Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bank Ownership and Risk Taking: Improving Corporate Governance in Banking after the Crisis

Some have suggested that weaknesses in bank corporate governance played a prominent role in the recent financial crisis, most notably through poorly designed executive compensation packages and from various aspects of the public safety net that may have blunted the normal forces of market discipline. On the other hand, recent research has not led to a consensus on whether shortcomings in corporate governance contributed significantly to the crisis, and this research further indicates the difficulty of condensing corporate governance into a few simple and testable relationships. In this chapter, we examine key aspects of the corporate governance framework for financial institutions and discuss what they tell us about possible reforms and improvements in the wake of the financial crisis. Through the use of a unique data source and a sample of small banks, we are able to simultaneously account for the incentives and constraints that influence the major participants in a bank’s management and oversight. We find that the stock ownership by bank managers, their wealth diversification, the structure of managerial compensation, monitoring by directors and major stockholders, and the composition and characteristics of bank boards all have an important influence on the amount of risk taking in our sample banks. Used properly, tools such as ownership and compensation, monitoring, and other policies can help ensure that risk is managed within desired or acceptable parameters. In the end, we find that governance works best when managers, directors, and stockholders all have a significant personal stake in their decisions.
Determining the Optimal Portfolio in Iran Stock Exchange by Value at Risk Approach

Value at risk is a well-known concept in the measurement, prediction and management of risk which has received increasing attention in financial schemes. This method has been used in determining the optimum level of stocks of the investment portfolio. Value at risk minimization of the portfolio has been utilized to determine the optimal level of investment. Portfolio optimization aims to ascertain the optimal amount of assets so that the risk is minimized in a given level of return. The main objective of this study is introducing value at risk (VAR) as an appropriate pattern to manage the risk of the investments in Iran Stock Exchange and to select the optimal portfolio. Using parametric variance-covariance, the investment risk of a stock portfolio was calculated (selected through filtering technique). Finally, the optimal level of each stock in a portfolio was calculated by using a linear programming model. The findings reveal that there should be an investment in at least nine companies of the selected firms in which their
Examining online channel selection behaviour among social media shoppers: a PLS analysis

Online social media shopper's channel selection behaviour have been neglected despite its significant effect on purchase decision in both offline and online markets. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of transactive memory system (TMS) factors (specialisation, credibility and coordination), knowledge sharing (KS) and communication quality on online social media channel selection for shopping activities. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was performed using partial least squares (PLS) analysis to examine measurement model and structural model for reflective constructs. A total of 336 online questionnaires were collected from users of collaborative projects, social networking sites, blogs, content communities, virtual game worlds, and virtual social worlds. Our results reveal that TMS factors, KS and communication quality positively influence online channel selection. In addition, specialisation, credibility and coordination statistically contribute to TMS as a second order construct. This study extends the social exchange theory (SET) and TMS model in B2C retail context rather than B2B. Practical implications, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.
Relationship between sputum inflammatory markers, lung function, and lung pathology on high‐resolution computed tomography in children with cystic fibrosis

High‐resolution computed tomography (HRCT) is a sensitive technique for early visualisation and location of cystic fibrosis (CF) bronchopathology, and has been shown to detect acute reversible and chronic changes. It would be expected to correlate with markers of the underlying pathological processes, such as sputum cytokines and cytology, as well as with pulmonary function tests (PFTs). Our aim was to study the relationship between PFTs, sputum cytology, and sputum cytokine interleukin‐8 (IL‐8) and HRCT in CF patients. Prospective standardized collection of sputum samples was performed at the time of routine annual high‐resolution CT scans. Forced expired volume in 1 sec (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) were recorded. Sputum processing was selective, with dispersal by the three‐enzyme technique. IL‐8 measurements were by kit assay. HRCT scans were scored by a pediatric radiologist, blinded to clinical condition, using a modified Bhalla score.
Coordinated Operation of a Neighborhood of Smart Households Comprising Electric Vehicles, Energy Storage and Distributed Generation

In this paper, the optimal operation of a neighborhood of smart households in terms of minimizing the total energy procurement cost is analyzed. Each household may comprise several assets such as electric vehicles, controllable appliances, energy storage and distributed generation. Bi-directional power flow is considered both at household and neighborhood level. Apart from the distributed generation unit, technological options such as vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid are available to provide energy to cover self-consumption needs and to inject excessive energy back to the grid, respectively. The energy transactions are priced based on the net-metering principles considering a dynamic pricing tariff scheme. Furthermore, in order to prevent power peaks that could be harmful for the transformer, a limit is imposed to the total power that may be drawn by the households. Finally, in order to resolve potential competitive behavior, especially during relatively low price periods, a simple strategy in order to promote the fair usage of distribution transformer capacity is proposed.
Effect of Exercise Intervention on the Cardiovascular Health of Untrained Women: A Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression

Objective: Research on the untrained women’s cardiovascular health is a hot topic in the world. It is important to systematically assess the effects of exercise duration on cardiovascular health in untrained women. Methods: Published articles from 1988 to May 2015 were identified using electronic databases for randomized controlled trails. The weighted mean differences and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using fixed-effects and random-effects models. Meta-regression and subgroup analysis were performed to explore the possible heterogeneity. Results: Data from 28 published studies with a total of 544 untrained women aged less than 60 years were identified. There were significant pooled effects of different exercise durations on VO2max (within 3 months 95% CI: -2.51 to -1.57; I2=0%; 4-6 months 95% CI: -4.63 to -2.44; I2=0%) and Systolic Blood Pressure (4-6 months 95% CI: 5.55 to 7.52; I2=35%). Additionally, Systolic Blood Pressure was significantly decreased in unhealthy women (95% CI: 5.78 to 8.73; I2=84.3%). The Heart Rate, Total Cholesterol, High Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol and Low Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol of untrained women were significantly improved with short-duration, mid-duration and long-duration exercise. Conclusion: There are different effects of exercise duration on cardiovascular health in untrained women aged less than 60 years. The short-duration exercise can improve aerobic capacity in women, but the improvement becomes less with the increase of age. The short-duration, mid-duration and long-duration exercise can improve cholesterol metabolism and decrease Heart Rate in untrained women. The mid-duration exercise can significantly decrease Systolic Blood Pressure in unhealthy women but not in healthy women.
Motivations and barriers to the adoption of green supply chain practices among 3PLs

Over the last decade, logistics companies have experienced significant pressures towards the adoption of green practices. Meanwhile, the research community has started to show an increasing interest in the green supply chain management (GSCM) area. However, so far only a limited number of studies have focussed specifically on logistics activities and third party logistics providers (3PLs), and their motivations and barriers to the adoption of green supply chain practices (GSCP). This paper seeks to fill this gap by illustrating the results of a multiple case study research with data collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews with senior representatives from 15 3PLs. The study revealed that the adoption of GSCP does not seem to be driven by competitive advantage solely based on sustainability; however, companies have started perceiving the need to become somehow ‘green’. As for the barriers, high investments and difficulties in identifying and measuring costs/benefits appeared among the most relevant ones.
Translational control of mRNA processing in the F1845 fimbrial operon of Escherichia coli

Endoribonucleolytic processing followed by differential decay of the cleavage products is an increasingly recognized mechanism for achieving co‐ordinate regulation of functionally related proteins encoded by bacterial polycistronic transcripts. Unlike most examples when RNases E or III initiate decay, the daa transcript encoding F1845 fimbriae, a member of the Dr family of adhesins in Escherichia coli, is processed by an as yet unidentified endoribonuclease using a unique recognition mechanism. An open reading frame (ORF) predicted to encode a 57‐amino‐acid polypeptide was identified flanking the daa processing site. To determine whether this ORF is involved in processing, site‐directed mutagenesis was used to generate mutants with altered translational efficiencies. A mutation in the putative ribosome binding site preceding the ORF significantly inhibited processing while the introduction of a premature stop codon abolished processing. Site‐directed mutagenesis was used to introduce a limited number of mutations into the ORF, designated daaP, to alter the reading frame such that a different polypeptide of a similar size was encoded. Despite the presumed presence of trafficking ribosomes, this mutant failed to be processed, suggesting that the sequence of the DaaP peptide is important. However, the failure of a wild‐type copy of the daaP gene to complement these mutations in trans suggested that the presence of wild‐type daaP gene product was not sufficient to promote processing. Although active translation has been found to inhibit processing by RNases E and III, our data suggest that translation of the daaP gene is required in cis to promote processing by the endonuclease, perhaps due to an interaction of the nascent peptide with the ribosome or the daaP mRNA.
An unsupervised methodology for the detection of epileptic seizures in long-term EEG signals

