Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fault detection for discrete-time LPV systems using interval observers

ABSTRACT This paper is concerned with the fault detection (FD) problem for discrete-time linear parameter-varying systems subject to bounded disturbances. A parameter-dependent FD interval observer is designed based on parameter-dependent Lyapunov and slack matrices. The design method is presented by translating the parameter-dependent linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) into finite ones. In contrast to the existing results based on parameter-independent and diagonal Lyapunov matrices, the derived disturbance attenuation, fault sensitivity and nonnegative conditions lead to less conservative LMI characterisations. Furthermore, without the need to design the residual evaluation functions and thresholds, the residual intervals generated by the interval observers are used directly for FD decision. Finally, simulation results are presented for showing the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method.
Absolute and Conditional Convergence in Both Zones of Cyprus: Statistical Convergence and Insitutional Divergence

type="main" xml:id="twec12170-abs-0001"> This paper implements a time series econometric model to determine the timing of full convergence of incomes and output per capita and total factor productivity in the North and South of Cyprus, regardless of whether there is a political settlement or not. A significant dimension of the paper is its emphasis on institutional convergence, going beyond econometric or statistical convergence. Our results reveal that North Cyprus needs 17 years to catch up to full per capita income convergence, 16 years for per capita output convergence and 17 years for full total factor productivity (technological) convergence. The time-series findings demonstrate that statistical convergence is occurring quite rapidly as the North is catching up to the average income and productivity levels of the South, which may confirm evidence of unconditional (beta) or absolute convergence, but there are significant differences between North and South in savings, tastes, population growth and technology. Most significantly, there are institutional differences highlighted in the study with a Two-sector model of gate-keeping and rent-seeking which validates the premises of conditional convergence. Put differently, there are strong forces of divergence hidden behind our statistical findings.
The effects of the auditor's professional qualification and the firm's financial health on depreciation in Finland

Abstract This study examines the relationship in Finland between the firm's financial health and the depreciation policy for a sample with 1,610 firm-years of data for mainly non-public firms. We find a negative correlation between leverage and depreciation in relation to depreciable assets. This result is consistent with prior studies showing that firms with a higher leverage use income-increasing accounting methods. However, since accounting-based debt covenants are rare among the size class of firms studied, the correlation is likely to be driven by implicit contracting related factors. We also study whether the auditors' professional qualifications correlate with the depreciation policy. The results indicate that Big 5 audited firms depreciate their assets over somewhat shorter periods of time than non-Big 5 audited firms. This result is consistent with the notion that Big 5 auditors are more conservative, perhaps because they have more reputation capital at stake.
Consumer credit risk evaluation by logistic regression with self-organizing map

The significant growth of financial institutions' concerns on consumer credit has resulted in a greater demand of classifying applicants into “good” and “bad” risk categories. Logistic regression has widely been employed as a mainstream approach to identify qualified consumers. The performance is, however, inevitably undermined by inappropriate/inconsistent samples. Self-organizing maps, which is known by its powerful unsupervised clustering capability, is investigated in this paper for its potential in credit risk assessment. An integration of self-organizing maps and logistic regression is proposed to firstly group consumers according to their featured attributes and then evaluate credit risk of consumers based on the logistic regressive model built on the group which the consumers most likely belong to. Besides, a confidence level weight is assigned to each model outcome. The performance of the integrated model is benchmarked by results of conventional logistic regressive model and local linear regressive model.
Employment Relations in the Resorts of North-East New South Wales

The tourism and hospitality industry is perceived as being a major contributor to employment growth in Australia and in north-east New South Wales (NSW) in particular. Despite the importance of the sector there has been very little empirical research into employment relations in the industry. This appears to be a major oversight because labour is crucial to gaining a sustainable competitive advantage and in determining the productivity of the industry. This article helps to overcome this problem by analysing the employment relations in the resorts of north-east NSW, an important sector of the region's hospitality industry and economy. The study examined the employment instruments used, methods of employee selection, remuneration policies, training, and occupational health and safety. The findings indicate that the larger foreign-owned organisations have adopted a more formal approach to these functions than the smaller Australian-owned resorts who have, nevertheless, started to adopt a more professional approach to employment relations strategies.
Vision by design: a reflexive approach to enterprise regeneration

