Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Who Should Learn What from the Failure and Delayed Bailout of the Odgf?

In March 1985, the failure of the Ohio Deposit Guarantee Fund (the ODGF) sent shock waves reverberating through the financial world. This episode is popularly interpreted as evidence of the dangers of both private deposit insurance and continuing financial deregulation. This paper argues that policies of financial deregulation played little role in the ODGF insolvency. The failure of the ODGF was instead a failure of government regulation, rooted in inadequacies in the OGDF information and enforcement systems. The ODGF may be conceived as the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation writ small. Both agencies share many of the same structural imbalances: large unresolved losses, explicitly mispriced and underreserved services, inadequate information and monitoring systems, insufficient disciplinary powers, and a susceptibility to political pressures to forbear. Doctors perform autopsies on dead patients to improve their ability to protect living ones. This paper's autopsy of the institutional corpse of the ODGF focuses on identifying the kinds of disturbances that transform structural imbalances into a full-fledged crisis. Our research underscores the way that deceptive accounting and underfinanced insurance funds contain crisis pressures in the short run by setting the stage for more severe problems down the line. As financial markets approach more and more closely the perfect and complete markets beloved by finance theorists, the amount of time that can be bought by policies that merely defer crisis pressures is shrinking and becoming hard to use productively.
A Scalable Strategy for Mining Association Rules under Grids

Sequential Association Rule Mining (ARM) algorithms are characterized by a high computational complexity due to two facts: (i) they have to mine a very large search space (ii)they have high demands of database access. Association rule mining technique have progressively been adapted to large-scale systems in order to benefit from the large-scale computing capabilities and the huge storage capacity provided by theses systems. Performance issues (i.e, efficiency and scalability) are determinant factors for association rule mining algorithms [1]. In this paper we present an important part of our multilevel strategy that aims to improve the scalability of distributed ARM algorithms. Our main goal is to obtain a running time that grow linearly in proportion with the size of the database, given the available system resources (i.e., available computing nodes, their main memory and their disk space, etc.). The French research grid "Grid’5000" is used as our experimental test-bed.
Mitigating man-in-the-middle attacks on mobile devices by blocking insecure http traffic without using vpn

Mobile devices are constantly connected to the Internet, making countless connections with remote services. Unfortunately, many of these connections are in cleartext, visible to third-parties while in transit. This is insecure and opens up the possibility for man-in-the-middle attacks. While there is little control over what kind of connection running apps can make, this paper presents a solution in blocking insecure HTTP packets from leaving the device. Specifically, the proposed solution works on the device, without the need to tunnel packets to a remote VPN server, and without special privileges such as root access. Speed tests were performed to quantify how much network speed is being impacted while filtering. To investigate how blocking HTTP traffic can affect day-to-day usage, common tasks were put to the tests, tasks such as browsing, searching, emailing, instant messaging, social networking, consuming streaming content, and gaming. The results from the tests are interesting, websites that do not support HTTPS were exposed, apps that do not fully support HTTPS were also being uncovered. One surprisingly, and arguably pleasant, side effect was discovered – the filtering solution blocks out advertisements in all of the games being tested, hence contributing to an improved gaming experience.
Randomised controlled trial of graded exercise in patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome

Abstract Objective: To test the efficacy of a graded aerobic exercise programme in the chronic fatigue syndrome. Design: Randomised controlled trial with control treatment crossover after the first follow up examination. Setting: Chronic fatigue clinic in a general hospital department of psychiatry. Subjects: 66 patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome who had neither a psychiatric disorder nor appreciable sleep disturbance. Interventions: Random allocation to 12 weeks of either graded aerobic exercise or flexibility exercises and relaxation therapy. Patients who completed the flexibility programme were invited to cross over to the exercise programme afterwards. Main outcome measure: The self rated clinical global impression change score, “very much better” or “much better” being considered as clinically important. Results: Four patients receiving exercise and three receiving flexibility treatment dropped out before completion. 16 of 29 patients rated themselves as better after completing exercise treatment compared with eight of 30 patients who completed flexibility treatment. Analysis by intention to treat gave similar results (17/33 v 9/33 patients better). Fatigue, functional capacity, and fitness were significantly better after exercise than after flexibility treatment. 12 of 22 patients who crossed over to exercise after flexibility treatment rated themselves as better after completing exercise treatment. 32 of 47 patients rated themselves as better three months after completing supervised exercise treatment. 35 of 47 patients rated themselves as better one year after completing supervised exercise treatment. Conclusion: These findings support the use of appropriately prescribed graded aerobic exercise in the management of patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome. Key messages Graded exercise treatment is more effective than relaxation and flexibility treatment for patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome who do not have a psychiatric disorder or sleep disturbance Overall improvement is accompanied by improvements in fatigue and physical function but seems independent of the improved strength and peak aerobic capacity produced by exercise In this survey few patients refused or dropped out of exercise treatment and only one patient claimed to be worse after completing it Patients show sustained benefit one year after graded exercise treatment
Exosome Adherence and Internalization by Hepatic Stellate Cells Triggers Sphingosine 1-Phosphate-dependent Migration*