An unsupervised methodology for the detection of Epileptic seizures in EEG recordings is proposed. The time-frequency content of the EEG signals is extracted using the Short Time Fourier Transform. The analysis focuses on the EEG energy distribution among the well-established delta, theta and alpha rhythms (2-13 Hz), as energy variations in these frequency bands are widely associated with seizure activity. Relying on seizure rhythmicity, the classification is performed by isolating the segments where each rhythm is more clearly and dominantly expressed over the others. For the first time, an unsupervised methodology is evaluated using more than 978 hours of EEG recordings from a public database. The results show that the proposed methodology achieves high seizure detection sensitivity with significantly reduced human intervention.
FISH: Linux system calls for FPGA accelerators

This, paper presents the FISH (FPGA-Initiated Software-Handled) framework which allows FPGA accelerators to make system calls to the Linux operating system in CPU-FPGA systems. A special FISH Linux kernel module running on the CPU provides a system call interface for FPGA accelerators, much like the ABI which exists for software programs. We provide a proof-of-concept implementation of this framework running on the Intel Cyclone V SoC device, and show that an FPGA accelerator can seamlessly make system calls as if it were the host program. We see the FISH framework being especially useful for high-level synthesis (HLS) by making it possible to synthesize software code that contains system calls.
A comparative study on the performance of filters for speckle reduction in radar SAR images

Many adaptive filters have been developed for speckle reduction in SAR images and they are based on the MMSE criteria and on a test related to the local coefficient of variation of the observed image (Lee 1981, Lee 1986, Frost & al 1982, Kuan & al 1985, Lopes & al 1990), which describes the scene heterogeneity. Considering the limitations of these filters, some techniques of speckle filtering using the MAP approach have been developed in this communication. This approach proposed by Kuan et al. for speckle filtering uses an appropriate speckle model and a Gaussian scene modelisation. More realistic texture models are introduced by Lopes et al. By replacing the Gaussian probability density function by a Gamma and a symmetrical Beta pdf’s. We propose in this communication, a new speckle reduction filter which utilises the wavelet coefficients of the “trous “ algorithm proposed by Dutilleux (1987). This filter algorithm consists, first of all, on a calculation of the α parameter of the theoretical generalised gaussian distribution which represents the best the wavelet coefficients distribution. We apply then the generalised gaussian distribution on the wavelet coefficients and we obtain the filtered image by the filtered images of the wavelet coefficients. The last filter performs better, i.e., it allows to achieve a very good smoothing in the homogeneous areas preserving, at the same time, structural and textural information’s, edges, liners features. All these filters are tested and compared on a ERS-1 SAR image corresponding to an area of the southern Algeria called Laghouat. The good results obtained and the improvements with respect to the classic algorithms are presented and discussed.
Diversification Principles Of Real Estate Portfolios

Abstract Diversifying an investment portfolio through the diversification of assets, which is accompanied by the dispersion of risk, is aimed at achieving an appropriate balance between the expected return and an acceptable level of investment risk. While considering the specificity of various forms of investing in property, the level of the liquidity risk of property assets and the risk of financial instruments in the real estate market, as well as the volume of the capital involved and the regional differentiation of its allocation, this paper intends to present the possible ways of diversifying the portfolio, including sectoral and geographical diversification on the assumption that investments are concentrated in metropolitan areas. The identification of investment portfolio diversification principles, including liquid assets and the real estate market, embraces this perspective on the conditions of the functioning of EU REITs, whose business goal is to manage professionally diversified real estate portfolios
Repressor Activity of CCAAT Displacement Protein in HL-60 Myeloid Leukemia Cells (*)

CCAAT displacement protein (CDP)/cut is implicated in several systems as a transcriptional repressor of developmentally regulated genes. In myeloid leukemia cells, CDP/cut binding activity as assayed on the promoter of the phagocyte-specific cytochrome heavy chain gene gp91-phox varies inversely with expression of gp91-phox mRNA. We used two approaches to ascertain whether CDP/cut serves as a repressor of gp91-phox gene expression. First, we used transient transfection assays in 3T3 cells to demonstrate that the CDP/cut binding site from the gp91-phox promoter acts as a negative regulatory element in artificial promoter constructs. Second, we isolated a stable transformant of HL-60 myeloid cells constitutively expressing transfected CDP/cut cDNA. Stable transformants carrying expression vector alone or expressing CDP/cut mRNA were induced to differentiate along the macrophage lineage with phorbol ester or along the neutrophil lineage with dimethyl sulfoxide or retinoic acid/dimethylformamide. Northern blot analysis was used to assess induction of mRNAs encoding gp91-phox, and the myeloid oxidase cytosolic components, p47 and p67. In the stable transformant expressing transfected CDP/cut cDNA, gp91-phox induction was selectively reduced, whereas morphologic differentiation and induction of mRNA for myeloid oxidase components p47 and p67 were unaffected. These data provide persuasive evidence that CDP/cut acts to repress the gp91-phox gene.
Waste Generation, Incineration and Landfill Diversion: De-Coupling Trends, Socio-Economic Drivers and Policy Effectiveness in the EU

