Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exchange Rate Policy Tensions: A Comparative Study between North Africa and Central & Eastern Europe

The performance of small open economies depends - to an extent - on the tension between governmenti¯s economic policy preferences and actual behavior. This tension can be nicely studied by analyzing the behavior of exchange rates, where one observes tensions between proclaimed de jure and de facto exchange rate policies. Typically a country makes a de jure commitment to a peg if it attempts to persuade markets of its strict monetary-policy priorities; similarly a country makes a de jure commitment to a float if it wants to keep monetary policy in its own hands. In this paper we measure the flexibility of exchange rate which partially helps in deciphering the de facto behavior. For this purpose, we use comparative data of two sets of countries: North African as well as Central and Eastern European.
Genetic Algorithm Learning of Nash Equilibrium: Application on Price-QoS Competition in Telecommunications Market

To select or change a service provider, customers use the best compromise between price and quality of service QoS. In this work, the authors formulate a game theoretic framework for the dynamical behaviors of Service Providers SPs. They share the same market and are competing to attract more customers to gain more profit. Due to the divergence of SPs interests, it is believed that this situation is a non-cooperative game of price and QoS. The game converges to an equilibrium position known Nash Equilibrium. Using Genetic Algorithms GAs, the authors find strategies that produce the most favorable profile for players. GAs are from optimization methods that have shown their great power in the learning area. Using these meta-heuristics, the authors find the price and QoS that maximize the profit for each SP and illustrate the corresponding strategy in Nash Equilibrium NE. They also show the influence of some parameters of the problem on this equilibrium.
Bottlenose Dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus ) Double-Slit Pupil Asymmetries Enhance Vision

Geometries of the iris, retinal cell distributions, and the optical characteristics of the lens and cornea have evolved to optimize the visual adaptations of the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) to the oceanic environment. Under high ambient light conditions, the operculum of the iris shields the lens and forms two asymmetrical slit pupils. Under these conditions, light entering the eye is channeled and focused onto the two areas of the retina having a finer retinal mosaic of ganglion cells (typically associated with higher image resolution). The paths of light determined by tracing rays in the reverse direction through these pupils coincide with a dolphin’s behaviorally observed preferred viewing directions. These rays aid in determining the interdependence between the graininess of the retinal mosaic and resolution spot sizes in the object space. For oblique forward and downward viewing directions in air, the larger temporal pupil admits light which passes through the weakly refractive margin of a bifocal lens, counterbalancing the optically strong cornea in air. In water, light passing through the optically strong lens core is focused from a wide lateral and downward field-of-vision. Although other explanations for comparable aerial and underwater vision remain plausible, a dolphin eye model incorporating a bifocal lens offers an explanation consistent with ophthalmoscopic refractive state measurements. The model is also consistent with visual acuity study results conducted in air and in water under both high and low ambient light levels. From insight gained after applying a common data analysis technique to visual acuity studies conducted by other researchers and tracing oblique rays through the asymmetric double-slit pupils, a re-examination of explanatory hypotheses for the paradoxical observations of comparable aerial and underwater vision is presented. Based in part on these findings and supportive evidence from dolphin vision researchers, the unique distinguishing characteristics of dolphin vision are summarized.
Sexual Risk Reduction in a Cohort of Injecting Drug Users in Bangkok, Thailand

ObjectiveInterventions to reduce sexual risk behavior among injecting drug users (IDUs) have generally had very modest effects, but almost all such interventions have been conducted within short time frames. This study assessed whether long-term participation in interventions to reduce sexual risk behavior was associated with reduced sexual risk behavior. MethodsA total of 806 IDUs participated in the Bangkok HIV Vaccine Trial Preparatory Cohort Study from 1995–1998 and remained in the study for at least 4 follow-up visits (approximately 16 months). Participants received HIV counseling and testing every 4 months and free condoms were provided. Structured interviews including questions on sexual behavior were administered every 4 months. ResultsApproximately 40% of participants reported engaging in unprotected sex (vaginal intercourse without always using a condom) with a regular partner at each study visit, without any decline over time in this behavior. There were declines in the proportions of participants reporting unprotected sex with casual partners and with paid partners (men only) over time, but the declines were confined to the early period of the study. Unprotected sex with casual partners was associated with amphetamine use. Condom use increased substantially among participants who seroconverted for HIV during the study. ConclusionsInterventions to reduce sexual risk behavior among HIV-seronegative IDUs over extended periods were no more likely to be effective than shorter interventions. New programs are needed to reduce sexual risk behavior among amphetamine users and among IDUs who are currently seronegative but are engaging in injection risk behaviors and in unprotected sex with regular partners.
Family Support, Social and Demographic Correlations of Non-Adherence among Haemodialysis Patients

