Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lenders on the storm of wholesale funding shocks: saved by the central bank?

ABSTRACT We provide empirical evidence on banks’ responses to shocks in the wholesale funding market, using data of 181 euro area banks over the period from August 2007 to June 2013. Responses to funding liquidity shocks for both banks’ lending volumes and loan rates, to households and corporates, are analysed in a panel VAR framework. We thereby distinguish banks by country, extent of Eurosystem borrowing, bank size and capitalization. The results show that shocks in the securities and interbank markets have significant effects on loan rates and credit supply, particularly of banks in stressed countries of the periphery. The results also suggest that central bank liquidity has mitigated this effect on lending volumes. Lending to nonfinancial corporations is more sensitive to wholesale funding shocks than lending to households. Lending volumes of large banks that are typically more dependent on wholesale funding and banks with large exposure to sovereign bonds show stronger responses to wholesale funding shocks.
Evidence of cryptic incidence in childhood diseases

Persistence and extinction are key processes in infectious disease dynamics that, due to incomplete reporting, are seldom directly observable. For fully-immunizing diseases, reporting probabilities can be readily estimated from demographic records and case reports. Yet reporting probabilities are not sufficient to unambiguously reconstruct disease incidence from case reports. Here, we focus on disease presence (i.e., marginal probability of non-zero incidence), which provides an upper bound on the marginal probability of disease extinction. We examine measles and pertussis in pre-vaccine era U.S. cities, and describe a conserved scaling relationship between population size, reporting probability, and observed presence (i.e., non-zero case reports). We use this relationship to estimate disease presence given perfect reporting, and define cryptic presence as the difference between estimated and observed presence. We estimate that, in early 20th century U.S. cities, pertussis presence was higher than measles presence across a range of population sizes, and that cryptic presence was common in small cities with imperfect reporting. While the methods employed here are specific to fully-immunizing diseases, our results suggest that cryptic incidence deserves careful attention, particularly in diseases with low case counts, poor reporting, and longer infectious periods.
A convex approach for computing minimal partitions

We describe a convex relaxation for a family of problems of minimal perimeter partitions. The minimization of the relaxed problem can be tackled numerically, we describe an algorithm and show some results. In most cases, our relaxed problem finds a correct (approximate) solution: we give some arguments to explain why it should be so, and also discuss some situation where it fails.
Reconstructing piecewise curved complexes

We present an algorithm and its implementation to reconstruct a complex composed of surfaces from an unorganized point cloud. The output is a triangular mesh that approximates the unknown complex. A wide variety of non-smooth features are handled, including boundaries, vertices and junction curves with manifold or non-manifold neighborhood where multiple surfaces meet, and creases where surfaces fold. We model the non-smooth features using a unified optimization-based approach. The model allows us to sample points from the non-smooth features and approximate them with polylines. We approximate the surfaces in the complex with restricted Delaunay triangulations, which meet seamlessly at the polylines approximating the non-smooth features.
The cost and impacts of gender-based violence in developing countries: methodological considerations and new evidence

This paper has three goals. First, it synthesizes the research on estimating the costs and impacts of gender-based violence (GBV), presenting and evaluating the methodologies used to produce cost and impact estimates. While estimates are presented for both developed and developing countries, the focus is on methodologies which are potentially most relevant to developing countries. A second goal of this paper is to use a relatively new methodology-propensity score matching-to generate comparable, cross-country estimates of some of the impacts of GBV in Haiti, Peru and Zambia. This methodology has not previously been used on a cross-country basis to estimate the impacts of GBV. Finally, the paper identifies priority areas for future research.
Symmetric block-matching registration for the distortion correction of Echo-Planar images

We introduce a new approach to correct geometric and intensity distortion of Echo Planar Images (EPI) from images acquired with opposite phase encoding directions. A new symmetric block-matching registration algorithm has been developed for this purpose relying on new adapted transformations between blocks and a symmetric optimization scheme to ensure an opposite symmetric transformation. We present results of our algorithm showing its ability to robustly recover EPI distortion while obtaining sharper results than the popular TOPUP algorithm.
Application of Gray Level Variation Statistic in Gastroscopic Image Retrieval

Content-based medical image retrieval is getting more and more importance in aspect of clinical assistant diagnose. In this paper a system for gastroscopic image retrieval is developed which is available to support clinical decision making. First a new method based on texture feature is proposed which statistic the gray level variation of each pixel in 3x3 domain. And then Earth Mover’s Distance is used to calculate the dissimilarity. Meanwhile¿a method combining both color and texture is proposed to carry out integrate retrieval. Finally, some contrast experiments are designed in the retrieval accuracies¿the rank and the execution time. The comparison of the experimental results shows that the approach proposed in this paper is effective.
Optimal Emissions Reduction Investment under Green House Gas Emissions Regulations

