Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
13901 Putri 2020 E.docx

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between competence, work experience, professionalism, auditor independence to audit quality in the public accountant firms in Indonesia, precisely in Surabaya, Sidoarjo, and Gresik. The research was being conducted by the questionnaire distribution model that applied to all the auditors who work in public accountant firms in Surabaya, Sidoarjo, and Gresik. The research population is all the auditors who are employed by public accountant firms in 43 places at Surabaya, one place at Sidoarjo, and one place at Gresik. The sample in this research is 49 auditors from 10 public accountant firms who are willing to complete the questionnaire in this research. Hypothesis testing was done using the Partial Least Square test using WarpPLS version 6.0 software. The result in this research found that auditors’ competence and professionalism has a relationship to the audit quality. In addition, work experience and auditor independence have no relationship to audit quality.
WAS LOCAL GOVERNANCE SUCH A GOOD IDEA? A GLOBAL COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

The idea of local governance has gained much prominence but can elected local government be sustained in a role as network coordinator alone? To investigate this question this article focuses attention on four societal roles that local government systems undertake. They can support political identity, underwrite economic development, facilitate social welfare provision or act as a lifestyle co-ordinator through the practice of community governance. Tying our investigation to the embedded societal roles of local government in different systems opens up the opportunity for a global comparative perspective. It also supports an argument that a sustainable system of local government is likely to be one that is able to combine societal roles to a substantial degree and those systems left with community governance as their key societal function are particularly likely to find themselves pushed to the sidelines of governing arrangements.
Distributed Training and Inference of Deep Learning Models for Multi-Modal Land Cover Classification

Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have established themselves as a fundamental tool in numerous computational modeling applications, overcoming the challenge of defining use-case-specific feature extraction processing by incorporating this stage into unified end-to-end trainable models. Despite their capabilities in modeling, training large-scale DNN models is a very computation-intensive task that most single machines are often incapable of accomplishing. To address this issue, different parallelization schemes were proposed. Nevertheless, network overheads as well as optimal resource allocation pose as major challenges, since network communication is generally slower than intra-machine communication while some layers are more computationally expensive than others. In this work, we consider a novel multimodal DNN based on the Convolutional Neural Network architecture and explore several different ways to optimize its performance when training is executed on an Apache Spark Cluster. We evaluate the performance of different architectures via the metrics of network traffic and processing power, considering the case of land cover classification from remote sensing observations. Furthermore, we compare our architectures with an identical DNN architecture modeled after a data parallelization approach by using the metrics of classification accuracy and inference execution time. The experiments show that the way a model is parallelized has tremendous effect on resource allocation and hyperparameter tuning can reduce network overheads. Experimental results also demonstrate that proposed model parallelization schemes achieve more efficient resource use and more accurate predictions compared to data parallelization approaches.
Experimental study of sensitivity dependences on waveguide position and diaphragm thickness in silicon-based guided-wave optical accelerometer

Abstract. Our group has developed a silicon-based guided-wave optical accelerometer, consisting of a proof mass centered on a diaphragm and a waveguide across the diaphragm. The sensor operates based on phase retardation induced by the elasto-optic effect. Designing the sensor is considerably complicated since it is strongly suggested that sensitivity is related to many parameters, such as waveguide position, diaphragm dimensions, and size and weight of proof mass. Hence, these relations should be clearly identified to establish a design guideline. In this study, sensitivity dependences on waveguide position and diaphragm thickness were experimentally examined. Regarding sensitivity dependence on waveguide position, phase sensitivity was highest for the waveguide at the diaphragm edge and was also relatively high for the waveguide at the edge of proof mass, whereas the sensitivity was quite low around the midposition between the edges of the diaphragm and proof mass. Regarding diaphragm thickness, phase sensitivity was found to be inversely proportional to the square of the diaphragm thickness.
Optimal growth with intermediate goods interdependence: A difference game approach

Two countries face a strategic interdependence in producing intermediate goods. Producing these intermediate goods requires both of domestic capital and another imported intermediate good. Individually they determine its balanced growth path by taking into account this interdependence. By allowing for strategic interactions in the analysis we adapted a two-agent dynamic setting and find an interior Markov Perfect Equilibrium (MPE) as well as an open-loop equilibrium. We find that main results resemble each other but growth rates will be higher when strategies are allowed to be revised dynamically.
Potential Effects of Climate Change on the Distribution of Endemic Lizards (Squamata: Sauria) in Cuba

