Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
No-reference quality assessment in global illumination algorithms based on SVM

Global illumination algorithms based on stochastically techniques provide photo-realistic images. However, they are prone to noise that can be reduced by increasing the number of paths as proved by Monte Carlo theory. The problem of finding the number of paths that are required in order to ensure that human observers cannot perceive any stochastic noise is still open. This paper proposes a no-reference quality assessment model based on noise quality indexes and support vector machine (SVM) in order to predict which image highlights perceptual noise. This model can then be used in stochastic global illumination algorithms in order to find the visual convergence threshold of different parts of any image. A comparative study of this model with human psycho-visual scores demonstrates the good consistency between these scores and the learning model quality measures.
AN OPERATIONAL TRANSCONDUCTANCE AMPLIFIER SIZING METHODOLOGY WITH GENETIC ALGORITHM-BASED OPTIMIZATION

This paper proposes a methodology for the parametric design of operational transconductance amplifiers. In the proposed methodology, amplifier sizing is performed in two stages: an equation-based design scheme performs an approximate design, followed by optimization of the design results with genetic algorithms. The feasibility of this method was investigated with extensive simulation. For demonstration purpose, a folded-cascode operational transconductance amplifier was subject to design.
Relative Efficiency of Ancillary and Small Scale Units

Ancillary units are small firms manufacturing and supplying intermediate goods, typically to large firms. Several policy measures are under consideration to raise the output of the ancillary industry to the level of 15 per cent of the value of output of the large scale industry by 1985. The underlying assumption appears to be that the ancillary status enhances the prospect for the viability of the small firm. This paper examines whether ancillary units perform better than small scale units (small manufacturers of end products) under the conditions prevailing in India. The findings reveal no significant difference in the mean performance of the two classes of small firms. It also draws implications for policymakers and management from the findings.
Top Management Incentives and the Pricing of Corporate Public Debt

Abstract This article examines managerial ownership structure and at-issue yield spreads on corporate bonds. There is a positive relation between managerial ownership and borrowing costs, and this relation is weaker at higher levels of ownership. In addition, managerial stock options have a larger effect on yield spreads than stock ownership. These effects exist after controlling for firm and bond characteristics, and are robust to endogeneity and sample selection concerns. The evidence suggests that rational bondholders price new debt issues using the information about a firm's future risk choices contained in managerial incentive structures, and that lenders anticipate higher risk-taking incentives from managerial stock options than from equity ownership.
Managing initial expectations when word-of-mouth matters: Effects of product value and consumer heterogeneity

Purpose Consumer expectation not only influences purchase decision but also post-purchase satisfaction and word-of-mouth (WOM). This study aims to develop theories of initial expectation management by suggesting when it is desirable for new products to raise or lower consumer expectations. It systematically examines the interplay of product value and consumer heterogeneity in the dynamic process of new product diffusion under competition. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on traditional diffusion and choice models, this study develops an agent-based model to formalize and analyze how consumers’ initial expectations of a new product influence the interdependent processes of product sales, consumer satisfaction and WOM. The simulation analyses in controlled settings help understand the underlying mechanisms in a stepwise manner. Findings The results show that, although the optimal strategy for low-value products is to induce consumer expectations higher than product value, high-value products are better introduced with expectations formed close to it. The results also highlight an important drawback of “under-promising” strategies in reducing the base and volume of WOM. Further, the analysis illustrates how consumer heterogeneities in product valuation and initial expectation affect the effectiveness of expectation management. For high-value products, both heterogeneities reduce the effectiveness of the optimal strategy. For low-value products, however, value heterogeneity enhances the effectiveness, whereas expectation heterogeneity reduces it. Practical implications Firms introducing new products should be sensitive to how consumers value the product and form expectations about it. Different from firms that must rely on aggressive advertising to sell inferior products by building up high expectations, those with superior products can rely more on the power of consumer WOM, which is much less costly and thus gives them a competitive advantage. Firms should also pay attention to how diversified the consumers are in product valuation and expectation. The expectation management strategy is more effective when consumers form more similar expectations. Inferior firms may leverage this mechanism to neutralize their disadvantages. Originality/value The articulated mechanisms help push forward the research on new product diffusion and consumer expectation management. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to systematically analyze the impact of consumer heterogeneity on the effectiveness of expectation management.
Withstanding Trauma: the Significance of Emma Eckstein’s Circumcision to Freud’s Irma Dream

The author considers the medical rationale for Wilhelm Fliess’s operation on Emma Eckstein’s nose in February 1895 and interprets the possible role that this played in Freud’s dream of Irma’s injection five months later. The author’s main argument is that Emma likely endured female castration as a child and that she therefore experienced the surgery to her nose in 1895 as a retraumatization of her childhood trauma. The author further argues that Freud’s unconscious identification with Emma, which broke through in his dream of Irma’s injection with resistances and apotropaic defenses, served to accentuate his own “masculine protest”. The understanding brought to light by the present interpretation of Freud’s Irma dream, when coupled with our previous knowledge of Freud, allows us to better grasp the unconscious logic and origins of psychoanalysis itself.
China syndrome : how the rise of Chinese competition affects SME performance in Canada and the U.S.?

