Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visual Evoked Potentials in Infants With Diffuse Periventricular Leukomalacia

Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) is characterized by necrosis of the cerebral white matter in the dorsolateral portions of the lateral ventricles. PVL causes motor, sensory, and cognitive deficits. The aim of this study was to analyze the conduction characteristics of the visual pathway in infants with diffuse PVL using visual evoked potentials (VEPs). We studied 11 healthy infants (mean age 3.3 ± 1.3 months) and 17 with diffuse PVL (mean age 2.9 ± 0.8 months and mean gestational age 31.9 ± 3.1 weeks). The N75, P100, and N135 wave latencies; the interwave N75-P100 and P100-N135 latencies; and the N75-P100 and P100-N135 amplitudes were measured in the occipital leads. VEPs were recorded during binocular stimulation at an angle of 120′ from the Fz-Oz lead. Healthy children had mean N75, P100, and N135 wave latencies of 84.4 ± 5.8, 143.4 ± 30.6 and 222.9 ± 40.4 ms, respectively. The mean interwave N75-P100 and P100-N135 latencies were 59.0 ± 28.6 and 79.5 ± 13.6 ms, respectively. Compared with the healthy group, infants with PVL had longer N75 and N135 latencies at 92.3 ± 15.3 (P = .05) and 265.0 ms ± 60.3 (P = .05), respectively. The interwave latency P100-N135 (105.5 ± 29.1 ms; P = .017) was longer in children with PVL than in healthy infants. Infants with diffuse PVL had mild alterations in their N75, P100 and, particularly, their N135 latencies. These increases in P100-N135 interwave latencies could be because of damage to the geniculocortical pathways and V2-V3 networks.
Automatic test path generation from sequence diagram using genetic algorithm

Software testing is an important and complicated phase of software development cycle. Software test process acquires test cases as input for the system under test to evaluate the behavior of the product. If test cases are prepared before coding, it will help the developers to control their code to conform to specification. White box testing requires a set of predefined test paths to generate test cases, therefore generating a set of reliable test paths is a critical task. The most common approach in white box testing is to generate test paths from source code while the generation process must be delayed until completion of source code. Using sequence diagram as an input artifact for generating test path is cost and time efficient due to the fact that test process starts before implementation phase. Furthermore, tester involvement in source code complexity is reduced to a minimum. Test paths are generated from the control flow graph, which is extracted from sequence diagrams. Among all graph based coverage criteria, Prime path coverage subsumes different graph based coverage criteria that lead us to complete path coverage. Also, prime path coverage concentrates on visiting all nodes and edges in the control flow graph rather than traversing all existing paths, which results in test effort reduction. Genetic algorithm is applied minimize the number of test cases required to reach the highest coverage. In this paper, we proposed a model to generate all prime paths automatically and extract minimum paths with shortest possible length, which covers all prime paths by means of genetic algorithm. The experimental results show the generated paths can easily turn into optimal test paths with the best prime path coverage having the least number of test paths.
Community Radio: Participatory Communication in Postapartheid South Africa

This paper evaluates the evolution of community radio in postapartheid South Africa where a three-tier broadcasting system—public, commercial, and community—has replaced the monopoly of a state-run behemoth, the South African Broadcasting Corporation. The paper commences with an overview of South Africa's institutionalized culture of exclusion in the broadcasting sector and in other social spheres. A conceptual review of participatory communication precedes and provides foundation for the examination of the operations of two community radio stations located in two of South Africa's previously marginalized and disenfranchised communities. Although South Africa's adoption of community radio answers perpetual questions about the sustenance of community radio, the ongoing experience poses a few challenges.
Investeren in de informatie-infrastructuur : richtlijnen voor besluitvorming in organisaties

• A submitted manuscript is the author's 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.
The Corporate Social Policy Process: Beyond Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Corporate Social Responsiveness

This article examines three concepts—business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and corporate social responsiveness—that have been used to evaluate corporate social performance. It explores the similarities and differences among them. It then introduces a fourth concept, the corporate social policy process, which integrates the key elements of the three concepts. The corporate social policy process represents a system of individual and collective moral reflection and choice within the corporation. It is not an ad hoc system, but an institutionalized one that can help improve the way in which the corporation operates in a rapidly changing social environment with value pluralism.
Super-twisting algorithm based sliding-mode observer with online parameter estimation for sensorless control of permanent magnet synchronous machine

