Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Omega Measure: Hedge Fund Portfolio Optimization

Traditionally, asset allocation is performed via an optimization problem in the mean-variance framework. Mean-variance analysis assumes that either the investor's utility function is quadratic or the returns are normally distributed. However, it is well known that a quadratic utility function is inconsistent with the behavior of a rational investor. In addition, assets returns may not be normally distributed. This is typically the case for hedge fund returns which distributions usually exhibit negative skewness and excess kurtosis. Alternative methods capturing these statistical properties have been introduced but they still reduce the dimensionality to a few characteristics and do not take into account moments of higher order than skewness and kurtosis. Omega is a new measure that reflects all the statistical properties of a returns distribution. The measure incorporates all the moments of the distribution and requires no assumptions on its shape or on the investor's utility function. As a measure of attractiveness, omega can be used for performance measurement but also for optimal asset allocation. This paper sets first the theoretical foundations for using omega in the investment decision problem. Then, the measure is applied to optimal asset allocation for portfolios containing hedge fund indices. It shows that the portfolios derived in the omega framework can markedly depart from those obtained with other conventional techniques, which emphasizes the importance of including higher moments than skewness and kurtosis in the analysis. It further suggests that omega provides enhanced capabilities for risk diversification and performance enhancement when returns are not normally distributed. Finally, it shows that even if returns are normally distributed, omega still contributes to the analysis by considering investor? s specific perception of gain and loss.
Cross-device eye-based interaction

Eye-tracking technology is envisaged to become part of our daily life, as its development progresses it becomes more wearable. Additionally there is a wealth of digital content around us, either close to us, on our personal devices or out-of-reach on public displays. The scope of this work aims to combine gaze with mobile input modalities to enable the transfer of content between public and close proximity personal displays. The work contributes enabling technologies, novel interaction techniques, and poses bigger questions that move toward a formalisation of this design space to develop guidelines for the development of future cross-device eye-based interaction methods.
Kinematics modeling of a 4-DOF robotic arm

This work presents the kinematics model of an RA-02 (a 4 DOF) robotic arm. The direct kinematic problem is addressed using both the Denavit-Hartenberg (DH) convention and the product of exponential formula, which is based on the screw theory. By comparing the results of both approaches, it turns out that they provide identical solutions for the manipulator kinematics. Furthermore, an algebraic solution of the inverse kinematics problem based on trigonometric formulas is also provided. Finally, simulation results for the kinematics model using the Matlab program based on the DH convention are presented. Since the two approaches are identical, the product of exponential formula is supposed to produce same simulation results on the robotic arm studied.
A resistant digital image watermarking scheme based on masking model

This study presents a resistant digital image watermarking scheme based on masking model. The Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) method has been used on this scheme based on luminance masking with non-blind watermarking model in which an original image was needed in an extraction process. The resistance of digital images was checked against some of Non-Geometric attacks including Salt & Peppers Noise and Gaussian Noise and some of geometric attacks including rescaling and rotation. The experiment results showed the resistance of the proposed scheme against several types of Non-Geometric and geometric attacks in comparison with the previous research.
Associations Among Self-Reported Disordered Eating Behavior, Nutrient Intake, Depression, and Self-efficacy Among College Students

Julian H. Williford Jr., Advisor Eating Disorders on college campuses are increasing. The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence of disordered eating behaviors among college students. The sample consisted of 201 volunteer students who were enrolled in an introductory nutrition course during the Fall of 2005 and the Spring of 2006. This nutrition course is required for all health-related majors. Identification of disordered eating was based on scores from self-reported EAT-26 questionnaires (EAT-26). Also administered were the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), General Self Efficacy Scale (GSE), and a questionnaire that provided demographic information. Potential inadequate nutrient intake of total calories, folate, iron and calcium were calculated by the Diet Analysis Plus 6.0 program from subject’s self-reported five-day food records. Disordered eating patterns were identified with a positive EAT-26 score of ≥ 20. A significant number of students scored positively on the EAT-26, and female students had a higher percentage of inadequate intakes than the male subjects. Approximately 15.4 % of the sample in this study had positive EAT-26 scores, with 19 % of the female population and 2.3 % of the male population displaying characteristics of disordered eating. These scores are similar to scores demonstrated in previous studies at BGSU in 1998, 1999, 2004, and 2006. Study results also showed that students with positive EAT-26 scores, when compared to those with regular scores, had a tendency to consume fewer total calories and measured nutrients (folate, calcium, and iron); however only the calories consumed were significantly different between the groups. Approximately 43.28 % of the study population consumed less than two thirds of the DRI for total calories, and 62.18%, 47.76 %, and 49.75 % of the participants consumed less than two-thirds of the DRI for folate, calcium and iron respectively.
Traveling electric field conveyor for contactless manipulation of microparts

