Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Earning Excess Returns Through Trading Strategies: Testing of CAPM on CNX Nifty of National Stock Exchange of India

Over a long period of time, many traders and portfolio managers have shown a keen interest in earning excess returns through different trading strategies. There has been a long debate whether financial markets are efficient or not, especially in the Indian context. If markets are efficient, there will not arise any arbitrage opportunities to take advantage of mispricing of securities. This paper intends to find out whether is it possible to earn excess returns in the Indian market by using any trading strategy and if it is possible, then which strategy is better. We take 30 companies out of 50 belonging to CNX Nifty and through data from Jan’2000-July’2014; we try to find whether one can earn excess returns from the market in the long run. We use Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to test for excess returns. The variable of our interest is the alpha or the intercept term while applying regression as stated under the CAPM model. For this, we take the return on the CNX Nifty Index as return on the market and the yield on 91-Day T-Bills as a proxy for the risk free rate. Our results show that the alpha is significant and we are able to generate excess return of 1.47% through momentum strategy and excess return of 0.74% through contrarian strategy. This also shows that momentum strategy is better in the long run than contrarian strategy in the context of Indian market.
Feature fusion of HOG and WLD for facial expression recognition

A considerable amount of research work has been done for facial expression recognition using local or global feature extraction methods. Weber Local Descriptor (WLD), a simple and robust local image descriptor, is recently developed for local feature extraction. In facial expression recognition, the information contained in the local is important for the recognition result. The Histograms of Oriented Gradients (HOG) can well describe the local area information using gradient and orientation density distribution of the edge. In order to solve the lack of contour and shape information only by WLD features and to extract facial local features more efficiently, we propose a hybrid approach that combines the WLD with HOG features. We divide the images into blocks and weight each of them, then extract the two features and fuse them. At last, the weighted fused histograms are used to classify facial expressions by chi-square distance and the nearest neighbor method. The proposed method is applied on popular JAFFE and Cohn-Kanade facial expression databases and recognition rate is up to 93.97% and 95.86%. Compared with the Gabor Wavelet, LBP, and AAM and experimental results show that the proposed method achieves better performance for facial expression recognition.
Measuring Managerial Stock Option Incentives: The Case of Stock Repurchases #

There has been disagreement on whether repurchases result from managerial selfinterest or are timed to offset dilution from employee stock options. We use the sensitivity of managers’ stock option portfolios to changes in stock price as a measure of managerial incentives to disentangle these effects. Using this measure, we find that managerial options create incentives for firm repurchases. The firm level measures of option use are not statistically significant in these tests. These results are opposite to recent extant research. Our results are consistent with managers repurchasing shares to ensure that the value of their options are maintained.
Biofilm forming potential and antimicrobial susceptibility of newly emerged Western Australian Bordetella pertussis clinical isolates

Abstract Whooping cough caused by Bordetella pertussis is increasing in several countries despite high vaccine coverage. One potential reason for the resurgence is the emergence of genetic variants of the bacterium. Biofilm formation has recently been associated with the pathogenesis of B. pertussis. Biofilm formation of 21 Western Australian B. pertussis clinical isolates was investigated. All isolates formed thicker biofilms than the reference vaccine strain Tohama I while retaining susceptibility to ampicillin, erythromycin, azithromycin and streptomycin. When two biofilm-forming clinical isolates were compared with Tohama I, minimum bactericidal concentrations of antimicrobial agents increased. Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ)-based proteomic analysis revealed significant differences in protein expression in B. pertussis biofilms, providing an opportunity for identification of novel biofilm-associated antigens for incorporation in current pertussis vaccines to improve their protective efficacy. The study also highlights the importance of determining antibiograms for biofilms to formulate improved antimicrobial therapeutic regimens.
Influence of Relational-Oriented Exchange on Outsourcing Success in Supplier-Manufacturer Relationships: A Financial Performance Perspective

The role of relational-oriented exchange is an important concern of competitiveness sustainability in developing an outsourcing company. Analyzing the influence of relational-oriented exchange on the financial performance of outsourcing success enables greater business value over time. This paper aims to study the relational- oriented exchange in terms of structural and process dimensions improving the outsourcing performance among manufacturing industries. An empirical study was applying partial least square and structural equation modelling using responses from a sample list of all electric and electronic manufacturing industries in Malaysia. This is done with the help of a statistical tool, SmartPLS as a new quantitative research demonstrated to support the positive relationship between relational-oriented exchange and outsourcing success from a financial performance perspective. 
ADM-Based Migration from JAVA Swing to RIA Applications