Emissions intensive firms, like utility companies with coal-fired power plants, can invest in process improvement projects at their existing facilities to reduce carbon emissions. An example of such an investment is to retrofit coal-fired power plants with the carbon capture and sequestration technology. Under different carbon regulations, their investment decisions result in a change of the production cost structure and/or impose a constraint on production quantity. We study joint production capacity and investment decisions under command-and-control and market-based regulations (including carbon tax and cap-and-trade) for an emissions intensive company that faces stochastic demand. We analytically compare the company’s performance along four dimensions, including profit, total emissions, investment amount, and investment timing. We find that the company can perform better under either command-and-control and cap-and-trade along any of these four dimensions, depending on the company’s investment cost and emissions regulation parameters.
Measuring link quality based on ETX metric in multi-hop wireless networks

ETX (Expected Transmission Count) is a well-known link quality metric which has been widely used to improve the performance of ad-hoc routing protocols. However, ETX shows poor performance under high traffic load. To address this problem, this paper proposes a new link quality estimation metric called HETX (High load Expected Transmission Count) that takes into account the effects of routing control messages on the link quality under high traffic load. A reliable routing protocol using HETX is also proposed, which is called LQDV (Link Quality Distance Vector). Simulations are conducted to compare the performance of three metrics HETX, ETX and minimum hopcount. The simulation results show that HETX outperforms minimum hopcount and ETX in terms of throughput and delivery ratio under high load.
Temporomandibular Joint Bone Tissue Resorption in Patients with Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Can Be Predicted by Joint Crepitus and Plasma Glutamate Level

The aim was to investigate whether bone tissue resorption in early RA is related to crepitus of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and systemic levels of inflammatory mediators and markers and sex steroid hormones. Twentynine women and 18 men with recently diagnosed RA were examined for TMJ bone erosions with computerized tomography and TMJ crepitus was assessed. Blood samples were analyzed for glutamate, 5-HT, TNF, IL-1β, IL-6, VEGF, inflammatory markers, and estradiol, progesterone and testosterone. The TMJ erosion score was positively correlated to glutamate, and TMJ crepitus where crepitus, glutamate and ESR explained 40% of the variation in the bone erosion score. In the patients without crepitus, bone erosion score was positively correlated to glutamate, which was not the case in the patients with crepitus. In conclusion, the results of this study show that TMJ bone tissue resorption can be predicted by TMJ crepitus and glutamate in early RA.
Reversible alteration in the neuromuscular junctions of Drosophila melanogaster bearing a temperature-sensitive mutation, shibire

In this study we report a relationship between the ultrastruct of the neuromuscular junctions of tibial muscles and the temperature-induced paralysis in shibire flies. There is a decrease in the number of synaptic vesicles of neuromuscular junctions in flies which are held at or above 29 degrees. Shortly after return to 22 degrees C, the synaptic vesicles are again present in large numbers. Prior treatment with tetrodotoxin or barbiturate protects the junctions from the temperature change in morphology.
Antioxidant Activities of Celery and Parsley Juices in Rats Treated with Doxorubicin

We have examined the influence of diluted pure celery and parsley leaf and root juices and their combinations with doxorubicin on the antioxidant status [as measured by the content of reduced glutathione (GSH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP)] in liver homogenate and hemolysate and on the contents of cytochrome P450 in liver homogenate. It was found that doxorubicin significantly decreased the content of reduced glutathione and the total antioxidative status (FRAP) in liver homogenate and hemolysate, while celery and parsley juices alone and in combination with doxorubicin had different actions. Doxorubicin and celery juice had no effect on content of cytochrome P450. However, in combination with doxorubicin, parsley root juice significant increased, and parsley leaves juice decreased the cytochrome P450 content (compared to doxorubicin treated animals). Only parsley root juice significantly increased the content of cytochrome P450.
Developing an Ontology for Teaching Multimedia Design and Planning

Meta-design frameworks provide an efficacious pathway for the design of a specific system. An example of such meta-design framework is Multimedia Design and Planning Pyramid (MUDPY). Semantic web technologies are suitable for implementing meta-design frameworks for specific design domains. To develop meta-design frameworks, and implement these using Semantic web technologies we need to build appropriate ontologies. Our investigations revealed that the Uschold & King Methodology is suitable for developing the MUDPY ontology, and Protégé 2000 is the most suitable development tool. We believe that development of the MUDPY ontology will facilitate web-based teaching of multimedia design.
INTRODUCING DIGITAL IC DESIGN AND TEST TO UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