Purpose – This paper aims to introduce a strategic visioning method called vision by design and to use the example of Harley‐Davidson's corporate regeneration to illustrate how the method works in practice. This approach conceives visioning as a practical tool of management whose power stems from the facilitation of strategic conversations among stakeholders and the reflexive engagement of business leaders in past‐present‐future thinking.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a four‐dimensional visioning model that facilitates exploration of both the internal and external contexts of the business. The advantage of the approach lies in breaking down vision into its component parts, lending simplicity and structure to the visioning process. The study employs a case study of the turnaround of Harley‐Davidson to illustrate this method.Findings – The paper finds that, in undertaking corporate regeneration, Harley‐Davidson's senior management recognized the need for a vision that was comprehensive, in.
THE USE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND INNOVATION BY MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN CANADA

The objective of the paper is to determine how the utilisation of intellectual property rights (IPRs) by Canadian manufacturing firms is related to their characteristics, activities, competitive strategies and industry sector in which they operate. The principal source of information used in this endeavour is the Statistics Canada Survey of Innovation 1999. The paper starts with an overview of other studies that looked at the use of intellectual property rights in Canada. Follows a conceptual framework presenting variables likely to explain the use specific IPRs by Canadian manufacturing firms. The use of IPRs is to a great extent correlated with basic economic characteristics of firms, their activities and industry environment. A series of estimated logit regressions predict the probability that a firm will use a specific IPR instrument. Also estimated is the contribution of the use of IPRs to the probability that a firm innovates. The decision of a firm to use IPRs is often not independent of the decision to innovate. To eliminate the potential endogeneity bias I estimate a two-stage logit model. A comparison of the single- and two-stage logit models shows that the nexus from the protection of intellectual property (patents) to innovation may be weaker than indicated by the single equation model.
The Role of Dedicated Innovation Functions for Innovation Process Control and Performance – an Empirical Study Among Hospitals

As health care systems evolve, innovation is becoming a key driver of performance in the hospital sector. However, innovation management has been adopted only sporadically in hospitals, and dedicated innovation functions remain in the developmental stage. Using control theory, this study develops a theoretical framework that links control mechanisms (proactiveness, innovation process formalization) and a dedicated innovation function to innovation activity and innovation performance. For the empirical analysis, data were collected from a survey of 158 German hospitals, with information provided by general hospital management. We apply a structural equation model and control for hospital characteristics such as hospital size and ownership (public/non‐profit/private). The empirical results show positive effects of formal and informal control mechanisms on innovation performance and a positive effect of informal controls on innovation activity. Moreover, a dedicated innovation function is found to positively affect innovation activity and both formal and informal control mechanisms. Based on our findings, we argue that hospital management might devote greater attention to control mechanisms to increase innovation activity and performance. Furthermore, hospital management might consider the creation and empowerment of a dedicated innovation function to take advantage of the positive effects of such a function on informal and formal controls as well as on innovation activity.
Predicting Sickness Absence—Are Extended Health Check-ups of Any Value? Comparisons of Three Individual Risk Models

Objective: To predict sickness absence by three health check-up models. Methods: A study group of 821 participants from the public sector in Sweden where three health check-up models were compared 1) the limited variable model including smoking, body mass index, blood pressure, and cholesterol, 2) the several variable model including smoking, waist-hip ratio, blood pressure, relation between low density lipoproteins and high density lipoproteins, serum triglycerides, and fitness test, and 3) Self-rated health measured by one single question. Sickness absence data during 1 year was delivered from the employer. Results: The three models served their purpose to predict sickness absence. Conclusions: The self-rated health-model with one single question has as good quality in predestination as more complicated models. This may have an implication for cost-effective procedures in occupational health services.
Hexaminolevulinate fluorescence cystoscopy and transurethral resection of the bladder in noninvasive bladder tumors.

PURPOSE We compared hexaminolevulinate (HAL) blue light cystoscopy (BLC) with standard white light cystoscopy (WLC) in the diagnosis of noninvasive bladder tumors (NIBT) and analyzed the efficiency of blue light transurethral resection of the bladder (BL-TURB). MATERIALS AND METHODS WLC and BLC were performed in 64 cases. BL-TURB was applied for lesions that were detected only by BLC. Patients who received a diagnosis of NIBT were followed up after 18 weeks by WLC and BLC. The control group included the same number of consecutive patients with NIBT, diagnosed only by WLC and treated by WL-TURB. RESULTS WLC correctly diagnosed 66.4%, with a 9.7% rate of false-positive results, while BLC diagnosed 95.7%, but had a 13.5% rate of false-positive results. The study group had a recurrence rate of 5.3% vs 23.2% in the control group. CONCLUSIONS HAL fluorescence cystoscopy is a valuable diagnostic method, with considerably improved accuracy. BL-TURB represents a superior treatment modality, with significant impact on the recurrence rate.
Looking for `Americanness': Home-Country, Sector and Firm Effects on Employment Systems in an Engineering Services Company