Climate change has modified the distribution and abundance of numerous species. Being ectotherms, reptiles are especially susceptible to this phenomenon, which worldwide threatens almost 40 % of known species of lizards. Its impact on the herpetofauna of Cuba has been little studied. Therefore, we estimate the possible effects of climate change on the distribution of 46 endemic lizard species. To modelling the climatic niche of the species with the MaxEnt program, we used 3 698 presence records and 17 WorldClim bioclimatic variables. For transferring to the future, we used two climate scenarios with RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5, at two times periods (2050 and 2070). We assumed vulnerability as the potential reduction of future areas of climatic suitability (ACS) compared to current ones. We superimposed the distributions to detect sites of greater potential richness and those of greater exposure to climate change. We evaluated the models obtained as useful and excellent according to the AUC values, reflecting their high predictive capacity. The most extensive current ACS corresponded to Anolis equestris (98 213 km2), and the smallest to A. quadriocellifer (3 074 km2). With the most alarming scenario (RCP 8.5), a loss of more than 30 % of the ACS and a greater probability of extinction in their current areas of occupation was predicted in almost 85 % of the species by 2070. Mesophilic species showed greater vulnerability, losing 30.8 to 100 % of their future ACS for the RCP 8.5 scenario. The trend in all projections was the reduction of ACS, mainly in the West and Center regions. The greater richness of lizards, and the greater gain and stability of future ACS, corresponded to the main mountainous massifs of the country, so that these regions could act as climatic refuges against the conditions of climate change. However, the little dispersal capacity of these species and low landscape connectivity resulting from anthropic activities could limit the future colonization of available habitats. Research Article
Topographical changes caused by moderate and small floods in a gravelly ephemeral river n 2D morphodynamic simulation approach

In ephemeral rivers, channel morphology represents a snapshot at the end of a succession of geomorphic changes performed by a flood. In most cases, the channel shape and bedform evolution during different phases of a flood hydrograph are not recognized from field evidence. This paper analyzes the capabilities of morphodynamic modelling (Delft 2D) for resolving the evolution of a gravelly ephemeral river channel during consecutive, moderate- and low-magnitude discharge events. We pursue for schematic concepts for simulations in ephemeral gravely rivers that provide an outcome with the closest similarity to the post-flood reality. Based on the simulations, we analyze the morphodynamic evolution of Rambla de la Viuda (Spain) to find out when and to what extent the channel changes occur during the phases of moderate- (March 2013) and low-magnitude (May 2013) discharge events, and what influence the discharge has on the rate of morphological changes. The model performance is examined with different parameterizations. The spatially varying grain size data and transport equations were the most important factors, in addition to the quality of recorded discharge, for the simulation results of the channel evolution. The total load equation worked better, compared to the deterministic equation. The erosion and deposition can be in total greater during the longlasting receding phase than during the rising phase. The deposition and erosion peaks are predicted to occur at the beginning of the moderate-magnitude discharge event, whereas deposition dominates throughout the event. On the contrary, the low-magnitude discharge event only experiences the peak of channel changes after the discharge peak. These different predicted erosion/deposition patterns suggest a hysteresis effect on the morphodynamic changes, and stress the importance of previous flood history (timing, succession and magnitude) in understanding the geomorphic response of gravelly ephemeral rivers.
Bone turnover markers are correlated with total skeletal uptake of 99 mTc-methylene diphosphonate ( 99 mTc-MDP )

Background: Skeletal uptake of 99mTc labelled methylene diphosphonate (99mTc-MDP) is used for producing images of pathological bone uptake due to its incorporation to the sites of active bone turnover. This study was done to validate bone turnover markers using total skeletal uptake (TSU) of 99mTc-MDP. Methods: 22 postmenopausal women (52–80 years) volunteered to participate. Scintigraphy was performed by injecting 520 MBq of 99mTc-MDP and taking whole body images after 3 minutes, and 5 hours. TSU was calculated from these two images by taking into account the urinary loss and soft tissue uptake. Bone turnover markers used were bone specific alkaline phosphatase (S-Bone ALP), three different assays for serum osteocalcin (OC), tartrate resistant acid phosphatase 5b (STRACP5b), serum C-terminal cross-linked telopeptides of type I collagen (S-CTX-I) and three assays for urinary osteocalcin (U-OC). Results: The median TSU of 99mTc-MDP was 23% of the administered activity. All bone turnover markers were significantly correlated with TSU with r-values from 0.52 (p = 0.013) to 0.90 (p < 0.001). The two resorption markers had numerically higher correlations (S-TRACP5b r = 0.90, SCTX-I r = 0.80) than the formation markers (S-Total OC r = 0.72, S-Bone ALP r = 0.66), but the difference was not statistically significant. TSU did not correlate with age, weight, body mass index or bone mineral density. Conclusion: In conclusion, bone turnover markers are strongly correlated with total skeletal uptake of 99mTc-MDP. There were no significant differences in correlations for bone formation and resorption markers. This should be due to the coupling between formation and resorption. Background Bone metabolism can be assessed by biochemical means using bone turnover markers (BTM) measured in serum or urine [1]. BTMs can be used in the monitoring of antiresorptive therapy [2,3] and there is increasing evidence that at least some BTMs can be predictive for bone loss [4] and fracture [5,6]. They are, however, also subjected to rapid changes due to reasons other than bone metabolism [7], Published: 30 March 2009 BMC Medical Physics 2009, 9:3 doi:10.1186/1756-6649-9-3 Received: 21 November 2008 Accepted: 30 March 2009 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral. com/1756-6649/9/3 © 2009 Lenora et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Physics-Based Dexterous Manipulations with Estimated Hand Poses and Residual Reinforcement Learning