Non-adherence to treatment is an increasing problem for patients with end stage renal disease under haemodialysis.Aim: This study aimed to review the basic literature mentioned to the correlation between haemodialysis patient demographic characteristics and non-adherence to their treatment regimen.Method: Studies written in English published in 2002-2013 were identified through PubMed, PubMed Central, Dove press, Scopus. Clinical trials and review articles were excluded. Key- words used for search included a combination of adherence / non-adherence and haemodialysis in titles. Results: According to the literature, patient demographic characteristics are important factors for patient adherence to treatment regimen. Generally, factors associated with increased level of non-adherence to haemodialysis treatment regimen included young age, sex, race and educational level. Conclusions: Early identification of risk factors, inclusion of patients in the health care team and participation in clinical decision making, can lead to behavior adherence.
Price Transmission in the Antebellum Slave Markets: A Time Series Analysis

This paper examines how price shocks in antebellum slave markets were transmitted to surrounding slave markets. A newly developed time series econometric technique is utilized to estimate the transmission of price shocks among slave markets and to investigate the univariate and multivariate time series properties of slave prices in four geographically dispersed markets. The results suggest that these markets were linked and that information flowed from one market to another. The westward, expansionary path of the slave economy is confirmed by a greater magnitude of impact from price shocks in markets to the east of the location in which the shock originated and a greater degree of unidirectional price linkage between slave markets. This new empirical evidence describes the connectedness of regional slave markets in the antebellum South and demonstrates that the overall market was effective. The paper also provides a foundation for addressing additional issues such as slave price convergence.
Defensive Strategies of Target Firms in UK Contested Takeovers

Takeovers play an important role in the allocation of re‐sources to the most efficient uses and represent a mech‐anism by which corporate resources are transferred from one management team to another (Jensen and Ruback, 1983). A result of this managerial displacement is expected to be an increase in shareholder wealth. This argument pre‐supposes that managers attempting takeovers are motivated to create value for shareholders. This picture of managerial disinterestedness in the service of share‐holders ignores potential agency conflicts between man‐agers and shareholders. When faced with a takeover bid, which if successful may lead to its own displacement, the management team at the target may devise ways of frus‐trating the bid.
FORTUNE'S MOST ADMIRED FIRMS: AN INVESTOR'S PERSPECTIVE

Each year since 1983, Fortune magazine has published a survey featuring “America's most admired” corporations. Although the most admired corporations are certainly worthy of some praise and the least admired deserving of criticism, whether these admired companies are worthy of investors' money is less clear. We examine the ex ante and ex post returns of a sample of the most and least admired corporations in the Fortune survey.
On the Explanations for the Gross Profitability Effect: Insights from International Equity Markets

This paper attempts to distinguish between rational and behavioral explanations for the gross profitability effect in the international setting. Using data from 41 countries over the period 1980-2010, we find that in most countries, firms with higher gross profitability subsequently experience higher stock returns. This positive effect of gross profitability on returns is significantly stronger in countries with low investment frictions, such as the U.S. However, the effect is not stronger in countries with severe limits-to-arbitrage, such as China. The results are consistent with the implications of investment-based asset pricing theory and not consistent with the behavioral mispricing explanation.
Asset Allocation

nvestors create global bond portfolios for a variety of reasons: to diversify interest rate risk, to manage yield, to control exposure to foreign currencies, and to enlarge the universe of possible trading opportunities. This article describes a new approach to international asset allocation of fured-income securities. We show how to construct portfolios by choosing the optimal weights to invest in assets in each country and the optimal degree of hedging of currency exposure, given the investor's views for interest rates and exchange rates. While our approach brings several new features to the traditional asset allocation problem, its most innovative contribution is to allow investors to compare their outlook for currencies and interest rates with expected returns generated by an International Capital Asset Pricing Model (ICAPM) equilibrium. The simple idea that expected returns ought to be consistent with market equilibrium, except to the extent that the investor explicitly states otherwise, turns out to be of critical importance in making practical use of the model. In particular, it allows investors to specifj views in a much more flexible way than otherwise would be permitted. For example, rather than requiring investors to specify views about absolute returns on every asset, our approach allows investors to specifj as many or as few views as they wish views with different degrees of confidence and views about relative returns on different assets. This use of the expected returns associated with asset market equilibrium as a reference point for investors is a unique feature of the model. Much of our article focuses on this aspect of our approach. ' Another advantage to our approach is that it jointly determines the optimal allocations of bonds into differI
Lysine acetylation can generate highly charged enzymes with increased resistance toward irreversible inactivation

