Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identifying Competitive Neutrality of SOEs in China

This paper attempts to identify competition neutrality of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in three consumer electronics industries in China. First, I draw a benefit-price indifference curve at the mode of consumer surplus for each year, and a benefit-price supply curve by manufacturers and ownership types based on the demand estimates for the color TV (CTV), mobile phone, and air conditioning industries in the 2000s. These exercises indicate heterogeneous situations of market neutrality of SOEs in the Chinese consumer electronics industries. The air conditioning market shows a clear positive relationship between benefit and price for all ownership types. At the same time, no clear correlation between ownership and strategies focusing on price or benefit is observed. On the other hand, SOEs and privately-owned enterprises (POEs) in CTV and mobile phone markets concentrate their products based on lower prices and lower benefit area, namely, cost advantage strategies. Ownership type and strategies appear to have a correlation. Furthermore, prices become independent to the level of benefit for local firms. These tendencies are clearly observed in the price-benefit supply curve of the two markets. A simple model of differentiated competition with one agent committing predatory pricing in expropriating soft financial constraint shows that the price set by the rivals of a soft constrained firm is independent to the benefit.
Heterogeneity of Vaginal Microbial Communities within Individuals

ABSTRACT Recent culture-independent studies have revealed that a healthy vaginal ecosystem harbors a surprisingly complex assemblage of microorganisms. However, the spatial distribution and composition of vaginal microbial populations have not been investigated using molecular methods. Here, we evaluated site-specific microbial composition within the vaginal ecosystem and examined the influence of sampling technique in detection of the vaginal microbiota. 16S rRNA gene clone libraries were prepared from samples obtained from different locations (cervix, fornix, outer vaginal canal) and by different methods (swabbing, scraping, lavaging) from the vaginal tracts of eight clinically healthy, asymptomatic women. The data reveal that the vaginal microbiota is not homogenous throughout the vaginal tract but differs significantly within an individual with regard to anatomical site and sampling method used. Thus, this study illuminates the complex structure of the vaginal ecosystem and calls for the consideration of microenvironments when sampling vaginal microbiota as a clinical predictor of vaginal health.
Identification and preliminary characterization of novel B3-type metallo-β-lactamases

Antibiotic resistance has emerged as a major global threat to human health. Among the strategies employed by pathogens to acquire resistance the use of metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs), a family of dinuclear metalloenzymes, is among the most potent. MBLs are subdivided into three groups (i.e. B1, B2 and B3) with most of the virulence factors belonging to the B1 group. The recent discovery of AIM-1, a B3-type MBL, however, has illustrated the potential health threat of this group of MBLs. Here, we employed a bioinformatics approach to identify and characterize novel B3-type MBLs from Novosphingobium pentaromativorans and Simiduia agarivorans. These enzymes may not yet pose a direct risk to human health, but their structures and function may provide important insight into the design and synthesis of a still elusive universal MBL inhibitor.
Will Triadic Closure Strengthen Ties in Social Networks?

The social triad—a group of three people—is one of the simplest and most fundamental social groups. Extensive network and social theories have been developed to understand its structure, such as triadic closure and social balance. Over the course of a triadic closure—the transition from two ties to three among three users, the strength dynamics of its social ties, however, are much less well understood. Using two dynamic networks from social media and mobile communication, we examine how the formation of the third tie in a triad affects the strength of the existing two ties. Surprisingly, we find that in about 80% social triads, the strength of the first two ties is weakened although averagely the tie strength in the two networks maintains an increasing or stable trend. We discover that (1) the decrease in tie strength among three males is more sharply than that among females, and (2) the tie strength between celebrities is more likely to be weakened as the closure of a triad than those between ordinary people. Furthermore, we formalize a triadic tie strength dynamics prediction problem to infer whether social ties of a triad will become weakened after its closure. We propose a TRIST method—a kernel density estimation (KDE)-based graphical model—to solve the problem by incorporating user demographics, temporal effects, and structural information. Extensive experiments demonstrate that TRIST offers a greater than 82% potential predictability for inferring triadic tie strength dynamics in both networks. The leveraging of the KDE and structural correlations enables TRIST to outperform baselines by up to 30% in terms of F1-score.
R&D Information Quality and Stock Returns

Ambiguity-averse investors demand higher risk premiums from firms whose future performance in R&D is difficult to evaluate. We construct an R&D information quality (IQ) measure by linking a firm's historical innovation input (R&D expenditures) and innovation outcome (sales) and find statistically and economically significant evidence that expected excess returns decrease with R&D IQ. The high-minus-low R&D IQ hedge portfolio earns excess returns of about -39 (-48) basis points per month in value-weighted (equal-weighted) returns. The R&D IQ effect is weakly correlated with commonly used risk factors, is stronger for firms with greater uncertain business environment, and exhibits incremental pricing power.
GPS-denied relative motion estimation for fixed-wing UAV using the variational pose estimator

