Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Bayan Tabla Timbre on Stimulus Discrimination and Perception ofMusic Emotion in a Dangdut Music Fans, Neutral, and Haters Group

Background: A theoretical issue about the control factors of the subject response on musical timbre between acoustic factors (including attack-decay) and type of music (genre) still unclear. Objective: Examine the effects of bayan tabla timbre and its attack-decay changes on stimulus discrimination and perception of music emotion in a dangdut music fans group, neutral group, and haters group. Method: A randomized experiment between-within subjects design was used in the research method. Research conducted in an Experimental Psychology laboratory at Gadjah Mada University of Indonesia. The research was supported by the participation of undergraduate and graduate students from Social-Humanities and Veterinary Medicine Sciences at Gadjah Mada University. All subjects aged 17-32 years. A dangdut music fans group/KE (N=18), neutral group/KK1 (N=18), and haters group/ KK2 (N=18). Each subject in KE, KK1, KK2 receive a random series treatment of three music: M1 (a music which has natural bayan tabla timbre [in G#1 pitch and its tone's attack was 0.403 seconds per stroke]), M2 (a music without bayan tabla timbre as the control/placebo), and M3 (a music which has synthetic bayan tabla timbre [in G#1 pitch and its tone's attack was 0.085 seconds per stroke]). Main outcome measures. The subject response was measured by StimoV1.0 software which consists of stimulus discrimination scale (similarity scaling), emotional perception scale (semantic differential scale): strong-not strong, happy-not happy, fun-not fun, erotic-not erotic, and the reaction time measurement in seconds. Results and Conclusion: In general, the results shown that the effects of musical timbre on stimulus discrimination is more controlled by acoustic factors (including attack-decay) and is not controlled by preference factors to type of music (genre). But however, the effects of musical timbre on perception of music emotion can be controlled by preference factors to type of music (genre).
Low Serum Magnesium in Preterm Labour

A case-control study was carried out in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka from July 2005 to June 2007, to evaluate serum magnesium level in women with preterm labour (28-36 weeks) and compare them with those who were in term labour (37-40 weeks). The total number of cases was 160, of which 80 were cases and similar number were control.
Spherical dynamic models of top‐down tectonics

We use the Multipole–Boundary Element Method (MP‐BEM) to simulate regional and global geodynamics in a spherical 3‐D setting. We first simulate an isolated subducting rectangular plate with length (Llitho) and width (Wlitho) varying between 0.5 and 2 times the radius of the Earth (REarth) and with viscosity ηlitho varying between 100 and 500 times the upper mantle (ηUM), sinking in a layered mantle characterized by lower‐upper mantle viscosity ratioλ = ηLM/ηUM varying between 1 and 80. In a mantle with small upper/lower viscosity contrast (λ ≅ 1), trench and plate motions are weakly dependent on Wlitho; plate motion is controlled by slab pull if Llitho ≤ REarth, while for longer plates plate speed strongly decreases because of the plate basal friction and flow reorganization. An increasing viscosity ratio λ gradually breaks this pattern, and for λ ≅ 10 combined with Wlitho ≈ REarth(and greater) trench advance and retreat are simultaneously observed. These results offer a first‐order explanation of the origin of the size (Llitho ≈ Wlitho ≈ REarth) of the largest plates observed over the past 150 Myr. Finally, two global plate tectonic simulations are performed from reconstructed plates and slabs at 25 Ma before present and before 100 Ma, respectively. It is shown that MP‐BEM predicts present plate kinematics if plate‐mantle decoupling is adopted for the longest plates (Llitho > REarth). Models for 100 Ma show that the slab‐slab interaction between India and Izanagi plates at 100 Ma can explain the propagation of the plate reorganization from the Indian to the Pacific plate.
EARLY WARNING SYSTEM FOR CERVICAL CANCER DIAGNOSIS USING RIDGE POLYNOMIAL NEURAL NETWORK AND CHAOS OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHM 1

Cervical cancer is one of the most dangerous cancer among women. Detecting this cancer earlier could prevent the subject from cancer. The aim of this paper is to propose a method that can be used as an early warning system for cervical cancer diagnosis. Thirteen questions about subject sexuality background were used as the significant parameters to determine whether the subject is a suspect of cervical cancer or not. These parameters also were used as the input variable to the classifier. This research hybridized Ridge Polynomial Neural Network with Chaos Optimization Algorithm as classifier. The results of this study showed that the proposed approach reached the sensitivity of 95.56%, specificity of 96.67% and accuracy of 96 %.
A NOTE ON THE GENERALIZED JORDAN TRIPLE DERIVATIONS ON LIE IDEALS IN SEMIPRIME RINGS

