Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SAR image unsupervised segmentation based on a modified fuzzy C-means algorithm

Image segmentation approaches have contributed a lot to help people interpret Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images well. Fuzzy C-means (FCM), as a clustering method, is the most popular one of SAR image segmentation. However, classical FCM is quite sensitive to speckle noises included in the SAR images, and adding the spectral information is still not enough to improve the performance. Hence, there is a need to take advantage of other useful information to improve segmentation results. In this paper, first of all, Gabor filter is adopted to extract texture features. And then, the SAR image is divided into several patches as the unit to process. At last, FCM with improved nonlocal spatial information (FCM_INLS) is modified with Gaussian kernel distance instead of the Euclidean distance, called FCM_KWINLS, and it can be more robust to speckle noises. In our experiments, the results demonstrate that the proposed method effectively improves the performance of SAR image segmentation.
The effects of the provision of consulting services on audit reporting quality

The growing complexity of the global business environment is leading innovative firms to demand further external counselling to better handle rapid change and increasing uncertainty. Likewise, the implementation of new information systems is usually carried out with the help of external advisors. This paper examines whether the provision of consulting services undermines audit reporting quality by testing for an association between advisory services and audit reporting. A cross-sectional logistic regression is estimated to test the relationship between consulting fees and the audit outcome. The evidence suggests that there is no statistically significant association between non-audit fees and audit outcome. This finding is consistent with the idea that audit reporting quality is not impaired by the provision of consulting services.
Penile Mondor's Disease: Primum Non Nocere!

PURPOSE Penile Mondor’s disease (superficial thrombophlebitis of the dorsal vein of the penis) is a rare clinical diagnosis. It is an easily diagnosed and treated disease. Nevertheless, when reviewing the literature, we considered that unnecessary tests are carried out for diagnosis. In this study, we aimed to indicate the redundancy of Doppler ultrasonography for diagnosis of penile Mondor’s disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seven patients with the clinical presentation of penile Mondor’s disease were included in the study. In the first two patients, penile Doppler ultrasonography was performed for diagnostic purposes by applying a vasoactive intracavernosal agent. This diagnostic procedure was not implemented in the next five patients. RESULTS Physical examinations revealed cord-like thickening lesions on dorsal and dorsolateral penis. In the first two patients, who penile Doppler ultrasonography with an intracavernosal vasoactive agent was used for diagnostic purposes, was developed priapism. We did not use penile Doppler for more patients as this would be unethical according to us. CONCLUSION Recovery from penile Mondor’s disease is usually spontaneous and smooth. A simple physical examination is sufficient for diagnosis, and palliative treatment is effective. For the diagnosis of this disease, unnecessary tests should be avoided so that patients are not harmed.
Service matching model for RESTful web services

In recent years, lots of RESTful Web services have emerged. However, it is still a critical problem that how to effectively find the desired RESTful Web services. Based on an efficient matching algorithm, this paper constructs a matching model. The model uses hRESTS and MicroWSMO to describe HTML document of RESTful Web Services. The model includes ontology, marking properties, matching engine, extractor, etc. Those modules have different functions. And the model can match the conditions of service requester and the parameters provided by service to find services. It is proved by experiments that the efficiency of RESTful Web services based on this model has been greatly improved compared with the existing matching model.
Neighborhood Planning as Collaborative Democratic Design

Abstract Problem: Historically, neighborhood participation has lapsed into NIMBYism or has not been especially effective at long-term, inclusive, and integrative planning. Purpose: I aim to describe and analyze an example of how local governments can function as civic enablers and capacity builders for collaborative and accountable planning among neighborhood stakeholders and city government. Methods: This is a case study of Seattle's neighborhood planning approach in the 1990s based on semistructured interviews with 33 current and former planners, other officials, and neighborhood activists, and review of a broad selection of neighborhood plans and other planning documents and newspaper coverage of the planning process. Results and conclusions: The city of Seattle developed a set of tools and resources to empower local citizens in the planning process while also holding them accountable for actions consistent with specified broad values and planning targets. This, together with the city's substantial investment in neighborhood planning staff, who served as relational organizers and intermediaries of trust, was critical to the success of neighborhood planning and to the emergence of a collaborative governance culture among highly diverse and often contentious community associations, business interests, city departments, and the city council. Takeaway for practice: Diverse neighborhoods can find common ground and make positive progress on planning to address shared citywide concerns. However, they need staff assistance to do this. Neighborhood planners can play this role, but only if cities fund them to do this time-consuming work and provide institutional support and guidance.
Association of bowel movement frequency and use of laxatives with the occurrence of symptomatic gallstone disease in a prospective study of women