Relative pose estimation between fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is treated using a stable and robust estimation scheme. The motivating application of this scheme is that of “handoff” of an object being tracked from one fixed-wing UAV to another in a team of UAVs, using onboard sensors in a GPS-denied environment. This estimation scheme uses optical measurements from cameras onboard a vehicle, to estimate both the relative pose and relative velocities of another vehicle or target object. It is obtained by applying the Lagrange-d'Alembert principle to a Lagrangian constructed from measurement residuals using only the optical measurements. This nonlinear pose estimation scheme is discretized for computer implementation using the discrete Lagrange-d'Alembert principle, with a discrete-time linear filter for obtaining relative velocity estimates from optical measurements. Computer simulations depict the stability and robustness of this estimator to noisy measurements and uncertainties in initial relative pose and velocities.
and Adaptive Methods for Multitask Learning

The power of joint learning in multiple tasks arises from the transfer of relevant knowledge across said tasks, especially from information-rich tasks to informationpoor ones. Lifelong learning, on the other hand, provides an efficient way to learn new tasks faster by utilizing the knowledge learned from the previous tasks and prevent catastrophic forgetting or significantly degrading performance on the old tasks. Despite several advantages on learning from related tasks, it poses considerable challenges in terms of effectiveness by minimizing prediction errors for all tasks and overall computational tractability for real-time performance, especially when the number of tasks is large. In contrast, human beings seem natural in accumulating and retaining the knowledge from the past and leverage this knowledge to acquire new skills and solve new problems efficiently. In this thesis, we propose simple and efficient algorithms for multitask and lifelong learning to address the aforementioned challenges. The primary focus of this thesis is to scale the multitask and lifelong learning to practical applications where both the tasks and the examples of the tasks arrive in an online fashion.
A Holistic Approach to Tax Administration Performance Management: Developing an Integrated and Open System Model

A tax administration can be viewed as an open system that transforms inputs into outputs within the internal and external environment in which it operates. Open system theory is the basis of an input-process-output-outcome model of performance management. However, an open performance management system alone is impracticable without integrating the strategic, operational, and individual performance management levels. Strategic and operational levels should support each other and have impact on how people act at the individual level. This paper proposes a holistic performance management model which combines an open system model with an integrated model to develop a new holistic performance management model as a guide for a tax administration to evaluate, improve and manage its performance management system. The new model integrates performance management at the strategic, operational and individual levels in an open system view of a tax administration. The distinct feature of the model is that it highlights the critical process of transforming inputs into outputs/outcomes in a tax administration by diagnosing the interrelation of the components in a tax administration process, i.e. formal organisation, informal organisation, task and people. These components contain both institutional and behavioural factors that should be carefully managed to improve the overall performance of a tax administration.
An analog parallel array processor for real-time sensor signal processing

A fully-programmable analog signal processor and its operation in a sensor signal processing system is presented. The analog parallel array processor (APAP) chip is the core of the system. It contains a 20/spl times/20 matrix of computing cells, function-control circuits and interface circuits. The sensor provides the input signals for the APAP chip. The architecture ofthe 400 cells is based on a cellular neural network architecture. The cells have an internal-state node, an input node and an output. The output is the clipped version ofthe state. The cells send two current signals to their nearest neighbors and to itself: one proportional to the input and controlled by the feedforward weights or B-template; the second proportional to the output and controlled by the feedback weights or A-template. In every cell a constant bias source, controlled by the I-template, is also included. The templates are identical for all cells and are the instructions for the APAP. In this implementation the user can program the template weights over a continuous range of values from /spl plusmn/1/4 to /spl plusmn/4. All cells execute the instructions in parallel and in continuous time so that a parallel array processor is obtained with real-time signal processing capabilities. Several 2D global and local feature extraction operations such as edge detection, pixel peeling, hole-filling, connected component detection, and resistive grid filtering can be executed.
Ultra-thin chip fabrication for next-generation silicon processes

Ultra-thin chip technology is identified as an enabler for overcoming bottlenecks in microelectronics, such as 3D integration, and for leading to new applications, such as hybrid, flexible system-in-foil (SiF). This, however, calls for new techniques in fabricating very thin wafers or chips, in applying them to device integration processes and in assembly and packaging. The application to SiF requires that the ultra-thin chips feature excellent mechanical reliability and flexibility. This paper focuses on a recently introduced novel technology, called Chipfilm™, for fabricating ultra-thin chips. The technology consists of a pre-process Chipfilm™ and a post-process Pick, Crack&Place™. Particular attention is paid to the design and characterization to the mechanical anchors that are broken in the Pick, Crack&Place process to singulate the thin chips. Also discussed is the characterization of the chip's mechanical stability and flexibility.
Evaluation of strains isolated by growth on naphthalene and biphenyl for hybridization of genes to dioxygenase probes and polychlorinated biphenyl-degrading ability

