Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Towards a Macroprudential Surveillance and Remedial Policy Formulation System for Monitoring Financial Crisis

Several developing economies witnessed a large number of systemic financial and currency crises since the 1980s which resulted in severe economic, social, and political problems. The devastating impact of the 1982 and 1994-95 Mexican crises, the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, the 1998 Russian crisis and the ongoing financial crisis of 2008-2009 suggest that maintaining financial sector stability through reduction of vulnerability is highly crucial. The world is now witnessing an unprecedented systemic financial crisis originated from USA in September 2008 together with a deep worldwide economic recession, particularly in developed countries of Europe and North America. This calls for devising and using on a regular basis an appropriate and effective monitoring and policy formulation system for detecting and addressing vulnerabilities leading to crisis. This paper proposes a macroprudential/financial soundness monitoring, analysis and remedial policy formulation system that can be used by most developing countries with or without crisis experience as well as developed countries with limited data. It also discusses a process for identifying, and compiling a set of leading macroprudential indicators/financial soundness indicators. An empirical illustration using Philippines data is presented.
A repetitive high voltage pulse adder based on solid state switches

A repetitive high voltage pulse modulator based on solid state switches with insolated recharge is described. All capacitors in the modulator are recharged by a corresponding transformer separately through magnetic core transformers by a common high frequency power supply. This configuration simplifies the isolation design and arrangement. This scheme is suitable for work at high repetitive rate discharge due to its high charge efficiency. At the same time it retains the inherent switch protection capability of a solid-state Marx modulator. In our present work, a 22-stage test modulator has been built and has been successfully operated at repetitive rate of 20kHz, output voltage of 20kV, rise time of 150ns and pulse width of 3μs. The primary experiments verified the system feasibility. A system with higher parameters is under way.
Dynamic Analysis of Cardiac R-R Intervals in Normal Infants and in Infants Who Subsequently Succumbed to the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

ABSTRACTS: Infants who subsequently succumb to the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) have higher heart rates and reduced heart rate variation compared with other infants. We examined dynamic changes in cardiac interbeat intervals to explore these differences in cardiac control. Recordings of electrocardiographic activity and respiratory movement were acquired from 13 SIDS victims before their deaths. Moment-to-moment changes in R-R intervals during quiet sleep, rapid eye movement sleep, and waking were compared with values of 13 matched control infants. For each sleep-waking state, every R-R interval was plotted against the previous interval (Poincaré plots), and each change in interbeat interval was plotted against the previous change. Dispersion of interbeat intervals at different heart rates was reduced in SIDS victims, resulting in Poincaré plots markedly different from those of controls. The dispersion, sampled at the 10th and 90th percentiles of heart rates, was reduced across all sleep-waking states in SIDS victims. At high heart rates, the difference between groups disappeared after correcting for basal rate; however, the reduced range at low heart rates was independent of basal rate. SIDS victims also showed smaller beat-to-beat changes in heart rate and fewer sustained runs of consistenl heart rate changes during waking relative to controls. The differences in cardiac rate dynamics suggest altered autonomic control in infants who succumb to SIDS. We speculate that the autonomic disturbance may lead to cardiac instability or may indicate CNS alterations with the potential to affect other vital functions.
Cognitive Load Reduction on Multimedia E-Learning Materials

In e-learning area, the content development method is one of the most important research topics. This paper proposes a presentation method of visual contents (a text, a still image) in synchronization with narration (sound content) and a pointer to make the efficiency of the resource allocation of cognitive memory capacity increase, and make the transmitted amount of information maximize, based on a human's cognitive-information-processing model "dual channel model. " Under various contents presentation environment {(1)narration, (2) text (with narration / without narration), (3) still images, (4) still images + text (with narration / without narration), (5) video, and (6) video + text} in e-learning, we performed some control experiments (measure the point of fixation for e-learning students by an eye mark recorder, memorization and a contents understanding test and the questionnaire) with or without pointer. The results showed the validity of this model and the effectiveness of the proposed content development method in e-learning.
Proposed of Novel Linear Oscillating Actuator’s Structure Using Topology Optimization

This paper proposes a novel magnetic structure of a linear oscillating actuator (LOA). The higher efficient magnetic structure is necessary for reduction in size and weight of an LOA. In a conventional optimization method using a genetic algorithm, it depends on an initial shape hard, and it is difficult to get a novel magnetic structure. In this paper, the topology optimization method which does not need the initial shape is applied to an LOA. The unguessed magnetic structure with magnetization direction and ferromagnetic shape is computed, and the validation of calculated structure is confirmed through the measured results.
A Cytoplasmic RNA Vector Derived from Nontransmissible Sendai Virus with Efficient Gene Transfer and Expression

