Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Look Inside Corporate Employee Volunteer Programs

This article provides insights into how corporate employee volunteer programs are run, what they hope to accomplish and how these results are assessed by their administrators. Data presented were collected in a survey of individuals who administer corporate volunteer programs in the Chicago area. Findings will be useful to those companies wishing to initiate or fine-tune their efforts to encourage employees’ work with nonprofits, as well as to agencies and communities seeking to work with corporate volunteerism programs.
Random Versus Blocked Practice to Enhance Mental Representation in Golf Putting

The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in mental representation from either random or blocked practice when engaged in golf putting. Thirty participants were randomly assigned to random practice, blocked practice, and no-practice groups. First, we measured novice golfers’ initial mental representation levels and required them to perform 18 putting trials as a pre-test. We then asked random and blocked groups to practice in accordance with their group assignment for six consecutive days (10 blocks each day, 18 trials each). A week after the last practice session, we re-measured all participants’ final mental representation levels and required them to perform 18 putting trials to evaluate learning retention through practice. While those engaged in the random practice method putted more poorly during acquisition (i.e., practice) than those in blocked practice, the random practice group experienced more accurate retention during the final putting trials, and they showed a more structured mental representation than those in blocked practice, one that was more similar to that of skilled golfers. These results support the acquisition of a rich mental representation through random versus blocked practice.
A Wide Input Range Dual-Path CMOS Rectifier for RF Energy Harvesting

This brief presents a dual-path CMOS rectifier with adaptive control for ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RF energy harvesters. The input power range with high power conversion efficiency (high PCE) of the rectifier is extended by the proposed architecture, which includes a low-power path and a high-power path. The dual-path rectifier with an adaptive control circuit is fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process. Operating at 900 MHz and driving a 147- <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{k}\Omega$</tex-math></inline-formula> load resistor, the measured PCE of this work can be maintained above 20% with an 11-dB input range from −16 to −5 dBm, while only an 8-dB input range can be achieved with traditional single-path rectifiers. A sensitivity of −17.7 dBm is measured with 1-V output voltage across a capacitive load.
What is the Equilibrium Price of Variance Risk? A Long-Run Risks Model with Two Volatility Factors

This paper explores how economic uncertainty evolves over time and how it is priced in the market. We solve for the variance premium, the prices of equity index options, and the prices of volatility related derivatives in a long-run risks model. We find that both short-run and long-run uncertainty factors are necessary to explain the empirical characteristics of variance risk while remaining consistent with consumption and asset pricing data. The variance premium is mainly driven by the risk of a sudden increase in the overall level of uncertainty. Out-of-the-money equity index put options and out-of-the-money call options on variance provide insurance against market crashes. Consistent with the data, these contracts are priced at a premium.
The Effect of Regulation on the Timeliness and Perceived Reliability of Earnings Announcements

This paper examines the effects of Regulation G (Reg G, SEC 2003), which addressed the use of non-GAAP financial measures in earnings announcement press releases. Specifically, I examine the effect of Reg G on both the timing of earnings announcements and investor responses to these announcements. I find that, after Reg G, firms issued less timely earnings announcements with fiscal year-end announcements coming, on average, more than 5 days later. I also find that investors’ responses to earnings, as measured by the change in earnings response coefficients (ERC), increased significantly in the year after Reg G became effective. Further, using the approach of Ball and Shivakumar (2008), I find that the relative informational role of earnings announcements increased significantly after Reg G. The main results are robust to controlling for the amount and type of disclosures included in earnings announcements and a host of sensitivity analyses. This study provides evidence that Reg G affected both the timeliness of earnings announcements and investors’ perceptions of earnings reliability.
A dynamic framework for understanding cross‐national segmentation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework for better understanding of cross‐national segmentation under the underlying forces of globalization and technology.Design/methodology/approach – The approach is conceptual with illustrative examples, with a dynamic approach to cross‐national segmentation being considered.Findings – Cross‐national segmentation can be better understood and better structured through closer examination of how segments evolve over time in response to the underlying forces of globalization and cultural evolution.Research limitations/implications – The framework described in the paper should inspire research on value‐based segmentation schemes across markets.Practical implications – International marketing managers should be able to construct and adapt segmentation strategies much more effectively through the use of the conceptual framework offered in the paper.Originality/value – The framework offered in the paper is unique in that it blends consumer valu.
Crowdfunding and the Expansion of Access to Startup Capital

