Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Informational Asymmetry between Managers and Investors in the Optimal Capital Structure Decision

In this article, we consider the impact of asymmetric information between managers and investors on the optimal capital structure decision. This is done within a continuous-time framework, where the relevant state variable is given by the EBIT value of the firm; an approach taken by Goldstein et al. (2001), Hackbarth et al. (2003), Dangl & Zechner (2004) amongst others. Our setup differs in that we assume the EBIT to follow an Arithmetic Brownian motion, i.e. it can assume negative values. More importantly, we extend this framework in two directions: (i) We introduce a separate management claim. (ii) We introduce asymmetric information between managers and investors by assuming that claimants receive noisy signals, which they process according to rational expectation principles. Our results show, that managers always try to avoid debt, and that their optimal bankruptcy threshold is always lower, than the threshold set by equity holders. The introduction of asymmetric information changes the optimality conditions, and consequently the capital structure decision. It is shown, that the informational asymmetry can substantially lower the optimal leverage ratio, even without assuming that managers are entrenched.
An In-Memory VLSI Architecture for Convolutional Neural Networks

This paper presents an energy-efficient and high throughput architecture for convolutional neural networks (CNN). Architectural and circuit techniques are proposed to address the dominant energy and delay costs associated with data movement in CNNs. The proposed architecture employs a deep in-memory architecture, to embed energy-efficient low swing mixed-signal computations in the periphery of the SRAM bitcell array. An efficient data access pattern and a mixed-signal multiplier are proposed to exploit data reuse opportunities in convolution. Silicon-validated energy, delay, and behavioral models of the proposed architecture are developed and employed to perform large-scale system simulations. System-level simulations using these models show >97% detection accuracy on the MNIST data set, along with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$4.9\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2.4\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> improvements in energy efficiency and throughput, respectively, leading to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$11.9\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> reduction in energy-delay product as compared with a conventional (SRAM + digital processor) architecture.
Phenolics in Citrus hystrix leaves obtained using supercritical carbon dioxide extraction

The extraction of phenolics from Citrus hystrix leaf was carried out using supercritical fluid extraction and was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). The effects of CO2 flow rate, extraction pressure and extraction temperature on yield, total phenolic content and diphenyl-picrylhydrazyl-IC50 were evaluated and compared with ethanol extraction. The extraction pressure was the most significant factor affecting the yield, TPC and DPPH-IC50 of the extracts, followed by CO2 flow rate and the extraction temperature. The optimum conditions of pressure, CO2 flow rate and temperature were at 267 bars, 18 g/min and 50oC, respectively. The yield, TPC and DPPH-IC50 obtained were 5.06%, 116.53 mg GAE/g extract and IC50 of 0.063 mg/ml, respectively. These values were not significantly different (p<0.05) to their predicted values. Better inhibition and TPC were obtained using SFE method whereas higher yield and phenolic acids were obtained in the ethanol extracts.
Employee Volunteering

Employee volunteering is a topic of growing importance in workplaces around the globe. Likewise, research on employee volunteering has seen a marked increase over the past decade, particularly in leading management and psychology outlets. Despite this increasing visibility, there is little consensus on the state of the literature or directions for the future. In particular, research is currently based on a variety of different definitions and operationalizations and is spread across several disciplines. In order to advance management research on employee volunteering, this review focuses on three contributions: (1) clarifying the definition and various forms of employee volunteering, (2) reviewing the current body of knowledge on employee volunteering, and (3) providing a future research agenda for the role of employee volunteering in the workplace.
Fiber-based thermometry using optically detected magnetic resonance

Fiber-optic probes coupled with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond and integrated with a microwave transmission line are shown to enable fiber-format optical thermometry. Temperature measurements with an accuracy of 0.02 K are performed by combining this NV-diamond fiber thermometer with a properly optimized differential lock-in detection technique.
Activity patterns of urban red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) reduce the risk of traffic-induced mortality