Companies are investing a lot of resources and effort for migrating their legacy applications and adapting them with the rapid technological changes. For this reason, the authors are interested in the modernization of desktop applications developed in Java Swing to Web 2.0 applications. Therefore, an ADM approach is applied in order to develop a tool named FlexMigration allowing automatic reverse engineering of Swing GUI to obtain a RIA GUI. The usefulness of this tool is the automation of the migration process with the extraction of the actions encapsulated in possible anonymous classes. As an illustration, they present along this paper a reengineering of a small legacy chat application. The authors explain its migration process to generate a similar Flex Graphical User Interface.
Helicobacter pylori Therapy: First-Line Options and Rescue Regimen

In the present paper, several points regarding Helicobacter pylori treatment are reviewed, with the following conclusions: (1) all different proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are equivalent when prescribed with antibiotics; (2) ranitidine bismuth citrate is equal to or, in some cases with antibiotic resistance, more effective than PPI; (3) previous treatment with PPI does not seem to affect the rate of eradication obtained with PPI plus two antibiotics; (4) just 1 week of PPI is enough to obtain duodenal ulcer healing, provided that H. pylori eradication is achieved; (5) the eradication rates seem to be higher in peptic ulcer than in nonulcer dyspepsia; (6) in areas where the prevalence of metronidazole resistance is high, triple therapy including a PPI, clarithromycin, and amoxicillin is the best option, and (7) quadruple therapy (PPI, bismuth, tetracycline, and metronidazole) is the recommended second-line therapy after PPI-clarithromycin-amoxicillin failure, although replacing the PPI and the bismuth compound by ranitidine bismuth citrate achieves also good results.
Globally optimum ML estimation of timing and frequency offset in OFDM systems

We present a globally optimum maximum likelihood estimator for carrier frequency and symbol timing synchronization of orthogonal frequency division modulation (OFDM) systems. The approach proposed here is an extension of the previously proposed estimation method given by Van de Beek, Sandel and Borjesson (see IEEE Trans. on Signal Processings, vol.45, no.3, p. 1800-05, 1997). Our research indicates that the previously proposed likelihood metric does not globally characterize the estimation problem. Based on this observation, a new likelihood function for the joint timing and frequency offset estimation is derived. The resulting probabilistic measure is used to develop an unbiased ML estimator. Furthermore, a moment estimator for carrier frequency offset estimation under uncertain symbol timing is proposed and the statistical property of this estimator is analyzed. In comparison to the previously proposed methods, the proposed estimator is computationally and statistically efficient which makes the estimator more attractive for real time applications. The performance of the proposed estimator is assessed through computer simulations.
Nonlinear system modeling by competitive learning and adaptive fuzzy inference system

Modeling nonlinear systems by neural networks and fuzzy systems encounters problems such as the conflict between overfitting and good generalization and low reliability, which requires a great number of fuzzy rules or neural nodes and uses very complicated learning algorithms. A new adaptive fuzzy inference system, combined with a learning algorithm, is proposed to cope with these problems. First, the algorithm partitions the input space into some local regions by competitive learning, then it determines the decision boundaries for local input regions, and finally, based on the decision boundaries, it learns the fuzzy rule for each local region by recursive least squares (RLS). In the learning algorithm, the key role of the decision boundaries is highly emphasized. To demonstrate the validity of the proposed learning approach and the new adaptive fuzzy inference system, four examples are studied by the proposed method and compared with the previous results.
Reduced virulence of Yersinia enterocolitica by copper-induced injury

A sublethal concentration of copper (0.75 mg/liter) caused substantial injury (87 to 95%) of Yersinia enterocolitica serotype O:8 cells in 72 h at 4 degrees C without producing extensive cell death. Copper-injured cells had a higher 50% lethal dose in mice (2,700 CFU) than uninjured cells (150 CFU). This reduced virulence correlated with more rapid clearance of the injured cells from the blood of mice after intravenous inoculation. A possible role of the liver in this process was shown by significant cell accumulation in mouse livers when copper-injured Y. enterocolitica cells were administered, compared with uninjured bacteria. In vitro studies with isolated mouse liver membranes showed higher titers of aggregation with copper-injured cells than control cells. The in vitro aggregation reaction and blood clearance activity in vivo were abolished by sugars that are known to interact with a hepatic lectin. Our data suggest that copper-induced injury reduces the virulence of Y. enterocolitica and that the liver may be involved in nonimmune rapid clearance of the injured cells, probably by interaction with a hepatic lectin(s).
Nodal regulates energy metabolism in glioma cells by inducing expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α.

