Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Emerging applications of link analysis for ranking

The booming growth of digitally available information has thoroughly increased the popularity of search engine technology over the past years. At the same time, upon interacting with this overwhelming quantity of data, people usually inspect only the very few most relevant items for their task. It is thus very important to utilize high quality ranking measures which efficiently identify these items under the various information retrieval activities we pursue. In this thesis we provide a twofold contribution to the Information Retrieval field. First, we identify those application areas in which a user oriented ranking is missing, though extremely necessary in order to facilitate a qualitative access to relevant resources. Second, for each of these areas we propose appropriate ranking algorithms which exploit their underlying social characteristics, either at the macroscopic, or at the microscopic level. We achieve this by utilizing link analysis techniques, which build on top of the graph based representation of relations between resources in order to rank them or simply to identify social patterns relative to the investigated data set. We start by arguing that Ranking Desktop Items is very effective in improving resource access within Personal Information Repositories. Thus, we propose to move link analysis methods down to the PC Desktop by exploiting usage analysis statistics, and show the resulted importance ordering to be highly beneficial for the particular scenario of Desktop Search. We then apply the same technique for Spam Detection. We connect people across email social networks based on their email exchanges and induce a reputation metric which nicely isolates malicious members of a community. Similarly, we model several higher level artificial constructs which could negatively manipulate generic link analysis ranking algorithms, and indicate how to remove them in the case of Web page ranking. Finally, we exploit manually created large scale information repositories in order to Personalize Web Search. We investigate two different types of such repositories, namely globally edited ones and individually edited ones. For the former category we project link analysis onto public taxonomies such as the Open Directory and define appropriate similarity measures which order the search output in accordance to each user’s preferences. For the latter one, we propose to expand Web queries by utilizing both text and link analysis on top of Personal Information Repositories. Extensive experiments analyzing both approaches show them to yield significant improvements over regular Google search.
Family Firms, Innovation Productivity and Financing Cost: Evidence from Chinese Hi-Tech Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Using a recent sample of hi-tech Chinese small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), we examine whether family-owned businesses (FBs) can show better innovative productivity than non-FBs. We find that family firms produce a higher level of innovative productivity, consuming less innovation input i.e. R&D expenditure, generating no less innovation outcomes or output i.e. sales on the new products or technology. The cause of FBs’ innovative behaviors may lie in financial constraints on SMEs’ innovation. Thus, we find that FBs are on average less financially constrained for innovation than non-FBs. Precisely, family ownership can reduce financing costs for R&D input by 36.1%-37.1%, while reducing financing costs for R&D output by 62.2%-63.8%. In addition, knowledge deriving from competitors, universities and industry associations can effectively raise innovative sales with marginal effects of 44.5%, 169.7% and 42.2% respectively. In particular, knowledge provided by universities can substantially promote firms’ innovative sales by 169.7%. Joint R&D proves to have better outcomes, with a 44.1% increase in innovative sales, whereas self- R&D does not show a significant effect.
Accurate Shared Bottleneck Detection and File Transfer Delay Prediction for Grid Scheduling

Fakultät für Mathematik, Informatik und Physik Institute für Informatik Doctor of Philosophy by Muhammad Murtaza Yousaf Grid Computing promises a supercomputing-like performance at low cost, which means that a large number of users should have the opportunity to solve their problems on a widely accessible platform. In order to meet the claimed performance, the Grid research community needs to design methodologies which can exploit this computation power. Among others, one major issue in fully utilizing the Grid capabilities is assignment (“scheduling”) of appropriate resources for a job in a way that minimizes the execution time of a particular set of tasks. For a good allocation, which is crucial for efficient execution and use of Grid resources, a Grid scheduler must have comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of available resources as well as the time it takes to transfer a certain amount of data between them. In this thesis, this need will be addressed with a system for predicting file transfer delay. This will be done by estimating stable network path characteristics without relying on the occurrence of other network traffic because of the unreliable nature of such measurements. The awareness of the complete network topology and particularly knowledge of congested network links which are shared by multiple flows can be of great use to Grid schedulers as well as many other applications. Finding an accurate solution for the detection of shared bottlenecks is therefore a main goal of this thesis. None of the state of the art Grid schedulers make appropriate use of such information about the network; however, more intelligent and efficient decisions can be made on this basis. In this thesis, it will be shown how the performance of a Grid scheduler can be improved by incorporating knowledge about file transfer delays based on shared bottleneck detection.
Internalized Stigma Among Sexual Minority Adults: Insights From a Social Psychological Perspective