Waste generation and waste disposal are issues that are becoming increasingly prominent in the environmental arena both from a policy perspective and in the context of delinking analysis. Waste generation is still increasing proportionally with income, and economic and environmental costs associated to landfilling are also increasing. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of waste generation, incineration, recycling and landfill dynamics based on panel data for the EU25, to assess the effects of different drivers (economic, structural, policy) and the eventual differences between western and eastern EU countries. We show that for waste generation there is still no Waste Kuznets Curve (WKC) trend, although elasticity to income drivers appear lower than in the past. Landfill and other policy effects do not seem to provide backward incentives for waste prevention. Regarding landfill and incineration, the two trends, as expected, are respectively decreasing and increasing, with policy providing a strong driver. It demonstrates the effectiveness of policy even in this early stage of policy implementation. This is essential for an ex post evaluation of existing landfill and incineration directives. Eastern countries appear to perform generally quite well, thus benefiting from their EU membership and related policies in terms of environmental performances. We may conclude that although absolute delinking is far from being achieved for waste generation, there are first positive signals in favour of an increasing relative delinking for waste generation and average robust landfill diversion, and various evidence of a significant role of the EU waste policies implemented in the late 1990s and early 2000s on landfill diversion. Waste prevention is nevertheless the next necessary target of waste regulatory efforts.
Kinematics-Based Navigation Functions

In this paper, we introduce a new family of navigation laws which are based on analytic navigation functions derived using the kinematics equations. These navigation laws combine local and global aspects, and can be used for both indoor and outdoor navigation. The robot's kinematics model is represented in polar coordinates. The analytic navigation functions suggested here are functions of the line-of-sight angle between the robot and the goal, and depend on one or more navigation parameters. The navigation parameters allow us to control the navigation law and, thus, the path of the robot. The choice of the navigation function and its parameters is important, and must satisfy some conditions. Different paths are obtained for different navigation functions and different parameters. This property is used to avoid collision with obstacles. Under this formulation, the number of navigation functions allowing the robot to reach a given goal is infinite. An extensive simulation study shows the effectiveness of the method.
The Impact of Psychological Aggression on Women's Mental Health and Behavior

Potential effects of psychological aggression have been investigated in terms of mental health disorders/symptoms, physical manifestations, personality traits, increases in physical and psychological aggression, and relationship changes and cessation. Probably because of methodological difficulties inherent in assessing this complex phenomenon, even the most commonly assessed outcome variables have produced contradictory results, with the exception of leaving or desiring to leave the psychologically abusive relationship. Some of the significant findings require more corroboration due to the small number of studies addressing them. The relative role of physical abuse in relation to psychological abuse has yet to be disentangled. Mediator/moderator variables are likely extremely important for explaining why particular consequences do not consistently result from psychological aggression. Although the hypothesized consequences/outcomes seem appropriate for further study, the most significant contribution may lie in intensive investigation of long-term, enduring psychological abuse that produces major personality and affective shifts in the recipient.
Application of Raman spectroscopy for cervical dysplasia diagnosis

Cervical cancer is the second most common malignancy among women worldwide, with over 490 000 cases diagnosed and 274 000 deaths each year. Although current screening methods have dramatically reduced cervical cancer incidence and mortality in developed countries, a “See and Treat” method would be preferred, especially in developing countries. Results from our previous work have suggested that Raman spectroscopy can be used to detect cervical precancers; however, with a classification accuracy of 88%, it was not clinically applicable. In this paper, we describe how incorporating a woman's hormonal status, particularly the point in menstrual cycle and menopausal state, into our previously developed classification algorithm improves the accuracy of our method to 94%. The results of this paper bring Raman spectroscopy one step closer to being utilized in a clinical setting to diagnose cervical dysplasia. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Gender and coupon use

Men have not traditionally been considered a viable target market for most household purchases and, thus, for coupon distribution. However, with significant social changes over the last several decades, men may offer an opportunity for sales growth in many product categories. This study surveyed 206 males and females to identify gender differences in products purchased, frequency of coupon use by product type, and coupon source. The study also used demographics and parental coupon use to profile gender differences. Men were found to play a major role in household purchases, particularly for groceries, and to be light users of coupons overall. Men also were found to purchase more online products and more food delivery services than women but to use fewer coupons. Men were, however, found to be heavy users of grocery store loyalty cards.