fabiano Schivardi

Do banks with low capital extend excessive credit to weak firms, and does this matter for aggregate efficiency? Using a unique data set that covers almost all bank-firm relationships in Italy in the period 2008-2013, we find that, during the Eurozone financial crisis: (i) Under-capitalized banks cut credit to healthy firms (but not to zombie firms) and are more likely to prolong a credit relationship with a zombie firm, compared to stronger banks. (ii) In areas-sectors with more low-capital banks, zombie firms are more likely to survive and non-zombies are more likely to go bankrupt; (iii) Nevertheless, bank under-capitalization does not hurt the growth rate of healthy firms, while it allows zombie firms to grow faster. This goes against previous influential findings that, we argue, face a serious identification problem. Thus, while banks with low capital can be an important source of aggregate inefficiency in the long run, their contribution to the severity of the great recession via capital misallocation was modest.
Short-term effects of liming on chemical attributes of tropical sandy soil and soybean (Glycine max L.) yield

Lime application is the most appropriate technique to raise soil pH, decrease Al3+ toxicity and increase Ca2+ and Mg2+ contents in acidic tropical and subtropical moist soils. The objective of this research is to evaluate changes in chemical attributes and soybean yield in sandy soil after lime incorporation. The soil was classified as a typical Quartzipsamments cultivated with (Brachiaria decumbens Stapf) pasture, and its degradation state was classified as strong. The experimental design was a randomized block with six replicates and four lime doses (0, 2, 4 and 8 Mg ha-1). The soil in the area was prepared with one plowing and two harrowings, followed by lime application and two more harrowings to incorporate the lime up to 0.2 m depth. The dependent variables analyzed were soybean yield; numbers of pods filled, pods not filled, and total pods and soil pH in water, CaCl2 and KCl. All parameters were measured at depth of 0.0-0.1, 0.1-0.2 and 0.2-0.3 m. The increase of soil pH by the different lime rates were observed just in 0.0-0.1 and 0.1-0.2 m layers. After 6 months no changes in soil pH were observed in subsoil (0.2-0.3 m). With lower H+ and Al3+ activity and higher basic cation availability, soybean yield was also changed. The maximum soybean yield of 2,929 kg ha-1 was observed with 4.6 Mg ha-1 lime application, although pod number per plant remained constant, independent of limestone dose.
Do We Need Speed Limits on Freeways?

When choosing his speed, a driver faces a trade-off between private benefits (time savings) and private costs (fuel cost and own damage and injury). Driving faster also has external costs (pollution, adverse health impacts and injury to other drivers). This paper uses large-scale speed limit increases in the western United States in 1987 and 1996 to address three related questions. First, do the social benefits of raising speed limits exceed the social (private plus external) costs? Second, do the private benefits of driving faster as a result of higher speed limits exceed the private costs? Third, could completely eliminating speed limits improve efficiency? I find that a 10 mph speed limit increase on highways leads to a 3-4 mph increase in travel speed, 9-15% more accidents, 34-60% more fatal accidents, and elevated pollutant concentrations of 14-25% (carbon monoxide), 9-16% (nitrogen oxides), 1-11% (ozone) and 9% higher fetal death rates around the affected freeways. I use these estimates to calculate private and external benefits and costs, and find that the social costs of speed limit increases are three to ten times larger than the social benefits. In contrast, many individual drivers would enjoy a net private benefit from driving faster. Privately, a value of a statistical life (VSL) of $6.0 million or less justifies driving faster, but the social planner’s VSL would have to be below $0.9 million to justify higher speed limits. The substantial difference between private and social optimal speed choices provides a strong rationale for having speed limits. Although speed limits are blunt instruments that differ from an ideal Pigovian tax on speed, it is highly unlikely that any hidden administrative costs or unforeseen behavioral adjustments could make eliminating speed limits an efficiency-improving proposition. ∗ This version: December 29, 2011. For the latest version, see www.stanford.edu/∼arthurvb/. I thank my advisors Ran Abramitzky, Larry Goulder, Matt Harding, Caroline Hoxby and Mark Jacobsen for their guidance and support. I am also grateful to Dan Björkegren, George Bulman, Kenneth Gillingham, Rick Hornbeck, Koichiro Ito, Theresa Kuchler, Alejandro Molnar, Nick Sanders, Paulo Somaini, Johannes Ströbel, Reed Walker, and participants in various seminars at Stanford University for many helpful comments and suggestions. In addition, many individuals at various state agencies have been very generous with their time. This research was supported by the Leonard W. Ely and Shirley R. Ely Graduate Student Fund Fellowship through a grant to the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, and by a Shultz Graduate Student Fellowship for data acquisition from the same organization. †Department of Economics, Stanford University, 579 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, arthurvb@stanford.edu.
Probabilistic Stability Analysis of an Embankment on Soft Clay

