Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A trust-driven financial crisis. Implications for the future of financial markets

The financial crisis has brought to light diffuse opportunistic behaviour and some serious frauds. Because of this trust towards banks, bankers, brokers and the stock market has collapsed to unprecedented levels and there are so far no signs of recovery. This paper uses survey-based information to document the collapse of trust, show its link to the emergence of frauds in the financial industry and discuss its consequences for the demand of financial instruments, investors portfolios and more generally investors reliance on financial markets. It argues that unless serious changes happen in the behaviour of the financial industry, the move towards safer portfolios and away from ambiguous securities that lack of trust entails, will have adverse effects on the availability and cost of equity financing. Accordingly a number of proposals to restore trust are discussed. Their common feature is to restore trust – a belief – by limiting the scope for opportunistic behaviour through a transfer of power from financial intermediaries to investors.
Allowance for Random Dose Estimation Errors in Atomic Bomb Survivor Studies: A Revision

Abstract Pierce, D. A. , Væth, M. and Cologne, J. B. Allowance for Random Dose Estimation Errors in Atomic Bomb Survivor Studies: A Revision. Radiat. Res. 170, 118–126 (2008). Allowing for imprecision of radiation dose estimates for A-bomb survivors followed up by the Radiation Effects Research Foundation can be improved through recent statistical methodology. Since the entire RERF dosimetry system has recently been revised, it is timely to reconsider this. We have found that the dosimetry revision itself does not warrant changes in these methods but that the new methodology does. In addition to assumptions regarding the form and magnitude of dose estimation errors, previous and current methods involve the apparent distribution of true doses in the cohort. New formulas give results conveniently and explicitly in terms of these inputs. Further, it is now possible to use assumptions about two components of the dose errors, referred to in the statistical literature as “classical” and “Berkson-type”. There are indirect statistical indications, involving non-cancer biological effects, that errors may be somewhat larger than assumed before, in line with recommendations made here. Inevitably, methods must rely on uncertain assumptions about the magnitude of dose errors, and it is comforting to find that, within the range of plausibility, eventual cancer risk estimates are not very sensitive to these.
Scientific Writing Seminar for Early-Stage Investigators in Substance Abuse Research

Background There is little information on how to increase the scientific writing productivity of early-stage investigators in the addictions field. A scientific writing seminar is presented in this article, aiming to encourage manuscript writing and dissemination of addiction research, and outcomes are reported for 14 years of the seminar. Methods In 14 years, there were 113 postdoctoral fellow enrollments in a 6-month writing seminar. Records of submission and publication rates of manuscripts were collected for 14 cohorts. Results Of the 113 participant enrollments, 97 (86%) submitted a manuscript for publication, and 87 participants (77%) published their manuscript. Conclusions A scientific writing seminar may benefit writing productivity, but more research is needed to compare this training model with other existing models.
A melibiose transporter and an operon containing its gene in Enterobacter cloacae

We detected inducible melibiose transport activity in cells of Enterobacter cloacae IID977. H+, but not Na+, was found to be the coupling cation for this transporter. We cloned and sequenced the gene encoding the melibiose transporter. A homology search of a protein sequence database revealed that this melibiose transporter has high sequence similarity with the lactose transporter (LacY) and the raffinose transporter (RafB) and has some similarity with the melibiose transporter (MelB) of Escherichia coli.
Cross-cultural management in China.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to: summarize the major research that has been conducted regarding cross‐cultural issues in China; show the current practices on cross‐cultural management in Chinese organizations; and then identify future research needs on cross‐cultural management in China.Design/methodology/approach – Meta‐analysis was carried out to summarize research of cross‐cultural management in China.Findings – Empirical studies on cross‐cultural management in China have been conducted since the 1990s, and numerous empirical studies have been done in the past two decades across different level of constructs and practices (individual, group and organization). Among all the intercultural research concerning China, there are mainly two common types: the first type focuses on foreign managers and employees, center on their adjustment and performance in Chinese culture; and the second type of study examines Chinese who work with these foreigners in the multinational management setting. Furthermor.
Effect of Community Support Agents on Retention of People Living With HIV in Pre-antiretroviral Care: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Eastern Uganda