The research reported here begins from the premise that employment relations within the European subsidiaries of American multinationals are influenced critically by the US business system, generating preferences for non-unionism, individualized pay and performance management, and quality management, for example. Further, these can be traced through examination of control systems extended from corporate headquarters. The article complicates this general picture. Despite the case company's leading position within an American-dominated industry, engineering process contracting, we consistently found authority vested in local managers, and host-country orientations to the management of employment relations in the UK subsidiary. Explaining these findings takes us back repeatedly to sectoral characteristics. These directly affect employment systems and influence them indirectly through `first-order' strategic choices (about where to produce) and second-order ones (about the organizational form to be adopted). The analysis highlights how sectoral factors strengthened the hand of local engineering managers and created circumstances in which they could assert autonomy and extend their `charter'.
Healing of buccal dehiscence defects at implants installed immediately into extraction sockets - an experimental study in dogs.

AIM To evaluate the influence of implant positioning into extraction sockets on bone formation at buccal alveolar dehiscence defects. MATERIAL AND METHODS In six Labrador dogs the pulp tissue of the mesial roots of (4) P(4) was removed and the root canals were filled. Flaps were elevated bilaterally, the premolars hemi-sectioned and the distal roots removed. The implants were placed in contact with either the buccal (test site) or with the lingual (control site) bony wall of the extraction sockets. Healing abutments were affixed and triangular buccal bony dehiscence defects, about 2.7 mm deep and 3.5 mm wide, were then prepared. No regenerative procedures were done and a non-submerged healing was allowed. After 4 months of healing, block sections of the implant sites were obtained for histological processing and peri-implant tissue assessment. RESULTS After 4 months of healing, the bony crest and the coronal border of osseointegration at the test sites were located 1.71 ± 1.20 and 2.50 ± 1.21 mm apically to the implant shoulder, respectively. At the control sites, the corresponding values were 0.68 ± 0.63 and 1.69 ± 0.99 mm, respectively. The differences between test and control reached statistical significance (P < 0.05). Residual marginal bone defects were found both at the test and control sites. A statistically significant difference between test and control sites was only found at the lingual aspects (depth 2.09 ± 1.01 and 1.01 ± 0.48 mm, respectively). Similar heights of the buccal biological width were observed at both sites (about 5.1 mm). CONCLUSIONS The placement of implants in a lingual position of the extraction sockets allowed a higher degree of bone formation at buccal alveolar dehiscence defects compared with a buccal positioning.
A linear sampling approach to crack detection in microwave imaging

In this contribution a new approach for inspecting crack and defects in known structures by using microwaves is presented. The novelty consists in using a new formulation of the linear sampling method called the no sampling linear sampling method to invert the scattered data, which results to be particularly fast and effective. Such a technique belongs to the category of qualitative methods and is able to retrieve position and shape of anomalies inside a known structure, but it does not provide any information on the point values of the dielectric parameters of the defects. In the paper the formulation of the problem and the new version of the linear sampling method are outlined and some numerical results are provided to assess the proposed approach.
Nonlinear Ion Heating in Magnetized Plasma by Monochromatic Low-Frequency Waves

Heating of ions by monochromatic low-frequency waves, propagating perpendicularly to a dipole magnetic field, is analyzed theoretically and verified by simulations. The nonlinear acceleration mechanism involves a distortion of the ion trajectory by the external wave. An ion feels along its distorted trajectory field components at twice the wave frequency. When the wave frequency equals half of the local gyrofrequency, the resulting wave field at the gyrofrequency accelerates the ion. The perpendicular acceleration and the parallel motion determine the interaction time and the final ion energy.
Kinetics of NO3- Influx in Spruce

Influxes of 13NO3- across the root plasmalemma were measured in intact seedlings of Picea glauca (Moench) Voss. Three kinetically distinct uptake systems for NO3- were identified. In seedlings not previously exposed to external NO3-, a single Michaelis-Menten-type constitutive high-affinity transport system (CHATS) operated in a 2.5 to 500 [mu]M range of external NO3- [NO3-]o. The Vmax of this system was 0.1 [mu]mol g-1 h-1, and the Km was approximately 15 [mu]M. Following exposure to NO3- for 3 d, this CHATS activity was increased approximately 3-fold, with no change of Km. In addition, a NO3--inducible high-affinity system became apparent with a Km of approximately 100[mu]M. The combined Vmax for these discrete saturable components was 0.7 [mu]mol g-1 h-1. In both uninduced and induced plants a linear low-affinity system, additive to CHATS and an NO3--inducible high-affinity system, operated at [NO3-]o [greater than or equal to] 1 mM. The time taken to achieve maximal rates of uptake (full induction) was 2 d from 1.5 mM [NO3-]o and 3 d from 200 [mu]M [NO3-]o.
Equilibrium Pricing in Incomplete Markets