This paper presents the ITM’s efforts to introduce to undergraduate students IC design in two basic ways: digital CMOS design and non-destructive test and electrical characterization. In the Instituto Tecnológico de Merida (ITM) where there were not previous work on research and teaching IC technology, some efforts have to be made in such a way that our students start to gain IC knowledge. Strategies to reach this goal are presented as well as a short description of the ITM’s academic plan, which includes improve laboratory experience. From such plan, an IC formed by a Digital PLL frequency synthesizer was fabricated in a 1. 5μm, 5-V CMOS technology. This IC is the first one designed in any academic institution of the socalled Maya-region.
L-Histidine Inhibits Biofilm Formation and FLO11-Associated Phenotypes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Flor Yeasts

Flor yeasts of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have an innate diversity of FLO11 which codes for a highly hydrophobic and anionic cell-wall glycoprotein with a fundamental role in biofilm formation. In this study, 380 nitrogen compounds were administered to three S. cerevisiae flor strains handling FLO11 alleles with different expression levels. S. cerevisiae strain S288c was used as the reference strain as it cannot produce FLO11p. The flor strains generally metabolized amino acids and dipeptides as the sole nitrogen source, although with some exceptions regarding L-histidine and histidine containing dipeptides. L-histidine completely inhibited growth and its effect on viability was inversely related to FLO11 expression. Accordingly, L-histidine did not affect the viability of the Δflo11 and S288c strains. Also, L-histidine dramatically decreased air–liquid biofilm formation and adhesion to polystyrene of the flor yeasts with no effect on the transcription level of the FLO11 gene. Moreover, L-histidine modified the chitin and glycans content on the cell-wall of flor yeasts. These findings reveal a novel biological activity of L-histidine in controlling the multicellular behavior of yeasts.
Asset Pricing Implications of Non-Convex Adjustment Costs of Investment

This paper links the firm's book-to-market ratio and its loadings on common risk factors in asset returns, thereby providing a rationale for the observed value premium. If real investment is largely irreversible, the book value of a distressed firm is high relative to its market value. It has idle physical capital. The firm's extra installed capital capacity enables it to expand production easily in response to positive aggregate shocks. Thus, returns to equity holders of a high book-to-market firm are sensitive to aggregate conditions. Simulations indicate that the model goes a long way toward accounting for the observed value premium.
Environmental Hazards and Life Expectancy in Africa: Evidence From GARCH Model

This study investigates the extent to which environmental hazards affect the life expectancy in Africa using Nigeria time series data spanning from 1960 to 2017. The study adopted generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model in estimating the total number of 58 (years) observations to ensure robustness in the estimation results. The estimation results show that environmental hazards in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from solid fuel consumption reduce life expectancy (LEX) by 1 month and 3 weeks with a statistically significant result. Also, income, as proxied by GDP, extends LEX by 1 year 6 months with statistically insignificant result, while population growth (POPG) equally extends LEX by 5 years 5 months due to increase in human resource/manpower which enhances agricultural productivity in Africa. Based on the empirical findings, there is a need for the African Union (AU) to adopt a policy regulating the excessive CO2 emission from solid fuel consumption to ameliorate the negative consequences it exerts on the lifespan of the African population. Also among other policy recommendations, the economies in Africa should increase budgetary allocations to science and technology sector to drift the economies from solid fuel consumption to more robust electricity/digital driven technology and hybrid-energy efficient mechanisms.
Workplace bullying in the voluntary sector: an application of routine activity theory

The aim of this study is to investigate the nature and prevalence of workplace bullying in the voluntary sector. Also, it attempts to expand the theoretical repertoire by applying RAT in examining the situational antecedents of workplace bullying in this sector. A cross-sectional, in-depth survey using method triangulation was applied. The findings are based on 178 completed questionnaires (response rate=71%) and 22 interviews, from members of 29 voluntary organisations in Leicestershire. A total of 15% of the respondents reported being bullied over the last one year and 28% in the last 5 years. Where comparable, the prevalence of bullying in the voluntary sector was found to be higher than among the NHS trusts, fire service, higher education, manufacturing and civil service sectors, while it is almost parallel to the police service and the post/telecommunications—the sectors which are considered to have high prevalence rates. Detrimental effects in terms of physical/psychological health, work performance, sick leave and personal life were evident. The independent sample t-test shows that the victims of workplace bullying in voluntary organisations reported the least experience of overt behaviour and personal harassment, and the most experience of work-related harassment. Logistic regression reveals only a partial support for a routine activities approach to workplace bullying. Consequently, an alternative situational framework, consisting of RAT and Social Interactionist Perspective, was proposed. Overall, the study identifies some pertinent situational factors, which need to be addressed in order to curb bullying in this sector: management commitment towards a zero-tolerance bullying policy; management training in areas such as conflict resolution, implementing organisational changes, and maintenance of the commitment of a conscientious workforce; meticulous selection of voluntary management committee is recommended; high prevalence of role conflict, role ambiguity and lack of work control need resolving; strained relationship with funding bodies need improvement; and assertiveness training for the workforce is essential.
Effect of water storage on ultimate tensile strength and mass changes of universal adhesives