In an earlier paper by the authors (1995), down-scaled devices for microparts handling utilizing an AC electric field boundary wave were proposed. Devices that instantly generate contactless microparts driving forces through electric field creation have been designed and fabricated. In a further attempt, the mechanisms behind microparts conveyance are subsequently validated in experiments and simulations. Particles as a micropart substitute are actuated. On a thin protecting insulation-film above a series of encased and insulated parallel field electrodes, particles become either triboelectrically or induction charged through the application of balanced multi-phase voltages. The created nonuniform traveling field-wave conveys the charged particles perpendicular to the electrodes confined in potential wells from electrode to electrode. A series of particle materials with diameters up to 400 /spl mu/m has been examined; metal, glass and plastic spheres showed the best performances. Simulations of the potential distribution underline the experimental findings on the electric panel and dots device. One further result, which could have been shown by experiments, is the pre-oscillation of a moving particle caused by gravity.
Characteristics of Lake Chad Level Variability and Links to ENSO, Precipitation, and River Discharge

This study used trend, correlation, and wavelet analysis to characterize Lake Chad (LC) level fluctuations, river discharge, El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and precipitation regimes and their interrelationships. Linear correlation results indicate a negative association between ENSO and LC level, river discharge and precipitation. Trend analysis shows increasing precipitation in the Lake Chad Basin (LCB) but decreasing LC level. The mode of interannual variability in LC level, rainfall, and ENSO analyzed using wavelet analysis is dominated by 3-4-year periods. Results show that variability in ENSO could explain only 31% and 13% of variations in LC level at Kindjeria and precipitation in the northern LCB, respectively. The wavelet transform coherency (WTC) between LC level of the southern pool at Kalom and ENSO is statistically significant at the 95% confidence level and phase-locked, implying a cause-and-effect association. These strong coherencies coincide with the La Niña years with the exception of 1997-1998 El Niño events. The WTC shows strong covariance between increasing precipitation and LC level in the northern pool at a 2- to 4-year band and 3- to 4-year band localized from 1996 to 2010. Implications for water resource planning and management are discussed.
A New Continuum Regression Method for Quantitative Analysis of Raman Spectrum

Quantitative analysis of Raman spectrum using Surface Enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanoparticles has shown the potential and promising trend of development in vivo molecular imaging. Because of the high dimension of Raman spectra and limited number of samples, latent variable regression methods, e.g. principal component regression (PCR), reduced-rank regression (RRR) and partial least squares (PLS), are commonly used. According to different criteria, these methods tend to seek different latent variables of the spectra data. For PCR and RRR, the latent variables tend to best represent the Raman spectra and best predict the concentrations. PLS balances the two criteria with an equal weight. We design a new continuum regression (NCR) method that uses a weight parameter α to control the portion of each criterion in the objective function, and embraces RRR (α = 0), PLS2 (α = 1) and PCR (α = ∞) as its special cases. The experimental results show that its performance is better than the other two continuum regression methods.
A Slum " Hole

Reconceptualizing the Digital Divide by Mark Warschauer This paper examines the concept of a digital divide by introducing problematic examples of community technology projects and analyzing models of technology access. It argues that the concept provides a poor framework for either analysis or policy, and suggests an alternate concept of technology for social inclusion. It then draws on the historical analogy of literacy to further critique the notion of a divide and to examine the resources necessary to promote access and social inclusion.
Line Extraction with Composite Background Subtract

This paper presents a line extraction method to process images taken inside a machine tool. Instead of using real background images, our approach utilizes a virtual background image. This approach solves the problem of absence of real background images due to a dynamic background. In order to only extract lines of the object, all corners are detected from the real image first. Then, those corners generated from the background are filtered through composite background subtraction. Afterwards, a hypothesis of a line exists between any two corners is made. All the hypothetical lines are mapped back to the original real image to test for their existence. Those lines caused by noises, such as reflections or scratches, can be then eliminated. Our experimental results prove the feasibility and effectiveness of this proposed method.
Observations of Acid Reflux and Motor Function in Distal Esophagus Using Simultaneous Measurements of Intra-esophageal pH and Pressure in 8 Directions With Novel Sensor Catheter - A Feasibility Study