Approximately equal numbers of bacteria were isolated from primarily tropical soils by growth on biphenyl and naphthalene to compare their competence in polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) degradation. The strains isolated by growth on biphenyl catalyzed more extensive PCB degradation than the strains isolated by growth on naphthalene, suggesting that naphthalene cocontamination may be only partially effective in stimulating the cometabolism of lower chlorinated PCBs. Probes were made from the bph, nah, and tod genes encoding the large iron iron sulfur protein of the dioxygenase complex and hybridized to 19 different strains. The hybridization patterns did not correlate well with the substrates of isolation, suggesting that there is considerable diversity in these genes in nature and that probe hybridization is not a reliable indication of catabolic capacity. The strains with the most extensive PCB degradation capacity did strongly hybridize to the bph probe, but a few strains that exhibited strong hybridization had poor PCB-degrading ability. Of the 19 strains studied, 5 hybridized to more than one probe and 2, including one strong PCB degrader, hybridized to all three probes. Southern blots showed that the bph and nah probes hybridized to separate bands, suggesting that multiple dioxygenases were present. Multiple dioxygenases may be an important feature of competitive decomposers in nature and hence may not be rare. Most of the isolates identified were members of the beta subgroup of the Proteobacteria, a few were gram positive, and none were true Pseudomonas species.
A STATISTICAL THEORY OF EQUILIBRIUM IN GAMES

This paper describes a statistical model of equiliobrium behaviour in games, which we call Quantal Response Equilibrium (QRE). The key feature of the equilibrium is that individuals do not always play responses to the strategies of their opponents, but play better strategies with higher probability than worse strategies. we illustrate several different applications of this approach, and establish a number of theoretical properties of this equilibrium concept. We also demonstrate an equililance between this equilibrium notion and Bayesian games derived from games of complete information with perturbed payoffs
Obstacles To The Adoption Of The IAS/IFRS In Tunisia

To guarantee the production of financial information that is useful for economic decision-making, most countries have a set of accounting standard used in preparing the financial statements. Indeed, the use of a common accounting language by all companies operating in the same economic space allows different users to monitor the activities of these entities in time and space and, therefore, take reasonable decisions. Thereby, the international accounting standards are a necessary to clarify the financial disclosure and make reading financial statements conform to a single repository easier. This strengthens the investor’s confidence, stimulates the financial market and ensures the best qualities that the financial information should be endowed. In deciding to adopt the international accounting standards IAS/IFRS, Tunisian authorities have launched a challenge to prompt a fast and adequate transition to a new accounting, financial, informational, organizational and internal control systems. However, this presents some obstacles related to the nature of the Tunisian economy which is characterized by a strong presence of small and medium companies, to the differences between the tax system and the accounting system, the conservative attitude of leaders and the high concentration of ownership. The results of our research analysis shows that the conservative attitude of managers and the lack of dynamic and efficient markets are the most important obstacles to adoption of IAS/IFRS in Tunisia according to the Tunisians Certified Public Accountants TCPAs). We detailed our analysis for the accounting, tax and economic obstacles. For the accounting, we found that the application of IAS 19, IAS 36 and IFRS 4 are the standards that cause more problems at the moment of their implementation according to the TCPAs. In addition, the deferred tax, the actuarial method and the treatment financial instruments are the most complex treatments in IAS/IFRS. Finally, the differences between the Tunisian accounting system and the international system are undoubtedly an important obstacle. Concerning the tax obstacles, we found that companies prepare their financial statements first in accordance with tax rules. In fact, the differences between the tax rules of the Tunisian accounting system and the IAS/IFRS are undoubtedly an obstacle to a better adoption of them. In addition, another obstacle is the readiness of tax administration for the adoption of the IAS/IFRS. Finally, for the economic obstacles, we found that the IAS/IFRS’ adoption and implementation costs and the costs related to their enforcement are the main economic obstacles.
The Need for a Paradigm Shift in Philosophy, Music and African Studies: A Trilogical Identification of Three Conceptual Relevancies in State Tertiary Education