This article describes a social psychological framework for understanding sexual stigma, and it reports data on sexual minority individuals' stigma-related experiences. The framework distinguishes between stigma's manifestations in society's institutions (heterosexism) and among individuals. The latter include enacted sexual stigma (overt negative actions against sexual minorities, such as hate crimes), felt sexual stigma (expectations about the circumstances in which sexual stigma will be enacted), and internalized sexual stigma (personal acceptance of sexual stigma as part of one's value system and self-concept). Drawing from previous research on internalized sexual stigma among heterosexuals (i.e., sexual prejudice), the article considers possible parallels in how sexual minorities experience internalized sexual stigma (i.e., self-stigma, or negative attitudes toward the self). Data are presented from a community sample of lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults (N = 2,259) to illustrate the model's utility for generating and testing hypotheses concerning self-stigma.
Distinct domains of M-T2, the myxoma virus tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor homolog, mediate extracellular TNF binding and intracellular apoptosis inhibition

The myxoma virus tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor homolog, M-T2, is expressed both as a secreted glycoprotein that inhibits the cytolytic activity of rabbit TNF-alpha and as an endoglycosidase H-sensitive intracellular species that prevents myxoma virus-infected CD4+ T lymphocytes from undergoing apoptosis. To compare the domains of M-T2 mediating extracellular TNF inhibition and intracellular apoptosis inhibition, recombinant myxoma viruses expressing nested C-terminal truncations of M-T2 protein were constructed. One mutant, deltaL113, containing intact copies of only two cysteine-rich domains, was not secreted and was incapable of binding rabbit TNF-alpha yet retained full ability to inhibit virus-induced apoptosis of RL-5 cells. Thus, the minimal domain of intracellular M-T2 protein required to inhibit apoptosis is distinct from that required by the extracellular M-T2 for functional TNF-alpha binding and inhibition. This is the first report of a virus-encoded immunomodular protein with two distinct antiimmune properties.
A new approach to recognize the credit risks base on fuzzy Delphi method

Nowadays, uncertainty in management projects managers has faced numerous challenges. Old and unscientific methods do not meet their needs. Therefore different managers have benefited from the fuzzy set theory to state uncertainty. In this paper, the first stage of the risk management process is used to determine the risk of the general risks affecting the project and including conversion projects Credit and financial institutions to the banks are identified and prioritized. At this stage for identifying the risks affecting in the project process the fuzzy Delphi method was used. This method is a structured process for collecting and classifying the knowledge among a group of expert in the form of natural language which is distributed through questionnaires among individuals and controlled feedback and comments received will be done. The results showed that after the implementation the three stages of survey and achievement of consensuses among experts in training and test data, finally, it was found that the integration of financial and credit risk relative to other risks can be better estimated. Also, the results with consideration of three hypotheses for the project show that if attract resources risks, profits, interest, credit and equity occurs profits will be change, if risks occur within the organization and technology will bring cost to the project and if risk of rules and regulations, events (political) institutions integration, open activities (non-professional), likely to occur on the property and the classic elite, the project will be loss. Keywords: Uncertainty, Risk Management, Fuzzy Set, Delphi, Credit Risk.
Product Market Peers in Lending: Information Processing Efficiencies and Proprietary Costs

This study examines how product market peers affect lending relationships. We contend that firms are more likely to borrow from a bank that has previously lent to a peer, to mitigate information asymmetry with the bank when potential information processing efficiencies are greater (i.e., information efficiency hypothesis), but there will be a decreased propensity to borrow from a shared lender when the costs of leaking proprietary information are greater (i.e., proprietary information leakage hypothesis). We find that, on average, firms avoid borrowing from banks that lend to a product market peer. We also document evidence consistent with both hypotheses in both cross-sectional and difference-in-difference research designs. In additional analysis, we examine the pricing of loans and observe loan pricing effects consistent with these two hypotheses.
The Nature of Roles on Health and Well-Being of Older Adults in Congregant Living

This study examined the functional and psychological abilities of newly admitted female residents to several continuing care retirement communities (CCRC’s) in central New Jersey in an attempt to understand why some residents rapidly suffer functional and emotional decline, while others do not. The study supports previous findings that membership in roles promotes health and well-being, but the quantity of roles may be equal to or even less a factor than consistency of membership in even a single role. While membership in many roles has been proven to enhance the quality of life for older adults, member-ship in a single role may offer the same benefits.
Illness Perceptions, Illness-related Problems, Subjective Health and the Role of Perceived Primal Threat

Many theories suggest that a threatening situation impacts health because it affects core needs. Our assumption was that a set of interdependent `perceived primal threats' to basic human needs (self-preservation, social integration, personal identity and growth, and positive worldview), which result from the presence of a disease, are related to illness perceptions and subjective health. Participants were 121 chronic medical patients. According to the results, perceived primal threat was strongly associated with illness-related perceptions and problems, as well as perceived psychological and overall self-rated health. Also, perceived primal threat mediated the relationship between illness-related factors and subjective health measures.
Management of stage 1 endometrial carcinoma