Background:Over 50% of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in sub-Saharan Africa are lost to follow-up between diagnosis and initiation of antiretroviral treatment during pre-antiretroviral (pre-ARV) care. The effect of providing home counseling visits by community support agents on 2-year retention in pre-ARV care was evaluated through a randomized controlled trial in eastern Uganda. Methods:Four hundred newly screened HIV-positive patients were randomly assigned to receive posttest counseling alone (routine arm) or posttest counseling and monthly home counseling visits by community support agents to encourage them go back for routine pre-ARV care (intervention arm). The outcome measure was the proportion of new PLHIV in either arm who attended their scheduled pre-ARV care visits for at least 6 of the anticipated 8 visits in the first 24 months after HIV diagnosis. The difference between the 2 study arms was assessed using the &khgr;2 and T tests. Mantel–Haenszel Risk Ratios and multivariate logistic models were used to assess the adjusted effect of the intervention on the outcome. Results:In all models generated, participants receiving monthly home counseling visits were 2.5 times more likely to be retained in pre-ARV compared with those in standard care over a period of 24 months (adjusted risk ratio, 2.5; 95% confidence interval: 2.0 to 3.0). Conclusion:Monthly follow-up home visits by community workers more than doubled the retention of PLHIV in pre-ARV care in rural Uganda and can be applicable in similar resource-poor settings.
Expectation Learning for Adaptive Crossmodal Stimuli Association

The human brain is able to learn, generalize, and predict crossmodal stimuli. Learning by expectation fine-tunes crossmodal processing at different levels, thus enhancing our power of generalization and adaptation in highly dynamic environments. In this paper, we propose a deep neural architecture trained by using expectation learning accounting for unsupervised learning tasks. Our learning model exhibits a self-adaptable behavior, setting the first steps towards the development of deep learning architectures for crossmodal stimuli association.
Jun N-terminal kinase/stress-activated protein kinase (JNK/SAPK) is required for lipopolysaccharide stimulation of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) translation: glucocorticoids inhibit TNF-alpha translation by blocking JNK/SAPK

The adverse effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) are mediated primarily by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). TNF-alpha production by LPS-stimulated macrophages is regulated at the levels of both transcription and translation. It has previously been shown that several mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are activated in response to LPS. We set out to determine which MAPK signaling pathways are activated in our system and which MAPK pathways are required for TNF-alpha gene transcription or TNF-alpha mRNA translation. We confirm activation of the MAPK family members extracellular-signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1 and ERK2), p38, and Jun N-terminal kinase/stress-activated protein kinase (JNK/SAPK), as well as activation of the immediate upstream MAPK activators MAPK/ERK kinases 1 and 4 (MEK1 and MEK4). We demonstrate that LPS also activates MEK2, MEK3, and MEK6. Furthermore, we demonstrate that dexamethasone, which inhibits the production of cytokines, including TNF-alpha, significantly inhibits LPS induction of JNK/SAPK activity but not that of p38, ERK1 and ERK2, or MEK3, MEK4, or MEK6. Dexamethasone also blocks the sorbitol but not anisomycin stimulation of JNK/SAPK activity. A kinase-defective mutant of SAPKbeta, SAPKbeta K-A, blocked translation of TNF-alpha, as determined by using a TNF-alpha translational reporting system. Finally, overexpression of wild-type SAPKbeta was able to overcome the dexamethasone-induced block of TNF-alpha translation. These data confirm that three MAPK family members and their upstream activators are stimulated by LPS and demonstrate that JNK/SAPK is required for LPS-induced translation of TNF-alpha mRNA. A novel mechanism by which dexamethasone inhibits translation of TNF-alpha is also revealed.
Personal ties, reciprocity, competitive intensity, and performance of the strategic alliances in Taiwan's travel industry

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the roles of reciprocity and competitive intensity for the relationship of personal ties and performance of the horizontal strategic alliances occurring in Taiwan's travel industry. Senior executives of tour companies that were located in Taipei and participating in horizontal strategic alliances were invited to participate in this study. Data were collected by structural questionnaire and structural equation model was employed to examine our hypotheses. The results indicate that reciprocity mediates the relationship between personal ties and performance, as well as the competitive intensity moderates this relationship. Personal ties affect the performance of a horizontal strategic alliance positively in the condition of low competition, but they become insignificant when competition is high. Some managerial implications are proposed for managers of tour companies and small firms. This study has made a noteworthy contribution by introducing a moderating measure of competitive intensity. With the introduction of competitive intensity in this study, a better explanation of the relationship of personal ties and performance can be achieved.
3D Ultrasonic Rangefinder on a Chip