China Syndrome: How the Rise of Chinese Competition Affects SME Performance in Canada and the U.S.? By Melissa Candace Smith This thesis delves into the competitiveness of North American Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in an increasingly global marketplace. It examines how they fare against increased competition from low-wage countries such as China in their local markets. Increased competition is good for the consumer in that it usually leads to greater options in the marketplace as well more efficient processes reflected by reduced market prices (Hatzichronoglou, 1996). However, markets with intense rivalry or which are perfectly competitive turn into a zero sum game in which profits are not sustainable and businesses cannot sustain business. SMEs were found to be more so negatively impacted by Chinese import competition than large firms, and 3-5% more likely to incur bankruptcy due to this import competition.
Functional domains of Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen EBNA-1

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-encoded latency product EBNA-1 is functionally pleiotropic, being required for replication of the episomal form of the EBV genome and having a role in the regulation of latency transcription. EBNA-1 is a direct DNA-binding protein, and both replication and transactivation are dependent on the interaction of EBNA-1 with its cognate DNA recognition sequences. To better understand EBNA-1 function, we have further characterized the DNA-binding domain of EBNA-1 and have examined the contributions of other domains of the protein to EBNA-1 transactivation activity. A Bal31 deletional analysis of the carboxy-terminal region of EBNA-1 identified a core DNA-binding domain located between amino acids 493 and 584. Column chromatographic, sedimentation, and cross-linking studies indicated that EBNA-1 exists in solution as a dimer. Mobility retardation assays using in vitro-translated variants of EBNA-1 showed that the active DNA-binding form of EBNA-1 is also a dimer. In short-term cotransfections, a pFRTK-CAT target containing EBNA-1-binding sites from the EBV origin of plasmid replication, ori-P, was transactivated by a carboxy-terminal EBNA-1 construction (amino acids 450 to 641) that also carried a c-myc nuclear localization signal. These reconstruction experiments demonstrated that a transactivation domain exists within the carboxy-terminal region of EBNA-1, that transactivation is more efficient when a nuclear localization signal is present, and that the natural karyophilic signal lies outside of the carboxy-terminal 191 amino acids. To identify the EBNA-1 nuclear localization signal, small oligonucleotides representing EBNA-1 sequences that encode clusters of basic peptides were transferred into two different vectors expressing cytoplasmic proteins (pyruvate kinase and herpes simplex virus delta IE175 protein) and the cellular locations of the fusion constructions were determined by immunofluorescence staining of transfected cells. In this way we identified a functional nuclear localization signal, Leu-Lys-Arg-Pro-Arg-Ser-Pro-Ser-Ser, encompassing amino acids 379 to 386 of the EBNA-1 protein.
A Novel Hybrid-Excited Dual-PM Machine With Bidirectional Flux Modulation

This paper presents a novel hybrid-excited dual permanent magnet (PM) brushless machine with bidirectional flux-modulating effect. Two sets of windings are housed in the stator slots, in which the armature windings are used to produce the rotating magnetic field, and dc field windings are used to generate the excitation field. The air-gap flux can be regulated effectively by controlling the direction and magnitude of the dc currents, and hence the constant power operating region can be expanded efficiently. Meanwhile, both the rotor and the stator have PM excitations, and dual field modulating effect is artfully incorporated into the machine design to ensure an effective magnetic coupling among the magnetic fields excited by the armature windings, dc field windings and the two sets of PMs. The torque capability of the proposed machine can be improved. Through analytically studying the air-gap field harmonics, the working principle of the proposed machine is discussed. The electromagnetic performances are investigated using finite element method and verified by experimental results.
Cortical processing of saccade‐related efference copy signals in patients with cerebellar lesion