Traffic collisions can be a major source of mortality in wild populations, and animals may be expected to exhibit behavioral mechanisms that reduce the risk associated with crossing roads. Animals living in urban areas in particular have to negotiate very dense road networks, often with high levels of traffic flow. We examined traffic-related mortality of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in the city of Bristol, UK, and the extent to which roads affected fox activity by comparing real and randomly generated patterns of movement. There were significant seasonal differences in the number of traffic-related fox deaths for different age and sex classes; peaks were associated with periods when individuals were likely to be moving through unfamiliar terrain and would have had to cross major roads. Mortality rates per unit road length increased with road magnitude. The number of roads crossed by foxes and the rate at which roads were crossed per hour of activity increased after midnight when traffic flow was lower. Adults and juveniles crossed 17% and 30% fewer roads, respectively, than expected from randomly generated movement. This highly mobile species appeared to reduce the mortality risk of minor category roads by changing its activity patterns, but it remained vulnerable to the effects of larger roads with higher traffic flows during periods associated with extraterritorial movements.
PATTERN OF CANCER IN YEMEN : FIRST RESULT FROM THE NATIONAL ONCOLOGY CENTER , SANA ' A , 2007

Yemen is a developing country located in the south west of Asia, occupying the south of Arab Peninsula. Cancer is a major public health problem in Yemen, the size of the problem and underlying risk factors is not yet well studied. The aim of this study is to report the pattern of cancers in Yemen. Material and methods: Data for the year 2007 available at the cancer registry department in National Oncology Center were used. Descriptive analysis of 3782 cases with various types were registered according to type of cancer, age, sex, site of lesion and governorate and has been analyzed using Epi info 7. Results: In 2007, a total of 3782 cases were registered with an equal male to female ratio and median age at diagnosis of 50 years that was slightly lower among females than males: 47 vs. 50 respectively. Among females, breast cancer was the most common cancer (21%) followed by lymphoma (8%) ovary and leukemia (7% each), while among males the most common cancers were lymphomas (11%), leukemia (9%) and liver, stomach and CNS tumors (7% each). Of all registered cases, there were 437 cancer cases (11.6%) aged 15 years old or less with a median age of 7 years. The most common cancer among children were leukemia (24%), followed by non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (17%) and CNS tumors and Hodgkin's lymphoma (10% each). Conclusions: Cancer is diagnosed at a relatively younger age in Yemen, especially among females and breast cancer accounts for about a quarter of cases among women. Yemen needs to strengthen regional as well as national cancer registries to determine the burden of cancer in Yemen as a first step for cancer control strategy. Analytical studies are recommended to understand the risk factors and plan prevention and control for the most common cancers such as lymphoma, leukemia and liver cancers.
Data Hiding in Binary Images Using Orthogonal Embedding - A High Capacity Approach

The growth of high speed computer networks and the Internet, in particular, has increased the ease of Information Communication. In comparison with Analog media, Digital media offers several distinct advantages such as high quality, easy editing, high fidelity copying, compression etc. But this type advancement in the field of data communication in other sense has hiked the fear of getting the data snooped at the time of sending it from the sender to the receiver. Information Security is becoming an inseparable part of Data Communication. In order to address this Information Security, Digital Watermarking plays an important role. Watermarking Techniques are used to hide a small amount of data in such a way that no one apart from the sender and intended recipient even realizes there is a hidden message. This paper proposed a high capacity data hiding approach for binary images in morphological transform domain for authentication purpose so that the image will look unchanged to human visual systems
Morphological manipulation of the nonlinear optical response of ZnO thin films grown by thermal evaporation