OBJECTIVES:The authors prospectively examined the association between bowel movement frequency (used as a proxy for intestinal transit), laxative use, and the risk of symptomatic gallstone disease.METHODS:A total of 79,829 women, aged 36–61 yr, without a history of symptomatic gallstone disease and free of cancer, responded to a mailed questionnaire in 1982 that assessed bowel movement frequency and use of laxatives. Between 1984 and 1996, 4,443 incident cases of symptomatic gallstone disease were documented. Relative risks (RRs) of symptomatic gallstone disease and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using logistic regression.RESULTS:After controlling for age and established risk factors, the multivariate RRs were, compared to women with daily bowel movements, 0.97 (95% CI 0.86–1.08) for women with bowel movements every third day or less, and 1.00 (95% CI 0.91–1.11) for women with bowel movement more than once daily. No trend was evident. As compared to women who never used laxatives in 1982, a significant modest inverse association was seen for monthly laxative use, with a multivariate RR of 0.84 (95% CI 0.72–0.98), and weekly to daily laxative use was associated with a RR of 0.88 (95% CI 0.78–1.02). CONCLUSIONS:These findings do not support an association between infrequent bowel movements and risk of symptomatic gallstone disease in women, and indicate that simple questions directed at bowel movement frequency are unlikely to enhance our ability to predict risk of symptomatic gallstone disease. The slightly inverse association between use of laxatives and risk of symptomatic gallstone disease may be due to a mechanism that is not related to bowel movement frequency.
Option Implied Moments: An Application to Nikkei 225 Futures Options

This paper proposes an integrated process to recover the moments of the risk-neutral distribution using a Gram-Charlier expansion series and Rubinstein's implied binomial tree approach. The advantage of using the implied tree approach is that it accounts for the possibility of early exercise of American options. We apply the method to American-style options on Nikkei 225 futures. We then demonstrate how to use the implied moments for trading options.
Mainstreaming a gender justice approach : a manual to support NGOs in self-assessing their gender mainstreaming competence

This manual has been created to help gender experts and consultants to coach organisations in self-assessing their gender mainstreaming competence. In this manual you find the ingredients for a self-assessment, to be organised in a workshop setting. It is meant to support development organisations in ‘screening’ their gender mainstreaming competence and recognising their potential to move ahead - both in the programs and in the organisation itself. The organisation’s strengths and weaknesses are identified and possibilities for improving gender mainstreaming are explored. This leads to the formulation of an action plan, with clearly defined objectives and a time-line, budget and defined responsibilities. The staff members involved in the self-assessment are taken step-by-step through critical questions and discussions concerning the extent to which their organisation addresses gender issues. The methodology allows staff to answer questions such as: Why are things the way they are? Why do we act the way we do? Are we doing the right things – and are we doing these in the right way? What are the forces of change? Where are the forces that make change possible? The variety of participatory and inclusive methods as well as the tools that the manual offers provokes reflection and learning.
An intelligent cooperative sensing strategy with low overhead for cognitive radios

As is well known, cooperative sensing can remarkably improve the sensing accuracy by exploiting the spatial diversity of different secondary users. However, a large number of cooperative secondary users reporting their local decisions would induce great detection delay and traffic burden, which degrades the performance of secondary spectrum access. This paper proposes an intelligent cooperative sensing ICS strategy with selective reporting and sequential detection to enhance the sensing reliability as well as reduce the sensing overhead for cognitive radios. The tradeoff in the sensing time allocation is studied for ICS and then two novel fusion rules are developed to efficiently obtain the optimum sensing time allocation with different objectives. The performance of ICS is analyzed in terms of miss detection probability and average sensing time, where their closed-form expressions are derived over Rayleigh fading channels. Simulation results reveal that ICS achieves higher sensing reliability with less sensing overhead than the traditional strategy. It is also shown that the miss detection probability and average sensing time of ICS can be minimized by optimizing the sensing time allocation. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
An Energy-Saving Algorithm With Joint User Association, Clustering, and On/Off Strategies in Dense Heterogeneous Networks

Green networks, which is put forward for the environmental and economic benefits, has received much attention recently because of the vast energy cost in wireless cellular networks. To reduce the energy consumption and simultaneously guarantee the service performance of the dense heterogeneous networks, this paper proposes an energy-saving algorithm with joint user association, clustering, and ON/OFF strategies. First, for the user association subproblem, an optimal association policy, which is related to load balancing and energy efficiency, is designed for the new arriving user equipment (UE) and re-associated UE. Second, based on the locations and load of the base stations (BSs), the clustering subproblem is modeled as an integer linear programming, and the near-optimal clustering results are obtained by using the semi-definite programming. Finally, an intra-cluster ON/OFF strategy for the switching ON/OFF subproblem is designed in which the chosen BSs to be switched OFF are decided by their load effect to other BSs in the clusters. The simulation results demonstrate that, compared with the traditional approaches, the clustering-based energy-saving algorithm can reduce the average network cost by 25.2%–66.7% for different network load conditions.
The spatio-temporal effects of spectator events on crime