This paper reports that the acetylation of lysine ε‐NH3+ groups of α‐amylase—one of the most important hydrolytic enzymes used in industry—produces highly negatively charged variants that are enzymatically active, thermostable, and more resistant than the wild‐type enzyme to irreversible inactivation on exposure to denaturing conditions (e.g., 1 h at 90°C in solutions containing 100‐mM sodium dodecyl sulfate). Acetylation also protected the enzyme against irreversible inactivation by the neutral surfactant TRITON X‐100 (polyethylene glycol p‐(1,1,3,3‐tetramethylbutyl)phenyl ether), but not by the cationic surfactant, dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB). The increased resistance of acetylated α‐amylase toward inactivation is attributed to the increased net negative charge of α‐amylase that resulted from the acetylation of lysine ammonium groups (lysine ε‐NH3+ → ε‐NHCOCH3). Increases in the net negative charge of proteins can decrease the rate of unfolding by anionic surfactants, and can also decrease the rate of protein aggregation. The acetylation of lysine represents a simple, inexpensive method for stabilizing bacterial α‐amylase against irreversible inactivation in the presence of the anionic and neutral surfactants that are commonly used in industrial applications.
The Effects of Public Venture Capital Investments on Corporate Governance: Evidence from IPO Firms in Emerging Markets

This study examines the impact of public venture capital (hereafter PVC) investments on corporate governance of initial public offering (hereafter IPO) firms in emerging markets. Using data collected from Taiwan PVC investments during 1996–2005, we analyse three corporate governance features in IPO firms: earnings management, board characteristics, and excess control by controlling shareholders. We find that PVC-backed firms use fewer accounting accruals in their IPO financial statements than non-PVC-backed firms. This result suggests that PVC-backed IPO firms engage in less earnings management than non-PVC-backed IPO firms. We also find PVC-backed firms tend to set up their boards with fewer non-independent directors and supervisors at IPO. This result indicates that PVC-backed IPO firms have better board structures than non-PVC-backed IPO firms. Finally, we find that controlling shareholders are less likely to exert excess control in PVC-backed firms than in non-PVC-backed firms. Overall, our results indicate that PVC investments add value to new IPO firms not only in financing their capital needs but also in creating better corporate governance structures in emerging markets.
Neural network based adaptive dynamic surface control for flexible-joint robots

A neural network based adaptive dynamic surface controller is proposed for uncertain flexible-joint robot systems. The dynamic surface control method eliminates the problem of “explosion of complexity” existing in traditional backstepping approach by the addition of low pass filters. RBF neural networks are used to approximate the unknown nonlinearities of the model. Nonlinear damping items are used to overcome the external disturbances. Adaptive laws are designed to estimate the weight values of the neural networks and unknown parameters. From Lyapunov stability analysis, it is shown that the control strategy can guarantee the semi-global stability of the closed-loop system and arbitrarily small tracking error by adjusting the controller parameters. Simulation results are presented to validate the good tracking performance of the control system.
Compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code: An Empirical Analysis of the Compliance Statements by German Listed Companies

In 2002, the German Corporate Governance Code was adopted. This paper examines the overall acceptance of the Code recommendations and identifies its critical standards that receive comparably less agreement among German listed companies. The study is based on the compliance declarations of 408 firms listed at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The findings indicate a significantly high level of Code conformity which can be expected to increase in the future. Comparative analyses reveal that company size is positively associated with the extent of Code compliance. Neuralgic norms concern the personal liability and compensation of the board members, the staffing of the boards, the structure of the supervisory board and accounting requirements.
Policy Workaround Stories Are Valuable Evaluative Indicators

In evaluating local policy implementation, workaround stories—accounts of deliberate efforts to evade, subvert, or even break rules or procedures in order to get the job done—are valuable evaluative indicators. By “backward mapping” (Elmore, 1979) from frequently mentioned workarounds, we can identify flawed elements of policy- or grant-making systems. However, workaround stories captured in confidential interviews pose an ethical dilemma for evaluators. If reported intact, these stories potentially expose their tellers to repercussions from compliance-oriented superiors in the bureaucratic chain of command. But unless these stories—in all their vivid details—are told, it is less likely that those superiors will be motivated to fix the often intricate implementation problems which create the need for workarounds in the first place. We explore options for resolving this dilemma in light of the American Evaluation Association guiding principles and the trade-off between the competing public goods of innovation and accountability.
Airway Epithelial Inflammation-induced Endoplasmic Reticulum Ca2+ Store Expansion Is Mediated by X-box Binding Protein-1*