ZnO thin films with different micro-/nano-structured morphologies have been fabricated using thermal evaporation technique. The micro-/nano-structures ranged from dense grains to nanorods and nanowires. The fabricated films were characterized using x-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) techniques for determining their crystalline behavior and evaluating their morphology, respectively. Photoluminescence (PL) studies revealed two emission peaks in these films, one in the UV region due to exciton emission and the other in the visible spectral region due to Zn or Oxygen vacancies/defects. The effect of these different micro-/nano-structures on the third-order nonlinear optical (NLO) response has been scrutinized using the Z-scan technique with femtosecond (fs), MHz and picosecond (ps), kHz pulses at a wavelength of 800 nm. Various NLO coefficients such as two-photon absorption (β), nonlinear refractive index (n2), Re [χ (3)], Im [χ (3)] and χ (3) were evaluated. The obtained χ(3) values were ∼10−7 e.s. u. in the fs regime and ∼10−10 e.s. u. in the ps regime. Optical limiting studies of these films were also performed and limiting thresholds were estimated to be 15–130 μJ cm−2 in the fs regime while in ps regime the corresponding values were 1–3 J cm−2. The NLO data clearly designates strong third-order nonlinearities in these ZnO thin films with possible applications in photonics.
The Influence of Exposure to Religious Symbols on Out-Group Stereotypes

The influence of religious content on out-group stereotypes was examined in two experiments, using supraliminal priming. Jewish and Arab-Muslim students completed a search puzzle by which they were exposed to religious concepts, and then they filled questionnaires assessing their stere-otypes. In Study 1 (N = 156), priming did not affect out-group stereotypes of Jewish participants. However, exposure to religious symbols had an influence on stereotypes among Muslim participants: They perceived Jewish people as more unpleasant when primed by Jewish symbols, and as more antagonistic when primed by Islamic symbols. Study 2 (N = 110) replicated these findings while ruling out the possibility that the null effect found for the Jewish group was due to reduced familiarity with out-group symbols. Thus, for the minority group, incidental exposure to religious concepts contributes to negative out-group stereotypes, and suggests the operation of implicit social cognition. The results also relate to models of stereotype content (Fiske et al., 2002), and motivation and opportunity (Fazio & Olson, 2014).
Partial entrainment of gravel bars during floods

Spatial patterns of bed material entrainment by floods were documented at seven gravel bars using arrays of metal washers (bed tags) placed in the streambed. The observed patterns were used to test a general stochastic model that bed material entrainment is a spatially independent, random process where the probability of entrainment is uniform over a gravel bar and a function of the peak dimensionless shear stress τ0* of the flood. The fraction of tags missing from a gravel bar during a flood, or partial entrainment, had an approximately normal distribution with respect to τ0* with a mean value (50% of the tags entrained) of 0.085 and standard deviation of 0.022 (root‐mean‐square error of 0.09). Variation in partial entrainment for a given τ0* demonstrated the effects of flow conditioning on bed strength, with lower values of partial entrainment after intermediate magnitude floods (0.065 < τ0*< 0.08) than after higher magnitude floods. Although the probability of bed material entrainment was approximately uniform over a gravel bar during individual floods and independent from flood to flood, regions of preferential stability and instability emerged at some bars over the course of a wet season. Deviations from spatially uniform and independent bed material entrainment were most pronounced for reaches with varied flow and in consecutive floods with small to intermediate magnitudes.
Development in Mesozoic scyllarids and implications for the evolution of Achelata ( Reptantia , Decapoda , Crustacea )

