Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Risk management operations described by a stochastic discounting model incorporating a random sum of cash flows and a random maximum of recovery times

Abstract The paper makes use of two important concepts of probability theory in order to formulate a stochastic discounting model for the present value of a random cash flow under random timing and constant force of interest. Applications in fundamental risk management operations of the proposed stochastic discounting model are provided. Moreover, sufficient conditions for embedding the distribution corresponding to the model into an important class of generalized unimodal distributions are established.
Managerial challenges in South Africa

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate insights into cross‐cultural conflict, identity and values amongst selected managers within a South African management context. It aims to increase the understanding of these complexities from an academic managerial perspective, thereby providing in‐depth information which can lead to the development of managerial training tools for improving diversity and conflict management in the described context.Design/methodology/approach – The authors selected qualitative data from a case study that was conducted in the international South African automotive industry. The case study was based on the post‐modernist premise by considering phenomenological and interpretative paradigms most relevant.Findings – Findings show conflicts in managerial communication and treatment, position and competition, organisation, race and gender and are often defined as “cross‐racial” conflict fuelled by the society's past.Research limitations/implications – The generalisability i.
Numerical Simulation of Solitary-Wave Scattering and Damping in Fragmented Sea Ice

A numerical model for direct phase-resolved simulation of nonlinear ocean waves propagating through fragmented sea ice is proposed. In view are applications to wave propagation and attenuation across the marginal ice zone. This model solves the full equations for nonlinear potential flow coupled with a nonlinear thin-plate formulation for the ice cover. Distributions of ice floes can be directly specified in the physical domain by allowing the coefficient of flexural rigidity to be spatially variable. Dissipation due to ice viscosity is also taken into account by including diffusive terms in the governing equations. Two-dimensional simulations are performed to examine the attenuation of solitary waves by scattering and damping through an irregular array of ice floes. Wave attenuation over time is quantified for various floe configurations.
Utility-Based Resource Allocation under Multi-Connectivity in Evolved LTE

In the current 4G era, the dual connectivity technique utilizes radio resources scheduled by two distinct base stations for a single user equipment to enhance the data throughput. Multi- connectivity, as a natural evolution of dual connectivity, is one of the key 5G techniques to improve both the user performance and overall resource utilization, allowing dynamic user trafﬁc steering across multiple connections of one or more radio access technologies (RATs). However, one of the main challenge in multi-connectivity is to efﬁciently allocate resources across multiple connections under heterogeneous quality of service (QoS) requirements. In this paper, we examine a resource allocation problem under multi- connectivity in an evolved LTE network and propose a utility proportional fairness (UPF) resource allocation that supports QoS in terms of requested rates. We evaluate the proposed policy with the proportional fairness (PF) resource allocation through extensive simulations and characterize performance gain from both the user and network perspectives under different conditions.
Resident perceptions of sustainable tourism development: Frankenwald Nature Park, Germany

This paper examined the relationship between four dimensions of sustainability and perceptions of tourism development held by residents of communities in and around Frankenwald Nature Park (FNP) in central Germany (n = 306). Building on a previous study (Shen and Cottrell, 2008), it was hypothesised that ratings for the ecological, economic, institutional and socio-cultural dimensions of sustainability would contribute to resident satisfaction. Final dimensional indices consisted of 5-9 survey items with reliability coefficients ranging from 0.63 to 0.87. Regression analyses revealed all four dimensions of sustainability as significant predictors of resident satisfaction with tourism to FNP. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings for understanding tourism sustainability are discussed.
Statistical characterization of images — Anisotropy

The purposes of the paper are to contribute to the understanding of the notion of anisotropy of images and to expose details on a method for deriving global and local statistical features on materials, based on anisotropy. We introduce a definition of anisotropy related to the edges and improve measures of anisotropy. The images dealt with correspond mainly to non-woven fabrics based on polymeric fibers. A discussion of the applicative potential is included.
Convergence of Conze–Lesigne averages

We study the convergence of N^{-1} \sum f_1(T^{a_1n}x)f_2(T^{a_2n}x)f_3(T^{a_3n}x), for a measure-preserving system (X, \mathcal{B}, \mu, T) and f_{1}, f_{2}, f_{3} \in L^{\infty}(\mu). This generalizes the theorem of Conze and Lesigne on such expressions and simplifies the proof. We also obtain a description of the limit.
A dichotomy between uniform distributions of the Stern-Brocot and the Farey sequence

We employ infinite ergodic theory to show that the even Stern-Brocot sequence and the Farey sequence are uniformly distributed mod 1 with respect to certain canonical weightings. As a corollary we derive the precise asymptotic for the Lebesgue measure of continued fraction sum-level sets as well as connections to asymptotic behaviours of geometrically and arithmetically restricted Poincar\'e series. Moreover, we give relations of our main results to elementary observations for the Stern-Brocot tree.
Predictive Models for Photovoltaic Electricity Production in Hot Weather Conditions