Online parameter estimation could improve the performance of sensorless control. In this paper, a super-twisting algorithm (STA) based second-order sliding-mode observer (SMO) sensorless control with online stator resistance estimation is proposed. The chattering problem and time delay, which could not be avoided in conventional SMO, are eliminated in this STA based second-order SMO. At the same time, a parallel online stator resistance estimation algorithm is proposed based on a first-order SMO. With the help of the online stator resistance estimator, the performance of the sensorless control is improved in terms of system stability and position accuracy. The stability of the online stator resistance estimator is proved by Lyapunov function. Finally, the STA based sensorless control method with online stator resistance estimation is verified and compared with conventional methods by simulation and experiments.
A Frequency Reconfigurable Half Annular Ring Slot Antenna Design

The design of a switchable microstrip-fed half annular ring slot antenna for multi-frequency operation is proposed. By incorporating three switches along the meandered tuning stub that is loaded on top of the half circular patch located within the circular slot, easy reconfigurability of four frequency bands over a frequency ratio of approximately 1.7:1 can be achieved. Furthermore, the proposed antenna structure does not require additional DC biasing circuit. Simulation and measurement results have demonstrated that the four frequency bands can exhibit good impedance matching, stable radiation patterns and desirable gains.
Timing of Earnings and Capital Structure

This paper shows that asymmetric information about the timing of earnings can affect capital structure. It sheds new light on the following issues: why profitable firms may be interested in issuing equity and why debt does not necessarily signal a firm’s quality. These issues seem to be puzzling from the classical pecking-order theory or signalling theory point of view. The paper also contributes to the analysis of the link between capital structure choice and a firm’s expected performance (short-term and long-term). An empirical analysis confirms most of our theoretical results.
High Gain and Low Cost Differentially Fed Circularly Polarized Planar Aperture Antenna for Broadband Millimeter-Wave Applications

This paper presents a novel circularly polarized (CP) planar aperture antenna for cost-sensitive millimeter-wave, particularly fifth generation (5G), applications. The proposed antenna, which is a differential one, has high gain and wide bandwidth and can be built on a single-layer laminate using standard printed-circuit board (PCB) technology. This makes the antenna both low cost and easy to integrate with common differential circuits. The antenna consists of an opening cavity formed by metalized vias, which encloses a set of loop-like strips that are fed differentially. The strips carry traveling wave current which together with the aperture's E-fields distribution give rise to CP radiation. The aperture size of the antenna can be extended for higher gain by adopting a dual- or quadruple-loop-like strips configuration enclosed by a larger opening cavity. The fabricated quadruple-loop-like strips-based antenna prototype designed to operate at 60-GHz band could achieve 3-dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidth of 16.7% (56-66.2 GHz) within its -10-dB impedance bandwidth and stable right-handed CP (RHCP) gain throughout the operating bandwidth with a peak of 14.6 dBi.
The Specification of the Demand for Money and the Tax Multiplier

This paper modifies the standard IS-LM curve model by making the demand for money a function of taxes as well as of national income and the rate of interest. It finds that as a result, the tax multiplier may be positive and a progressive income tax may be less of a built-in stabilizer than a proportional income tax. These curious analytical results have as yet unknown empirical content, but cannot be rejected a priori.
A Study on the Relationship between Board Behaviors and Board Performance: Evidence from China

From theoretical standpoint, the function of the board is explained by many different views, including legalistic perspective, resource dependence, class hegemony and agency theory [1]. The legalistic perspective suggests that the board contributes to corporate performance by carrying out their legally mandated responsibilities, and regards the role of the board as including responsibility for selecting and replacing the CEO, representing the interests of the shareholders, providing advice and counsel to top management and serving as a control mechanism by monitoring managerial and corporate performance [2-6]. From this point, the board helps enhance corporate performance. The resource dependence views the board as an important platform that makes timely information available to executives. The board is able to extract resources for successful corporate operations, and these activities are believed to be able to enhance corporate legitimacy and improve performance [7-8]. The class hegemony perceives the board as a means of perpetuating the powers of the ruling capitalist elite, and board membership is said to reflect a shared commitment among the ruling capitalists to control social and economic institutions. Thus, the relationship between the board and performance is not important. The last but not least perspective, the agency theory, holds that board contribution to organizational performance occurs when the board reduces agency cost resulted from non-compliance of executives with established goals and procedures, articulates shareholders’ objectives and focuses the attention of key executives on corporate performance, and conducts strategic decision-making and control [9]. Each of the four perspectives mentioned above has its own limitations, and researchers try to combine these theories to analyze the board function. Two important papers should be mentioned here. Hillman & Dalziel [10] researches the impact of the board on corporate performance by combining agency theory and resource dependence perspective, and Zahra & Pearce [1] suggests a combined model to analyze board attributes and corporate performance.
Forecasting Interest Rates in India