We describe four immature specimens belonging to the extinct genus Cancrinos (Achelata, Decapoda, Crustacea) of yet unclear systematic affinities, three from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Lithographic Limestones of southern Germany (C. claviger), the fourth one from the Upper Cretaceous of Lebanon (C. libanensis). Two of these specimens shed light on the “post-larval” development in Cancrinos claviger. In addition, we report a fragmentary specimen from the Solnhofen Lithographic Limestones that is interpreted as a very late larval stage at least of a scyllarid lobster, but a more detailed assignment is impossible. If correct, this would represent the first find of a scyllarid in the Solnhofen Lithographic Limestones. The immature fossils of Cancrinos claviger demonstrate that the spatulate antennae, a diagnostic character for the genus Cancrinos, develop after the larval phase. The earliest stage represented exhibits an antennal morphology comparable to palinurid lobsters (closely related to scyllarids) in possessing a long multi-annulated flagellum. In the next represented stage the 17 proximal annuli are thickened relative to the more distal ones. Adult specimens have about 20 flattened annuli that form together with the most distal peduncle element the large spatulate distal area of the antenna. The spatulate morphology of the distal area is interpreted as a synapomorphy uniting Cancrinos and Scyllaridae sensu stricto into Scyllaridae sensu lato. The development of Cancrinos claviger indicates the occurrence of two heterochronic events in early scyllarid evolution, i. e. hypermorphosis + pre-displacement (addition of a new developmental state late in ontogeny, as revealed in the spatulate antennal distal area) in the direct stem-lineage of Scyllaridae sensu lato and pre-displacement (shift of a structure developing late in ontogeny into earlier stages, visible by presence of the spatulate antennal flagellum already in the first “post-larval” stage) in the direct stem-lineage of Scyllaridae sensu stricto.
Highly Unequal Three-Port Power Divider: Theory and Implementation

A three-port power divider consisting of a directional coupler, a Wilkinson power divider, and two transmission lines connected to them is proposed. Theoretical analysis reveals that highly unequal power division can be achieved by a feedback mechanism of two transmission lines along with the coupling coefficient of the directional coupler and the power division ratio of the Wilkinson power divider. The three-port power divider inherits the performance characteristics of high isolation, low reflection coefficients at all ports, and the minimum number of components. The proposed power divider is designed at 5.8 GHz and fabricated and evaluated through measurements. It demonstrates that electromagnetic simulation results are in good agreement with theoretical prediction and measurement results. The three-port power divider is compact in the planar form, so it can be easily integrated into radio frequency front ends.
Evaluation of auditory evoked response among type-II diabetic individuals in central India

Background: The Type II diabetes mellitus (DM) is characterized by hyperglycemia, as a result of damaged beta cell function, along with increase insulin resistance, either at receptor or at postreceptor levels. Neuropathies complications are the most common in diabetes, thats may lead to delayed evoked potentials in the central pathways. Aims and Objective: This study was undertaken to know the hearing status of the Type II diabetic patients and to delay development of its related complication like central neuropathy. Materials and Methods: This study evaluates central neuropathy by brainstem evoked response audiometry (BERA) in Type II DM patients. Results: We observed significant differences in BERA latencies between diabetic patients and healthy controls. There was significantly delayed Wave II, IV latency in left ear (at 80 dB) and Wave II latency in left ear, as well as Wave IV latency in right ear (at 90 dB) as compared to control. Diabetics patients with and without peripheral neuropathy there were absolute delayed latencies of Wave I, III, and V (80 dB). With relation to blood glucose, a significant difference in absolute latencies of Wave II (right ear at 90 dB), Wave IV (in right ear at 90 dB), Wave V (left ear at 80 dB), and interpeak latencies I-V (in right ear at 90 band). Conclusion: This study suggests that BERA is a simple, non-invasive procedure to detect early impairment of acoustic nerve, and central nervous system pathways, even in the absence o f specific symptoms, if BERA is carried out in diabetic patients, involvement of central neuronal axis can be detected earlier.
Temporal scales for transport patterns in the Gulf of Finland

The basic time scales for current-induced net transport of surface water and associated time scales of reaching the nearshore in the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea, are analysed based on Lagrangian trajectories of water particles reconstructed from three-dimensional velocity fields by the Rossby Centre circulation model for 1987–1991. The number of particles reaching the nearshore exhibits substantial temporal variability whereas the rate of leaving the gulf is almost steady. It is recommended to use an about 3 grid cells wide nearshore area as a substitute to the coastal zone and about 10–15 day long trajectories for calculations of the probability of reaching the nearshore. An appropriate time window for estimates of the properties of net transport patterns is 4–10 days.
cute , fatal Sarcocystis calchasi-associated hepatitis in Roller pigeons Columba livia f . dom . ) at Philadelphia