The process of finding a correct forecast equation for photovoltaic electricity production from renewable sources is an important matter, since knowing the factors affecting the increase in the proportion of renewable energy production and reducing the cost of the product has economic and scientific benefits. This paper proposes a mathematical model for forecasting energy production in photovoltaic (PV) panels based on a self-organizing feature map (SOFM) model. The proposed model is compared with other models, including the multi-layer perceptron (MLP) and support vector machine (SVM) models. Moreover, a mathematical model based on a polynomial function for fitting the desired output is proposed. Different practical measurement methods are used to validate the findings of the proposed neural and mathematical models such as mean square error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE), correlation (R), and coefficient of determination (R2). The proposed SOFM model achieved a final MSE of 0.0007 in the training phase and 0.0005 in the cross-validation phase. In contrast, the SVM model resulted in a small MSE value equal to 0.0058, while the MLP model achieved a final MSE of 0.026 with a correlation coefficient of 0.9989, which indicates a strong relationship between input and output variables. The proposed SOFM model closely fits the desired results based on the R2 value, which is equal to 0.9555. Finally, the comparison results of MAE for the three models show that the SOFM model achieved a best result of 0.36156, whereas the SVM and MLP models yielded 4.53761 and 3.63927, respectively. A small MAE value indicates that the output of the SOFM model closely fits the actual results and predicts the desired output.
Safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of a formalin-inactivated hepatitis A vaccine (VAQTA) in rural Kentucky children.

This study evaluated the immunogenicity and safety/tolerability profile of an investigational formalin-inactivated hepatitis A virus vaccine (VAQTA; Merck Research Laboratories) in 150 seronegative healthy children, 4 to 12 years old. The vaccine was derived from virus grown in infected MRC-5 cells in either roller bottles or Nunc cell factories (Nunc, Denmark). Subjects were vaccinated intramuscularly in a two dose regimen initially and at 24 weeks: Group A (n = 50) with a 12-unit dose from a roller bottle lot; Group B (n = 50) with a 25-unit dose from another roller bottle lot; and Group C (n = 50) with a 25-unit dose from a Nunc cell lot. Sera for anti-hepatitis A virus antibodies were drawn 3 weeks before vaccination and 4, 24 and 28 weeks after the first dose. Seroconversion from < 10 mIU/ml to > or = 10 mIU/ml by modified HAVAB (Abbott Laboratories) was observed in 99% of subjects at week 4 and persisted in 100% of subjects at week 28 (4 weeks after the second dose). The ranges of geometric mean titers of anti-HAV for all subjects at weeks 4, 24 and 28 were 31 to 49, 51 to 79 and 7059 to 29,609 mIU/ml, respectively. The 12- and 25-unit dose levels of roller bottle yielded similar geometric mean titers. The rise in geometric mean titers after the booster dose was > 120-fold and was highest in the recipients of the 25-unit Nunc cell lot (P < 0.05 for Group C vs. B). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Economic Calculation and Managerial Decisions: A Misesian Examination of the Successes and Failures of Total Quality Management

While the Total Quality Management programs that were extremely popular a decade ago had many successes, there also were a large number of failures. This paper lays out some theoretical reasons for why these failures might have occurred. Our methodology is the application of the theories of the “Austrian” economists, including Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, and Murray N. Rothbard. We apply both the Austrian theory of the firm, as well as the economic calculation theories that Mises and Hayek developed, in order to explain why some TQM failures might have occurred.
Legitimacy and parliamentary oversight in Australia: the rise and fall of two public accounts committees

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to address the question of whether two early Australian public accounts committees were established for the purpose of legitimating governments of the time. Design/methodology/approach - The paper addressed these issues through a study of the establishment, early work and abolition in the 1930s of the Victorian Committee of Public Accounts (VCPA) and the Joint Committee of Public Accounts (JCPA). Findings - Clear evidence is found that the Joint Committee of Public Accounts (JCPA) had been copied from the VCPA and that the VCPA had been copied from the UK House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts, which was established in 1861. This would indicate that the primary objective in the establishment of both these committees was legitimation rather than control. It was found that the subsequent work of both the VCPA and the JCPA showed a drift away from an accounting focus towards a policy focus. This is similar to the JCPA experience described by Degeling Originality/value - The paper suggests that the ideas of legitimation and mimetic isomorphism provide a more convincing explanation for the nature and work of these two public accounts committees than the idea of accounting colonisation.
Lifetime Income and Housing Affordability in Singapore

