Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
P2P lending adoption by SMEs in Indonesia

Purpose This study aims to examine the adoption of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms to determine the factors that encourage SMEs to use P2P lending platforms in obtaining loans. Design/methodology/approach A sample of ten SMEs from a variety of backgrounds was taken in Bandung, Indonesia. Bandung has been awarded the title of “creative city” by UNESCO, as the city allows for the development of the creative economy. This research used a semi-structured interview. Coding method was then used for content analysis to establish which factors emerging from the interview were leading respondents to obtain a loan through the P2P lending platform. Findings The findings imply that loan processes, interest rates, loan costs, loan amounts and loan flexibility affect SMEs in obtaining a loan through P2P lending. Moreover, alternative payment schemes in the form of Sharia-based lending and profit-sharing schemes were found. These findings constituted the original findings of this study. Research limitations/implications The study offers findings on factors affecting SMEs in using the P2P lending platform as a form of alternative financing. Moreover, the theoretical framework provided can be used as literature in future research. As this study was conducted in Bandung, Indonesia, the findings may not be generalisable to other regions. Originality/value This study is one of the few studies that discusses P2P lending in Indonesia as the concept has been in practice only since 2015.
Gender-Based Investigation of the Syntactic Development of Iranian EFL Learners: A Focus on Processabilty Theory

Pienemann (1998, 2015) put forward Processability Theory to enlighten why language learners follow definite developmental paths. The aim of the present study was to run a comparative investigation into the difficulty order of different grammatical structures for male and female Iranian EFL learners predicted by Processability Theory. 185 Iranian university students took part in this study. They received a Demographic Questionnaire and a Validated Researcher-Made Grammar Test designed based on the stages of Processability Theory. Item Response Theory (IRT) Rasch Modeling was used to analyze the collected data. Results pertained to the research questions revealed that the stages predicted by Processability Theory do not account for the Iranian male/female EFL learners. Another major finding emerged from the data was that the difficulty level of different grammatical structures presented by Pienneman in PT doesn’t match the difficulty order obtained in this study by male/female EFL respondents. All things considered, results of the study provided a reliable counterevidence for the assumptions of the theory.
Permafrost-carbon mobilization in Beringia caused by deglacial meltwater runoff, sea-level rise and warming

During the last deglaciation (18–8 kyr BP), shelf flooding and warming presumably led to a large-scale decomposition of permafrost soils in the mid-to-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Microbial degradation of old organic matter released from the decomposing permafrost potentially contributed to the deglacial rise in atmospheric CO2 and also to the declining atmospheric radiocarbon contents (Δ14C). The significance of permafrost for the atmospheric carbon pool is not well understood as the timing of the carbon activation is poorly constrained by proxy data. Here, we trace the mobilization of organic matter from permafrost in the Pacific sector of Beringia over the last 22 kyr using mass-accumulation rates and radiocarbon signatures of terrigenous biomarkers in four sediment cores from the Bering Sea and the Northwest Pacific. We find that pronounced reworking and thus the vulnerability of old organic carbon to remineralization commenced during the early deglaciation (∼16.8 kyr BP) when meltwater runoff in the Yukon River intensified riverbank erosion of permafrost soils and fluvial discharge. Regional deglaciation in Alaska additionally mobilized significant fractions of fossil, petrogenic organic matter at this time. Permafrost decomposition across Beringia’s Pacific sector occurred in two major pulses that match the Bølling-Allerød and Preboreal warm spells and rapidly initiated within centuries. The carbon mobilization likely resulted from massive shelf flooding during meltwater pulses 1A (∼14.6 kyr BP) and 1B (∼11.5 kyr BP) followed by permafrost thaw in the hinterland. Our findings emphasize that coastal erosion was a major control to rapidly mobilize permafrost carbon along Beringia’s Pacific coast at ∼14.6 and ∼11.5 kyr BP implying that shelf flooding in Beringia may partly explain the centennial-scale rises in atmospheric CO2 at these times. Around 16.5 kyr BP, the mobilization of old terrigenous organic matter caused by meltwater-floods may have additionally contributed to increasing CO2 levels.
Digital Note Taking: The Use of Electronic Pens with Students with Specific Learning Disabilities

This article describes a study of the use of a digital note-taking technology with high school students with specific learning disabilities. The goal of the project was to understand the degree to which this intervention has the potential to support students' note-taking skills, promote retention of material, and reduce cognitive effort during note taking. The authors offer recommendations for ways in which existing features and uses of this technology can be improved and enhanced. The findings of this research suggest that the use of digital pens can increase the quality of student notes and note-taking strategies. Based on this pilot study, the pens are recommended for use in particular types of course activities for students with language-based learning disabilities.
General-purpose ranking and selection for computer simulation