Abstract Given the exogenous price process of some assets, we constrain the price process of other assets that are characterized by their final payoffs. We deal with an incomplete market framework in a discrete-time model and assume the existence of the equilibrium. In this setup, we derive restrictions on the state-price deflators. These restrictions do not depend on a particular choice of utility function. We investigate numerically a stochastic volatility model as an example. Our approach leads to an interval of admissible prices that is more robust than the arbitrage pricing interval.
Clinical usefulness of testing for a heparin-dependent platelet-aggregating factor in patients with suspected heparin-associated thrombocytopenia.

It is important to confirm the diagnosis of heparin-associated thrombocytopenia, because discontinuation of heparin requires the institution of other antithrombotic therapy. Reports describing a heparin-dependent platelet-aggregating factor in the serum of patients with heparin-associated thrombocytopenia suggest the potential for a specific diagnostic test. No study has evaluated the diagnostic usefulness of testing for this factor, and we tested for a heparin-dependent platelet-aggregating factor in sera from (1) 14 patients with heparin-associated thrombocytopenia, (2) 14 nonthrombocytopenic controls given heparin, (3) 16 patients with consumptive thrombocytopenic disorders not associated with heparin, and (4) 13 healthy laboratory personnel. Coded serum samples plus varying concentrations of heparin (final concentration 0.01, 0.1, 1.0, and 5 U/ml) plus platelets from healthy individuals were incubated together, and aggregation was measured. Positive results (greater than 20% aggregation) occurred in (1) five of 14 patients with heparin-associated thrombocytopenia, (2) 0 of 16 consumptive thrombocytopenic controls not given heparin therapy, (3) one of 14 nonthrombocytopenic controls given heparin, and (4) one of 13 healthy controls, giving a sensitivity of 36% and specificities of 100%, 93%, and 92%, respectively. No unique clinical or laboratory feature distinguished those patients with heparin-associated thrombocytopenia with positive aggregation results from those patients with heparin-associated thrombocytopenia with negative results. Fourteen of the 16 patients (86%) with heparin-associated thrombocytopenia had elevated levels of platelet-associated IgG; however, the test was also positive in 67% of the 16 patients with other consumptive (and probably immune) thrombocytopenic disorders not associated with heparin administration. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
HOUSING FINANCE and INCLUSIVE GROWTH: Benchmarking, Determinants and Effects

Using panel database of 48 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2000 to 2013, this paper analyses the structure of housing finance in Africa, its determinants, and its impact on inclusive growth. Our empirical investigation provides the following findings regarding each questions of interest. Specifically, we find that market capitalization and urbanization are key positive determinants of housing finance while a post-conflict environment is conductive for greater housing finance development – this result suggests that housing finance is driven by demand and supply as any standard market. Besides, we find that housing finance development in Africa is not yet an effective tool for inequality reduction, given that it remains at a very earlier stage; however, we show that above a given threshold housing finance could be efficient for inequality reduction. Finally, housing finance is loosely positively related to greater economic development in Africa. All these findings suggest that policies to boost housing finance development in Africa should be viewed as measures that would yield fruit in the medium to long terms.
A self-tuning NeuroFuzzy feedback linearization-based damping control strategy for multiple HVDC links

This research work proposes a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) online adaptive feedback linearization NeuroFuzzy control (AFLNFC) scheme to improve the damping of low frequency oscillations (LFOs) in an AC/DC power system. Optimized NeuroFuzzy identification architecture online captures the oscillatory dynamics of the power system through wide area measurement system (WAMS)-based measured speed signals of machines. Based on the identified power system model, the appropriate control law is derived through feedback linearization control with a selftuned coefficient vector. The generated control signal modulates the real power flow through a high voltage direct current (HVDC) link during perturbed operating conditions and enhances system stability. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is demonstrated through different contingency conditions of a multi-machine test power system with multiple HVDC links. The results validate the significance of the proposed control strategy to improve the capability of HVDC links to damp inter-area modes of LFOs. The proposed MIMO AFLNFC performance is bench-marked against conventional PID based supplementary control.