Most commonly used measures of housing affordability are essentially short-run indicators that compare current income with house prices or housing costs. Despite the emphasis in the literature on the importance of long-term affordability, researchers have not developed measures of lifetime income because of data constraints. Many developed countries publish annually household income by age of household heads. Using these data for Singapore, the paper presents a methodology to compute lifetime income from predicted annual household earnings over the working life for each birth cohort in the dataset. The lifetime income of Singapore households by three income quantiles sheds new light on widening income gaps. The affordability index, defined as the ratio of lifetime income to house price, reveals informative trends and cycles in housing affordability in both the public and the private sectors. The paper argues that residential property price escalations need to be avoided.
Improved exome prioritization of disease genes through cross-species phenotype comparison

Numerous new disease-gene associations have been identified by whole-exome sequencing studies in the last few years. However, many cases remain unsolved due to the sheer number of candidate variants remaining after common filtering strategies such as removing low quality and common variants and those deemed unlikely to be pathogenic. The observation that each of our genomes contains about 100 genuine loss-of-function variants makes identification of the causative mutation problematic when using these strategies alone. We propose using the wealth of genotype to phenotype data that already exists from model organism studies to assess the potential impact of these exome variants. Here, we introduce PHenotypic Interpretation of Variants in Exomes (PHIVE), an algorithm that integrates the calculation of phenotype similarity between human diseases and genetically modified mouse models with evaluation of the variants according to allele frequency, pathogenicity, and mode of inheritance approaches in our Exomiser tool. Large-scale validation of PHIVE analysis using 100,000 exomes containing known mutations demonstrated a substantial improvement (up to 54.1-fold) over purely variant-based (frequency and pathogenicity) methods with the correct gene recalled as the top hit in up to 83% of samples, corresponding to an area under the ROC curve of >95%. We conclude that incorporation of phenotype data can play a vital role in translational bioinformatics and propose that exome sequencing projects should systematically capture clinical phenotypes to take advantage of the strategy presented here.
Positively Weighted Minimum-Variance Portfolios and the Structure of Asset Expected Returns

Abstract In this paper, we derive simple, directly computable conditions for minimum-variance portfolios to have all positive weights. We show that either there is no minimum-variance portfolio with all positive weights or there is a single segment of the minimum-variance frontier for which all portfolios have positive weights. Then, we examine the likelihood of observing positively weighted minimum-variance portfolios. Analytical and computational results suggest that: i) even if the mean vector and covariance matrix are compatible with a given positively weighted portfolio being mean-variance efficient, the proportion of the minimum-variance frontier containing positively weighted portfolios is small and decreases as the number of assets in the universe increases, and ii) small perturbations in the means will likely lead to no positively weighted minimum-variance portfolios.
Managing integrators where integration matters: insights from symbolic industries

Recently, companies have been faced with strong need for integration in order to deal with the trade-offs of the current competitive environments – quick response and customization, technical functionality and stylistic appeal, low cost and top quality. This need has led to the introduction of different integrating positions. Although these positions already exist within the firm, in recent years they have become strategic and therefore have to be carefully managed. The relevance and the management of integrators are particularly evident in the symbolic industries, where the need to combine the symbolic and the functional facets of products and services has become increasingly critical for companies to succeed. We provide evidence based on four case studies conducted in the European fashion industry in order to build an original framework for the effectiveness of the integrators and to highlight the relevance of HRM practices in dealing with these positions.
How Much Do OECD Countries Spend on Social Protection and How Redistributive are Their Tax/Benefit Systems?

The global economic crisis has reignited interest in social policy and public spending on different types of social benefits. Public social spending-to-GDP ratios are often used to consider the magnitude of welfare systems in international perspective, but such comparisons alone give an incomplete picture of social effort across countries. This article looks at these different factors, before briefly considering the redistributive nature of tax/benefit systems in different member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The article also considers trends in social spending and compares spending in the late 2000s with the early 1990s when the previous economic crisis played out. The article ends by illustrating the profound effect the recent global economic crisis had on social spending trends across OECD countries.
Iodido(1,10-phenanthroline-κ2 N,N′)(piperine-1-carbodithioato-κ2 S,S′)copper(II)

In the title compound, [Cu(C6H10NS2)I(C12H8N2)], the CuII ion is coordinated by one iodide ion, two N atoms of the phenanthroline ligand and two S atoms from the piperidyldithiocarbamate ligand in a distorted square-pyramidal environment.
Uncertainty in the Family Business facing the process of internationalization: Literature review and future research agenda