ABSTRACT Many indifference-zone Ranking-and-Selection (R&S) procedures have been invented for choosing the best simulated system. To obtain the desired Probability of Correct Selection (PCS), existing procedures exploit knowledge about the particular combination of system performance measure (e.g., mean, probability, variance, quantile) and assumed output distribution (e.g., normal, exponential, Poisson). In this article, we take a step toward general-purpose R&S procedures that work for many types of performance measures and output distributions, including situations where different simulated alternatives have entirely different output distribution families. There are only two versions of our procedure: with and without the use of common random numbers. To obtain the required PCS we exploit intense computation via bootstrapping, and to mitigate the computational effort we create an adaptive sample-allocation scheme that guides the procedure to quickly reach the necessary sample size. We establish the asymptotic PCS of these procedures under very mild conditions and provide a finite-sample empirical evaluation of them as well.
Managing Data Locality in Future Memory Hierarchies Using a Hardware Software Codesign Approach

In recent years, a number of trends have started to emerge, both in microprocessor and application characteristics. As per Moore’s law, the number of cores on chip will keep doubling every 18-24 months. International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) reports that wires will continue to scale poorly, exacerbating the cost of on-chip communication. Cores will have to navigate an on-chip network to access data that may be scattered across many cache banks. The number of pins on the package, and hence available off-chip bandwidth, will at best increase at sublinear rate and at worst, stagnate. A number of disruptive memory technologies, e.g., phase change memory (PCM) have begun to emerge and will be integrated into the memory hierarchy sooner than later, leading to non-uniform memory access (NUMA) hierarchies. This will make the cost of accessing main memory even higher. In previous years, most of the focus has been on deciding the memory hierarchy level where data must be placed (L1 or L2 caches, main memory, disk, etc.). However, in modern and future generations, each level is getting bigger and its design is being subjected to a number of constraints (wire delays, power budget, etc.). It is becoming very important to make an intelligent decision about where data must be placed within a level. For example, in a large non-uniform access cache (NUCA), we must figure out the optimal bank. Similarly, in a multi-dual inline memory module (DIMM) non uniform memory access (NUMA) main memory, we must figure out the DIMM that is the optimal home for every data page. Studies have indicated that heterogeneous main memory hierarchies that incorporate multiple memory technologies are on the horizon. We must develop solutions for data management that take heterogeneity into account. For these memory organizations, we must again identify the appropriate home for data. In this dissertation, we attempt to verify the following thesis statement: “Can low-complexity hardware and OS mechanisms manage data placement within each memory hierarchy level to optimize metrics such as performance and/or throughput? ” In this dissertation we argue for a hardware-software codesign approach to tackle the above mentioned problems at different levels of the memory hierarchy. The proposed methods utilize techniques like page coloring and shadow addresses and are able to handle a large number of problems ranging from managing wire-delays in large, shared NUCA caches to distributing shared capacity among different cores. We then examine data-placement issues in NUMA main memory for a many-core processor with a moderate number of on-chip memory controllers. Using codesign approaches, we achieve efficient data placement by modifying the operating system’s (OS) page allocation algorithm for a wide variety of main memory architectures.
The Association among Corporate Governance, Corruption, and Economic Prosperity in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Abstract The OECD considers compliance with the OECD principles of corporate governance and reduced corruption to be positively associated with economic prosperity. Prior empirical research supports this notion for developed countries. However, findings for developing and emerging countries are more diverse, as some studies document an “East Asia paradox” and link higher levels of corruption with positive outcomes at the firm or country level. Our case study on the Socialist Republic of Vietnam contributes to the literature by identifying determinants of these mixed findings. Relying on triangulation, our results suggest that internationalizing and international firms must adhere to OECD expectations to prosper, while domestic firms prefer operating in corrupt but stable conditions. Due to this mechanism, noncompliance with OECD principles and corruption can deter foreign direct investments and thus negatively influence economic growth. Nevertheless, noncompliance with OECD principles and corruption can still work to benefit domestic firms. Given our results for Vietnam, we argue that the internationalization of the business models of the firms analyzed might explain the prior inconclusive empirical findings.
Financial Regulation, Banking, and Sovereign Debt

This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself.
Effect of dispensation of justice and provision of security on private investments