Inflamed cystic fibrosis (CF) human bronchial epithelia (HBE), or normal HBE exposed to supernatant from mucopurulent material (SMM) from CF airways, exhibit endoplasmic reticulum (ER)/Ca2+ store expansion and amplified Ca2+-mediated inflammation. HBE inflammation triggers an unfolded protein response (UPR) coupled to mRNA splicing of X-box binding protein-1 (XBP-1). Because spliced XBP-1 (XBP-1s) promotes ER expansion in other cellular models, we hypothesized that XBP-1s is responsible for the ER/Ca2+ store expansion in inflamed HBE. XBP-1s was increased in freshly isolated infected/inflamed CF in comparison with normal HBE. The link between airway epithelial inflammation, XBP-1s, and ER/Ca2+ store expansion was then addressed in murine airways challenged with phosphate-buffered saline or Pseudomonas aeruginosa. P. aeruginosa-challenged mice exhibited airway epithelial ER/Ca2+ store expansion, which correlated with airway inflammation. P. aeruginosa-induced airway inflammation triggered XBP-1s in ER stress-activated indicator (ERAI) mice. To evaluate the functional role of XBP-1s in airway inflammation linked to ER/Ca2+ store expansion, control, XBP-1s, or dominant negative XBP-1 (DN-XBP-1) stably expressing 16HBE14o- cell lines were used. Studies with cells transfected with an unfolded protein response element (UPRE) luciferase reporter plasmid confirmed that the UPRE was activated or inhibited by expression of XBP-1s or DN-XBP-1, respectively. Expression of XBP-1s induced ER/Ca2+ store expansion and potentiated bradykinin-increased interleukin (IL)-8 secretion, whereas expression of DN-XBP-1 inhibited bradykinin-dependent IL-8 secretion. In addition, expression of DN-XBP-1 blunted SMM-induced ER/Ca2+ store expansion and SMM-induced IL-8 secretion. These findings suggest that, in inflamed HBE, XBP-1s is responsible for the ER/Ca2+ store expansion that confers amplification of Ca2+-dependent inflammatory responses.
Long-term orientation: Implications for the entrepreneurial orientation and performance of family businesses

Long-term orientation (LTO), defined as the tendency to prioritize the long-range implications and impact of decisions and actions that come to fruition after an extended time period, is a common characteristic of many family businesses. Prior research is equivocal regarding whether an LTO contributes to or detracts from family firm outcomes. Of particular interest is the extent to which family business can be entrepreneurial given an LTO. Drawing on the concept of entrepreneurial orientation (EO), propositions that relate long- and short-term management time horizons of family firms to five dimensions of EO (innovativeness, proactiveness, risk taking, competitive aggressiveness and autonomy) are developed. Specifically, we propose that an LTO will be positively associated with innovativeness, proactiveness, and autonomy but negatively associated with risk taking and competitive aggressiveness. We also address the long- and short-term implications of EO on the performance of family firms, and identify issues to consider in future research into the EO–LTO relationship.
Two-level Strategy for Image Boundary Detection

A new method for boundary detection in natural images is here proposed, consisting of two levels, or twostage sequential processes: embedded integration and post-processing integration. In the embedded integration, two different methods to measure homogeneity in region-growing technique are integrated, based on a global statistical property: the shape of the power spectrum of the image being analyzed. One homogeneity measure is the J value (provided by the classical JSEG algorithm) and the second measure is a multifractal measurement. This first step provides a region extraction. In the second level, edge information is extracted by a classical method, and integrated with region information. This structure, called KSS, eliminates false boundaries in the region map, guided by the edge map, and the noise in edge map as well, now guided by the region map, thus taking the advantage of their complementary nature. Experiments on a large dataset of natural color images show that the result of such two-level strategy matches the human perception better than the individual methods, quantitatively and qualitatively speaking.
Parent–Child Discrepancy on Children’s Body Weight Perception: The Role of Attachment Security

The discrepancies between parents and their children on the description of the behavior and representations of their children have been shown in various studies. Other researchers have reported the parents’ difficulty in correctly identifying the weight status of their children. The purpose of our study was to investigate the parent’s attributional accuracy on their children’s body weight perception in relation to the children attachment security. It was hypothesized that insecure children’s parents have a greater discrepancy with their children compared to secure children with their parents. The research participants were 217 children, aged between 5 and 11 years of both genders, and their parents. The attachment pattern was measured by the SAT of Klagsbrun and Bowlby, with the Italian version of Attili. The children were also shown a set of figure body-drawings with which to measure the perception of their weight status. Parents answered a questionnaire to find out the parental attribution of their children’s perception. The results show that the body weight perception of insecure children’s parents have a greater discrepancy with their children’s body weight perception compared with parentally secure children. In particular, parents of insecure children tend to underestimate the perception of their children. This result is most evident in disorganized children. In addition, the perception of insecure children’s parents show a greater correlation with children’s actual weight rather than with their children’s perception. These results suggest that the discrepancies on the perception of children’s body weight between parents and children may be influenced by the poor parental attunement to their children’s internal states, which characterizes the insecure parent–child attachment relationship.