This paper develops univariate (ARIMA and ARCH/GARCH) and multivariate models (VAR, VECM and Bayesian VAR) to forecast short- and long-term rates, viz., call money rate, 15–91 days Treasury Bill rates and interest rates on Government securities with (residual) maturities of one year, five years and 10 years. Multivariate models consider factors such as liquidity, repo rate, yield spread, inflation rate, foreign interest rates and forward premium. The paper finds that multivariate models generally outperform univariate ones over longer forecast horizons. Overall, the paper concludes that the forecasting performance of Bayesian VAR models is satisfactory for most interest rates and their superiority in performance is marked at longer forecast horizons.
New Setup of the UAS ALADINA for Measuring Boundary Layer Properties, Atmospheric Particles and Solar Radiation

The unmanned research aircraft ALADINA (Application of Light-weight Aircraft for Detecting in situ Aerosols) has been established as an important tool for boundary layer research. For simplified integration of additional sensor payload, a flexible and reliable data acquisition system was developed at the Institute of Flight Guidance, Technische Universitat (TU) Braunschweig. The instrumentation consists of sensors for temperature, humidity, three-dimensional wind vector, position, black carbon, irradiance and atmospheric particles in the diameter range of ultra-fine particles up to the accumulation mode. The modular concept allows for straightforward integration and exchange of sensors. So far, more than 200 measurement flights have been performed with the robustly-engineered system ALADINA at different locations. The obtained datasets are unique in the field of atmospheric boundary layer research. In this study, a new data processing method for deriving parameters with fast resolution and to provide reliable accuracies is presented. Based on tests in the field and in the laboratory, the limitations and verifiability of integrated sensors are discussed.
Nitric Oxide as an Independent Regulatory Factor in Regenerating Rat Liver

Abstract Nitric oxide production and lipid peroxidation modulate the proliferating activity of liver cells, but the relationship between enhanced nitric oxide production, lipid peroxidation, and liver regeneration remains unclear. We examined the role of nitric oxide and lipid peroxidation on experimental liver regeneration. Thirty-five male Wistar albino rats underwent a sham operation (I), partial hepatectomy alone (II, IV), partial hepatectomy and daily N-nitro-L-argi-nine methyl ester (L-NAME) treatment for 24-hrs (III) or 48-hrs (V). Liver tissue concentrations of catalase, nitrite and nitrate, glutathione, and serum levels of alaninaminotransferase and bilirubin were measured. CD34, Ki-67 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen were evaluated in liver samples. Compared with other groups, both of the L-NAME groups had decreased tissue nitric oxide concentrations. Nitrate and nitrite (nitric oxide) concentrations were higher in partial hepatectomy-alone groups, as were CD34 counts and proliferation indexes. Partial hepatectomy elevated catalase, and glutathione levels in all groups compared to the sham-operated controls. In conclusion, nitric oxide inhibition impaired hepatic regeneration following partial hepatectomy. An obvious effect of nitric oxide on lipid peroxidation in the context of hepatocyte and endothelial cell proliferation could not be demonstrated. Thus, while lipid peroxidation could influence some steps in liver regeneration, nitric oxide poses as an independent regulatory factor in regenerating rat liver.
‘Optimal’ vortex rings and aquatic propulsion mechanisms

Fishes swim by flapping their tail and other fins. Other sea creatures, such as squid and salps, eject fluid intermittently as a jet. We discuss the fluid mechanics behind these propulsion mechanisms and show that these animals produce optimal vortex rings, which give the maximum thrust for a given energy input. We show that fishes optimize both their steady swimming efficiency and their ability to accelerate and turn by producing an individual optimal ring with each flap of the tail or fin. Salps produce vortex rings directly by ejecting a volume of fluid through a rear orifice, and these are also optimal. An important implication of this paper is that the repetition of vortex production is not necessary for an individual vortex to have the ‘optimal’ characteristics.
A Two-Order Increase in Robustness of Partial Redundancy Under a Radiation Stress Test by Using SDC Prediction