A probabilistic slope analysis methodology based on Monte Carlo simulation using Microsoft Excel and @Risk software is applied to study the performance of the Muar trial embankment in Malaysia. The study demonstrates the techniques used in quantifying the various sources of uncertainty associated with the undrained shear strengths of clay foundations, and estimating the probability of unsatisfactory performance. The relationships between embankment height, factor of safety and probability of unsatisfactory performance at different stages during construction are examined. Sensitivity analyses show that the uncertainties in Bjerrum’s vane correction factor and the contribution of embankment fill strength to stability have significant impacts on the reliability of the factor of safety. RÉSUMÉ La performance d’un remblais d’essai à Muar, en Malaisie, est évaluée avec une méthode d’analyse probabiliste qui incorpore la simulation Monte Carlo comme base, et utilise les logiciels Microsoft Excel et @Risk. L’article démontre les techniques suivis pour quantifier les sources d’incertitudes reliées à l’estimation de résistance au cisaillement des matériaux de fondations et à l’estimation de la probabilité d’obtenir une performance insatisfaisante. La relation entre hauteur de remblais, facteur de sécurité et probabilité de performance insatisfaisante durant différents niveaux de construction est examinée. Des analyses de sensibilité démontrent que la fiabilité du facteur de sécurité est fortement affecter par certain incertitudes telles que ; le facteur de correction scissométrique de Bjerrum et par la contribution à la résistance du matériel de remblais.
Content and Process of Study , Competencies Upon Graduation and Employment

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Content and Process of Study, Competencies Upon Graduation and Employment Jake Murdoch, Jean-Jacques Paul
The Effect of Discontinuity on Business Relationship Competitive

Purpose: Ongoing interactions and continuity in business is commonly the presumption when studying long-term oriented business relationships. Still, there are many long-term oriented businesses that are characterized by intermittent affairs with periods of high activity interlaced with periods of little or no business exchange. The business relationships formed around this kind of intermittent business can be described as discontinuous in character. This paper raises the question of whether there is diversity in the relationship behaviour of firms having discontinues relationship with their partners and if so what this diversity entails. By comparing business relationship based in discontinuous with business relationship founded on continuous businesses this paper aims to develop a conceptual view and test it statistically. Empirically the system selling firms are viewed as having discontinuous business and compared with firms that are involved continuous, ongoing selling of various goods. The paper aspires to add new knowledge to the field of business relationship. Research method: The study differentiates industrial firms into those having continuous selling of equipments and components and those engaged in discontinuous selling like project selling. The theoretical foundation rests on firms’ relationships, and the view developed contains the four relational elements of commitment, trust, adaptation and relationship development. Differences/similarities in these two types of relationships are measured statistically for 353 firms. Research findings: The outcomes demonstrate that while the driving force for long-term relationship in ‘industrial’ firms consists of relational elements of adaptation, trust and commitment, the discontinuous relationships lack mutual adaptation. The conclusions drawn from the analysis are discussed as having an impact on research on long-term relationship and the varieties in the relationship content. Main contribution: The findings would be helpful for managers to get deeper knowledge on the needs for actions in different type of industries aiming to preserve relationship longevity. It can aid to develop strategies to keep customers in specifically project selling markets.
! 1 ! Does information asymmetry affect audit fees ? Evidence from Italian listed companies

Previous research examines the determining factors of audit fees. It argues that audit fees are affected by the auditor’s size, the auditee’s characteristics, the provision of management advisory services, specific risks associated with providing audit services, the attributes of clients’ corporate governance, growth prospective, debt structure and initial engagements or auditor changes. Using the data from Italian listed companies we extend previous literature examining the effect of one measure of information asymmetry – the bid-ask spread (BAS) – to audit fees. Consistent with previous research, we find that audit fees increase the bigger the auditee’s size and auditing complexity. We also find, consistent with our hypothesis, a positive relation between audit fees and BAS, which implies that auditors transfer risks associated with higher information asymmetry on fees.
METCAM / MUC 18 promoted tumorigenesis of human breast cancer SK-BR-3 cells in a dosage-speci fi c manner