ABSTRACT We have recovered a virion from defective cDNA of Sendai virus (SeV) that is capable of self-replication but incapable of transmissible-virion production. This virion delivers and expresses foreign genes in infected cells, and this is the first report of a gene expression vector derived from a defective viral genome of theParamyxoviridae. First, functional ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs) were recovered from SeV cloned cDNA defective in the F (envelope fusion protein) gene, in the presence of plasmids expressing nucleocapsid protein and viral RNA polymerase. Then the RNPs were transfected to the cells inducibly expressing F protein. Virion-like particles thus obtained had a titer of 0.5 × 108 to 1.0 × 108 cell infectious units/ml and contained F-defective RNA genome. This defective vector amplified specifically in an F-expressing packaging cell line in a trypsin-dependent manner but did not spread to F-nonexpressing cells. This vector infected and expressed an enhanced green fluorescent protein reporter gene in various types of animal and human cells, including nondividing cells, with high efficiency. These results suggest that this vector has great potential for use in human gene therapy and vaccine delivery systems.
flu, a metastable gene controlling surface properties of Escherichia coli

flu, a gene of Escherichia coli K-12, was discovered and mapped between his and shiA. It is shown that flu is a metastable gene that changes frequently between the flu+ and flu states. flu+ variants give stable homogeneous suspensions, are piliated, and form glossy colonies. flu variants aggregate, fluff and sediment from suspensions, are nonpiliated, and form frizzy colonies. flu+ and flu variants can be isolated from most strains. Implications of these observations are discussed, and it is demonstrated that flu+ variants of strain P678-54 yield three times more minicells than flu variants.
Estimation of Noise Level in Complex Textured Images and Monte Carlo-Rendered Images

The several noise level estimation algorithms that have been developed for use in image processing and computer graphics generally exhibit good performance. However, there are certain special types of noisy images that such algorithms are not suitable for. It is particularly still a challenge to use the algorithms to estimate the noise levels of complex textured photographic images because of the inhomogeneity of the original scenes. Similarly, it is difficult to apply most conventional noise level estimation algorithms to images rendered by the Monte Carlo (MC) method owing to the spatial variation of the noise in such images. This paper proposes a novel noise level estimation method based on histogram modification, and which can be used for more accurate estimation of the noise levels in both complex textured images and MC-rendered images. The proposed method has good performance, is simple to implement, and can be efficiently used in various image-based and graphic applications ranging from smartphone camera noise removal to game background rendition.
Rapid Production of Gene Replacement Constructs and Generation of a Green Fluorescent Protein-Tagged Centromeric Marker in Aspergillus nidulans

ABSTRACT A method to rapidly generate gene replacement constructs by fusion PCR is described for Aspergillus nidulans. The utility of the approach is demonstrated by green fluorescent protein (GFP) tagging of A. nidulans ndc80 to visualize centromeres through the cell cycle. The methodology makes possible large-scale GFP tagging, promoter swapping, and deletion analysis of A. nidulans.
An auction mechanism for public goods provision: an experimental study

We experiment a new mechanism for the provision of a discrete public good: in a fixed period individuals can contribute several times; at any moment they can see the total amount collected; at the end of the period, the public good is provided if the amount covers the cost. We find that the ability of the mechanism to provide efficiently the public good decreases with the amount of the provision cost.
A Low-Profile Printed Planar Phase Correcting Surface to Improve Directive Radiation Characteristics of Electromagnetic Band Gap Resonator Antennas

This communication presents a method to enhance the radiation performance of conventional electromagnetic band gap resonator antennas (ERAs) by improving their aperture phase distributions. A low-profile printed planar phase correcting surface (PCS) was designed and fabricated to demonstrate performance enhancement. Measurements of a prototype demonstrated that the PCS significantly enhances the directive radiation properties of ERAs. This includes an 8 dB increase in peak directivity, 60% reduction in 3 dB beamwidth (from 35° to 14°), and a considerable reduction in side lobe levels.
Master manipulator designed for highly articulated robotic instruments in single access surgery

The performance of a master-slave robotic system depends significantly on the ergonomics and the capability of its master device to correctly interface the user with the slave robot. Master manipulators generating commands in task space represent a commonly adopted solution for controlling a range of slave robots while retaining an ergonomic design. However, these devices present several drawbacks, such as requiring the use of clutching mechanics to compensate for the mismatch between slave and master workspaces, and the lack of capability to intuitively transmit important information such as specific joint limits to the user. In this paper, a novel joint-space master manipulator is presented. This manipulator emulates the kinematic structure of highly flexible surgical instruments which it is designed to control. This system uses 6 active degrees of freedom to compensate for its own weight, as well as to provide force feedback corresponding to the slave robot's joint limits. A force/torque sensor integrated at the end effector is used to relay user-generated forces and torques directly to specific joints. This is performed to counteract the friction stemming from structural constraints imposed by the kinematic design of the instruments. Finally, a usability study is carried out to test the validity of the system, proving that the instruments can be intuitively controlled even at the extremities of the workspace.
The Short– and Long–run Performance of New Listings in Tunisia