Dexterous manipulation of objects in virtual environments with our bare hands, by using only a depth sensor and a state-of-the-art 3D hand pose estimator (HPE), is challenging. While virtual environments are ruled by physics, e.g. object weights and surface frictions, the absence of force feedback makes the task challenging, as even slight inaccuracies on finger tips or contact points from HPE may make the interactions fail. Prior arts simply generate contact forces in the direction of the fingers’ closures, when finger joints penetrate virtual objects. Although useful for simple grasping scenarios, they cannot be applied to dexterous manipulations such as inhand manipulation. Existing reinforcement learning (RL) and imitation learning (IL) approaches train agents that learn skills by using task-specific rewards, without considering any online user input. In this work, we propose to learn a model that maps noisy input hand poses to target virtual poses, which introduces the needed contacts to accomplish the tasks on a physics simulator. The agent is trained in a residual setting by using a model-free hybrid RL+IL approach. A 3D hand pose estimation reward is introduced leading to an improvement on HPE accuracy when the physics-guided corrected target poses are remapped to the input space. As the model corrects HPE errors by applying minor but crucial joint displacements for contacts, this helps to keep the generated motion visually close to the user input. Since HPE sequences performing successful virtual interactions do not exist, a data generation scheme to train and evaluate the system is proposed. We test our framework in two applications that use hand pose estimates for dexterous manipulations: hand-object interactions in VR and hand-object motion reconstruction in-the-wild. Experiments show that the proposed method outperforms various RL/IL baselines and the simple prior art of enforcing hand closure, both in task success and hand pose accuracy.
Carrier lifetime measurements in short-period InAs/GaSb strained-layer superlattice structures

Minority carrier lifetime and interband absorption in midinfrared range of spectra were measured in InAs/GaSb strained-layer superlattices (SLSs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaSb substrates. The carrier lifetime in 200-period undoped 7 ML InAs/8 ML GaSb SLS with AlSb carrier confinement layers was determined by time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) and from analysis of PL response to sinwave-modulated excitation. Study of PL kinetics in frequency domain allowed for direct lifetime measurements with the excess carrier concentration level of 3.5×1015 cm−3. The minority carrier lifetime of 80 ns at T=77 K was obtained from dependence of the carrier lifetime on excitation power.
Investigating the pion source function in heavy-ion collisions with the EPOS model

By measuring the momentum correlations of pions created in heavy-ion collisions we can gain information about the space-time geometry of the particle emitting source. Recent experimental results from multiple different collaborations demonstrated that to properly describe the shape of the measured correlation functions, one needs to go beyond the Gaussian approximation. Some studies suggest that the L´evy distribution could provide a good description of the source. While there are already many experimental results, there is very little input from the phenomenology side in explanation of the observed non-Gaussian source shapes. The EPOS model is a sophisticated hybrid model where the evolution of the newly-created system is governed by Parton-Based GribovRegge theory. It has already proved to be successful in describing many different experimental observations for the systems characterized by baryon chemical potential close to zero, but so far the source shape has not been explored in detail. In this paper we discuss studies of the pion emitting source based on the theoretical approach of the EPOS model.
Learning as filtering: Implications for spike-based plasticity