This paper analyzes recent developments in crowdfunding, a new financing technique to improve access to capital. The United States Congress and President Obama, in a rare show of bipartisan action, passed the JOBS Act in 2012 (the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act). The law is designed to stimulate economic growth and expand job creation by improving access to public capital markets for emerging growth companies. Furthermore, the US is not the only nation attempting to expand access to capital for startups, several other large capital markets are doing the same thing including China, India, and the EU. The future of access to capital for small business entrepreneurs will be significantly expanded through the use of crowdfunding. Prologue The United States Congress and President Obama, in a rare show of bipartisan action, passed the JOBS Act in 2012, (the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act). The law is designed to stimulate economic growth and expand job creation by improving access to public capital markets for emerging growth companies. Furthermore, the US is not the only nation attempting to expand access to capital for startups, several other large capital markets are doing the same thing including China, India, and the EU. Cost-effective access to capital for companies of all sizes plays a critical role in the US national economy, and companies seeking access to capital should not be hindered by unnecessary or overly burdensome regulations; thus the law will facilitate capital formation while also promoting investor protection. The US law will enhance access to private and public capital because of three primary changes in US securities laws, including: 1) enhancing the ability of companies to raise funds through transactions that are exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933; 2) making it easier for emerging growth companies to pursue an initial public offering under the Securities Act by easing the regulatory burdens associated with IPOs and phasing-in the obligations of being a public company, and 3) raising the dollar thresholds that require privately-held companies to register their securities under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and become subject to the periodic disclosure requirements applicable to public companies. Some aspects of the law became effective immediately after it was signed into law, however most provisions had to be created / written after the law's passage. The JOBS Act directed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to implement new rules and requirements through its rulemaking process. The JOBS Act will, once all the provisions are implemented, provide significant new benefits to SMB's (small and mid-size businesses), which will now be referred to as 'Emerging Growth Companies' or EGC's. When an EGC is contemplating going public, it will be able to avail itself of liberalized communications restrictions and scaled-back disclosure requirements for a period of time, including exemptions from certain provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Act, as well as certain audit rules. The new law will
A Novel Approach to Extract Salient Regions by Segmenting Color Images with Hybrid Algorithm

Due to the advent of computer technology image-processing techniques have become increasingly important in a wide variety of applications. This is particularly true for medical imaging such as Computer Tomography (CT), magnetic resonance image (MRI), and nuclear medicine, which can be used to assist doctors in diagnosis, treatment, and research. In this paper, hybrid algorithm for segmentation of color images is presented. The segments in images are found automatically based on adaptive multilevel threshold approach and FCM algorithm. Neural network with multisigmoid function tries to label the objects with its original color even after segmentation. One of the advantages of this system is that it does not require a past knowledge about the number of objects in the image. This Fuzzy-Neuro system is tested on Berkley standard image database and also attempts have been made to compare the performance of the proposed algorithm with other currently available algorithms. From experimental results, the performance of the proposed technique is found out to yields better extraction of salient regions with high resolution as nearly same as the original image and better than the existing techniques. It can be used as a primary tool to segment unknown color images. Experimental results show that its performance is robust to different types of color images.
Does the 'Otago exercise programme' reduce mortality and falls in older adults?: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND the 'Otago exercise programme' (OEP) is a strength and balance retraining programme designed to prevent falls in older people living in the community. The aim of this review was to evaluate the effect of the OEP on the risk of death and fall rates and to explore levels of compliance with the OEP in older adults. METHODS a systematic review with meta-analysis. Clinical trials where the OEP was the primary intervention and participants were community-dwelling older adults (65+) were included. Outcomes of interest included risk of death, number of falls, number of injurious falls and compliance to the exercise programme. RESULTS seven trials, involving 1503 participants were included. The mean age of participants was 81.6 (±3.9) years. The OEP significantly reduced the risk of death over 12 months [risk ratio = 0.45, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.25-0.80], and significantly reduced fall rates (incidence rate ratio = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.56-0.79). There was no significant difference in the risk of a serious or moderate injury occurring as the result of a fall (risk ratio = 1.05, 95% CI = 0.91-1.22). Of the 747 participants who remained in the studies at 12 months, 274 (36.7%) were still exercising three or more times per week. CONCLUSION the OEP significantly reduces the risk of death and falling in older community-dwelling adults.
Third‐party logistics provider selection: insights from a Turkish automotive company

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the efforts of a leading Turkish automotive company to restructure its supply chain for export parts.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents hand‐on experiences of a pilot project conducted at Tofas‐Fiat automotive company to redesign its logistics operations and to select a global logistics service provider, using an analytic hierarchy process for multi‐criteria decision‐making.Findings – 3PL providers in Turkey must improve their capabilities and act proactively in providing value‐adding services as the companies are becoming more demanding in their expectations in building strategic relationships.Research limitations/implications – The focus of the paper is on automotive supply chain for export parts, but the analysis as well as 3PL selection methodology may be successfully applied to other products in different settings and in other sectors.Practical implications – Companies must determine logistics goals and requirements prior to taking on .
Shattered Trust: When Replacement Smartphone Components Attack