BACKGROUND A shift in glucose metabolism from oxidative phosphorylation to anaerobic glycolysis is the biochemical hallmark of malignant cancer cells. METHODS In the present study, we demonstrated that Nodal stimulated the expression of glycolytic enzymes and decreased reliance on mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in human glioma cancer cells. The shift in glucose metabolism was mediated by induction of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF). RESULTS Nodal protein expression was shown to be correlated with expression levels of glucose transporter (Glut)-1, hexokinase (HK)-II, pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK)-1, the phosphorylation level of pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), glucose uptake, and lactate accumulation in human glioma cells. These effects were inversely correlated with mitochondrial oxygen consumption and ATP production. Knockdown of Nodal expression with specific small hairpin RNA reduced Glut-1, HK-II, and PDK-1 expressions and PDH phosphorylation. Nodal knockdown also reduced glucose uptake and lactate generation, which in turn increased mitochondrial membrane potential (Ψ), O2 utilization, and ATP synthesis. The ectopic expression of Nodal in low-expressing Nodal glioma cells resulted in the opposite results compared with those of Nodal knockdown glioma cells. Treatment of cells with recombinant Nodal increased HIF-1 expression, and this effect was regulated at the transcriptional level. Blockage of the Nodal receptor by a pharmacological inhibitor or Nodal knockdown in U87MG cells decreased HIF-1α expression. Furthermore, HIF-1α knockdown in U87MG cells decreased Glut-1, HK-II, and PDK-1 expressions and PDH phosphorylation, which were similar to results in Nodal knockdown cells. CONCLUSION Taken together, these results suggest that Nodal affects energy metabolism through HIF-1α.
Co-ordination within Manufacturing Joint Ventures

In a manufacturing joint venture (MJV), the alliance partners' complementary resources are bundled together. However, an administrative framework is not transferable from the partners' own operations because of the differing operating and cultural environments. So the MJV management has to develop the administrative framework which will set the boundaries for the efficiency of operation and growth performance. Yet alliance partners appear to underestimate the importance of ensuring good management is in place. A conceptual framework is developed to examine why and how management within MJVs co-ordinate activities and processes.
GROUNDING SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN RESOURCE‐ADVANTAGE THEORY*

A key issue for strategic supply chain management research is whether purchasing can be a source of long-term competitive advantage. Recent resource-based works in strategic management suggest that purchasing cannot be a source of long-term competitive advantage. In contrast, recent works in supply chain management suggest that purchasing can be such a source. This article explains why works in strategic management and supply chain management come to such radically different conclusions on purchasing strategy. Specifically, this article points out that the negative conclusion concerning purchasing strategy is derived from theories of competition based on the neoclassical, equilibrium economics research tradition. Therefore, the positive case for strategic purchasing needs to be grounded in a research tradition that provides a clean break from the neoclassical, equilibrium economics research tradition. The authors discuss the characteristics of what has come to be labeled “the resource-advantage research tradition” and offer it as an appropriate grounding for purchasing strategy, in particular, and supply chain management, in general.
Way to Measure the Concept Precarious Working Conditions in Oil Palm Plantations

Oil palm plantations are the backbone of the Malaysian economy, since day immemorial. When you look intothe past, the workers in the oil palm plantations were dominated by Indian and Chinese communities. Later dueto the sigma associate with oil palm plantations jobs viz., dirty, dangerous and distance, the Indians and Chineseworkers moved away from the oil palm work and they were replaced by Indonesians and Philippines. Theseforeign workers whom having the legal and illegal status under enforcement in Malaysia, have been living inremotely located inhabitations engaging in ‘dirty, dangerous and distance’ wise oil palm plantations. Though thelarger oil palm plantation companies ensure minimum living and working conditions for the foreign workers,vastly located small holding plantations never follow such minimum and fair working environment. Theseconditions to be correlated with the term “precarious working conditions’ in small holding oil palm plantations.Due to lack of availability of the locals to engage in oil palm work, the plantations have to depend on foreignworkers do all these ‘dirty, dangerous and distance’ workers in oil palm plantations. Except a few literatureavailable from Amnesty international and local NGOs, there is less evidence to prove the existence of suchexploitative working conditions in oil palm plantations. In order to explore precarious working conditions in oilpalm plantations thus a qualitative research study is conducted in the Sabah region of the Eastern Part ofMalaysia. The study followed, triangulation method through interviews with the migrated foreign workers, (legaland illegal), focus group discussions and Delphi technique with the identification of experts in the field to arriveat the factors and categories related to the theme ‘precarious working conditions’ in oil palm plantations. Theoutcome of the study fixes the variables that need to be concentrated for a higher level research throughquantitative research.
On various types of controlled-sized clustering based on optimization