Four Roller pigeons (Columba livia f. dom.) at the Philadelphia Zoo died suddenly. Necropsy examination revealed macroscopic hepatitis. Microscopically, the predominant lesions were in liver, characterized with necrosis and mixed cell inflammatory response. Sarcocystis calchasi-like schizonts and free meroccepted 16 November 2015
Water mass transformation and the North Atlantic Current in three multicentury climate model simulations

[1] The warm and saline Subtropical Water carried by the North Atlantic Current undergoes substantial transformation on its way to higher latitudes, predominantly from oceanic heat loss to the atmosphere. The geographical distribution of the surface forced water mass transformation is assessed in multicentury climate simulations from three different climate models (BCM, IPSLCM4, and MPI-M ESM), with a particular focus on the eastern subpolar North Atlantic Ocean. A diagnosis, originally introduced by Walin (1982), estimates the surface water mass transformation from buoyancy forcing. While the depth structure of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is similar in all models, their climatological heat and freshwater fluxes are very different. Consistently, the models differ in their mean pathways of the North Atlantic Current, location of upper ocean low salinity waters, as well as in sea ice cover. In the two models with an excessive sea ice extent in the Labrador Sea, most of the water mass transformation in the subpolar region occurs in the eastern part (east of 35°W). The variability of the eastern water mass transformation on decadal time scales is related to the variable warm northward flow into the subpolar region, the upper branch of AMOC, where a strengthened flow leads an intensified transformation. This relationship seems to disappear with a weak connection between the Subtropical and Subpolar gyres.
The Power of Teacher Selection to Improve Education. Evidence Speaks Reports, Vol 1, #12.

This report describes the findings from a new study of the teacher selection process in Washington, DC public schools. In 2009, the district created a centralized application process to streamline hiring by screening out less desirable candidates. Following collection of standard information, applicants are asked to complete up to three additional in-depth assessments: (1) a subject-specific written assessment to assess their understanding of content and instructional practices; (2) a 30-minute structured interview with district personnel; and (3) a teaching “audition” that district personnel observed and evaluated.
Brain-Choroid Plexus Chemistry Changes Linkable to Caffeine Ingestion and Accompanying Short-Term Memory Disturbances in Experimental Models

A number of literatures have reported that caffeine could have negative effects on mental health and brain structures and chemistry. There are also reported positive effects of caffeine, such as improvement in memory, especially for those who consume caffeine from its natural sources. Sixty male juvenile Wistar rats were grouped into six (6) groups of 10 rats in each. The groups were labeled A-F with group A being the control group and groups B, C, D, E, and F being the treated groups. This investigation complements our previous efforts to study the effects of caffeine on the choroid plexus microscopic structure, which is involved in the production of the cerebrospinal fluids. Caffeine alters the activities of key enzymes that are associated with the production of CSF. This showed that the structural changes have observable alterations of the brain chemistry. Also, memory, a major attribute of mental power was tested in the same models; results showed that caffeine affected the short term memories. The effects of caffeine was studied in models that ingested caffeine solely and in other modeled after human use by consuming it with honey, a natural antioxidant rich sweetener. In this study, it was observed that the long-term consumption and high amount of caffeine increased the expression of carbonic anhydrase enzyme in the choroid plexus, this enzyme plays a major role in the production of CSF. In the caffeine-treated rats, there was also increased expression of Na+/K+-ATPase which may be associated with changes in the choroid epithelial cells. Honey improved the glutathione peroxidase level. Results showed the use of caffeine with honey had positive effects against the observed effects caused by ingestion of caffeine only. This also showed that caffeine use effects would vary in users of pure caffeine as mere drugs; and habitual consumers as beverages. Generally, evidences lead us to conclude that alterations in enzymes activities are associated with choroid plexus changes that could affect CSF production. These effects are also associated with behavioural changes.