Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Discrete time sliding mode control with minimal quasi sliding mode band

A new approach is presented to analyze sliding mode control in discrete-time systems using an established reaching law, whereby the ultimate band is obtained to be lesser than any previous analysis done with the same reaching law. Also, the controller parameters are evaluated according to the ultimate band that is desired. The approach begins with defining several bands in the space of the surface variable, which are key to understanding the dynamics of it. Conditions on these band values are key to assigning appropriate values to the controller parameters. The switching gain obtained in this way comes out to be negative contradicting popular notion of non-negative switching gains used in sliding mode control. A case is also studied where the states measured contribute a quantization error in the system dynamics. The idea developed in analyzing the case without quantization is used while dealing with it.
ReviewSpine Motility : Phenomenology , Mechanisms , and Function

proved Cajal’s hypothesis correct by showing that Throughout the history of neuroscience, dendritic spines were indeed the site of synaptic contacts. spines have been considered stable structures, but in Even though Cajal himself imagined spines as capable recent years, imaging techniques have revealed that of some movement, modulated by neuronal activity (see spines are constantly changing shape. Spine motility above), spines were traditionally assumed to be relais difficult to categorize, has different forms, and postively stable structures and therefore ultrastructural sibly even represents multiple phenomena. It is influwork relied on the classification of spines according to enced by synaptic transmission, intracellular calcium, their morphologies. This idea was challenged in 1982, and a multitude of ions and other molecules. An actinwhen Crick proposed that spines move (“twitch”) in rebased cascade mediates this phenomenon, and while sponse to synaptic stimulation (Crick, 1982). Based on the precise signaling pathways are still unclear, the the previous description of filamentous material in the Rho family of GTPases could well be a “common despine head (Jones and Powell, 1969; Peters et al., 1976), nominator” controlling spine morphology. One role of Crick hypothesized that actin was present in the spine spine motility might be to enable a searching function and that the presumptive motility of spines was actin during synaptogenesis, allowing for more efficacious based. In an even earlier study, Siekevitz and his colneuronal connectivity in the neuronal thicket. This idea leagues had already identified actin at the postsynaptic revisits concepts originally formulated by Cajal, who density (PSD), which is an essential structural element proposed over a hundred years ago that spines might of all spines (Blomberg et al., 1977), and proposed that, help to increase and modify synaptic connections. due to the presence of actin and other filamentous pro-
Trading Costs of Asset Pricing Anomalies

Using nearly a trillion dollars of live trading data from a large institutional money manager across 19 developed equity markets over the period 1998 to 2011, we measure the real-world transactions costs and price impact function facing an arbitrageur and apply them to size, value, momentum, and shortterm reversal strategies. We find that actual trading costs are less than a tenth as large as, and therefore the potential scale of these strategies is more than an order of magnitude larger than, previous studies suggest. Furthermore, strategies designed to reduce transactions costs can increase net returns and capacity substantially, without incurring significant style drift. Results vary across styles, with value and momentum being more scalable than size, and short-term reversals being the most constrained by trading costs. We conclude that the main anomalies to standard asset pricing models are robust, implementable, and sizeable.
A Benefits/Challenges Framework for Outsourcing Software Development

As the information technology industry grows, many companies are rethinking their approach to outsourced software development (OSD). This research uniquely explores the premise that many of the benefits of outsourcing software development are also challenging and many of the traditional challenges have beneficial aspects, as set out in a benefits/challenges framework. Additionally, the differences between anticipated/realised benefits and anticipated/occurred challenges are investigated. Ten companies who engage in OSD confirm the benefits / challenges framework in skills, cost, culture, development speed, quality, market proximity, employees and legal aspects of OSD. An unexpected OSD benefit was scalability, outsourcing that enables a company to rapidly scale up production; this is a novel contribution to the literature from this research. Cost reductions from OSD were seen as a significant benefit, but controlling unanticipated costs was also a major challenge, reflecting the paradoxical nature of OSD benefits and challenges fully explored in this research.
Religion and Work: Micro Evidence from Contemporary Germany

Using micro data from contemporary Germany, this paper studies the connection between Protestantism and modern-day labor market outcomes. To address the endogeneity in self-declared religion, I exploit a provision in a sixteenth-century peace treaty, which determined the geographic distribution of Catholics and Protestants. Reduced form and instrumental variable estimates provide no evidence of an effect of Protestantism on hourly wages. However, relative to their Catholic counterparts, Protestants do appear to work longer hours. The patterns in the data are difficult to reconcile with explanations based on institutional factors or religious differences in human capital acquisition. Religious differences in individuals’ values, however, can account for most of the estimated effects.
Household Debt and Defaults from 2000 to 2010: The Credit Supply View