Most economists have argued that government institutions play a crucial role on performance of private investment. One such institution is the justice system that dispenses justice and provides security. There has been concerns that provision of these services hasnot beenoptimal for most developing economies and this could be affecting the growth of private investments. Thispaper investigated whether dispensation of justice and provision of security had effects on growth of private investments in Kenya. This was realized by estimating a structural model using instrumental variable method and data for the period 1960 to 2016. The findings were that enhanceddispensation of justice spurs the growth of private investments while insecurity hampers the growth. Based on these findings, governments policies to support the growth of private investments should transcend interventions on macroeconomic aggregates and encompass interventions in the justice system. This can be achieved by enhancing the resolution of cases for instance through increased mediation and arbitration of disputes out of court, use of transcription services in courts and establishment of a legal framework to guide minimization of case adjournments. Further, upscaling the use of technology in crime detection and surveillance and setting time limits for completion of criminal investigations and adducing of relevant evidence and expert reports in courts, wouldaid in controlling and reducingcrime. Once dispensation of justice is enhanced and crime is reduced, a favourable environment for the growth of private investments would ensue.
Hotel leader competencies: Industry practitioner perspectives

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate leadership competencies needed for success in the hotel industry. A web-based questionnaire was sent current hotel managers for the purpose of gaining their perspective on needed hotel leadership competencies given today’s hotel landscape. Six hotel leadership competency factors were identified including soft skill competencies, leadership competencies, interpersonal competencies, organizational competencies, relational competencies, and self-management competencies. Additional findings revealed a difference in perspective between males and females regarding the leadership competency factor. Two notable new individual competencies identified in the study included work/life balance and the way we train and develop.
19th Workshop on (Constraint) Logic Programming

Critical or scientific editions are a promising field for the application of declarative programming, which can facilitate the parsing and the markup of texts, and the transformation of XML documents. We have used a logic programming–based approach for the production of critical editions: In particular, we propose a transformation of XML documents based on a compact and intuitive substitution formalism. Moreover, we have developed a new XML update language FNUPDATE for adding navigation facilities. We have implemented a transformation tool in SWI–PROLOG, which integrates and interleaves PROLOG’s well–known definite clause grammars and the new substitution formalism.
Gender Differences in Competitiveness: Experimental Evidence from China

Experimental evidence from both the lab and the field shows that women on average have a lower propensity to enter a competitive environment. In this paper, we investigate gender differences in competitiveness using a lab-in-the-field experiment and a subject pool consisting of Chinese adults. China provides an interesting environment to study in this regard since the country has promoted gender equality for a long time and the gender gap in earnings is small in a cross-country comparison. However, in many respects, China is still a patriarchal society. Our experimental results show that women perform equally well as men in a piece-rate task and significantly better in a competitive payment environment. Despite this, men are more than twice as likely to voluntarily choose a competitive environment. This gender difference cannot be explained by differences in risk preferences or overconfidence.
Prediction of driving performance using Nonlinear Causal Resource Analysis

This research examines and demonstrates the potential of Nonlinear Causal Resource Analysis models in predicting driving performance. Motor-control, sensory, and central processing performance resources measurements were collected from a group of subjects (Group A (n=60) and Group B (n=9)), demonstrating a wide range of driving and performance resource availability. In car driving performance was determined by a skilled driving evaluator. Ten performance resources from subjects in Group A were used to construct NCRA models of driving. Model based predictions for Group B correlated (r=.83) with expert rater evaluations. For each prediction, a limiting resource was identified. The NCRA models, constructed with a modest number of subjects and basic performance resources, were able to well predict the level of driving performance, and identify the limiting resource for each subject.
GOING CONCERN COMPANY AND ITS RELATION TO SUSTAINABILITY REPORT DISCLOSURE: EVIDENCE FROM SOEs IN INDONESIA

This study refers to the issue that is happening in Indonesian State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), especially in the case of going concern. The purpose is to provide empirical evidence about the relationship between going concern companies and corporate characteristics on the disclosure of sustainability report. The sample used is a non-financial SOEs company in Indonesia, consisting of 54 companies during the period 2014-2016. This study employs regression analysis of panel data with statistical tool Eviews version 9.0. The results support three out of four research hypotheses, in which going concern audit opinion and firm characteristics assessed through firm size and age had significant influence on sustainability report disclosure. This indicates that the larger and longer the company stands, the company will present the sustainability reporting more fully. The more complete presentation of sustainability reporting becomes one of the important factors for the auditor in determining going concern opinion in its report.
Object Oriented Data Analysis of Cell Images and Analysis of Elastic Functions