Phone touchscreens, and other similar hardware components such as orientation sensors, wireless charging controllers, and NFC readers, are often produced by third-party manufacturers and not by the phone vendors themselves. Third-party driver source code to support these components is integrated into the vendor's source code. In contrast to 'pluggable' drivers, such as USB or network drivers, the component driver's source code implicitly assumes that the component hardware is authentic and trustworthy. As a result of this trust, very few integrity checks are performed on the communications between the component and the device's main processor. In this paper, we call this trust into question, considering the fact that touchscreens are often shattered and then replaced with aftermarket components of questionable origin. We analyze the operation of a commonly used touchscreen controller. We construct two standalone attacks, based on malicious touchscreen hardware, that function as building blocks toward a full attack: a series of touch injection attacks that allow the touchscreen to impersonate the user and exfiltrate data, and a buffer overflow attack that lets the attacker execute privileged operations. Combining the two building blocks, we present and evaluate a series of end-to-end attacks that can severely compromise a stock Android phone with standard firmware. Our results make the case for a hardware-based physical countermeasure.
Calibrating managerial knowledge of customer feedback measures: a conceptual model

Theory and research into the decision-making process have brought to light a wealth of concepts and strategies intended to improve marketing management. This article applies the concept of knowledge calibration, which describes the correspondence between knowledge accuracy and the confidence with which knowledge is held, to the domain of marketing management. Specifically, we apply the concept of knowledge calibration to marketing management’s use of customer feedback information on satisfaction and service quality. After reviewing the appropriate literature, we present a model showing the antecedents and consequences of the calibration of knowledge of customer feedback information along with propositions intended to improve the use of customer feedback and to guide further research. We also discuss the merits and demerits of calibration as well as appropriate actions in different contexts.
Public assessment of new security technologies: beyond the trade-off between privacy and security

Although finding an effective response to security threats remains a contested issue, after 9/11 European governments have introduced new technologies as part of their security strategies. As these technologies are considered security enhancing but also privacy infringing, citizens are expected to trade part of their privacy in exchange for higher security. Whilst this forces citizens to consider security and privacy as exchangeable commodities, the trade-off obscures possible authoritarian implications of security technologies (STs). Drawing from the PRISE project data in Spain, this study tries to cast some light on how citizens actually assess security technologies. Qualitative data from focus groups are used to grasp citizens’ ways of reasoning, whilst the existence of a trade-off between privacy and security is tested through analysis of correlations based on survey data. The outcomes suggest that people do not assess STs in abstract terms but in relation to their specific institutional and social contexts. Second, from this embedded view-point, citizens either express concern about government’s real surveillance intentions and consider STs as essentially privacy infringing, or trust political institutions and endorse the adoption of STs to enhance their security. Neither group, however, faces a trade-off because concerned citizens see their privacy being infringed without having their security enhanced, whilst trusting citizens see their security being increased without their privacy being affected.
TRAP based features for LVCSR of meeting data

This paper describes using temporal patterns (TRAPs) feature extraction in large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) of meeting data. Frequency differentiation and local operators are applied to critical-band speech spectrum. Tests are performed with HMM recognizer on ICSI meetings database. We show that TRAP features in combination with standard ones lead to improvement of word-error rate (WER)
Exploration of Potential Antimicrobial Activity of Sea Star Astropecten indicus

The antimicrobial activity of crude tissue sample of sea star Astropecten indicus collected from Mudasal Odai, southeast coast of India was evaluated with the testing human microbial pathogens viz., Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, K. oxytoca, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus sp. , Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella paratyphi and S. typhi using solvent system methanol and ethyl acetate at the concentrations of 250, 500 and 1000µl by well diffusion method. The crude methanol extracts showed more active exhibiting broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity than the crude ethyl acetate extracts. The maximum inhibiting zone of 13.44±0.20 was observed for bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the crude obtained from methanol followed by ethyl acetate 11.26±0.09 against Klebsiella pneumonia at the concentration of 1000µl. Moderate activity was found for all the tested strains at 500µl concentration of both the solvents. Bacterial strains K. oxytoca, Staphylococcus aureus has showed no activity at 250µl for methanol and the zone of inhibition for the tested clinical isolates was lesser than the zone of antibiotics used and no zone was found for the negative control. The present work reveals that, sea star A. indicus has potential antimicrobial activity.
Stable expression of the vaccinia virus K1L gene in rabbit cells complements the host range defect of a vaccinia virus mutant

Modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA), having acquired genomic deletions during passage in chicken embryo fibroblasts, is highly attenuated and unable to productively infect most mammalian cell lines. Multiplication in rabbit kidney-derived RK13 cells, but not other nonpermissive cells, can be restored by insertion of the vaccinia virus K1L gene into the MVA genome. During nonproductive infection of RK13 cells by MVA, transcription of representative viral early genes was revealed by Northern (RNA) blotting, whereas synthesis of an intermediate mRNA and replication of viral DNA could not be detected. Despite the persistence of viral early mRNA for at least several hours, synthesis of virus-induced polypeptides occurred only during the first hour and was followed by abrupt inhibition of all protein synthesis. Transfection of RK13 cells with a eukaryotic expression plasmid that contained the K1L gene allowed MVA infection to proceed to late stages of viral protein synthesis. Moreover, RK13 cell lines that stably expressed the K1L gene were permissive for MVA as well as a K1E deletion mutant of the WR strain of vaccinia virus. This is the first description of the complementation of a poxvirus mutant by cells that stably express a viral gene.
An Efficient Scheme for Facilitating Secure Data Sharing in Decentralized Disruption Tolerant Networks

Wireless Sensor Nodes in military situations, for example, a war zone or an unfriendly locale are liable to experience the ill effects of discontinuous system network. Objective: To design an efficient data recovery scheme for Decentralized DTNs in military environments, based on CP-ABE methodology, making Security the utmost prioritized characteristic. Analysis: Latest Innovations in Disruption Tolerant Networks (DTN) are getting to be effective arrangements, that permit mobile devices carried by military personnel to correspond with one another and access the classified data or to command effectively by manipulating the independent-autonomous repository nodes. Out of these, the most difficult issues in the situation are the authorization strategies and those approaches' improvisation for secure data recovery. Methodology: Cipher text Policy-Attribute Based Encryption (CP-ABE) is a promising cryptographic technique to address the access authority issues. The issue of applying CP-ABE in decentralized DTNs presents a few security and protection challenges like attribute revoke, key security, and regulation of attributes issued from distinct authorities. So, we implement CP-ABE along with 2PC (Two Phase Commit) protocol and where numerous key authorities deal with their attributes autonomously to overcome the above mentioned challenges. Findings/Improvements: We implement the proposed System as a stand-alone application in Eclipse IDE. We've been successful in implementing this system to achieve the security requirements we've been discussing at length in the paper and we've demonstrated how to recover the data in very hostile military environments in an efficient and a secured manner.
ADHD and secondary ADHD criteria fail to identify many at‐risk survivors of pediatric ALL and brain tumor

Post‐treatment attention problems experienced by pediatric cancer survivors have been described as similar to symptoms of Attention‐Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) experienced in physically healthy children. Accordingly, the objectives of this study were to: (a) estimate the rate of occurrence of ADHD and secondary ADHD (SADHD) in a sample of pediatric cancer survivors, (b) compare the rate of ADHD/SADHD among survivors to the prevalence of ADHD in the general population, and (c) examine clinical correlates of ADHD/SADHD in this sample.
ABCB1-C3435T polymorphism and breast cancer risk: a case-control study and a meta-analysis.

PURPOSE To investigate the association of ABCB1-C3435T transition with breast cancer risk which was followed by a meta-analysis. METHODS In a case-control study we collected blood samples from 290 women (including 150 breast cancer patients and 140 healthy controls). ABCB1-C3435T genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. A meta-analysis was performed for a total of 13 eligible studies involving 5,835 cases and 8,178 controls. RESULTS The results of case-control study revealed a significant association between T allele (OR=1.770, 95%CI=1.236-2.535, p=0.002), CT genotype (OR=1.661, 95%CI=1.017-2.713, p=0.042), and TT genotype (OR=3.399, 95%CI=1.409-8.197, p=0.006) with breast cancer risk. Data from meta-analysis revealed a significant association between ABCB1-C3435T polymorphism and breast cancer risk in allelic (OR=1.243, 95%CI=1.079-1.432, p=0.003), co-dominant (OR=1.349, 95%CI=1.042-1.746, p=0.023), dominant (OR=1.204, 95%CI=1.019-1.422, p=0.029), and recessive (OR=1.226, 95%CI=1.011-1.488, p=0.039) models. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that the ABCB1-C3435T gene polymorphism might be a genetic risk factor and a potential biomarker for breast cancer.