The updating of visual space across saccades is thought to rely on efference copies of motor commands. In humans, thalamic lesions impair performance on a saccadic double‐step task, which requires the use of efference copy information, and the altering of saccade‐related efference copy processing. This deficit is attributed to disruption of a pathway from the superior colliculus to the frontal eye field. However, the cerebellum is probably also involved in efference copy processing, due to its pivotal role for predictive motor control. The present study investigated the processing of efference copy information in eight patients with focal cerebellar lesions and 22 healthy controls by means of a saccadic double‐step task with simultaneous event‐related potential recording. Despite intact behavioural performance, a positive event‐related potential component between 150 and 450 ms after first saccade onset in the updating condition, which has been interpreted in terms of the integration of efference copy signals with motor intentions for a subsequent saccade, was markedly reduced in the patients. These findings suggest that the cerebellum contributes to on‐line saccade monitoring, and that cerebellar lesions alter saccade‐related efference copy processing. However, given the intact behavioural performance, the reduced positivity in the patients may indicate that cerebellar damage is accounted for by either exploiting reduced saccade‐related information, or making use of compensatory strategies to circumvent a deficit in using efference copy information procured by the cerebellum. The present study extends previous findings on the neural underpinnings of saccadic updating and further elucidates the mechanisms underlying cerebellar predictive motor control.
Long-Term Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution and Cardiopulmonary Mortality in Women

Background: Living close to major roads or highways has been suggested to almost double the risk of dying from cardiopulmonary causes. We assessed whether long-term exposure to air pollution originating from motorized traffic and industrial sources is associated with total and cause-specific mortality in a cohort of women living in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Methods: The study was a follow-up of a series of cross-sectional studies carried out during the 1980s and 1990s on the health of women (age 50–59 years). Approximately 4800 women were followed up for vital status and migration. Exposure to air pollution was defined by distance to major roads calculated from Geographic Information System data and by 1- and 5-year average nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particle (PM10) concentrations calculated from air monitoring station data. We analyzed associations between exposure and mortality using Cox's proportional hazards models adjusting for confounders. Relative risks (RRs) refer to an interquartile range increase in exposure (16 &mgr;g/m3 for NO2; 7 &mgr;g/m3 for PM10). Results: During the follow-up period, 8% of the women died, 3% from cardiopulmonary causes. Cardiopulmonary mortality was associated with living within a 50-meter radius of a major road (adjusted RR = 1.70; 95% confidence interval = 1.02–2.81), with NO2 (1.57; 1.23–2.00 for 1-year average), and with PM10 (1.34; 1.06–1.71 for 1-year average). Exposure to NO2 was also associated with all-cause mortality (1.17; 1.02–1.34). No association was seen with noncardiopulmonary nonlung cancer mortality. Conclusions: Living close to major roads and chronic exposure to NO2 and PM10 may be associated with an increased mortality due to cardiopulmonary causes.
Developing a web-based workbook for English supporting the interaction of students and teachers

We discuss the development of FeedBook, an intelligent electronic workbook supporting the teaching of English as Foreign Language in German secondary school. The overarching goal is to address real-life formal education needs using current Natural Language Processing technology. Our interactive, web-based workbook is based on the print workbook of a school-book ofﬁcially approved for 7th grade English classes in secondary schools in Baden-W¨urttemberg, Germany. The workbook offers a range of activities for students that typically are assigned by in-structors as homework to accompany the regular English classes. In our web-based version, students can complete activities online, submit them to their teacher, and view teacher feedback. Teachers are supported in providing both formative and summative feedback to individual students by an auto-correct and feedback memory system, and they can view aggregates of student performance. This article describes the development of the web-based workbook and its use from a technical and pedagogical perspective. We are currently working on adding automatic immediate feedback to learners that is designed to incrementally support individual learners in successfully completing a given task.
Pilot study of objective cough monitoring in infants

Cough is common in childhood, resulting in significant morbidity and frequent medical consultation. Despite this, little is known about the frequency or development of cough, particularly in infants and young children. Recent progress in monitoring has enabled cough to be measured objectively both day and night. However, to date, objective measurement has only been used in adults and older children. The aim of this study was to see whether such methods could be extended to allow objective cough monitoring in infants. Thirty infants were recruited: 13 with coughing illnesses (group 1), and 17 normal, healthy babies (group 2) born to nonatopic, nonsmoking parents. Group 2 infants were studied when well, several times in the first year of life. Coughs were recorded using an adapted commercial cough monitor (Logan Research LR100) and simultaneous infrared video and sound recording. Thirty‐eight recordings with simultaneous cough monitor and video data were analyzed: 9 from group 1, and 29 from group 2. Overall, the sensitivity of the monitor when compared to video was 81%, with a positive predictive value of 0.8. There was good agreement between the two methods for infants with infrequent cough (<5 coughs per hour). Agreement in infants with more frequent cough was not as good, because more coughs were consistently identified by the cough monitor. The portability and small size of the cough monitor made it easy to use, although there were difficulties in keeping the leads attached in older, more mobile infants. In conclusion, objective assessment of cough is practical in infants, enabling the pattern of cough in illness and in health to be studied further. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2003; 35:350–357. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Resumption of Single Stock Futures (SSFs) with Stringent Regulations and Their Impact on the Risk Characteristics of the Underlying Stocks