Clustering is one of unsupervised classification method, that is, it classifies a data set into some clusters without any external criterion. Typical clustering methods, e.g. k-means (KM) or fuzzy c-means (FCM) are constructed based on optimization of the given objective function. Many clustering methods as well as KM and FCM are formulated as optimization problems with typical objective functions and constraints. The objective function itself is also an evaluation guideline of results of clustering methods. Considered together with its theoretical extensibility, there is the great advantage to construct clustering methods in the framework of optimization. From the viewpoint of optimization, some of the authors proposed an Even-sized Clustering method Based on Optimization (ECBO), which is with tight constraints of cluster size, and constructed some variations of ECBO. The constraint considered in ECBO is that each cluster size is K or K + 1, and the belongingness of each object to clusters is calculated by the simplex method in each iteration. It is considered that ECBO has the advantage in the viewpoint of clustering accuracy, cluster size, and optimization framework than other similar methods. However, the constraint of cluster sizes of ECBO is tight in the meaning of cluster size so that it may be inconvenient in case that some extra margin of cluster size is allowed. Moreover, it is expected that new clustering algorithms in which each cluster size can be controlled deal with more various datasets. From the above view point, we proposed two new clustering algorithms based on ECBO. One is COntrolled-sized Clustering Based on Optimization (COCBO), and the other is an extended COCBO, which is referred to as COntrolled-sized Clustering Based on Optimization++ (COCBO++). Each cluster size can be controlled in the algorithms. However, these algorithms have some problems. In this paper, we will describe various types of COCBO to solve the above problems and estimate the methods in some numerical examples.
Multi-use high/low-temperature and pressure compatible portable chamber for in situ grazing-incidence X-ray scattering studies.

The multipurpose portable ultra-high-vacuum-compatible chamber described in detail in this article has been designed to carry out grazing-incidence X-ray scattering techniques on the BM25-SpLine CRG beamline at the ESRF. The chamber has a cylindrical form, built on a 360° beryllium double-ended conflate flange (CF) nipple. The main advantage of this chamber design is the wide sample temperature range, which may be varied between 60 and 1000 K. Other advantages of using a cylinder are that the wall thickness is reduced to a minimum value, keeping maximal solid angle accessibility and keeping wall absorption of the incoming X-ray beam constant. The heat exchanger is a customized compact liquid-nitrogen (LN2) continuous-flow cryostat. LN2 is transferred from a storage Dewar through a vacuum-isolated transfer line to the heat exchanger. The sample is mounted on a molybdenum support on the heat exchanger, which is equipped with a BORALECTRIC heater element. The chamber versatility extends to the operating pressure, ranging from ultra-high vacuum (<10(-10) mbar) to high pressure (up to 3 × 10(3) mbar). In addition, it is equipped with several CF ports to allocate auxiliary components such as capillary gas-inlet, viewports, leak valves, ion gun, turbo pump, etc., responding to a large variety of experiment requirements. A movable slits set-up has been foreseen to reduce the background and diffuse scattering produced at the beryllium wall. Diffraction data can be recorded either with a point detector or with a bi-dimensional CCD detector, or both detectors simultaneously. The system has been designed to carry out a multitude of experiments in a large variety of environments. The system feasibility is demonstrated by showing temperature-dependence grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction and conductivity measurements on a 20 nm-thick La0.7Ca0. 3MnO3 thin film grown on a SrTiO3(001) substrate.
Electrical-thermal co-analysis of through silicon via with equivalent circuit model

An electrical-thermal co-analysis method for through silicon via using equivalent circuit model is proposed in this paper. The electrical part is based on analytical methods, taking physical effects such as MOS effect, eddy current into consideration. The thermal part is realized by behavior modeling, which enables this method to perform transient analysis besides stationary analysis. The co-analysis can be conveniently conducted using existing electric circuit solvers. Accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method are demonstrated by comparison of simulation results with commercial software.
Removal of Copper Ions From Water Using Epichlorohydrin Cross‐Linked β‐Cyclodextrin Polymer: Characterization, Isotherms and Kinetics

β‐cyclodextrin (β‐CD) cross‐linked with epichlorohydrin to form water insoluble β‐cyclodextrin polymer (β‐CDP) has been shown to be an effective sorbent for sorption of organic particles, but the sorption of copper (Cu2+) in aqueous solutions by β‐CDP has not been conducted. The objective of this study was to explore the sorption mechanism of β‐CDP for copper. The effects of different experimental conditions such as pH, ionic strength, contact time, and temperature were inspected using a batch method. In addition, binding scheme was estimated by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller (BET) analysis. The adsorption of Cu2+ was observed to be higher at pH 6.0. The kinetic study revealed that the adsorption is fitted well by the pseudo‐second‐order kinetic model. The maximum binding of Cu2+ was estimated to be 111.11 mg/g through the Langmuir isotherm model — much higher than the existing sorption technologies. Hence, the adsorption‐desorption trends of epichlorohydrin cross‐linked with β‐CD, along with its good recyclability, establish an alternative, effective, and novel remediation technology for the removal of Cu2+ from aqueous solutions.