Partial redundancy is a method to address errors from single event effects (SEEs) on critical data while leaving less important data unprotected for energy consumption trade-offs. Under a low SEE rate, the method can provide a good cost-effective fault tolerance, while many silent data corruptions (SDCs) may occur under a high fault rate due to an incomplete fault coverage. This paper proposes a system-level approach to additionally covering SDCs in a partial redundancy by a light-weighted error prediction. Our results from a simulation under a stress radiation test condition show that with an average 8% cost in energy consumption, we can reduce the SDC rate from 12% to 0.37%, for the work loads that we studied.
Constant time O(1) contextual and variational contrast enhancement with integral histogram

This paper proposes an efficient method for contrast enhancement using various inter-pixel contextual information. In order to make full use of the contextual and variational information, a two-dimensional (2D) histogram of the input image must be generated using mutual relationship between each pixel and the corresponding neighbourhoods, while the additional execution time is consumed due to the joint spatial and range filtering. In order to solve this problem, a constant time O(1) 2D target histogram (CTTH) method based on the characteristic of integral histogram is proposed to generate 2D histogram for contrast enhancement. Constant time means that the execution time of the joint spatial procedure remains same even if the mask size becomes very large. Experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method by the arithmetic evaluation and a report of time consumption.
Economic Impacts of the Elimination of Azinphos-methyl on the Apple Industry and Washington State

The Environmental Protection Agency has declared the organophosphate pesticide azinphos-methyl (AZM) cannot be used in the production of apples after September 30, 2012. We estimate the change to sales, price, and employment to the Washington State apple industry from using the likely AZM alternative had this ban been in effect in 2007. Furthermore, we estimate the effects of this ban as it ripples through the overall Washington State economy. We find the ban will bring a relatively modest change to sales (-0.8%), prices (0.2%), and employment (0.1%) in the apple industry, with negligible impacts on the overall Washington State economy.
Segmentation methods for deforming meshes and its application to similarity measurement. (Segmentation de maillages dynamiques et son application pour le calcul de similarité)

With an abundance of animation techniques available today, animated mesh has become a subject of various data processing techniques in Computer Graphics community, such as mesh segmentation and compression. Created from animation software or from motion capture data, a large portion of the animated meshes are deforming meshes, i.e. ordered sequences of static meshes whose topology is fixed (fixed number of vertices and fixed connectivity). Although a great deal of research on static meshes has been reported in the last two decades, the analysis, retrieval or compressions of deforming meshes remain as new research challenges. Such tasks require efficient representations of animated meshes, such as segmentation. Several spatial segmentation methods based on the movements of each vertex, or each triangle, have been presented in existing works that partition a given deforming mesh into rigid components. In this thesis, we present segmentation techniques that compute the temporal and spatio-temporal segmentation for deforming meshes, which both have not been studied before. We further extend the segmentation results towards the application of motion similarity measurement between deforming meshes. This may be significant as it solves the problem that cannot be handled by current approaches.
The Influence of Fundamentals on Exchange Rates: Findings from Analyses of News Effects

As we survey the literature of macroeconomic news in the foreign exchange market, we can by now look back on nearly 30 years of research. The first studies which analysed news effects on exchange rates were established in the early 1990s (see, for example, Dornbusch). Almost at the same time Meese and Rogoff published their influential paper, revealing the forecasting inferiority in exchange rates of structural models against the random walk. This finding has shocked the pillars of exchange rate economics and thus cast general suspicion on research focusing on fundamentals in this field. The eventual rising popularity of event studies can partly be attributed to the re-establishment of the raison d’etre of exchange rate economics. This work focuses on systematically surveying this literature with particular respect to its primary goal, i.e. shedding light on the analytical value of fundamental research. Thus, its major findings are, first, fundamental news does matter, whereas non-fundamental news matters to a lesser degree. Second, news influences exchange rates via two separated channels, i.e. incorporating common information into prices directly or indirectly based upon order flow. Third, with a few exceptions the impact of fundamental news on exchange rates is fairly stable over time.
Interrelationships among banks, stock markets and economic growth: an empirical investigation

This article utilizes a simultaneous equations model to study the relationships among economic growth, banking and stock market development. In contrast to conventional instrumental variable approach, we implement the analysis via the methodology of identification through heteroscedasticity. Using Beck and Levine (2004) dataset, we find that each of the three variables interacts in important ways. While both are conducive to economic growth, banking development matters more for growth in low-income countries and stock market development is more favourable to growth in high-income or low-inflation ones. The data also reveal coexistence of a positive effect of banking development on stock market development and a negative effect of stock market development on banking development. Besides, the feedback effects of growth on both banking and stock market development are found.