This study examines abnormal stock market returns of new listings on the Tunisian Stock Exchange. Substantial positive abnormal returns are found on the first listing day and this finding is similar to that obtained in other countries. Subsequent performance is poor and investors who bought shares at the close of trading on the first day would have lost about 22% against the Tunis Stock Exchange index over a three–year period. The possible causes of this are investigated. Among the factors found in the literature that possibly affect the level of long–term performance, only the state of the IPO market, the initial return, the delay in reaching the ‘first market price’ and the size of the firms have significant coefficients. This result is supportive of the traditional fad’s interpretation of long–term underperformance.
Pitfalls in using Granger causality tests to find an engine of growth

This paper discusses the reliability of using a Granger causality test to find an engine of growth. The paper first focuses on growth models' cointegration implications since causality must exist in an error-correction model. As a complementary, Monte Carlo experiments with independently generated I(1) variables also indicate a significant probability for rejecting the Granger non-causality null. Given the persistency and cointegration of variables in growth models, rejecting the non-causality null may reflect a spurious causal relationship, rather than confirm a theoretical causality.
The Return of Geopolitics in Europe? Social Mechanisms and Foreign Policy Identity Crises by Stefano Guzzini (ed.)

The end of the Cold War was one of the defining moments in Europe’s geopolitical history. The ‘frozen spatiality’ that dominated the geopolitical space of Europe for half a century came undone. The emergence of a new spatial reality brought with it a novelty of issues that had to be dealt with by strategic and political elites and their appendages (academia and media). Their interpretation of the end of the Cold War, and the choices they made, were critical in the evolution of a particular type of geopolitical thought and foreign policy discourse. The Return of Geopolitics in Europe explains the recurrence of geopolitical thought in post-Cold War Europe. The ‘puzzle’ that Guzzini and his co-authors try to solve is to explain why geopolitics returned to Europe after the end of the Cold War. The book discusses a particular kind of geopolitics that appeared in Europe, termed ‘neo-classical geopolitics’, which relies on geographical determinism. Neoclassical geopolitics is ‘defined as a policy-oriented analysis, generally conservative and with nationalist overtones, that gives explanatory primacy, but not exclusivity, to certain physical and human geographic, and gives precedence to a strategic view, realism with a military and nationalist gaze, for analysing the “objective necessities” within which states compete for power and rank’ (p. 70). Foreign policy identity crisis and social mechanism forms the framework of analysis of the book. The end of the Cold War meant that all previous assumptions on which countries based their foreign policies were rendered useless. Added to that were tectonic shifts in territory and borders in Europe with the break-up of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Countries like the Czech Republic and Estonia had not experienced statehood for a considerable time and hence the end of the Cold War meant a recreation of statehood for these countries. Similarly, Germany witnessed a geographical revamp with reunification of East and West Germany, while Russia now signified a nation that witnessed its erstwhile basis of foreign policy being challenged both geographically and ontologically. The post-Cold War order meant that some new states had no notion of foreign policy identity (Czech Republic and Estonia); some countries like Germany, which had some form of foreign policy identity as a separate entity, did not yet have an identity as a unified country; and some countries, like Russia, Italy and Turkey, witnessed the nullification of their previously established foreign policy identity. Therefore, at a time when the post-Cold War European countries were facing Strategic Analysis, 2015 Vol. 39, No. 2, 219–221, http://dx.doi. org/10.1080/09700161.2014. 1000663
Expression of Hepatocyte Growth Factor Activator Inhibitor Type 2 (HAI-2) in Human Testis: Identification of a Distinct Transcription Start Site for the HAI-2 Gene in Testis

Abstract Hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor type 1 (HAI-1) and type 2 (HAI-2) are recently identified integral membrane Kunitztype proteinase inhibitors. They have important regulatory roles in pericellular activation of hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF) which is critically involved in the development and regeneration of various tissues. Recent reports suggest that HGF/SF is also involved in testicular development and spermatogenesis. In this study, we analyzed the expression of HAIs in the testis. In human testis, HAI-2 was strongly expressed whereas HAI-1 mRNA was hardly detectable. Of interest was the observation that the mRNA size of HAI-2 was shorter in the testis (1.2 kb) than those in the other tissues such as placenta (1.5 kb). Subsequent experiments revealed that there are two major transcription start sites of the HAI-2 gene, which are ~30 bp and ~360 bp upstream from the translation initiation ATG codon. Although the latter site appeared to be mainly used in the placenta and other nontesticular organs, only the former site is used in testis, resulting in the ~300 bp shorter mRNA. An immunohistochemical study using a specific monoclonal antibody raised against human HAI-2 protein indicated that HAI-2 is expressed exclusively in primary spermatocytes. These results suggest a distinct regulation of HAI 2 gene expression in testis and that HAI-2 may play a role in the process of spermatogenesis.
Foreign Direct Investment in the Caribbean