Let R be an associative ring, and F : R ! R an additive mapping. The map F is called a Jordan triple derivation if F (xyx) = F (x)yx + xF (y)x + xyF (x) for all x, y 2 R which is fulfilled (2), and F is called a generalized Jordan triple derivation if F (xyx) = F (x)yx + xf (y)x + xyf (x) with some Jordan triple derivation f for all x, y 2 R which is fulfilled (13). In this note, we deal with generalized Jordan triple derivations of semiprime rings, and give an affirmative answer to our conjecture in (12).
Deterministic and stochastic modelling of technical reserves in short-term insurance contracts

ABSTARCT Claims reserving for general insurance business has developed significantly over the recent past. This has been occasioned by the growth of the insurance market, with the risk underwriting process becoming more and more complex. New insurance products have been developed that cater for the more specific needs of the policyholder. Latent claims have also arisen in recent years, putting major strains on company resources. The case of asbestosis related claims testifies to this, having received widespread attention. Furthermore, recent disasters, such as the floods in Europe and the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. have contributed to the need for more complex ways of analyzing claims experience. The suitability of the models used in claims reserving, have had to be reviewed to ensure that they do not give false impressions.
Within-Subject Intra- and Inter-Method Consistency of Two Experimental Risk Attitude Elicitation Methods

Abstract We compare the consistency of choices in two methods used to elicit risk preferences on an aggregate as well as on an individual level. We ask subjects to choose twice from a list of nine decisions between two lotteries, as introduced by Holt and Laury (2002, 2005) alternating with nine decisions using the budget approach introduced by Andreoni and Harbaugh (2009). We find that, while on an aggregate (subject pool) level the results are consistent, on an individual (within-subject) level, behaviour is far from consistent. Within each method as well as across methods we observe low (simple and rank) correlations.
Employment Effects of Innovations over the Business Cycle: Firm-Level Evidence from European Countries

A growing literature investigates how firms’ innovation input reacts to changes in the business cycle. However, so far there is no evidence whether there is cyclicality in the effects of innovation on firm performance as well. In this paper, we investigate the employment effects of innovations over the business cycle. Our analysis employs a large data set of manufacturing firms from 26 European countries over the period from 1998 to 2010. Using the structural model of Harrison et al. (2014), our empirical analysis reveals four important findings: First, the net effect of product innovation on employment growth is pro-cyclical. It turns out to be positive in all business cycle phases except for the recession. Second, product innovators are more resilient to recessions than non-product innovators. Even during recessions they are able to substitute demand losses from old products by demand gains of new products to a substantial degree. As a result their net employment losses are significantly lower in recessions than those of non-product innovators. Third, we only find resilience for SMEs but not for large firms. Fourth, process and organizational innovations displace labor primarily during upturn and downturn periods.
Properties of the Cross-Sectional Distribution of Daily Equity Returns

We present statistical properties of the daily cross sectional distribution of equity returns for the 1000 largest capitalization stocks in the CRSP database during the period 1991 to 2002. The investigation is motivated by the very large changes in the distribution that occurred between 1998 and 2001. Summary statistics for the dispersion, skewness, and tail length are presented. A skew t-distribution is used to model the distribution and daily MLE estimates for the parameters are presented. We find the change during 1998 to 2001 was concentrated in the scale parameter with little change in the tail length. In addition the cross sectional distribution shares the fat-tailed property of time series variation of prices with an estimated degrees of freedom parameter of about 3.4.
Regimes in Australian pension fund returns: a hidden semi-Markov approach

Regimes are of interest to investors as they describe periods of episodic changes in returns and volatility caused by the non-normality and non-linearity characteristics of financial returns. The literature to date has examined regimes in single asset classes with little emphasis on the regime behavior of diversified (i.e. multi-asset investment) portfolios. This study examines whether lowering risk or increasing asset diversification are valid methods for investors to temper the regime behavior of their portfolios. Using a hidden semi-Markov model, the authors analyze the returns of two pension (i.e. superannuation) fund investment portfolios at opposite ends of the risk spectrum, namely a low risk cash- based portfolio and a moderate-to-high risk, but highly diversified, balanced portfolio. The findings show that asset class diversification does not appear to offer any noticeable benefits in relation to managing the regime behavior of investment portfolios. The findings also reveal that risk-reduction towards a cash based investment does not mitigate regimes in diversified portfolios.
Causes of diarrhoea in lambs during autumn and early winter in an Icelandic flock of sheep