Endometrial adenocarcinoma mainly affects postmenopausal women. The mainstay of treatment is hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Most women are diagnosed with stage1 disease, where the tumour is limited to the body of the uterus. Within this stage the differentiation grade and depth of myometrial invasion are among the most important predictors for the presence of regional (pelvic and para-aortic) lymph node metastases and recurrence. 1 2 In the absence of mature results from randomised trials, debate continues on the merits of pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy and postoperative radiotherapy. The practice of lymphadenectomy varies considerably.3 Several opinion leaders, mainly from the United States, state that every women with endometrial carcinoma should undergo complete lymphadenectomy. Some gynaecologists who as a rule do complete lymphadenectomies restrict themselves to selective node sampling in certain subgroups of women. One subgroup comprises patients who are less suited to complete lymphadenectomy because of age, obesity, or frailty from complicating medical problems—and up to 70% of patients with clinically early stage uterine cancer …
Optimization of Food Commodity Supply Chain in Logistics Service Provider Business by Implementing Lean Management

According to recent studies, the increasing demand and productivity in food commodity business has been able to enlighten the importance of outsourcing. Food industry has been found most prominent in outsourcing corresponding to the largest percentage of goods as compared to other industries, which results in creating a more complex and substantial supply chain structure. Due to the complexity of supply chain operations, the Logistics service provider business is facing a decline in demand fulfilment consequently increasing lead times and wastage which cost them a fortune. One approach in reducing complexity and maintaining flexibility is lean management. Essential features of lean management include maintenance of low inventories, better flow of goods, reduce wastage, low lead times and reduce unnecessary movement involved in food commodity supply chain. One of the major factor in food commodity supply chain is ageing of food products. With lean management, a continuous flow of products can be achieved and will helps in lowering the risk of ageing. An increasing number of experts and professionals are storming to make the lean management implementable to different businesses to increase the profitability of the businesses. Consequently, lean tools have been developed and modified to simplify logistics service provider businesses. Significant research remains to shows the implementation map of lean management in food commodity supply chain at Logistics Service Provider business. This research will focus on the methods, principles and tools for implementing lean management in LSP business. This will provide methodology for applying lean in different LSP businesses, which will assist to regulate wastage and lead times in food commodity supply chain. The paper concludes that Lean management is applicable to optimize the Logistics Service Provider business in food commodity supply chain. Furthermore, combination of two or more different lean management tools is provided useful in finding problem, on the contrary helps to resolve it with a continuous upbringing approach.
Explaining a Surge in IPR Filings: Uncertain Design Rights and Learning Their Boundaries in the Finnish Sauna Heater Market

We present a case study of a surge in design right filings in an industry transforming from technology-based to design-based competition. The motives for and outcomes of filing, and how these changed over time are discussed. We go on to explore the events, which offered the agents opportunities to update their beliefs about the scope of design right protection. We find that filing motives change from specific protection goals to freedom to operate over time. We also find that the actors faced several, but sometimes contradictory, learning opportunities. Finally, we argue that uncertain design rights may have fostered entrepreneurial optimism. Policy makers could level the playing field and decrease information asymmetries between experienced and inexperienced players by mandating digital open access to design right databases and existing court cases. However, the expected welfare effects of this libertarian paternalistic policy are contradictory.
Sortase‐catalysed anchoring of surface proteins to the cell wall of Staphylococcus aureus

Many surface proteins of Gram‐positive bacteria are anchored to the cell wall envelope by a transpeptidation mechanism, requiring a C‐terminal sorting signal with a conserved LPXTG motif. Sortase, a membrane protein of Staphylococcus aureus, cleaves polypeptides between the threonine and the glycine of the LPXTG motif and catalyses the formation of an amide bond between the carboxyl‐group of threonine and the amino‐group of peptidoglycan cross‐bridges. S. aureus mutants lacking the srtA gene fail to anchor and display some surface proteins and are impaired in the ability to cause animal infections. Sortase acts on surface proteins that are initiated into the secretion (Sec) pathway and have their signal peptide removed by signal peptidase. The S. aureus genome encodes two sets of sortase and secretion genes. It is conceivable that S. aureus has evolved more than one pathway for the transport of 20 surface proteins to the cell wall envelope.
CK2 and GAK/auxilin2 Are Major Protein Kinases in Clathrin‐Coated Vesicles

