Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Corporate versus Owners’ Tax Minimization on Earnings Management When Incentives Compete: Evidence from Private Finnish Firms

This study investigates whether corporate or owners’ tax minimization affected earnings management when these incentives competed in private firms. The Finnish tax reform of 2005 provides an excellent setting for this type of investigation because the tax laws were changed so that corporate tax rates were decreased and tax rates for dividends were increased simultaneously. The findings indicate that owners’ personal tax minimization dominates over corporate tax minimization and that this has had an effect on earnings management. Specifically, managers of private firms did not manage earnings downwards in the year prior to the corporate tax rate decrease, but they opportunistically managed earnings upwards in order to receive tax benefits from the more favorable dividend taxation system. Thus, this study sheds light on how owner-opportunism in a form of tax minimization dominates the resource allocations of small private firms via earnings management.
Generalized optimization methodology for system design

The new general methodology for the analog system optimization was elaborated by means of the optimum control theory formulation in order to improve the characteristics of the system design process. A special control vector is defined to redistribute the compute expensive between a network analysis and a parametric optimization. This approach generalizes the design process and generates a set of the different optimization strategies that serves as the structural basis to the optimal design strategy construction. The principal difference between this new methodology and before elaborated theory is the more general approach on the definition of the system parameters and more broadened structural basis. The main equations for the system optimization process were elaborated. These equations include the special control functions that generalize the total system optimization process. Numerical results that include as passive and active nonlinear networks demonstrate the efficiency and perspective of the proposed approach.
Multi-Objective Stochastic MPC-Based System Control Architecture for Plug-In Hybrid Electric Buses

For a single-shift parallel hybrid electric bus, hybrid-driving with multiple operation modes is adopted for better fuel economy. However, in the process of hybrid-driving, frequent mode transitions (MTs) would be triggered, which are accompanied by extra fuel consumption and abrasion of the clutch, especially for the MTs between engine-on modes and engine-off modes. Therefore, reducing unnecessary MTs and taking advantage of multiple operation modes to improve fuel economy of single-shift parallel hybrid powertrain should be given high priority. To solve this problem, a corrected stochastic model predictive control (MPC) is proposed in this study. First, the Markov-chain based stochastic driver model is built for the statistic of city bus driving cycles. Second, the process of motor starting engine is analyzed based on real-world data and the cost of the process is quantified for optimization. Finally, a novel system operating control strategy based on multiobjective stochastic MPC is proposed. To obtain a better knowledge of the proposed multiobjective control strategy, three kind of commonly used control strategies are adopted for comparison. The simulation results in real-world driving cycles and standard driving cycles show that the proposed energy management strategy can greatly improve the fuel economy of a plug-in hybrid electric bus compared with the equivalent consumption minimization strategy. This study may offer some useful insights for the current strategies to get higher fuel economy.
Lipopolysaccharide Induces Rapid Production of IL-10 by Monocytes in the Presence of Apoptotic Neutrophils1

There is growing evidence that apoptotic neutrophils have an active role to play in the regulation and resolution of inflammation following phagocytosis by macrophages and dendritic cells. However, their influence on activated blood monocytes, freshly recruited to sites of inflammation, has not been defined. In this work, we examined the effect of apoptotic neutrophils on cytokine production by LPS-activated monocytes. Monocytes stimulated with LPS in the presence of apoptotic neutrophils for 18 h elicited an immunosuppressive cytokine response, with enhanced IL-10 and TGF-β production and only minimal TNF-α and IL-1β cytokine production. Time-kinetic studies demonstrated that IL-10 production was markedly accelerated in the presence of apoptotic neutrophils, whereas there was a sustained reduction in the production of TNF-α and IL-1β. This suppression of proinflammatory production was not reversible by depletion of IL-10 or TGF-β or by addition of exogenous IFN-γ. It was demonstrated, using Transwell experiments, that monocyte-apoptotic cell contact was required for induction of the immunosuppressive monocyte response. The response of monocytes contrasted with that of human monocyte-derived macrophages in which there was a reduction in IL-10 production. We conclude from these data that interaction between activated monocytes and apoptotic neutrophils creates a unique response, which changes an activated monocyte from being a promoter of the inflammatory cascade into a cell primed to deactivate itself and other cells.
Pricing Discretely Monitored Barrier Options and Credit Default Swaps under Lévy Processes