ABASTRACT In 2002 intestinal parasites and bacterial infections were studied on the Fossardalur sheep farm, Eastern Iceland, where for years lambs have suffered from severe diarrhoea in autumn and early winter that sometimes has become fatal. Mainly food changes, but sometimes also Giardia duodenalis, were regarded as probable causes for short-term diarrhoea in some lambs soon after their return from upland ranges in September or early October. By the middle of October, after approximately three weeks' grazing on lowland pastures, all examined lambs on the farm suffered from coccidiosis for one or more weeks, with severe diarrhoea and a typical weight loss. Oocysts per gram faeces (opg) values peaked two to three weeks after the onset of the diarrhoea. Lambs were highly susceptible to eimerian infections when they returned to the oocyst-contaminated pastures in autumn. Massive spring coccidiosis is probably more or less avoided because lambs are usually released, still protected against eimerian infections, at approximately two weeks of age to the vast, infection-free summer rangelands. The common Entamoeba ovis, and rare Cryptosporidium sp. , and rare helminth infections were never suspected of contributing to the autumn diarrhoea. Clostridum sp. , the only pathogenic bacteria detected on the farm, was found in lambs arriving late from upland ranges with severe coccidiosis. It remains uncertain if the bacteria also contributed to their diarrhoea.
Assessing Acceptance Toward Wiki Technology in the Context of Higher Education

This study investigated undergraduate students’ intention to use wiki technology. An extension of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been used by taking into account not only students’ wiki perceived utility and usability, but also Big Five personality characteristics and two other variables, social norms, and facilitating conditions, as proposed in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Students’ beliefs before (pre-wiki scenario) and after (post-wiki scenario) the actual use of the wiki system were investigated, with 85 and 86 participants respectively. The hypotheses were tested using partial least squares analysis. For the pre-wiki scenario, 8/15 hypotheses were confirmed and 11/15 for the post-wiki scenario. The relationship between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness was found to be of the highest magnitude. The most notable difference across the two scenarios was that the relation between perceived ease of use and attitudes towards use was significant only in the first scenario. The results demonstrate that the proposed TAM-extended model could predict students’ wiki acceptance.
LEVELS OF OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE, BOARD COMPOSITION AND BOARD SIZE SEEM UNIMPORTANT IN NEW ZEALAND

The relationship between firm performance and board composition, size and equity ownership structure are investigated in this paper for a sample of 426 annual observations of New Zealand firms across a five-year period. No statistically significant relationships could be found. These results are consistent with several previous studies and cast doubt on agency explanations used to relate board ownership to corporate performance. This may be due to endogenous factors or due to the small size of the New Zealand pool of corporate directors.
Short-Sellers and Short Covering

This study fills an important gap in the literature on loss realization aversion. It shows how a ‘sophisticated’ sub-set of investors, namely short-sellers, react to losses. Using daily data on stock lending, we estimate the average price at which short positions were initiated, thus permitting a study of short-sellers’ responses to their own book losses. We find that short-sellers close their positions in response to losses and not simply in response to rising share prices. This is a key result and a distinction from findings in related research. We conclude that short-sellers do not exhibit an aversion to realizing losses, but instead accept their losses or ‘mistakes’ systematically.
SUBLETHAL EXPOSURE TO A NEUROTOXIC PESTICIDE AFFECTS ACTIVITY RHYTHMS AND PATTERNS OF FOUR SPIDER SPECIES

Abstract Four species from three families of spiders were exposed to sublethal concentrations of the neurotoxic pesticide malathion: Schizocosa ocreata (Hentz 1844), Rabidosa rabida (Walckenaer 1837), Frontinella communis (Hentz 1850), and Salticus scenicus (Clerck 1757). Spider activity was recorded using a proprietary computer vision system equipped with artificial intelligence routines. Exposure to malathion changed the spiders' propensity to move, levels and patterns of activity, and distance moved. Dosed spiders increased their activity between 12 and 40%, depending on the species. Continuous recordings for ≥ 24 h revealed the peak activity for dosed R. rabida and S. scenicus was shifted ∼ 1 h earlier than controls. Spiders exposed to malathion also significantly increased the distance they moved per locomotory bout. This is consistent with the action of an organophosphate neurotoxin acting as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. Thus, exposure to sublethal doses of malathion appears to affect the neural basis for these spider's normal diel periodicities, time budgets, and patterns of locomotion, probably reducing their efficiency as agents of biological control.
Taxus wallichiana as a Potential in vitro Antioxidant with Good Lethal Effect on Pathogenic Bacterial Strains

Objective: Taxus wallichiana as a potential in vitro antioxidant with good lethal effect on pathogenic bacterial strains. Methods: Antioxidant activity of the different crude extracts of Taxus wallichiana were evaluated using total phenolics, DPPH, Reducing power, DNA sugar damage and lipid peroxidation assays and antibacterial activity against some food borne pathogens were evaluated by using agar dilution method . Results: The maximum percentage inhibition for DPPH standard solution was recorded (72.78%) for methanolic extract, 72.45%, 68.3% and 94.81% for ethyl acetate, chloroform and petroleum ether extracts respectively. The antioxidant activities of the extracts were also determined using the microsomal lipid peroxidation system and the highest antioxidant activity was again observed in petroleum ether extract (97.63%) followed by the methanolic extract (97.56%). The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the extracts determined by the agar dilution method were ranging from 50 to 400 mg/ml. However, the extracts like ethyl acetate, chloroform and petroleum ether exhibited marked inhibitory effect against all the test organisms and were more effective than that of methanol extract of Taxus wallichiana . Conclusion: These findings indicate promising antioxidant and antibacterial activity of crude extracts of the Taxus wallichiana and the need for further exploration of their effective use in both modern and traditional systems of medicine.
Empowerment Patterns of Leaders in ICT and School Strengths Following the Implementation of National ICT Reform