Background The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of water storage on micro tensile strength (µTS) and mass changes (MC) of two universal adhesives. Material and Methods 10 disk-shaped specimens were prepared for each adhesive; Scotchbond Universal (SCU) All-Bond Universal (ABU) and Adper Single Bond 2 (SB2). At the baseline and after 1 day and 28 days of water storage, their mass were measured and compared to estimate water sorption and solubility. For µTS test, 20 dumbbell shaped specimens were also prepared for each adhesive in two subgroups of 1 day and 28 days water storage. Results MC was significantly lower for SCU and ABU than SB2 (P < 0.05) at both time intervals. In all three adhesives, the MC was significantly lower at 28 days compared to that at 1 day (P < 0.05). Similarly, µTS was significantly higher for SCU and ABU than SB2 at both storage intervals (P < 0.05). After 28 days, µTS increased significantly for universal adhesives (P < 0.05). Conclusions MC and µTS of adhesives were both material and time dependent when stored in water; both universal adhesives showed less water sorption and higher values of µTS than the control group. Key words:Absorption, dental adhesives, dentin-bonding agents, solubility, tensile strength.
Linear dispersion codes for MIMO systems based on frame theory

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication systems provide high capacity due to the plurality of modes available in the channel. Existing signaling techniques for MIMO systems have focused primarily on multiplexing for high data rate or diversity for high link reliability. In this paper, we present a new linear dispersion code design for MIMO Rayleigh fading channels. The proposed design bridges the gap between multiplexing and diversity and yields codes that typically perform well both in terms of ergodic capacity as well as error probability. This is important because, as we show, designs performing well from an ergodic capacity point of view do not necessarily perform well from an error probability point of view. Various techniques are presented for finding codes with good error probability performance. Monte Carlo simulations illustrate performance of some example code designs in terms of ergodic capacity, codeword error probability, and bit error probability.
A European daily high-resolution gridded data set of surface temperature and precipitation for 1950-2006

We present a European land-only daily high-resolution gridded data set for precipitation and minimum, maximum, and mean surface temperature for the period 1950-2006. This data set improves on previous products in its spatial resolution and extent, time period, number of contributing stations, and attention to finding the most appropriate method for spatial interpolation of daily climate observations. The gridded data are delivered on four spatial resolutions to match the grids used in previous products as well as many of the rotated pole Regional Climate Models (RCMs) currently in use. Each data set has been designed to provide the best estimate of grid box averages rather than point values to enable direct comparison with RCMs. We employ a three-step process of interpolation, by first interpolating the monthly precipitation totals and monthly mean temperature using three-dimensional thin-plate splines, then interpolating the daily anomalies using indicator and universal kriging for precipitation and kriging with an external drift for temperature, then combining the monthly and daily estimates. Interpolation uncertainty is quantified by the provision of daily standard errors for every grid square. The daily uncertainty averaged across the entire region is shown to be largely dependent on the season and number of contributing observations. We examine the effect that interpolation has on the magnitude of the extremes in the observations by calculating areal reduction factors for daily maximum temperature and precipitation events with return periods up to 10 years. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.
A Flexible Semi-Automatic Approach for Glioblastoma multiforme Segmentation

Gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors, evolving from the cerebral supportive cells. For clinical follow-up, the evaluation of the preoperative tumor volume is essential. Volumetric assessment of tumor volume with manual segmentation of its outlines is a time-consuming process that can be overcome with the help of segmentation methods. In this paper, a flexible semi-automatic approach for grade IV glioma segmentation is presented. The approach uses a novel segmentation scheme for spherical objects that creates a directed 3D graph. Thereafter, the minimal cost closed set on the graph is computed via a polynomial time s-t cut, creating an optimal segmentation of the tumor. The user can improve the results by specifying an arbitrary number of additional seed points to support the algorithm with grey value information and geometrical constraints. The presented method is tested on 12 magnetic resonance imaging datasets. The ground truth of the tumor boundaries are manually extracted by neurosurgeons. The segmented gliomas are compared with a one click method, and the semi-automatic approach yields an average Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) of 77.72% and 83.91%, respectively.
Interactive Cloth Simulation: Problems and Solutions

Simulating synthetic garments interactively requires more than the implementation of a simple dynamic system designed only for simple cloth objects. Many issues must be resolved, pertaining to accuracy and computational efficiency, robustness, stability, collision detection and response, and constraint handling. The purpose of this paper is to survey these problems and to describe the solutions embodied in our new garment simulation system.