Most normative models in computational neuroscience describe the task of learning as the optimisation of a cost function with respect to a set of parameters. However, learning as optimisation fails to account for a time-varying environment during the learning process and the resulting point estimate in parameter space does not account for uncertainty. Here, we frame learning as filtering, i.e., a principled method for including time and parameter uncertainty. We derive the filtering-based learning rule for a spiking neuronal network—the Synaptic Filter—and show its computational and biological relevance. For the computational relevance, we show that filtering improves the weight estimation performance compared to a gradient learning rule with optimal learning rate. The dynamics of the mean of the Synaptic Filter is consistent with spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) while the dynamics of the variance makes novel predictions regarding spike-timing dependent changes of EPSP variability. Moreover, the Synaptic Filter explains experimentally observed negative correlations between homo- and heterosynaptic plasticity.
Magnetoelastic and magnetostrictive properties of 
Co2XAl
 Heusler compounds

We present a comprehensive first-principles electronic structure study of the magnetoelastic and magnetostrictive properties in Co-based ${\mathrm{Co}}_{2}X\mathrm{Al}$ ($X=\mathrm{V}$, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe) full Heusler compounds. In addition to the commonly used total energy approach, we employ the torque method to calculate the magnetoelastic tensor elements. We show that the torque-based methods are, in general, computationally more efficient and allow us to unveil the atomic and orbital contributions to the magnetoelastic constants in an exact manner, as opposed to the conventional approaches based on second-order perturbation with respect to the spin-orbit coupling. The magnetostriction constants are in good agreement with available experimental data. The results reveal that the main contribution to the magnetostriction constants, ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{100}$ and ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{111}$, arises primarily from the strain-induced modulation of the $\ensuremath{\langle}{d}_{{x}^{2}\ensuremath{-}{y}^{2}}|{\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{L}}_{z}|{d}_{xy}\ensuremath{\rangle}$ and $\ensuremath{\langle}{d}_{{z}^{2}}|{\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{L}}_{x}|{d}_{yz}\ensuremath{\rangle}$ spin-orbit coupling matrix elements, respectively, of the Co atoms.
An Investigation of Record Linkage Refusal and Its Implications for Empirical Research

Linking survey data to administrative records provides access to large quantities of information such as full employment biographies. Although this practice is becoming increasingly common, only a small number of studies in the field of social sciences have thus far investigated the variables associated with linkage consent. These studies have produced diverging results with regard to the relevance of certain characteristics for the provision or non-provision of linkage consent. In this study, we analyze two comparable German datasets, thereby shedding new light on the possible reasons for previously inconsistent results. This is also the first study in which possible linkage consent bias is investigated in applied models, via the replication of an existing study for the sample in which respondents did not consent to data linkage. Whilst similar results are found between standard sociodemographic variables and linkage consent, there are considerable inconsistencies between the comparable datasets in terms of variables such as individual personality traits and work satisfaction. Overall, however, the results are promising - results do not differ much where respondents who did not provide linkage consent are considered.
Non-linear Conductance, Rectification, and Mechanosensitive Channel Formation of Lipid Membranes

There is mounting evidence that lipid bilayers display conductive properties. However, when interpreting the electrical response of biological membranes to voltage changes, they are commonly considered as inert insulators. Lipid bilayers under voltage-clamp conditions display current traces with discrete conduction-steps, which are indistinguishable from those attributed to the presence of protein channels. In current-voltage (I-V) plots they may also display outward rectification, i.e., voltage-gating. Surprisingly, this has even been observed in chemically symmetric lipid bilayers. Here, we investigate this phenomenon using a theoretical framework that models the electrostrictive effect of voltage on lipid membranes in the presence of a spontaneous polarization, which can be recognized by a voltage offset in electrical measurements. It can arise from an asymmetry of the membrane, for example from a non-zero spontaneous curvature of the membrane. This curvature can be caused by voltage via the flexoelectric effect, or by hydrostatic pressure differences across the membrane. Here, we describe I-V relations for lipid membranes formed at the tip of patch pipettes situated close to an aqueous surface. We measured at different depths relative to air/water surface, resulting in different pressure gradients across the membrane. Both linear and non-linear I-V profiles were observed. Non-linear conduction consistently takes the form of outward rectified currents. We explain the conductance properties by two mechanisms: One leak current with constant conductance without pores, and a second process that is due to voltage-gated pore opening correlating with the appearance of channel-like conduction steps. In some instances, these non-linear I-V relations display a voltage regime in which dI/dV is negative. This has also been previously observed in the presence of sodium channels. Experiments at different depths reveal channel formation that depends on pressure gradients. Therefore, we find that the channels in the lipid membrane are both voltage-gated and mechanosensitive. We also report measurements on black lipid membranes that also display rectification. In contrast to the patch experiments they are always symmetric and do not display a voltage offset.