Objective: Overexpression of METCAM/MUC18, an immunoglobulin-like cell-adhesion molecule, promotes tumorigenesis and progression of human breast cancer cells. We also observed an intriguing phenomenon that a high-expressing SK-BR-3 clone manifested a transient tumor suppression effect in vivo. The purpose of this study was to understand if this was caused by clonal variation, METCAM/ MUC18-dosage effect, or the number of cells injected. Materials and Methods: Several G418-resistant clones of SK-BR-3, expressing different levels of METCAM/ MUC18, were obtained for testing effects of human METCAM/MUC18 on in vitro motility, invasiveness, and anchorage-independent colony formation (in vitro tumorigenicity) and in vivo tumorigenesis in female Balb/C athymic nude mice. Tumor sections were made for histology and immunohistochemistry analyses, and tumor lysates for Western blot analysis to determine the effects of human METCAM/MUC18 expression on levels of various downstream effectors. Results: METCAM/MUC18 promoted in vitro motility, invasiveness, and in vitro tumorigenicity of SK-BR3 cells in a dosage-specific manner. Overexpression of METCAM/MUC18 could promote in vivo tumorigenesis of SK-BR-3 cells even when one tenth of the previously used cell number (5 105) was injected and in vivo tumorigenesis of SK-BR-3 cells was directly proportional to the dosage of the protein. The previously observed transient tumor suppression effect from the same clone was no longer observed. The downstream effector, such as phospho-AKT/AKT ratio, was elevated in the tumors. Conclusion: Transient suppression observed previously in the clone was caused by injection of a high cell number (2 106e5 106). METCAM/MUC18 positively promotes tumorigenesis of SK-BR-3 cells by increasing the survival and proliferation pathway. Copyright © 2016, Taiwan Association of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/
FLIM Analysis of Intracellular Markers Associated With the Development of Parkinson ' s Disease in Cellular Model

Parkinson's disease (PD) is currently the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in the world. Major features of cell pathology of the disease include the presence of cytoplasmic inclusions called Lewy bodies, which are composed of aggregated proteins. The presence of Lewy's body is associated with more advanced stages of the disease when considering irreversible changes. Precise identification of the disease stage at a cellular level presents the critical tool in developing early diagnostics and/or prevention of PD. The aim of our work is to introduce sensitive microscopic analysis in living cells, focused on initial intracellular changes and thus capable to detect earlier stages of the disease.
TIPS IsNotAssociatedwithaHigherRiskofDevelopingHCC in Cirrhotic Patients : A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background and Aims: The association between portalsystemic shunt and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development in patients who have cirrhosis is still controversial. This systematic review with meta-analysis was performed to systematically clarify the potential role of portal-systemic shunt in the development of HCC. Methods: The PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were searched for potentially eligible literature. Meta-analysis with random-effects model was performed to combine the incidence rates of HCC after portal-systemic shunt. Finally, seven studies were included. In the present review, we mainly focused on 859 patients (365 in the transjugular intrahepatic portal-systemic shunt (TIPS) group and 494 in the non-TIPS group) from five studies to analyze incidence rates after TIPS. Results: At the end of follow-up, there were 66 (18%, 66/365) patients who developed HCC after TIPS intervention and 63 (13%, 63/494) patients who developed HCC after non-TIPS treatments. Pooled estimates with random-effects model did not demonstrate a significant increase of incidence of HCC after TIPS (risk ratio: 1.37 [confidence interval (CI): 0.96 to 1.97]; p = 0.08) compared with non-TIPS treatments. Subgroup analyses for those patients with transplanted liver also did not detect a significant difference between the TIPS group and non-TIPS group (risk ratio: 1.10 [CI: 0.59 to 2.07]; p= 0.75). Conclusions: Current evidence suggests that portal-systemic shunt is not associated with a higher risk of HCC development in cirrhotic patients. Citation of this article: Chen B, Pang L, Chen HB, Wu DB, Wang YH, Chen EQ. TIPS is not associated with a higher risk of developing HCC in cirrhotic patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Clin Transl Hepatol 2019;7(2):1–6. doi: 10.14218/JCTH.2019. 00007.
Sewage effluent as an alternative source for irrigation : Impact on soil properties and heavy metal status

Sewage irrigation may provide an alternative resource due to scarcity of fresh water in Egypt, thus such a practice should be evaluated. A number of 36 pairs of soil samples were collected; each pair consisted of one sample irrigated with fresh water and another irrigated with sewage water from two different sites in AlQalyubia Governorate, Egypt. Sewage water-irrigated soils showed higher pH, EC, N, P, K, Fe Mn, Zn, Cd, Pb and Ni than fresh water-irrigated soils. Positive changes in soil properties occurred with sewage irrigation. Bulk density decreased field capacity, organic carbon and nutrients increased by sewage water irrigation. There was build-up in Cd, Pb, Ni and Zn. Single pollution index (SPI) and pollution load index (PLI) indicated none pollution in fresh water irrigated soils as both parameters did not exceed 1.0. Sewage irrigated soils were moderately polluted. The contamination factor (CF) revealed a considered contamination with Pb and high for Cd, Ni and Zn. The contamination degree was very high. Food crops cultivation in such soils should be practiced under precautions with a change in the cropping pattern. Keyword: Sewage effluent, Soil properties, Heavy metals, Soil pollution
Modular Multiplication Algorithm Suitable For Low-Latency Circuit Implementations