Background/Aims Esophagogastric junctional lesions, such as mucosal breaks with Los Angeles grade A or B reflux esophagitis, lacerations in Mallory Weiss syndrome, and short segment Barrett's esophagus, are mainly found in the right anterior wall of the distal esophagus. Asymmetrical lower esophageal sphincter pressure and resting radial asymmetrical acid reflux may be causes of this asymmetrical distribution of reflux esophagitis and short segment Barrett's esophagus. We developed a novel pH and pressure catheter to investigate the asymmetrical distributions of pH and intra-esophageal pressure in the distal esophagus. Methods One healthy male volunteer was enrolled in this study. Acid reflux and motor function in distal esophagus was investigated using simultaneous measurements of intra-esophageal pH and pressure in 8 directions with novel sensor catheter. Results Thirty-six acid and weak acid reflux events were observed, of which 22 were circumferential refluxes with pH drops in all channels and 14 were partial refluxes with pH drops in some channels. Increase in transient circumferential intraesophageal pressure was observed just after 72.7% of the circumferential reflux and 42.9% of the partial reflux events. Conclusions Using a novel sensor catheter, 2 different types of acid reflux events were identified in the present study.
A saliency-based cascade method for fast traffic sign detection

We propose a cascade method for fast and accurate traffic sign detection. The main feature of the method is that mid-level saliency test is used to efficiently and reliably eliminate background windows. Fast feature extraction is adopted in the subsequent stages for rejecting more negatives. Combining with neighbor scales awareness in window search, the proposed method runs at 3~5 fps for high resolution (1360×800) images, 2~7 times as fast as most state-of-the-art methods. Compared with them, the proposed method yields competitive performance on prohibitory signs while sacrifices performance moderately on danger and mandatory signs.
Global results on reset-induced periodic trajectories of planar systems

We study the existence of asymptotically stable periodic trajectories induced by reset feedback. The analysis is developed for a planar system. Casting the problem into the hybrid setting, we show that a periodic orbit arises from the balance between the energy dissipated during flows and the energy restored by resets, at jumps. The stability of the periodic orbit is studied with hybrid Lyapunov tools. The satisfaction of the so-called hybrid basic conditions ensures the robustness of the asymptotic stability. Extensions of the approach to more general mechanical systems are discussed.
Ray Tracing Deformable Scenes using Bounding Volume Hierarchies

The most significant deficiency of interactive ray tracers is that they are restricted to static walkthroughs. This restriction is due to the static nature of the acceleration structures used. While the best reported frame-rates for static geometric models have been achieved using carefully constructed k-d trees, this paper shows that bounding volume hierarchies (BVHs) can be used to efficiently ray trace large static models. More importantly, the BVH can be used to ray trace deformable models (sets of triangles whose positions change over time) with little loss of performance. A variety of serial efficiency techniques are used to achieve this efficiency, but three algorithmic changes to the typical BVH algorithm are mainly responsible. First, the BVH is built using a variant of the “surface area heuristic” usually used to build k-d trees. Second, the topology of the BVH is not changed over time so that only bounding volume positions need be changed from frame to frame. Third, packets of rays are traced together through the BVH allowing rapid hierarchy descent for packets that hit bounding volumes, and rapid exits for packets that fully miss. A BVH-based ray tracer is described with performance on deformable models comparable to that previously available only for static models. CR Categories: I.3. 7 [Computer Graphics]: Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism—Raytracing, Animation, Color, Shading, Shadowing, and Texture
Therapists’ perspective on the therapeutic relationship: Examining a tripartite model

The components of a tripartite model of the therapeutic relationship, namely the working alliance, the transference configuration (transference and countertransference), and real relationship, were examined in terms of how they relate to one another and to the outcome of a psychotherapy session, from the therapists’ perspective. Although previous studies have examined these components separately, no study to date has examined the components together in their relation to session outcome. Licensed psychotherapists (n = 249) were recruited from two Divisions of the American Psychological Association. Therapists completed measures for the last session they had with a client. Results revealed that from the therapist’s perspective the real relationship and working alliance related positively to session outcome, and countertransference behavior related negatively to session outcome. The components related to each other mostly as predicted by the tripartite model, and a principal-axis factor analysis revealed the presence of four distinct factors resembling the components theorized to comprise the tripartite model. The components together accounted for 27% of the variance in session outcome and only the real relationship and the working alliance predicted session outcome when all the components were looked at simultaneously in a regression model.
Toric Symmetry Of CP3

We exhaustively analyze the toric symmetries of CP^3 and its toric blowups. Our motivation is to study toric symmetry as a computational technique in Gromov-Witten theory and Donaldson-Thomas theory. We identify all nontrivial toric symmetries. The induced nontrivial isomorphisms lift and provide new symmetries at the level of Gromov-Witten Theory and Donaldson-Thomas Theory. The polytopes of the toric varieties in question include the permutohedron, the cyclohedron, the associahedron, and in fact all graph associahedra, among others.
Epstein–Barr virus nuclear antigen 3A protein regulates CDKN2B transcription via interaction with MIZ-1

The Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) nuclear antigen 3 family of protein is critical for the EBV-induced primary B-cell growth transformation process. Using a yeast two-hybrid screen we identified 22 novel cellular partners of the EBNA3s. Most importantly, among the newly identified partners, five are known to play direct and important roles in transcriptional regulation. Of these, the Myc-interacting zinc finger protein-1 (MIZ-1) is a transcription factor initially characterized as a binding partner of MYC. MIZ-1 activates the transcription of a number of target genes including the cell cycle inhibitor CDKN2B. Focusing on the EBNA3A/MIZ-1 interaction we demonstrate that binding occurs in EBV-infected cells expressing both proteins at endogenous physiological levels and that in the presence of EBNA3A, a significant fraction of MIZ-1 translocates from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. Moreover, we show that a trimeric complex composed of a MIZ-1 recognition DNA element, MIZ-1 and EBNA3A can be formed, and that interaction of MIZ-1 with nucleophosmin (NPM), one of its coactivator, is prevented by EBNA3A. Finally, we show that, in the presence of EBNA3A, expression of the MIZ-1 target gene, CDKN2B, is downregulated and repressive H3K27 marks are established on its promoter region suggesting that EBNA3A directly counteracts the growth inhibitory action of MIZ-1.
Relationships Between Select Protective Factors and Tobacco Use

Students enrolled in Roanoke County Schools in 2003 became voluntary participants in the Communities That Care Youth Survey (CTCYS), which had been administered to a group (N = 3022) of 6 through 12 graders. The students answered multiple choice questions to determine their attitudes concerning many important topics within their home, school, and community domains. The carefully documented evaluation was conducted to determine the significance of two protective factors, which were employed to explain associations between students who stated that their parents had clear alcohol, tobacco, and drug use rules in the home as well as those who stated they frequently attended religious services and activities, termed parent efficacity and religiosity, respectively. Because risk factors are common among adolescents and few well-designed studies are addressing the benefits of parent efficacity or religiosity as protective factors, this study analyzed the CTCYS data utilizing meta-analyses to assess the efficacy of these two environmental factors in relation to students’ expressed perceptions of smoking cigarettes as a popular adolescent risk activity. Variables are unique to each individual and sample, therefore, multiple factors demonstrating risk and protective qualities were measured using a 0 to 8 point Likert summated rating scale. The various areas were examined according to frequency of risk behavior (i.e., smoking status current, past, or never). Findings yielded statistically conclusive relationships within the participant responses using Chi-square analysis at the 0.05 level (2-sided), indicating a significant level of interaction between the select protective factors and tobacco use study variables.
The Effects of Injury and Accidents on Self-rated Depression in Male Municipal Firefighters

Objectives The present study aims to determine the causal relationship between self-rated depression and experiences of injury and accidents in municipal firefighters. Methods A panel survey of 186 municipal firefighters measured with depressive symptoms according to the Beck's depression index (BDI) was conducted. The effects of job-related injuries and accidents were evaluated using self-administered questionnaires that were taken once in a 12-month period from 2005 to 2006. Firefighters were classified into the Depression Group or Control Group based on follow-up BDI results with a cutoff level that was set to having "over mild depression. " Results The depression Group was comprised of 17 (9.1%) workers, including 9 firefighters who met had sufficient BDI scores twice in the 2-year test period and newly sufficient BDI scores in the follow-up test. A significantly higher number of subjects in the Depression Group experienced injuries and accidents in the 2-year test period as compared to the Control Group (15.4% vs. 1.5%, p=0.04). Firefighters who experienced injuries and accidents in the 2-year test period had a 7.4 times higher risk of being in the Depression Group than those who had not. As compared to accidents, near-miss accidents revealed stronger risks related to being classified as in the Depression group (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 4.58, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.15-18.18 vs. Adjusted OR = 4.22, 95% CI = 1.08-16.58). Conclusion The above results suggest that we should establish an effective program to promote mental health for groups at high risk for self-rated depression, including persons who have experienced consecutive injuries and accidents as well as near-miss injuries.
Assert(!Defined(Sequential I/O))

The term sequential I/O is widely used in systems research with the intuitive understanding that it means consecutive access. From a survey of the literature, though, this intuitive understanding has translated into numerous, inconsistent definitions. Since sequential I/O is such a fundamental concept in systems research, we believe that a sequentiality metric should allow us to compare access patterns in a meaningful way. We explore access properties that could be incorporated into potential metrics for sequential I/O including: access size, gaps between accesses, multi-stream, and inter-arrival time. We then analyze hundreds of large-scale storage traces and discuss how potential metrics compare. Interestingly, we find I/O traces considered highly sequential by one metric can be highly random to another metric. We further demonstrate that many plausible metrics are weakly correlated, though metrics weighted by size have more consistency. While there may not be a single metric for sequential I/O that is best in all cases, we believe systems researchers should more carefully consider, and state, which definition they use.