We use individual level credit bureau data to document which individuals saw the biggest rise in household debt from 2000 to 2007 and the biggest rise in defaults from 2007 to 2010. Growth in household debt from 2000 to 2007 was substantially larger for individuals with the lowest initial credit scores. However, initial debt levels were lower for individuals in the lowest 20% of the initial credit score distribution. As a result, the contribution to the total dollar rise in household debt was strongest among individuals in the 20th to 60th percentile of the initial credit score distribution. Consistent with the importance of home-equity based borrowing, the increase in debt is especially large among individuals in the lowest 60% of the credit score distribution living in high house price growth zip codes. In contrast, the borrowing of individuals in the top 20% of the credit score distribution is completely unresponsive to higher house price growth. In terms of defaults, the evidence is unambiguous: both default rates and the share of total delinquent debt is largest among individuals with low initial credit scores. The bottom 40% of the credit score distribution is responsible for 73% of the total amount of delinquent debt in 2007, and 68% of the total in 2008. Individuals in the top 40% of the initial credit score distribution never make up more than 15% of total delinquencies, even in 2009 at the height of the default crisis.
Molecular Design of UV–vis Absorption and Emission Properties in Organic Fluorophores: Toward Larger Bathochromic Shifts, Enhanced Molar Extinction Coefficients, and Greater Stokes Shifts

Understanding the molecular origins of the optoelectronic properties of fluorophores provides rational guidelines for chemists to synthesize better-performing dyes. Factors affecting the UV–vis absorption spectral shift, molar extinction coefficients, and Stokes shift of fluorophores are herein examined at the molecular level, via both (time-dependent) density functional theory-based calculations and the empirical harmonic-oscillator-stabilization-energy (HOSE) and bond-length-alternation (BLA) models. The importance of these factors is discussed using six coumarin dyes as exemplars. In particular, a special focus is devoted to the Stokes shift, a critical parameter in fluorophores. It is demonstrated that incorporating a “rotational” substituent in a fluorophore molecule with tailored steric hindrance effects and resonance effects leads to a substantial increase in the Stokes shift, not only in coumarins but also in other chemical dye families: boron-dipyrromethenes (BODIPYs), cyanines, and stilbenes. St.
A META-ANALYSIS OF THE ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF WORKPLACE SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Sexual harassment (SH) has been identified as one of the most damaging and ubiquitous barriers to career success and satisfaction for women. This study meta-analyzed data from 41 studies, with a total sample size of nearly 70,000 respondents, to examine several negative consequences of workplace SH as well as how situational factors may play a role in facilitating these occurrences. SH experiences are associated with negative outcomes such as decreased job satisfaction, lower organizational commitment, withdrawing from work, ill physical and mental health, and even symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, organizational climate for SH figured prominently in facilitating these occurrences.
IN VITRO DIGESTIBILITY OF THE DROMEDARY WHEY PROTEINS: POTENTIAL USES IN INFANT MILK ALLERGIES

Objective: Dromedary milk has a good nutritive value and is free of b-lactoglobulin (b-Lg), which is considered one of the major antigens of cow’s milk proteins responsible for the incidence of allergy in infancy. In this work, we try to assess the in vitro gastrointestinal digestion of dromedary’s whey proteins. Methods: The dromedary and bovine whey proteins were subjected to two successive hydrolysis: pepsic followed by the mixture of trypsin/chymotrypsin. The kinetics of degradation was determined, then the degree of hydrolysis (DH) and the peptide chains length (PCL) was calculated. SDS-PAGE was carried out to evaluate the specific protein composition before and after degradation. Results: The determination of α-NH 2 free functions and DH shows that the dromedary’s whey proteins are more susceptible to pepsin digestion (*** p <0.001, * p <0.05/ ** p <0.01, * p <0.05), and combined trypsin/chymotrypsin digestion (*** p <0.001, ** p <0.01/ **p <0.01, ** p <0.01) compared to bovine whey proteins digestibility. In the other hand, the PCL of the dromedary hydrolysates obtained are shorter than those of the bovine hydrolysates. The electrophoretic profile of native dromedary’s whey proteins shows the absence of the b-Lg and the presence of specific proteins (CWBP: Camel Whey Basic Protein, PGRP: Peptidoglycan Recognition Protein and WAP: Whey Acidic Protein), Also, we observed in the electrophoretic gels that a new band was present and could correspond to new peptide generated after the peptic hydrolysis of dromedary’s whey proteins. Conclusion: The gastrointestinal digestion of the two whey is important with higher DH of dromedary’s whey proteins and PCL almost identical at the end of digestion.
Design of RF amplifier with enhanced performance