An ultrasonic 3D rangefinder uses an array of AlN MEMS transducers and custom readout electronics to localize targets over a ±45° field of view up to 1 m away. The rms position error at 0.5 m range is 0.4 mm, 0.2 °, and 0.8 ° for the range, x-angle, and y-angle axes, respectively. The 0.18 μm CMOS ASIC comprises 10 independent channels with separate high voltage transmitters, readout amplifiers, and switched-capacitor bandpass ΣΔ ADCs with built-in continuous time anti-alias filtering. For a 1 m maximum range, power dissipation is 400 μW at 30 fps. For a 0.3 m maximum range, the power dissipation scales to 5 μW/ch at 10 fps.
The Suitability and Application of Scenario Planning for National Professional Associations

This article explores the suitability of scenario development as a strategic planning tool for national professional associations. It examines strategic planning by nonprofits and how scenarios fit into the planning process. Scenario planning is shown to be a promising technique for anticipating the impact of technology and other environmental changes on professional practice. The experience of the American Health Information Management Association shows that scenarios are a useful way to communicate and gain member acceptance of the need for personal and professional change.
Causality between Energy Consumption and GDP: Evidence from 30 OECD and 78 Non-OECD Countries

Energy arguably plays a vital role in economic development. Hence many studies have attempted to test for causality between energy and economic growth; however, no consensus has emerged. This paper, therefore, tests for causality between energy and GDP using a consistent data set and methodology for 30 OECD and 78 non-OECD countries. Causality from aggregate energy consumption to GDP and GDP to energy consumption is found to be more prevalent in the developed OECD countries compared to the developing non-OECD countries; implying that a policy to reduce energy consumption aimed at reducing emissions is likely to have greater impact on the GDP of the developed rather than the developing world.
Key research themes on ICT and sustainable urban mobility

Abstract Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are hypothesized to replace or change the use of the transport system by facilitating new or different activities. This article offers a review of more than 40 years of research regarding the relationship between ICTs and urban mobility. We discuss the expectations for the changes in travel demand, travel patterns, and the urban form as a result of the development and introduction of ICTs. Much of the interest in the relationships between ICTs and mobility is premised on the expectation of substitution effects, but empirical findings often suggest more complex effects than direct substitution. Although research on single types of travel activity may sometimes indicate simple substitution effects, examination of the broader impacts may also reveal travel generation effects as well. As such, ICTs do not simply substitute mobility patterns but change them. A growing body of research focuses on changing mobility patterns (in terms of time and space), changes in the experience of travel and changes in the perceptions of travel costs due to the interaction between old and new technologies for overcoming distance. ICTs are gradually becoming embedded within the transport system, enabling flexibility, multitasking, and an increase in human activities.
Pedestrian Detection with near and far Infrared Night Vision Enhancement

Abstract Current headlighting and road lighting are only partly effective in reducing the risk of driving at night. To further reduce this risk, two major sensing technologies for night vision systems have been receiving particular development interest: near infrared (NIR) systems, which actively illuminate the scene in the near infrared spectrum and capture the reflected radiation, and far infrared (FIR) systems, which generate images by passively detecting thermal emissions. To compare pedestrian detection with night vision systems, a test vehicle equipped with an NIR and an FIR system was driven at night on several roads with pedestrians standing along the route. Video clips, recorded from both systems simultaneously, were later shown in a laboratory to 16 subjects (eight younger than 30 years and eight older than 64 years). Subjects pressed a button as soon as they saw each pedestrian. Detection distances with FIR were, on average, three times greater than with NIR. For both systems, detection distances of younger subjects were about 1.7 greater than of older drivers. The effectiveness of night vision systems can be expected to depend on inherent advantages of either technology as well as the details of implementation. To the extent that the two systems used in this experiment reasonably represent the respective technologies, the results support the expected enhancement of pedestrian detection in FIR systems.
RT Ontology development and human preference learning for assistive robotic service system

In service robotics systems, understanding the relationship between environmental objects and user intention is the key feature to provide suitable services according to context. RT Ontology has shown to be an efficient technique to represent this relationship, yet it contains non-context information. In this paper, we propose a novel method to develop the RT Ontology automatically and a learning algorithm to connect the context-free model of RT Ontology with human preference. Resulting system is capable of providing assistive contextual services to user, as well as learning human action preference.
Mean-absolute deviation portfolio optimization model and its applications to Tokyo stock market

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that a portfolio optimization model using the L 1 risk (mean absolute deviation risk) function can remove most of the difficulties associated with the classical Markowitz's model while maintaining its advantages over equilibrium models. In particular, the L 1 risk model leads to a linear program instead of a quadratic program, so that a large-scale optimization problem consisting of more than 1,000 stocks may be solved on a real time basis. Numerical experiments using the historical data of NIKKEI 225 stocks show that the L 1 risk model generates a portfolio quite similar to that of the Markowitz's model within a fraction of time required to solve the latter.
Knowledge Management for E-Governance