The Ministry of Education in Israel has, over the past two years, been running an education program designed to lead the implementation of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) in schools. Implementation of the program is accompanied by training and support of teachers selected to be ICT leaders. The role of the ICT leader is divided to two positions: (1) the School ICT Coordinator, in charge of ICT reform at their school and (2) the Regional ICT Advisor, in charge at the district level and operating in several schools. Participants in the current research were 226 ICT leaders from one of the districts in Israel that participated in the ICT reform. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the contribution of the ICT reform on schools' ICT leaders and schools' strengths. We also had a theoretical basis for assuming that the ICT leaders will experience personal empowerment as a result of their position and training. Thus, we set out to evaluate the personal empowerment patterns of ICT leaders and how they relate to the schools’ strengths. The strengths were identified using content analysis on ICT leaders' perceptions of the schools’ strengths. This analysis revealed nine fields in which the schools improved following the ICT plan: information sharing, student empowerment, dialogue, technological assimilation, teacher empowerment, management optimization, pedagogical change, bridging the gaps and community visibility. These nine fields were categorized to three aspects of school change following ICT reform: pedagogical, technological and organizational aspects. The personal empowerment of the ICT leaders was measured with an online questionnaire in which the ICT leaders reported their sense of learning and satisfaction as leaders of organizational change. This served as a measure of personal empowerment in the pedagogical and technological domains. The results showed that ICT leaders who reported pedagogical change at school also had significantly higher pedagogical and technological personal empowerment. We assume that these results represent a gradual model, in which the pedagogical strength is the end stage of the ICT implementation process. The findings highlight the importance of providing professional guidance for ICT leaders as messengers of innovative pedagogical perception in schools following ICT implementation. Also, they shed light in the process of ICT implementation and can help construct new ways of evaluating such processes.
Modelling the volatility of the Spanish wholesale Electricity Spot Market: asymmetric GARCH Models vs. Threshold ARSV model

espanolEl proceso de liberalizacion y desregulacion del mercado electrico espanol ha incrementado la complejidad del comportamiento de los precios. En particular, la volatilidad de los precios spot es la caracteristica que mejor define el mercado espanol actual. Teniendo en cuenta que el conocimiento de este hecho estilizado es clave para distribuidores, generadores y reguladores, en este articulo nos centramos en el estudio de la respuesta asimetrica o no de los precios spot, asi como en la existencia de efecto leverage directo o inverso. Para ello se utiliza una bateria de modelos GARCH tradicionales en la literatura, a la que se enfrenta el modelo de volatilidad T-ARSV. Los resultados favorecen a la especificacion T-ARSV y sugieren un efecto leverage positivo en el mercado electrico espanol. EnglishThe liberalization and deregulation of the Spanish electricity market has provoked an increase in the complexity of pricing behaviour. In particular, the volatility of electricity spot prices is the feature that best characterises the current Spanish market. Since an understanding of the volatility process in the electricity market is critically important to distributors, generators and market regulators, this article focuses on the asymmetrical pattern of the volatility of Spanish electricity spot prices, paying special attention to the direct or inverse leverage effect. For this purpose, we use both a range of traditional GARCH models and a T-ARSV model. The results clearly favour the proposed T-ARSV specification, which suggests a positive leverage effect in the Spanish market.
Performance of the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm on the Maximum Cut Problem

The Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) is a promising approach for programming a near-term gate-based hybrid quantum computer to find good approximate solutions of hard combinatorial problems. However, little is currently know about the capabilities of QAOA, or of the difficulty of the requisite parameters optimization. Here, we study the performance of QAOA on the MaxCut combinatorial optimization problem, optimizing the quantum circuits on a classical computer using automatic differentiation and stochastic gradient descent, using QuantumFlow, a quantum circuit simulator implemented with TensorFlow. We find that we can amortize the training cost by optimizing on batches of problems instances; that QAOA can exceed the performance of the classical polynomial time Goemans-Williamson algorithm with modest circuit depth, and that performance with fixed circuit depth is insensitive to problem size. Moreover, MaxCut QAOA can be efficiently implemented on a gate-based quantum computer with limited qubit connectivity, using a qubit swap network. These observations support the prospects that QAOA will be an effective method for solving interesting problems on near-term quantum computers.