This article addresses the question of whether the Caribbean is particularly attractive or unattractive to foreign investors, and if it has specific characteristics that attract or deter FDI. An econometric analysis of data from 135 countries for 1980-2002 shows that the Caribbean does not suffer from low inflows of FDI; on the contrary, Caribbean countries receive more FDI than comparable countries in other regions. This reflects two contradictory effects. On the one hand, FDI inflows may be particularly sensitive to political instability in the region; on the other hand, the absence of regulation appears to have been a particularly beneficial factor in attracting FDI to the Caribbean. Copyright 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Tracking Proliferative History in Lymphocyte Development with Cre-Mediated Sister Chromatid Recombination

Tracking and isolating live cells based on their proliferative history in live animals remains a technical challenge in animal studies. We have designed a genetic marking system for tracking the proliferative frequency and history of lymphocytes during their development and homeostatic maintenance. This system is based on activation of a fluorescent marker after Cre-dependent recombination between sister chromatids at a specially designed tandem loxP site, named Tlox. We have demonstrated the utility of the Tlox system in tracking proliferative windows of B and T lymphocyte development. We have further applied the Tlox system in the analysis of the proliferative behavior and homeostatic maintenance of Vγ1. 1 positive γδ T cells. Our data show that Vγ1. 1 T cells generated in neonatal but not adult life are able to expand in the thymus. The expanded Vγ1. 1 T cells are preferentially maintained in the liver but not in lymphoid organs. It has been shown that numbers of Vγ1. 1 T cells were dramatically increased in the lymphoid organs of Id3 deficient mice. By combining BrdU and Tlox assays we show that this phenotype is primarily due to enhanced neonatal expansion and subsequent retention of Vγ1. 1 T cells. Thus, the Tlox system provides a new genetic tool to track clonal expansion within a defined cell population or tissue type in live animals.
Live-Cell Imaging and Analysis Shed Light on the Complexity and Dynamics of Antimicrobial Peptide Action

Fungi and bacteria cause many serious and sometimes devastating diseases in humans, animals, and crops. Furthermore, resistance against antimicrobial drugs is steadily increasing. There is thus an urgent need to discover new antimicrobial drugs and drug targets. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are widespread in nature and produced naturally by animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria (Zasloff, 2002). These secreted peptides typically act as broad spectrum antibiotics as part of the innate immune systems of these organisms. AMPs that possess high activity against microbial pathogens are attracting great interest for use as novel therapeutic agents to prevent and treat microbial diseases (Brogden, 2005; Hancock and Sahl, 2006). The cell-penetrating properties of many AMPs facilitate them reaching intracellular targets which, in most cases, are unknown and may be novel (Marcos and Gandia, 2009; Nicolas, 2009). Numerous candidate AMP-based drugs for use in humans, animals, and crops will undoubtedly appear over the next decade. A mechanistic understanding of their mode-of-action will be essential to underpin their use as new antimicrobial drugs, to identify novel drug microbial targets, and assist the rational design of more powerful and specific AMPs and peptidomimetics.
KEADILAN ORGANISASIONAL, KOMITMEN ORGANISASIONAL, DAN KINERJA KARYAWAN

Human resource is an aspect that need to be considered in the company. The ob­­­jective of this research was to determine the influence of organizational justice towards em­­­ployee per ­ for ­ man ­ ce with organizational commitment as an intervening variable. The stu­­dy was con ­ duc ­ ted in CV Tanaya Fiberglass, Surabaya, with sample of 38 em­plo­yees. Data was ana ­ lyzed quantitatively using descriptive analysis and path analysis. The re­sults showed that organizational justice influenced organizational commitment. Or­­­ga­ni­zational jus ­ ti ­ ce influenced employee performance with organizational co­mmit­ment as an intervening va ­ riable . Organizatio­nal justice influenced employee per­for­mance .
Aggression and the Event-Related Potentials in Antisocial Personality Disorder

Objective: In this study, we measured event related potentials (ERPs) in a male sample of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) patients who were free of substance and alcohol abuse and compared them with those of normal subjects. We also aimed to determine whether or not there was a correlation between aggressive behaviors and ERPs . Materials and Method: A total of 42 ASPD patients and a control group of 44 healthy subjects were enrolled in the study. In both groups, the subjects had not used alcohol or any psychotropic medicine for at least 15 days prior to enrollment. Results: There were no significant differences in age, education, and marital status between the ASPD and control group. P3 amplitude (AP3) values were significantly lower in the ASPD group compared to the controls (p