The need for a paradigm shift in African development blueprint is also a call for reform of certain critical aspects of education in Africa. In the main stream African studies, this need may be defined as the Africanization of the contents of Africa’s inherited modern educational system. Presently, there is an urgent need for a paradigm shift in the study and practice of music as an integral agenda of African studies and African philosophy. Current educational reforms in both African studies and general education have continued to demand for this shift in the curriculum contents of mainstream African studies that have to do with the philosophy of music education. The trilology of music, philosophy and African studies are the identified three conceptual relevant disciplines where this call should be concentrated and worked out in good time. In essence, this article is a call for state tertiary institutions to “Africanize” music as a discipline, as an art and as a curriculum, using the philosophical analysis derived from the core principles of African studies. Philosophy will help the search for the Africanization of music education by giving it a safe human value base in African philosophy. We have argued in this paper that Western concepts of philosophy and aesthetic education currently taught in the 1950s failed to reflect the human values that are African and this failure and the need to reform their existing content informed the emergence of the centers of African research, renewal and studies known as Institutes of African studies in different Universities in Africa and Europe. Aesthetically speaking, music has a psychological role in culture, arts and the education of indigenous communities in Africa. Aesthetically, musical education based upon Western values alien to Africa has negative implications for the modern musical educational policies, curriculum and practice for the modern African state. From the analytical perspectives of both African Philosophy and African studies, we are able to argue and establish what should constitute the dynamics of new musical paradigm shift in Africa and to define the relevancy of music education to the African educational system, using analytical situation drawn from Nigeria examples in the study.
Forecasting Asia Pacific Mobile Market Trends Using Regression Analysis

This paper forecasts Asia Pacific mobile market trends by observing growth trends of GSM and UMTS user numbers. Regression analysis is selected as the forecasting tool. It is predicted that both of the GSM and UMTS markets in Asia Pacific will keep experiencing an exponential growth. However, the growth rate for GSM will be relatively stable while the one for UMTS will gradually decrease. The share of Asia Pacific GSM market will be relatively steady while the share of Asia Pacific UMTS market will slowly go down in the next couple of years. In the near future, GSM will still occupy the largest market share in the mobile world. In Asia Pacific, the coming of the 3G era will be later than the rest of the world. It is expected that the GSM subscriber number will reach to about 1.5 billion in Asia Pacific by the end of 2008.
Suggestive Evidence for Darwinian Selection against Asparagine-Linked Glycans of Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii

ABSTRACT We are interested in asparagine-linked glycans (N-glycans) of Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii, because their N-glycan structures have been controversial and because we hypothesize that there might be selection against N-glycans in nucleus-encoded proteins that must pass through the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) prior to threading into the apicoplast. In support of our hypothesis, we observed the following. First, in protists with apicoplasts, there is extensive secondary loss of Alg enzymes that make lipid-linked precursors to N-glycans. Theileria makes no N-glycans, and Plasmodium makes a severely truncated N-glycan precursor composed of one or two GlcNAc residues. Second, secreted proteins of Toxoplasma, which uses its own 10-sugar precursor (Glc3Man5GlcNAc2) and the host 14-sugar precursor (Glc3Man9GlcNAc2) to make N-glycans, have very few sites for N glycosylation, and there is additional selection against N-glycan sites in its apicoplast-targeted proteins. Third, while the GlcNAc-binding Griffonia simplicifolia lectin II labels ER, rhoptries, and surface of plasmodia, there is no apicoplast labeling. Similarly, the antiretroviral lectin cyanovirin-N, which binds to N-glycans of Toxoplasma, labels ER and rhoptries, but there is no apicoplast labeling. We conclude that possible selection against N-glycans in protists with apicoplasts occurs by eliminating N-glycans (Theileria), reducing their length (Plasmodium), or reducing the number of N-glycan sites (Toxoplasma). In addition, occupation of N-glycan sites is markedly reduced in apicoplast proteins versus some secretory proteins in both Plasmodium and Toxoplasma.
An Optimal Incentive Contract Preventing Excessive Risk-Taking by a Bank Manager

The Basel Committee of Banking Supervision initiated a discussion on the most efficient practices to prevent bank managers from excessive risk-taking. This paper proposes a game-theoretical approach, describing the decision-making process by a bank manager who chooses his own level of risk and effort. If the level of risk implies the variability of the future outcome, the amount of effort applied affects the probability of a positive outcome. Although effort is unobserved for the bank’s stakeholders, the risk level is under control, and is associated with certain indicators such as capital adequacy ratio or leverage level. The risk-neutral utility function of a bank manager and a binary game outcome of gaining profit or loss for a bank are assumed. Starting from the general incentive contract scheme having the fixed and variable parts of remuneration, it is proposed, that differentiating the variable part of remuneration is sufficient to motivate bank managers to make fewer risky decisions. More precisely, the variable part of remuneration (e.g. the share of the bank’s profit) needs to be higher in proportion to the higher variance of outcome for the high -risk outcome case to stimulate a bank manager to opt for lower-risk decisions in place of higher-risk situations