Exosomes are cell-derived extracellular vesicles thought to promote intercellular communication by delivering specific content to target cells. The aim of this study was to determine whether endothelial cell (EC)-derived exosomes could regulate the phenotype of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Initial microarray studies showed that fibroblast growth factor 2 induced a 2.4-fold increase in mRNA levels of sphingosine kinase 1 (SK1). Exosomes derived from an SK1-overexpressing EC line increased HSC migration 3.2-fold. Migration was not conferred by the dominant negative SK1 exosome. Incubation of HSCs with exosomes was also associated with an 8.3-fold increase in phosphorylation of AKT and 2.5-fold increase in migration. Exosomes were found to express the matrix protein and integrin ligand fibronectin (FN) by Western blot analysis and transmission electron microscopy. Blockade of the FN-integrin interaction with a CD29 neutralizing antibody or the RGD peptide attenuated exosome-induced HSC AKT phosphorylation and migration. Inhibition of endocytosis with transfection of dynamin siRNA, the dominant negative dynamin GTPase construct Dyn2K44A, or the pharmacological inhibitor Dynasore significantly attenuated exosome-induced AKT phosphorylation. SK1 levels were increased in serum exosomes derived from mice with experimental liver fibrosis, and SK1 mRNA levels were up-regulated 2.5-fold in human liver cirrhosis patient samples. Finally, S1PR2 inhibition protected mice from CCl4-induced liver fibrosis. Therefore, EC-derived SK1-containing exosomes regulate HSC signaling and migration through FN-integrin-dependent exosome adherence and dynamin-dependent exosome internalization. These findings advance our understanding of EC/HSC cross-talk and identify exosomes as a potential target to attenuate pathobiology signals.
Testing the Cross-Cultural Robustness of the Minority Stress Model in Gay and Bisexual Men

ABSTRACT The study tests the cross-cultural robustness of the minority stress model using a most different systems approach. Data from Western European, Eastern European (including Russian), Indian, Philippine, and Thai gay and bisexual men was obtained online. The final sample consisted of N = 90,467 participants who reported their level of satisfaction with life, victimization, felt stigma, and internalized homonegativity, as well as their disclosure status and sociodemographic details. Stepwise linear regressions were conducted on reported levels of satisfaction with life. Higher levels of victimization, felt stigma, and internalized homonegativity predicted lower satisfaction with life in all groups. Disclosure was associated with higher satisfaction with life in Western Europe as well as the Philippines and Thailand. Minority stressors explained far more variance in participants’ satisfaction with life (13% to 24%) than sociodemographics alone (1% to 3%). The findings suggest that the minority stress theory is a useful cross-cultural explanatory model for satisfaction with life.
A novel multi-pose face recognition via robust SIFT feature

The performance of face recognition algorithm significantly degrades when the pose of probe face is different from gallery face, especially when the angular difference between them is larger than 45°. One of the possible solutions is that not only using frontal face but combining frontal and profile face images as gallery images. According to this idea, this paper proposes a simple, efficient robust SIFT feature method, which generates the face feature database (FFD) with multi-pose face images. The feature vectors are extracted from multiple poses of each person's face by using SIFT algorithm. Then, by computing the dot product of each feature vector with all others, the robust features which constitute the FFD could be identified. Meanwhile, in the proposed scheme, the importance of features is considered by assigning different weights, which improves accuracy. Experimental results on the PEI and the CMU PIE database demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Public investments in tourism in Northeast Brazil : Does a poor-area strategy benefit the poor?