XIAOSUN LU: Object Oriented Data Analysis of Cell Images and Analysis of Elastic Functions. (Under the direction of J. S. Marron and Perry Haaland.) This thesis consists of two parts: object oriented data analysis of cell images and analysis of elastic functions. Both topics are motivated by studies in cell culture biology. The first part discusses object oriented data analysis (OODA) of cell images, which highlights a common critical issue – choice of data objects. OODA is a useful method for analyzing populations of complicated objects, such as images, trees, etc. Instead of naively choosing either the individual cells or the wells (a container in which the cells are grown) as data objects, a new type of data object is proposed, that is the union of a well with its corresponding set of cells. This research suggests that OODA is not simply a framework for understanding the structure of the data analysis. It leads to useful interdisciplinary discussion that gives better results through more appropriate choice of data objects, especially for complex data analyses. The second part discusses functional data analysis motivated by analyzing data variability among cell growth curves. There are two important types of variation: the horizontal (or phase) variation and the vertical (or amplitude) variation. They can be separated and modeled through a novel domain warping (or curve registration) approach based on the Fisher Rao metric. A convenient square-root velocity function (SRVF) representation is used to computationally simplify the Fisher Rao framework. In this thesis, both separate and joint analyses of these two types of variation are discussed. Compared with conventional approaches such as functional principal component analysis, the SRVF approaches proposed in this thesis can be more efficient and interpretable in understanding the variability of functions.
Intergenerational and Intragenerational Externalities of the Perry Preschool Project

This paper examines the impact of the iconic Perry Preschool Project on the children and siblings of the original participants. The children of treated participants have fewer school suspensions, higher levels of education and employment, and lower levels of participation in crime, compared with the children of untreated participants. Impacts are especially pronounced for the children of male participants. These treatment effects are associated with improved childhood home environments. The intergenerational effects arise despite the fact that families of treated subjects live in similar or worse neighborhoods than the control families. We also find substantial positive effects of the Perry program on the siblings of participants who did not directly participate in the program, especially for male siblings.
iPad Tablet Computing to Foster Korean EFL Digital Literacy

Non-native speaker usage of English is changing. Under the historic impact of Information and Communications Technology and its critical Convergence, EFL/ESL usage will in future predominantly be online. It will be used to access, navigate and contribute to English language digital resources, and for computer-mediated communication with others who are in the main non-native speakers of English. These uses are computer-mediated, which has profound implications for Korean learners of English. For Korea to remain competitive in the global economy, its EFL should foster L2 Digital Literacy in English. With fast Internet connections, Korea is perhaps the most wired nation on Earth. To take advantage of this, ICT facilities in educational institutions need restructuring. Computermediated second language learning needs to be facilitated, particularly for native teacher English classes. Multimedia capable, mobile web solutions are needed that place the Internet in the hands of all students and teachers. Wi-Fi networked campuses allow any campus space to act as a wireless classroom. Teacher computer consoles with high-speed Internet access and OHP are required for every classroom. All students require adequate computing facilities, that are available anywhere, anytime. This has become feasible through providing every student on enrollment with a Wi-Fi+3G enabled Apple iPad, on which educational providers install, maintain and update E-texts and content creation and consumption Apps.
Measuring Semantic Preservation in Machine Translation with HCOMET: Human Cognitive Metric for Evaluating Translation

Human ranking of machine translation output is a commonly used method for comparing different innovations in machine translation research. Theoretically simple, the comparison of multiple translations is, in effect, cognitively complex, requiring judges to balance the weight of different types of translation errors in the context of the whole sentence. This cognitive complexity is made evident through low intraand interannotator agreements, which call into question the reliability of such ranking metrics. HMEANT (Lo and Wu, 2011) attempted to decrease the complexity of ranking by dividing sentences into smaller semantic units whose translation alignments were more objective, rendering the task cognitively simpler. However, HMEANT does not discern how these semantic units are related and relies heavily on language-dependent verb frames – a significant problem for a translation metric. This project defines a new set of human metrics focusing on HCOMET (Human COgnitive Metric for Evaluating Translation). HCOMET, attempting to overcome the limitations of HMEANT, employed a new cognitively-informed annotation scheme (Abend and Rappoport, 2013) and new scoring guidelines. While the inter-annotator agreement did not surpass that of HMEANT, the conceptual framework of HCOMET allows for a much more detailed analysis of semantic adequacy in machine translation.