During the stock market turmoil and later on in the year 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) suspended trading in futures products at the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) due to their proven destabilizing role in Global Financial Crises (GFC). On July 27th 2009, the Single Stock Futures (SSFs) were re-launched with stringent regulations for their trading in stock market. In this study, an attempt is made to identify changes in the volatility dynamics of underlying stocks after resumption of SSFs in KSE with tighter regulations than before and whether stringent regulations are justified or not. Specifically, the study decomposes volatility into systematic and unsystematic risk components and investigates the inherent changes in the underlying stocks’ volatility subsequent to the resumption of SSFs. The findings suggest that the decrease in the systematic and unsystematic risk cannot be attributed to the firms’ contract listing, but contemporaneous market, industry or macroeconomic changes. The findings may imply that stringent regulations are unjustified, which may reduce the liquidity and efficiency of the market and do no good to the market
Simultaneously Occurring Elevated Metabolic States Expose Constraints in Maximal Levels of Oxygen Consumption in the Oviparous Snake Lamprophis fuliginosus

African house snakes (Lamprophis fuliginosus) were used to compare the metabolic increments associated with reproduction, digestion, and activity both individually and when combined simultaneously. Rates of oxygen consumption (V˙O2) and carbon dioxide production (V˙CO2) were measured in adult female (nonreproductive and reproductive) and adult male snakes during rest, digestion, activity while fasting, and postprandial activity. We also compared the endurance time (i.e., time to exhaustion) during activity while fasting and postprandial activity in males and females. For nonreproductive females and males, our results indicate that the metabolic increments of digestion (∼3–6-fold) and activity while fasting (∼6–10-fold) did not interact in an additive fashion; instead, the aerobic scope associated with postprandial activity was 40%–50% lower, and animals reached exhaustion up to 11 min sooner. During reproduction, there was no change in digestive V˙O2, but aerobic scope for activity while fasting was 30% lower than nonreproductive values. The prioritization pattern of oxygen delivery exhibited by L. fuliginosus during postprandial activity (in both males and females) and for activity while fasting (in reproductive females) was more constrained than predicted (i.e., instead of unchanged V˙O2, peak values were 30%–40% lower). Overall, our results indicate that L. fuliginosus’s cardiopulmonary system’s capacity for oxygen delivery was not sufficient to maintain the metabolic increments associated with reproduction, digestion, and activity simultaneously without limiting aerobic scope and/or activity performance.
Data-based causality detection from a system identification perspective

The problem of detecting causality, from routine operating data, is reviewed from a system identification perspective. It is shown that even simple examples from the literature under Granger causality analysis do not have adequate model fit. As an alternative, this study uses the system identification platform to capture causality from process data. For example, the model inadequacy test is considered an important reason to reject a given causal relationship. The rich framework of system identification techniques and the choice of models to deal with exogenous variables and nonlinearities are shown to be an extremely suitable foundation to detect casual relationships. The utility of the proposed approach is illustrated by several benchmark examples including the analysis of routine operating data in an industrial case study.
Longitudinal follow-up of naturalistic treatment outcome in patients with trichotillomania.

BACKGROUND Little is known about the longitudinal course of treatment outcome in patients with trichotillomania. The authors conducted a second follow-up assessment on a cohort of hair pullers previously studied. METHOD Forty-four subjects completed a hair-pulling questionnaire and paper-and-pencil measures of hair-pulling severity and impact, psychosocial functioning, depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. Mean time elapsed between the first and second follow-up assessment was 2.5 years (index evaluation to first follow-up = 3.5 years). RESULTS Twenty-seven subjects (61.4%) had active treatment since the first follow-up. No significant changes in hair pulling, depression, anxiety, or psychosocial functioning were reported from first to second follow-up. Self-esteem scores significantly worsened during this period (p = .000). A trend toward worsening also existed for psychosocial impact scores. Comparison of scores at index evaluation with second follow-up still showed significant improvement over time for hair pulling (p = .001) but significant worsening in self-esteem (p = .000). Treatment and responder status were unrelated to clinical functioning, with the exception of depression and psychosocial impact. CONCLUSION Although hair pullers exhibit initial improvement with treatment, scale scores plateau or worsen by second follow-up. Significant worsening in self-esteem at second follow-up may be related to the absence of further improvements in hair-pulling severity. Future research should focus on the interrelationships among self-esteem, depression, and hair pulling during treatment for this disorder.