We introduce a new, fast and accurate method to calculate prices and sensitivities of European vanilla and digital options under the Variance Gamma model. For near at-the-money options of short maturity, our method is much faster than those based on discretization and truncation of the inverse Fourier transform integral (iFT method). We show that the results calculated with our method agree with those obtained with the iFT algorithm using very long and fine grids. Taking the results of our method as a benchmark, we show that the parabolic modification of the iFT method (Boyarchenko and Levendorskĭi, 2012) is much more efficient than the standard (flat) version. Based on this conclusion, we consider an approach which uses a combination of backward induction and parabolic iFT to price discretely monitored barrier options, as well as credit default swaps, under wide classes of Lévy models. At each step of backward induction, we use piece-wise polynomial interpolation and parabolic iFT, which allows for efficient error control. We derive accurate recommendations for the choice of parameters of the numerical scheme, and produce numerical examples showing that oversimplified prescriptions in other methods can result in large errors.
Architectural Techniques to Enable Reliable and Scalable Memory Systems

High capacity and scalable memory systems play a vital role in enabling our desktops, smartphones, and pervasive technologies like Internet of Things (IoT). Unfortunately, memory systems are becoming increasingly prone to faults. This is because we rely on technology scaling to improve memory density, and at small feature sizes, memory cells tend to break easily. Today, memory reliability is seen as the key impediment towards using high-density devices, adopting new technologies, and even building the next Exascale supercomputer. To ensure even a bare-minimum level of reliability, present-day solutions tend to have high performance, power and area overheads. Ideally, we would like memory systems to remain robust, scalable, and implementable while keeping the overheads to a minimum. This dissertation describes how simple cross-layer architectural techniques can provide orders of magnitude higher reliability and enable seamless scalability for memory systems while incurring negligible overheads.
An evaluation of SME development in Malaysia

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in play a vital role in the Malaysian economy and are considered to be the backbone of industrial development in the country. However, few studies examined their development, challenges and future prospects. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to examine and analyse the role of SMEs in different sectors as well as their major contribution to the economy. The paper goes further to review the existing literature as well as the empirical studies in order to identify the major challenges (domestically and globally) that face this sector. The key messages from the studies examined in this paper are that Malaysian SMEs still face many domestic and global challenges in achieving economies of scale and competing internationally. Among the challenges are the low level of technological capabilities and limited skilled human capital resources, a low level of technology and ICT penetration, low levels of research and development (R&D), a substantial orientation towards domestic markets, a high level of international competition (for example, from China and India), a high level of bureaucracy in government agencies, and internal sourcing of funds. These characteristics suggest that government programs and incentives are either insufficient or not delivered effectively enough to overcome these problems. This paper attempts to identify the challenges as a positive first step towards formulating a workable framework for the SMEs to overcome them.
Featureless Visual Navigation using Optical Flow of Omnidirectional Image Sequence

In this paper, we develop a featureless visual navigation al- gorithm for the autonomous robot mounting a spherical imaging system. The spherical image is the normalised image for omnidirectional images. Di! erences of the depth from the camera to the objects yield the dis- parity on the image. Using the disparity of optical flow vectors on the spherical image, we construct a method to compute the direction for navigation. For the computation of the optical flow vectors, we develop the Horn-Schunck method on the spherical images. In this paper, we develop a visual navigation method for the autonomous robot using optical flow on the spherical image. The spherical image is the normalised image for omnidirectional images. The spherical image expression of the omnidi- rectional images provides the imaging-system-free expression of omnidirectional images. The view from a compound eye of insects and birds yield a spherical image. Animals which observe spherical images decide the navigation direction from a sequence of spherical images. Especially, the compound-eye of insects detects moving objects in the environment and egomotion from optical flow. Therefore, we construct an algorithm to compute the free space and the navi- gation direction from the sequence of optical flow fields of the spherical images. The use of optical flow fields allows the robot to navigate without any features and landmarks in the workspace (17-19). In a real environment, the payload of a mobile robot, for example, power supply, capacity of input devices and computing power, is restricted. Therefore, mobile robots are required to have simple mechanisms and devices (11,17). The vision sensors provide low-cost devices that is easily mounted on mobile robots. As same as the pinhole camera system, geometrical features such as lines and planes in the environment are fundamental cues to the configuration of obsta- cles in the three-dimensional space. If we adopt these traditional strategies, the robot is required to detect the free space as the dual of the space occupied by obstacles. Furthermore, if the map of workspace is used for the navigation, the robot is required to prepare geometrical transformation method to transform the omnidirectional view to the map. These two methodologies require special
Zarządzanie eksploatacją wojskowych obiektów komunikacyjnych w warunkach ryzyka