Modular multiplication is one of the most computeintensive arithmetic operations. Most public-key cryptosytems utilize modular multiplications of integers of various lengths, depending on security requirements. Efficient algorithms and implementations are required to realize a practical public-key cryptosystem. Different parameters, such as area, power and time, can be optimized for different implementation requirements. Low latency was not as important as high throughput requirement for modular multiplication implementations before. However, with recent work on Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs), a necessity for lowest possible latency for modular multiplication implementations emerged. VDFs are designed to take a prescribed time to realize the underlying computation that can be publicly verified. VDF constructions are required to utilize inherently sequential arithmetic operations. Efficient VDF constructions have been proposed recently, based on time-lock puzzles constructed by Rivest, Shamir and Wagner. An exponentiation operation in an RSA group needs to be realized for these VDF constructions. For these VDF constructions to be practical, low-latency modular multiplication algorithms and implementations are required. In this paper, a modular multiplication algorithm suitable for low-latency circuit implementations is proposed and an FPGAoptimized variant of this algorithm is presented.
Robotic process and cognitive automation: the next phase

Written by the leading scholars in the field, this book examines real-world implementations of service automation technologies using Robotic Process Automation and Cognitive Automation tools. This newest, detailed research finds that RPA adoptions are accelerating, maturing, and scaling in global enterprise. The research covers multiple industries, applications, and shared services, and uses case studies to establish action principles and how to mitigate automation risks. The book devotes six chapters to the first enterprise-worthy cognitive automation tools that use machine-learning algorithms to process big data, often in natural language form, and provides compelling and incisive, evidence-based action principles on getting value from cognitive automation investments. Surprisingly, CA has nearly 20 unique action principles compared to RPA. The final chapter provides an in-depth analysis on the effects of automation on human work; as a spoiler alert: there will be a lot more human work than many predict!
Processing and Properties of Advanced Ceramics and Composites V Processing and Properties of Advanced Ceramics and Composites V

The fabrication of SiC/HfB2-SiC continuous fiber reinforced composites by polymer impregnation and slurry infiltration of partially densified SiC-SiC laminates was investigated. A polymer-based HfB2 precursor was synthesized and used to impregnate the preform panels via vacuum infiltration. Subsequent heat treatment at 1600°C in argon carbothermally reduced the polymer to HfB2 and residual carbon. Slurry infiltration was performed via vacuum infiltration, pressure infiltration, vibration infiltration, vibration-assisted vacuum infiltration and vibrationassisted pressure infiltration using 5 vol % HfB2 slurries in ethanol. An additional pressure infiltration experiment was performed using a 15 vol % slurry. Subsequent heat treatment at 1600°C was sufficient to initiate sintering of HfB2 particles, but not densification. Polymer impregnation resulted in poor infiltration due to the low ceramic yield of the polymer and poor adhesion to the preform. SEM analysis, Archimedes density measurements and computational image analysis showed some success for the slurry infiltration techniques, with the best results observed for pressure infiltration using the 5 vol % slurry.
Cynthia: Cost-Efficient Cloud Resource Provisioning for Predictable Distributed Deep Neural Network Training

It becomes an increasingly popular trend for deep neural networks with large-scale datasets to be trained in a distributed manner in the cloud. However, widely known as resource-intensive and time-consuming, distributed deep neural network (DDNN) training suffers from unpredictable performance in the cloud, due to the intricate factors of resource bottleneck, heterogeneity and the imbalance of computation and communication which eventually cause severe resource under-utilization. In this paper, we propose Cynthia, a cost-efficient cloud resource provisioning framework to provide predictable DDNN training performance and reduce the training budget. To explicitly explore the resource bottleneck and heterogeneity, Cynthia predicts the DDNN training time by leveraging a lightweight analytical performance model based on the resource consumption of workers and parameter servers. With an accurate performance prediction, Cynthia is able to optimally provision the cost-efficient cloud instances to jointly guarantee the training performance and minimize the training budget. We implement Cynthia on top of Kubernetes by launching a 56-docker cluster to train four representative DNN models. Extensive prototype experiments on Amazon EC2 demonstrate that Cynthia can provide predictable training performance while reducing the monetary cost for DDNN workloads by up to 50.6%, in comparison to state-of-the-art resource provisioning strategies, yet with acceptable runtime overhead.