In this paper, a RF CMOS amplifier is designed on the basis of a novel negative impedance linearization technique with negative differential resistance (NDR) element. The simulation results show that the designed amplifier can achieve high gain accuracy, good linearity with improved efficiency, revealing that the proposed technique could find wider application in RF/Microwave circuits and systems.
Competition between an invasive urchin and commercially fished abalone: effect on body condition, reproduction and survivorship

Incursion of the urchin Centrostephanus rodgersii into Tasmania, Australia, and its establishment at high densities raises questions about its potential interactions with another large herbivore on subtidal rocky reefs, the commercially fished abalone Haliotis rubra. Surveys on the southeast coast of Australia show a negative relationship between densities of C. rodgersii and H. rubra at several spatial scales, suggesting negative interactions. In intact algal beds, we used enclosures to estimate the effects and relative magnitude of intra- and interspecific competition on the body condition, gonad development and survival of C. rodgersii and H. rubra. An increased density of conspecifics led to declines in the dry gonad weight of C. rodgersii and in the dry foot and stomach content weights of H. rubra. The effects of interspecific competition were asymmetrical. Manipulations of H. rubra densities had no detectable effect on C. rodgersii. In contrast, in enclosures with added C. rodgersii, H. rubra showed reduced total and dry weights of stomach contents and increased mortality relative to controls without urchins. The effects of C. rodgersii on H. rubra could be linked to differences in feeding habits and morphology. C. rodgersii is a generalist herbivore, which, even at low densities, reduced the cover and standing biomass of total, brown and red algae relative to controls without urchins. In contrast, H. rubra is a specialist herbivore, which, even at high densities, had little effect on the cover and standing biomass of algae relative to the effect of C. rodgersii. This study suggests that the invader C. rodgersii is the superior competitor in interactions with H. rubra, and that its presence, even at low densities, affects the abalone fishery.
Experimental Investigation on Tsunami Acting on Bridges T

Two tragic tsunamis that devastated the west coast of Sumatra Island, Indonesia in 2004 and North East Japan in 2011 had damaged bridges to various extents. Tsunamis have resulted in the catastrophic deterioration of infrastructures i.e. coastal structures, utilities and transportation facilities. A bridge structure performs vital roles to enable people to perform activities related to their daily needs and for development. A damaged bridge needs to be repaired expeditiously. In order to understand the effects of tsunami forces on bridges, experimental tests are carried out to measure the characteristics of hydrodynamic force at various wave heights. Coastal bridge models designed at a 1:40 scale are used in a 24.0 m long hydraulic flume with a cross section of 1.5 m by 2.0 m. The horizontal forces and uplift forces in all cases show that forces increase nonlinearly with increasing wave amplitude. Keywords—Tsunami, bridge, horizontal force, uplift force.
Tumorigenesis and Neoplastic Progression Genetic Ablation of ! v Integrins in Epithelial Cells of the Eyelid Skin and Conjunctiva Leads to Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Integrin-mediated cell adhesion and signaling events are essential for the proper development and homeostasis of most epithelial tissues. Dysregulation of integrin expression and function can cause abnormal epithelial cell proliferation and/or differentiation, contributing to the pathogenesis of malignant epithelial cancers. Here we report on the use of a conditional knockout strategy exploiting the Cre/Lox technology to study the in vivo functions of ! v integrins during epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation. We show that genetic ablation of ! v integrin expression in basal epithelial cells of the eyelid skin and conjunctiva causes the formation of tumors that are strikingly similar to the malignant epithelial cancer, squamous cell carcinoma. These data suggest a mechanism whereby ! v integrins normally suppress epithelial cell proliferation, likely via adhesion to ECM ligands, as well as by the modulation of intracellular signaling cascades. We propose that ! v gene deletion eliminates normal integrin-mediated growth suppression, ultimately leading to cellular transformation and tumorigenesis. Hence, these studies reveal a novel tumor suppressor-like function of ! v integrins and provide a genetically tractable mouse model for studying the pathogenesis of squamous cell carcinoma and related cancers of epithelial origin, as well as to test and develop novel therapeutic compounds to treat or prevent squamous cell carcinoma of the skin. (Am J Pathol 2008, 172:1740–1747; DOI: 10.2353/ajpath.2008.070700)
The Urban Density Premium Across Establishments

We use longitudinal establishment data to estimate the urban density premium for U.S. establishments, controlling for observed establishment characteristics and dynamic establishment behavior. Consistent with previous studies, we find an elasticity of average establishment earnings with respect to metropolitan area population of 0.03, controlling for the endogeneity of location and establishment and metropolitan area characteristics. More importantly, we find that the estimated density premium is realized almost entirely at entry and is constant over an establishment's life. We find little evidence that the endogenous entry or exit of establishments can account for any of the estimated density premium. We interpret our results as implying that the returns to agglomeration diffuse within a city through a reallocation channel rather than through an increase in the productivity of existing firms.
How to decrease the emotional impact of cadaver dissection in medical students