The paper presents the analysis of risk assessment of transport objects exploitation in view of bridge infrastructure threats. It was assumed that bridge objects perform the key function in the transport infrastructure and so the sample assessment was made for them. The analysis was conducted on military steel assembled bridges. The paper presents an original method of the analysis of one of the major risk factors which may occur during the exploitation of the bridge, namely the fatigue risk factor. It was assumed that at the further stage of the research the detailed identification and quantification of other risk factors (except the fatigue risk) will be conducted.
After-effects of pedaling exercise on spinal excitability and spinal reciprocal inhibition in patients with chronic stroke

Purpose of the study: To evaluate the after-effects of pedaling on spinal excitability and spinal reciprocal inhibition in patients with post-stroke spastic hemiparesis. Materials and methods: Twenty stroke patients with severe hemiparesis participated in this study and were instructed to perform 7 min of active pedaling and 7 min of passive pedaling with a recumbent ergometer at a comfortable speed. H reflexes and M waves of paretic soleus muscles were recorded at rest before, immediately after and 30 min after active and passive pedaling. The Hmax/Mmax ratio and H recruitment curve were measured. Reciprocal inhibition was assessed using the soleus H reflex conditioning test paradigm. Results: The Hmax/Mmax ratio was significantly decreased after active and passive pedaling exercise. The decreased Hmax/Mmax ratio after active pedaling lasted at least for 30 min. The H recruitment curve and reciprocal inhibition did not change significantly after active or passive pedaling exercise. Conclusions: Pedaling exercise decreased spinal excitability in patients with severe hemiparesis. Pedaling may be effective in rehabilitation following stroke.
Deficiency of platelet lipoxygenase activity in myeloproliferative disorders.

The myeloproliferative disorders are characterized by frequent bleeding and thrombotic complications, which have been attributed to abnormal platelet function. In 24 of 60 patients studied, reduced activity of the platelet lipoxygenase pathway for oxygenation of arachidonic acid was revealed by a new direct assay. This assay measured arachidonic acid-induced oxygen consumption in platelets preincubated with aspirin to block cyclooxygenase activity. Patients with secondary polycythemia or thrombocytosis had normal lipoxygenase activity . In the cells of seven of eight patients with lipoxygenase deficiency arachidonic acid induced increased synthesis of thromboxane, the major cyclooxygenase product. Nevertheless, patients with deficient lipoxygenase activity tended to have episodes of hemorrhage rather than thrombosis. Bleeding complications occurred in 67 per cent of patients with lipoxygenase deficiency, but in only 19 per cent of those with normal lipoxygenase activity (P less than 0.001). In contrast, 13 per cent of lipoxygenase-deficient patients, but 31 per cent of patients with other myeloproliferative disorders, had thromboembolic complications. Measurement of platelet lipoxygenase activity may be of diagnostic value in distinguishing myeloproliferative disorders from secondary thrombocytosis or polycythemia. Lipoxygenase deficiency may prove to be a useful natural model for investigating the role of lipoxygenase products in hemostasis.
Conditional posteriors for the reduced rank regression model

The multivariate reduced rank regression model plays an important role in econo- metrics. Examples include co-integration analysis and models with a factor struc- ture. Geweke (1996) provided the foundations for a Bayesian analysis of this model. Unfortunately several of the full conditional posterior distributions, which forms the basis for constructing a Gibbs sampler for the poster distribution, given by Geweke contains errors. This paper provides correct full conditional posteriors for the re- duced rank regression model under the prior distributions considered by Geweke.
Extrinsic Dispersion Transfer Chart for Finite Length LDPC Codes Design

The most popular methods for the analysis of LDPC codes, e.g. density evolution and EXIT charts, apply to infinite length ensembles. Finite length analysis is less common, among the notable examples are scaling law analysis and the EXIT band chart. The scaling law is limited to the waterfall region and furthermore is limited to the final error rates and does not give insight into the progression and dynamics of belief propagation decoding. The EXIT band chart was based on empirical considerations and does not enjoy a strong underlying theory. The developments of this paper are motivated by the recent results by Polyanskiy, Poor and Verdu showing that the rate penalty due to finite blocklength depends on the channel dispersion. We propose tracking the dispersion between the transmitted bits and the log-likelihood ratio across the decoder iterations to capture the effect of the codeword length. Based on the proposed analysis, a simple lower bound on the block error probability as a function of the blocklength is derived. The bound is corroborated by simulation.
Destination on the Move in the Mind of People: Investigating Destination Image of the Tourists