Purpose: This article analyses the Family Business (FB) within the process of globalization that has been taking place in recent decades. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve this we undertake a description of the importance of FB in the global economy and contrast this with a systematic review of the academic literature, which demonstrates the growing academic interest in the internationalization of the FB. Findings: The literature review highlights the importance of agency and stewardship theories when analyzing the aspects that affect the process of internationalization. These theoretical frameworks require a variety of assumptions and explain how ownership and control of an FB may explain different attitudes towards some short term risks, which could be due to FB politics of internationalization.
Identification of HDAC Inhibitors Using a Cell-Based HDAC I/II Assay

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are a class of epigenetic enzymes that regulate gene expression by histone deacetylation. Altered HDAC function has been linked to cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, making HDACs popular therapeutic targets. In this study, we describe a screening approach for identification of compounds that inhibit endogenous class I and II HDACs. A homogeneous, luminogenic HDAC I/II assay was optimized in a 1536-well plate format in several human cancer cell lines, including HCT116 and human neural stem cells. The assay confirmed 37 known HDAC inhibitors from two libraries of known epigenetics-active compounds. Using the assay, we identified a group of potential HDAC inhibitors by screening the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Pharmaceutical Collection of 2527 small-molecule drugs. The selected compounds showed similar HDAC I/II inhibitory potency and efficacy values in both HCT116 and neural stem cells. Several previously unidentified HDAC inhibitors were further evaluated and profiled for their selectivity against a panel of 10 HDAC I/II isoforms using fluorogenic HDAC biochemical assays. In summary, our results show that several novel HDAC inhibitors, including nafamostat and piceatannol, have been identified using the HDAC I/II cell-based assay, and multiple cell types have been validated for high-throughput screening of large chemical libraries.
Relationships matter: case study of a university campus incubator

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the nature of the incubator manager (IM)‐client, client‐client and client‐IM‐client relationships that facilitate incubation activity.Design/methodology/approach – A case study methodology was adopted for undertaking the empirical work. The case organization was an Irish Dublin‐based university campus incubator. During the course of the research, which lasted six months, data were collected from high‐technology client firms and the incubator management using semi‐structured interviews, non‐participant observation and corporate documents.Findings – Incubation is very much dependent on the quality of human relationships and occurs via a process of co‐production in dyads and triads. Without the voluntary and active participation of client firms, the mechanisms that facilitate co‐production break down. There is no one master incubation process, it is comprised of small micro‐processes each with its own norms, dynamic and stages depending on relational quality.Re.
Vehicular Security Through Reputation and Plausibility Checks

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are essentially used to communicate real-time traffic and safety information. In this paper, we present vehicular security through reputation and plausibility checks to address the most important issue of security in VANETs. The algorithm provides security against the attacks of event modification, false event generation, data aggregation and data dropping. It performs not only detection but also the isolation of malicious nodes in the network. It employs sensors in a reputation-based system and presents a very robust yet cost efficient approach as it utilizes just vehicle to vehicle communication, thereby reducing the security issues and cost associated with the roadside infrastructure. The algorithm has been simulated and tested on various scenarios and has been observed to be very effective and efficient in terms of the percentage of malicious nodes detected, number of control packets sent after detection of malicious nodes, average time taken to detect nodes which are generating false information, number of packets dropped, and the number of packets received by malicious nodes.
A laboratory for the development and evaluation of BMD software quality enhancement techniques

This paper describes a Software Quality Laboratory which will be used to develop new software quality analysis tools and evaluate their effectiveness. The laboratory will consist of a centralized data base for storing information about programs and a set of analysis routines which can be invoked interactively. A major effort using the laboratory will be the development of an executable assertion language. The laboratory will also be used to perform research in program verification and testing.
Validity of the Assessment of Life Habits in older adults.

OBJECTIVE To study the construct validity of a participation scale, the Assessment of Life Habits, with older adults having functional limitations. More specifically, the study aimed to verify the ability of the Assessment of Life Habits to discriminate between clienteles in 3 living environments, and to compare participation scores to functional independence scores obtained with the Functional Autonomy Measurement System (Système de mesure de l'autonomie fonctionnelle). DESIGN Participants were evaluated once with the Assessment of Life Habits and the Functional Autonomy Measurement System. SUBJECTS Eighty-seven older adults (mean age 78.0 years (8.2)) living in 3 types of environment: own home, private nursing home or long-term care centre. RESULTS Results suggest that the Assessment of Life Habits scores discriminate between different levels of participation according to the living environments of the participants. The Assessment of Life Habits measures some similar aspects to the Functional Autonomy Measurement System scale but also additional concepts not included in the Functional Autonomy Measurement System. CONCLUSION This study supports the validity of the Assessment of Life Habits as a participation measure. It suggests the importance of going beyond disability measures to evaluate the overall functioning of older adults correctly.