People's movements across time and space affect crime opportunities, and in turn, are influenced by the physical environment. Facilities such as bars, shopping malls, schools, and entertainment districts for example affect routine activities and the criminal event. Such places act as crime attractors or generators. Attractors possess crime opportunities, pulling intending criminals who act on these opportunities, while generators do not necessarily draw intending criminals, but possess many opportunities resulting in crime problems. Spectator events such as hockey games draw large numbers of people and may function as crime attractors and/or generators and such impacts on crime patterns have been largely unexplored. This analysis examines the home arena of a local National Hockey League club as a possible attractor/generator. As a spectator event, this venue draws many people into Vancouver's downtown core on game nights, changing crime opportunities and the spatio-temporal distribution of crime in the downtown.
Relationships among identity, perceived discrimination, and depressive symptoms in eight ethnic-generational groups.

OBJECTIVE Examine whether personal identity confusion and ethnic identity, respectively, moderate and/or mediate the relationship between perceived discrimination (PD) and depressive symptoms (DS) in eight ethnic-generational groups. METHOD The sample consisted of 9665 students (73% women; mean age 20.31) from 30 colleges and universities from around the United States. Cross-sectional data were gathered through a confidential online survey. RESULTS Across groups, PD and ethnic identity levels varied, while identity confusion levels were mostly similar. Neither identity confusion nor ethnic identity moderated the PD-DS relationship for any groups. However, identity confusion was a partial mediator for immigrant and nonimmigrant Hispanic/Latino(a) and White/European American participants. Identity confusion also suppressed the PD-DS relationship for Black/African American participants. CONCLUSIONS Results highlight the need for additional research on identity confusion's role in the PD-distress link and the importance of addressing ethnicity and generation status when examining the effects of PD on college students' mental health.
Monetary Aggregates as Monetary Targets: A Statistical Investigation

In this paper, the authors analyze statistical properties of the monetary base, M1, and M2 for the postwar U.S. data record. The authors are specifically interested in answering three policy-related questions. First, to what extent do these monetary aggregates contain information useful for predicting movements in prices and real output? Second, how do the aggregates rank as to their predictive usefulness? Third, how do these aggregates rank as to the stability of their relationship to the macroeconomy? Copyright 1992 by Ohio State University Press.
Excess Demand and Expectations Influences on Price Changes in Australian Manufacturing Industry

Data from the quarterly "Survey of Industrial Trends in Australia' have been used to evaluate whether various excess demand and expectations influences have significantly affected reported price changes in Australian manufacturing industry. For the manufacturing sector, as a whole, both expected and unexpected changes in average unit costs have been important, but no explicit excess demand influence has been additionally significant at the 1 per cent level. For a majority of the industry categories tested, however, certain excess demand variables (involving, for example, finished good inventories, unfilled orders and industry operating rates) and various cost and inventory expectations variables have been significant.
Value of Life Saving: Implications of Consumption Activity

This paper focuses on the typical individual's value of a small change in the probability of his survival. With a simple life-cycle model, the value is shown to be implied by consumption activity which affects risk. The premium an individual is willing to pay to reduce risk is estimated using probit analysis of automobile seat-belt use. The "value of life" is found to be about $370,000. This estimate is contrasted with the foregone-earnings approach by showing that a surplus value above earnings exists and the elasticity of the value with respect to earnings is less than one.
Development and Validation of Credit Scoring Models

Accurate credit-granting decisions are crucial to the efficiency of the decentralized capital allocation mechanisms in modern market economies. Credit bureaus and many financial institutions have developed and used credit-scoring models to standardize and automate, to the extent possible, credit decisions. We build credit scoring models for bankcard markets using the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Risk Analysis Division (OCC/RAD) consumer credit database (CCDB). This unusually rich data set allows us to evaluate a number of methods in common practice. We introduce, estimate, and validate our models, using both out-of-sample contemporaneous and future validation data sets. Model performance is compared using both separation and accuracy measures. A vendor-developed generic bureau-based score is also included in the model performance comparisons. Our results indicate that current industry practices, when carefully applied, can produce models that robustly rank-order potential borrowers both at the time of development and through the near future. However, these same methodologies are likely to fail when the the objective is to accurately estimate future rates of delinquency or probabilities of default for individual or groups of borrowers.
Understanding key events in authentic transformational leadership development : an autoethnographic approach