It goes without saying that destination image is one of the most important factors that keeps the tourist moving i.e. to travel. Image perception before and after travel also varies that has impact on tourists revisit and recommendation to others. In this research we have tried to measure the destination image perceptions of two different time periods so that the image gap can be bridged. Initially the variables are factor analyzed to find out the latent variables that shape the image. After that paired sample t test has been conducted to test if there is any significant difference between perceptions in two time periods. We have also tried to estimate the in? uence of cultural values on destination image using ANOVA. Finally future research scope has been explored. The empirical findings reveal the evidence of an image gap that should be bridged. And surprisingly no evidence of significant influence of cultural values on destination image was found. Keywords: Destination image, perceptions, cultural values, before and after visit image perception
Effectiveness of central bank intervention on the foreign exchange market

In contrast to academic recommendations monetary authorities all over the world intervene on the foreign exchange market to actively manage the exchange rate. Particularly in the aftermath of the global financial crisis the exchange rate is abused by some countries in a currency war to artificially improve the own competitiveness and thereby harming trading partners. Aside from these heavily debated activities a number of open economies try to shield their currency from irrational exuberance of international investors and use interventions to maintain exchange rates around their fundamental levels. This study shows theoretically and empirically how intervention operations can be effective in the latter sense.
Genetic Diversity in Cultivated Common Bean: I. Allozymes

Previous studies using phaseolin seed protein as a marker have revealed that cultivated common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) resulted from multiple domestications in Mesoamerica and in Andean South America. Because these studies were based on variation at a single locus, confirmation was sought by analyzing patterns of diversity at nine polymorphic allozyme loci, all unlinked to the phaseolin locus: ribulose bisphophate carboxylase, shikimate dehydrogenase, cathodal peroxidase, malic enzyme, malate dehydrogenase (two loci), diaphorase (two loci) and leucine aminopeptidase
Advanced Scanning Probe Microscopy of Graphene and Other 2D Materials

Two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as graphene and metal dichalcogenides, are an emerging class of materials, which hold the promise to enable next-generation electronics. Features such as average flake size, shape, concentration, and density of defects are among the most significant properties affecting these materials’ functions. Because of the nanoscopic nature of these features, a tool performing morphological and functional characterization on this scale is required. Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) techniques offer the possibility to correlate morphology and structure with other significant properties, such as opto-electronic and mechanical properties, in a multilevel characterization at atomic- and nanoscale. This review gives an overview of the different SPM techniques used for the characterization of 2D materials. A basic introduction of the working principles of these methods is provided along with some of the most significant examples reported in the literature. Particular attention is given to those techniques where the scanning probe is not used as a simple imaging tool, but rather as a force sensor with very high sensitivity and resolution.
The Management of Expatriates

This text provides practical guidelines for human resource managers on the recruitment and training of expatriate managers. It contains some of the author's research into the nature and effectiveness of the management of expatriates by international companies. The author states that expatriate employees, and particularly expatriate managers, are crucial members of all major multinational corporations, the amount of resources devoted to them exceeding that devoted to almost any other comparable group.
VEGF localisation in diabetic retinopathy

AIM To determine the staining pattern of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) at different stages of diabetic retinopathy (including post-laser photocoagulation) and to compare staining in excised fibrovascular and fibrocellular (non-diabetic) preretinal membranes. METHODS Immunohistochemical localisation of VEGF, using antibodies raised against VEGF165 and VEGF121,165,189, was carried out on specimens of normal human retina (n=15), diabetic retinas ((a) with no overt retinopathy (n=19), (b) with intraretinal vascular abnormalities but no proliferative retinopathy (n=6), (c) with active proliferative retinopathy (n=6), (d) with no residual proliferative retinopathy after photocoagulation therapy (n=15)), excised diabetic fibrovascular membranes (n=19), and non-diabetic fibrocellular membranes (n=7). The degree and pattern of immunostaining was recorded. RESULTS In general, VEGF was absent from the majority of normal retinas. VEGF staining was apparent in most diabetic tissues but the staining pattern was dependent on both the specificity of the antibody used and the category of tissue. Staining with the VEGF165 antibody was generally confined to endothelial cells and perivascular regions while the VEGF121,165,189antibody was also associated with extravascular components of the inner retina. Intensity of immunostaining of diabetic eyes was dependent on the severity of retinopathy being least in diabetics with no overt retinopathy and greatest in retinas with proliferative retinopathy. Interestingly, the intensity of immunostaining in diabetic retinas which had undergone laser surgery for proliferative retinopathy was reduced to basal levels. Moderate to intense immunostaining was observed in all fibrovascular and fibrocellular membranes examined. CONCLUSIONS This study supports a circumstantial role for VEGF in the pathogenesis of both the preclinical and proliferative stages of diabetic retinopathy.