Background : Teaching anatomy is based on cadaver dissection. Working with cadavers, whether through active dissection or by examination of prosected specimens, constitutes a potential stressor in medical education. Purpose.To reduce the anxiety of the medical students by mentally preparing them before going to the dissection room. Methods: The questionnaires were distributed among 68 medical students. The pre-dissection questionnaire comprised questions related to demographic data and the first encounter with a cadaver. The students were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group was prepared psychologically prior to dissection, but the control group entered the dissection room without any preparation. After the first dissection class, all students were surveyed by the second questionnaire which surveyed physical and cognitive symptoms of anxiety, resulting from exposure to the dissection room at the first visit and six weeks later. Results : There was a significant difference (p<.05) in the rate of anxiety between experimental and control group in the initial visit. The difference in the rate of anxiety between the first exposure and six weeks later was significant in control group (p<.008), while it was not significant in the experimental group. Conclusion : The initial preparation could relatively reduce the rate of stress, so that the experimental group experienced less errs) tonal effects during dissection compared to control group. Keyword: Emotional impact, cadaver dissection, medical students
Investigations on charge trapping and de-trapping properties of polymeric insulators through discharge current measurements

It is generally accepted that formation and accumulation of space charge in polymeric insulation is a critical issue in the design of high voltage electric systems, as it leads to insulation degradation and premature failure under high voltage surges and polarity reversals. Even at service stress level, accumulation of space charge may cause electrothermal aging. The insulation degradation and aging is reflected in the trapping and detrapping characteristics of the insulation, making it a useful aging marker. Space charge measurement methods are frequently used for trapping and de-trapping analysis. However, estimation of charge trapping and de-trapping behavior is very difficult due to the involvement of material properties and also partly due to the fact that proper measurement of space charge is itself a very complicated issue, requiring very sophisticated experimental arrangement and signal processing techniques. Moreover, application of these methods is limited to polymeric insulations of certain geometries (planar or radial). In this paper, the charge trapping and de-trapping behavior of low density polyethylene (LDPE), a widely used polymeric material for electrical insulation purpose, have been investigated employing a direct method based on the discharge characteristics obtained after the sample was stressed for short durations. A relationship is established between the de-trapped charge and the extracted charge measured from the discharge current. From this relationship a relative distribution of trapped charges across different trap depths was obtained. It was noticed that the trapped charge distribution is of exponential nature in the trap depth range of 0.93–1.11 eV. The presented method facilitates direct estimation of trap distribution independent of the insulation geometry. It was also observed that the trapped charge is highly dependent on the applied field.
INSTRUMENT IDENTIFICATION IN CONCURRENT UNISON DYADS : THE EFFECT OF TIMBRE SALIENCY

Saliency refers to the character of an object standing out, hence easily capturing someone’s attention. This concept, when applied to music, can be interpreted in a way that a highly salient instrument sound will more likely draw a listener’s attention than other concurrent instruments. That is, we might expect in turn that a highly salient instrument timbre will be more easily identified from other concurrent sounds, which will be also reflected by listeners’ higher confidence ratings. In order to test these hypotheses, an experiment was carried out where twenty-seven listeners heard concurrent unison dyads of different instruments and were asked to identify one instrument present. Presented with a list of possible instruments, listeners identified one instrument they heard in a stimulus and rated their confidence that the chosen instrument was present. The results proved not to be consistent with the hypothesis that listeners are better at identifying those instruments that exhibit greater timbre saliency (Chon, 2013). Possible explanations for this failure are discussed. Still, a mild yet statistically significant correlation was observed between the timbre saliency values and average confidence ratings, which is consistent with one of our hypotheses that listeners would be more confident of identifying more salient instrument sounds.
SIMULATION MODEL BASED ON IACS DATA; ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO ANALYSE SECTORAL INCOME RISK IN AGRICULTURE

We develop a static simulation model to analyse income losses and income risks at aggregated agriculture sector level. Our empirical case study is based on farm level records for direct payments claims (IACS data) and covers the period 2010–2011. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate the impact of different levels of risk on income trends. Results show that 80% of farms are extremely dependent on direct payments. Farm production types highly supported by direct payments consequentially fall into the low-risk group. Results show that a significant share of income loss at sector level is carried by small farms (by economic class). Average probability of larger losses at the sector level ranges between 2% and 64%. Our results also indicate that larger farms often have better risk-return ratios and thus face lower relative income risks.