E-Governance is today one of important issues in different agendas of politicians, activists and researchers. The complexity of this topic, blended with the uncertainty of the future generated by ICT revolution, lead to many contradictory interpretations, predictions and analyses. One of spectacular contradictions related with e-governance has to do with developing countries. We consider the concept of "Knowledge Management (KM)" as one of keys to understand the role of ICT and of e-governance for developing countries. In this context human and institutional aspects must be considered much more seriously as usually in different agendas of e-governance.
A Continuous-Time Arbitrage-Pricing Model With Stochastic Volatility and Jumps

The authors formulate and test a continuous time asset pricing model using U.S. equity market data. They assume that stock returns are driven by common factors including random jump-size Poisson processes and Brownian motions with stochastic volatility. The model places over-identifying restrictions on the mean returns allowing one to identify risk neutral probability distributions useful in pricing derivative securities. The authors test for the restrictions and decompose moments of the asset returns into the contributions made by different factors. Their econometric methods take full account of time aggregation.
Accounting for Growth with New Inputs

In this paper we examine how to account for growth when new inputs are being created. In particular, we obtain a decomposition of growth into that due to a higher quantity of existing inputs, and that due to a greater range of inputs. This decomposition is first obtained for a single firm, with a CES production function. We then generalize to the GNP function of an economy. and again show how a decomposition of growth in GNP can be obtained. An example is presented of a two-sector economy, where new inputs are endogenously created each period, and a simple aggregate production function exists. Data for this economy are simulated, and the GNP function is estimated using various different measures of the factor inputs.
An improved Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm based on decomposition with fuzzy dominance

This paper presents a new Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm (MOEA) based on decomposition, with fuzzy dominance (MOEA/DFD). The algorithm introduces a fuzzy Pareto dominance concept to compare two solutions and uses the scalar decomposition method only when one of the solutions fails to dominate the other in terms of a fuzzy dominance level. The diversity is maintained through the uniformly distributed weight vectors. In addition, Dynamic Resource Allocation (DRA) is used to distribute the computational effort based on the utilities of the individuals. To assess the performance of the proposed algorithm, experiments were conducted on two general benchmarks and ten unconstrained benchmark problems taken from the competition on real parameter MOEAs held under the 2009 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC). As per the IGD metric, MOEA/DFD outperforms other major MOEAs in most cases.
Awareness of malnutrition in healthcare : the Dutch perspective

• A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers.
A two phase method for determining the number of neurons in the hidden layer of a 3-layer neural network

In general the number of neurons in the hidden layer of multi-layer neural network is determined by trial and error of researchers. There is also an information criteria to determine the number of neurons in the hidden layer. In this paper, we propose a two-phase method to determine the optimal number of neurons in the hidden layer of a 3-layer neural network. In the first phase, candidates of the number of neurons in the hidden layer are determined by using the back-propagation method. In the second phase, the optimal number of neurons is determined by considering the generalization capacity. It is found from the prediction results that the two phase method for determining the number of neurons in the hidden layer is superior to the decision method of trial and error of researchers. In addition, since the number of neurons in the hidden layer can be determined in a short time, it is thought that the proposed method is effective.
The Optimal Linear Income-tax

The conflict between equity and efficiency considerations in income taxation is a familiar problem, but no general rules that take both of these considerations into account have yet been established. On the basis of a concrete model, a variety of examples has been recently analyzed and calculated by Mirrlees [2]. In these examples, the optimal income tax schedule appears to be progressive with a negative tax at low incomes. The optimal marginal tax rate is approximately constant in the vicinity of 60 per cent. It is not known, however, how sensitive these results are with respect to various assumptions of the model. In Mirrlees' model, individuals are assumed to maximize identical utility functions that depend on consumption and labour. The return to labour is assumed to depend partly on an innate skill factor associated with each individual. Through individual decisions, the distribution of skill in the population generates distributions of labour, consumption, and utility. Income taxation is then introduced in order to improve income distribution and social welfare, defined as the sum of individual utilities.3 In this paper we use the above model to prove the following result: if the supply of labour in the economy is a non-decreasing function of the net wage rate then, among linear tax functions, the optimal tax schedule provides a positive lump-sum at zero income, and the optimal marginal tax rate is bounded above by a fraction that decreases with the minimum elasticity of the labour supply.4 It may be noted that this result does not depend on any assumption about the form of the individual utility functions or on the underlying distribution of ability in the population.