Several peripheral membrane proteins associated with clathrin‐coated vesicles (CCVs) are reversibly phosphorylated, but it is not clear precisely which protein kinases are involved. In order to address this question directly, we have isolated highly purified CCVs from porcine brain. The peripheral membrane proteins have been removed and assayed for kinase activity using the CCV peripheral membrane proteins as substrate. The major kinase activity identified has a molecular mass of 40 kDa, is inhibited by known specific inhibitors of the protein kinase CK2 and is recognised by an antibody specific to CK2. We show that CK2 is responsible for the phosphorylation of the majority of CCV‐associated proteins that are subject to phosphorylation. Intriguingly, CK2 is inactive when associated with CCVs but becomes active once the clathrin coat has been removed. The medium subunit of the AP2 adaptor complex (μ2) is not a substrate for CK2, but is phosphorylated by a second kinase that we show to be cyclin G‐associated kinase (GAK/auxilin2). Unlike the situation for the CK2 substrates, μ2 is a substrate for GAK/auxilin2, both in intact CCVs and in solution. In addition, we show that the ‘stripped’ CCV membranes that remain once the peripheral membrane proteins have been removed from CCVs inhibit CK2 but not GAK/auxilin2 activity.
Labour market institutionsand youth labour markets: Minimum wages and youth employment revisited

This paper mainly focuses on the issue of interactions between labour market institutions and policies and their effects on youth labour markets, and is primarily concerned with issues grouped under pillars 1 and 3 of youth employment policy as identified by the resolution issued in 2012 by the International Labour Conference calling for action on the youth employment crisis. These institutions also have implications for pillar 5, young people’s rights at work. The paper reports the results of a meta-analysis of the youth employment effects of minimum wage legislation. The main contribution of the paper, however, concerns the role of other labour market institutions in determining the size of the dis-employment effects of minimum wages in youth labour markets.
Bank Capital Adequacy and Risk Aggregation: A General Overview

This paper is divided into threefold, the first of which depicts a panorama about banks’ economic role and the importance of bank capital through a literature review. In the second section, an analysis of hypothetical bank balance sheet structure concerning a representative bank along with an evaluation of each item. Finally, we propose to examine the relationship between risk aggregation approaches and bank capital adequacy.
Optimal slope compensation for step load in peak current controlled dc-dc buck converter

The paper comes up with the variation of slope compensation with step load and duty cycle for one cycle control in a peak current controlled dc-dc buck converter. For an optimal performance under varying load conditions and input voltage the amount of slope compensation desired, vary dynamically. A conventionally used linear slope is definitely not a solution. To meet the dynamic requirement of slope in a current controlled dc-dc buck converter a non-linear ramp generator circuit has been proposed. The primary aim of the circuit is to provide a slope which is very small for low duty cycles and increases steeply as duty cycle increases. Consequently, it proves much more efficient in low duty cycle (less than 0.5) of operation. On the higher side this achieves a similar performance as that by a linear ramp with much less p-p value of the ramp.
The relationship between organizational culture and quality techniques, and its impact on operational performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate if a firm’s organizational culture affects the set of quality techniques it uses, and if these quality techniques affect the relationship between organizational culture and operational performance. Design/methodology/approach – Based on data collected from 250 firms in Brazil and Denmark, structural equation modeling is used to investigate the relationship between organizational culture and the use of quality techniques, and its impact on operational performance. Four quality technique groups, four cultural profiles adopted from the Competing Values Framework and a set of operational performance indicators are used to operationalize the study. Findings – Culture does not appear to be an unequivocal predictor of the use of quality techniques. Furthermore, while most quality technique groups contribute indirectly to the total effect on operational performance in the developmental, group and hierarchical cultures, the performance effects are insignificant for all four groups in the rational culture. Practical implications – Managers need to be actively aware of the cultural characteristics of their organization before adopting quality techniques, in order to benefit most from the use of these techniques. International Journal of Operations & Production Management Vol. 35 No. 10, 2015 pp. 1460-1484 ©EmeraldGroup Publishing Limited 0144-3577 DOI 10.1108/IJOPM-12-2013-0563 Received 23 December 2013 Revised 8 May 2014 31 August 2014 16 October 2014 12 November 2014 Accepted 16 November 2014 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight. com/0144-3577.htm The authors thank the CNPq – Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for the financial support. 1460 IJOPM 35,10 D ow nl oa de d by A al bo rg U ni ve rs ite t, Pr of es so r H ar ry B oe r A t 0 6: 21 2 9 Se pt em be r 20 15 ( PT ) Originality/value – Most previous studies address the relationships between culture, quality management and performance at the level of quality practices. This study takes the unitarist-pluralist discussion to the level of quality techniques and extends that discussion to what should be its core, namely, the influence of quality techniques on the performance impact of culture.