The purpose of this research study is to understand the impact of key life experiences on the authentic transformational leadership development of the researcher. The document outlines the events that signify the leadership development of the researcher, from his earliest years in the fishing village of Mossel Bay, through to the tertiary years in Cape Town, to where he finds himself working for a Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed corporate company. The researcher makes use of autoethnography as a research method. Narratives are used to capture life or to trigger events in a way which enables the researcher to get a better understanding of whom he has become as a leader. The researcher has reviewed positive events, as well as events which had a negative impact on his development as leader, such as the low level of involvement of the father figure during his upbringing. The narratives draw a lot from the experience of being raised predominantly by the mother and how this shaped certain transformational aspects of the researcher’s leadership profile. Furthermore, the narratives also viewed the impact of certain early interactions and experiences in the researcher’s work life which influenced the ethical development of his leadership approach. The researcher concludes with a summary of key themes that emerged during reflection of trigger events and experiences, which he hopes may contribute toward others finding their own leadership profiles.
Option Pricing in a Multi-Asset, Complete Market Economy

Abstract This paper extends the seminal Cox-Ross-Rubinstein ((1979), CRR hereafter) binomial model to multiple assets. It differs from previous models in that it is derived under the complete market environment specified by Duffie and Huang (1985) and He (1990). The complete market assumption requires the number of states to grow linearly with the number of assets. However, the number of correlations grows at a faster rate, causing the CRR model to be indirectly extendable. We solve such a problem by recognizing that the fast growing correlation number is matched by the number of the angles of the edges of a hypercube spanned by the risky assets. As a result, we derive a solution that allows the number of equations to equal the number of risky assets and the riskless bond. The resulting tree structure hence provides the same intuition of pricing and hedging contingent claims as that provided by the CRR model. Finally, the proposed model is not only as easy to implement as the one-dimensional CRR model but also it is more memory efficient than the existing multi-factor lattice models.
Housing Submarkets and the Lattice of Substitution

This paper aims to stimulate interest in the early micro-economic conceptualisation of housing submarkets proposed by Rapkin and Grigsby, which defined market areas in terms of dwelling substitutability. Three key questions need to be addressed if a return to the Rapkin–Grigsby approach is to be achievable and worthwhile. First, what are the practical benefits? (The paper highlights a range of potential research applications that would benefit from the substitutability approach.) Secondly, in what way are existing approaches likely to be inadequate for demarcating substitutability-based submarkets? (Four criteria are proposed for assessing submarket estimation methods which existing approaches fail to satisfy.) Thirdly, what are the prospects for developing a substitutability metric that will make the Rapkin–Grigsby definition empirically feasible? (A new measure is proposed, based on the cross-price elasticity of price (CPEP), which is illustrated using data for Glasgow, Scotland. )
Functional characterizations of rare UBA1 variants in X-linked Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Background: X-linked spinal muscular atrophy (XL-SMA) results from mutations in the Ubiquitin-Like Modifier Activating Enzyme 1 ( UBA1). Previously, four novel closely clustered mutations have been shown to cause this fatal infantile disorder affecting only males. These mutations, three missense and one synonymous, all lie within Exon15 of the UBA1 gene, which contains the active adenylation domain (AAD). Methods: In this study, our group characterized the three known missense variants in vitro. Using a novel Uba1 assay and other methods, we investigated Uba1 adenylation, thioester, and transthioesterification reactions in vitro to determine possible biochemical effects of the missense variants. Results: Our data revealed that only one of the three XL-SMA missense variants impairs the Ubiquitin-adenylating ability of Uba1. Additionally, these missense variants retained Ubiquitin thioester bond formation and transthioesterification rates equal to that found in the wild type. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate a surprising shift from the likelihood of these XL-SMA mutations playing a damaging role in Uba1’s enzymatic activity with Ubiquitin, to other roles such as altering UBA1 mRNA splicing via the disruption of splicing factor binding sites, similar to a mechanism in traditional SMA, or disrupting binding to other important in vivo binding partners. These findings help to narrow the search for the areas of possible dysfunction in the Ubiquitin-proteasome pathway that ultimately result in XL-SMA. Moreover, this investigation provides additional critical understanding of the mutations’ biochemical mechanisms, vital for the development of future effective diagnostic assays and therapeutics.
Towards an equilibrium level of market reform: how politics affects the dynamics of policy change

In this article we examine the dynamics of economic reforms that are implemented by incumbent policy-makers interested in maintaining their political power. We use a sample of 86 countries over a time period going from 1980 to 2001 and find that the achievement of an equilibrium level of market liberalization is highly costly. Our results are robust to endogenity and model specification.