Tourism development is often promoted as a pro-poor non-agricultural rural strategy. However, little research exists at the World Bank about the broad impacts of tourism development. This paper is an interesting contribution for researchers and those working in Environmental and Socially Sustainable Development (ESSD) operations because it examines a wide range of economic, social, and environmental impacts from tourism development. The paper raises critical questions about poverty reduction strategies that target poor areas as opposed to poor households. The paper was carried out as part of a study for the World Bank as input for a State Economic Memorandum for Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil (World Bank 2004). The Team Task Leader, Dorte Verner, provided strong support to the research team.
Government Debt Management at Low Interest Rates

Even if shortening the maturity of government debt does not put downward pressure on government bond yields, debt management may still become an important policy tool to serve quantity or fiscal objectives at very low interest rates. The US example in the 1930s and the recent Japanese case suggest that this tool was not fully employed.
Optimized Design of Full-Bridge Modular Multilevel Converter With Low Energy Storage Requirements for HVdc Transmission System

Modular multilevel converter (MMC) is a well-proved circuit topology in voltage-source converter-based high voltage direct current (VSC-HVdc) transmission systems. As is known, the conventional half-bridge submodule (HBSM)-based MMC-HVdc is not suitable for overhead line transmission applications. In addition, high energy storage requirements, i.e., large capacitance is inevitable. The conventional design of the full-bridge submodule (FBSM)-based MMC usually does not utilize the negative voltage state of FBSM in normal operation. Considering the same dc voltage as with the HBSM case and utilizing the negative voltage state of the FBSM, this paper presents the design method of the power transmission capability of a single FBSM. Meanwhile, an optimized energy storage capacitance design method of the FBSM is proposed. With this method, the capacitance of FBSM can be reduced significantly. The correctness and effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by the simulation of a ±160 kV VSC-HVdc MMC and the comparison results of the dc short fault blocking and ride through capability are also provided.
Role of Fat-Suppressed T1-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Predicting Severity and Prognosis of Acute Pancreatitis: An Intraindividual Comparison With Multidetector Computed Tomography

Objective: To determine the diagnostic value of magnetic resonance (MR) grading focusing on elevated signal on T1-weighted images in the prediction of severity and prognosis of acute pancreatitis as compared with the Balthazar computed tomography (CT) grading. Materials: Thirty-one patients with acute pancreatitis who underwent CT and MR imaging including fat-suppressed T1-weighted images within a 48-hour interval were included in this study. The severity of pancreatitis was evaluated by 2 observers using the Balthazar CT grading system and an MR grading system that is focused on an elevated signal on T1-weighted images. The MR grading was correlated with the CT grading, and each MR or CT grade was compared with patient outcome parameters, including the duration of hospitalization, local and systemic complications, and clinical outcome grading. Results: There was a significant correlation between CT and MR gradings for pancreatic or peripancreatic inflammation (r = 0.688, P < 0.01). However, for all of the outcome parameters and outcome grading, a stronger correlation was seen with the MR grading than with the CT grading. No significant correlation was found between CT grading and infected necrosis (r = 0.316, P = 0.083). Conclusions: Magnetic resonance imaging including fat-suppressed T1-weighted images is more accurate to predict the severity and prognosis of acute pancreatitis in comparison with CT.
Rapid generation of motion plans for modular robotic systems

Robots are needed to perform important tasks in field environments. A limitation to the practical use of robot systems is their high cost and long development times. It would be desirable to rapidly design and fabricate the hardware and software for these systems, on a time scale of days or weeks instead of years. An integral part of this system is a rapid generator of the motion plans that the robot will execute in order to perform the task. The goal of this research is to develop a methodology for generating these motion plans rapidly, and with as little user intervention as possible. This thesis describes one approach to rapid generation of motion plans for robotic systems operating in field environments. The approach assembles software modules which control robot actions into executable "scripts". For each application, an inventory of modules is provided based on task characteristics. A script's performance is evaluated using off-line simulation of the application robot and environment. Successful scripts for a specific task are found using the genetic algorithm search technique. The thesis discusses the implementation of this approach. The approach is applied to an example restoration task aboard the USS Constitution. The results of this application demonstrate that the scripts can be trained to succeed over the range of characteristic field environment variability. Also, one action module inventory may generate successful scripts for various robot configurations. Furthermore, successful scripts can be generated more quickly by including action modules which solve taskspecific problems. Supervisor: Dr. Steven Dubowsky Title: Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Robust stabilization of continuous-time switched linear systems

This paper discusses the stabilization problem for the class of uncertain switched linear systems with norm-bounded uncertainties. A multiple Lyapunov function approach employing Metzler type of matrix inequalities is adopted to derive sufficient conditions under which the uncertain switched system is robustly asymptotically stable. A design procedure is proposed to determine simultaneously a switching rule, which depends only on the available information, and an associated state or output feedback controller that, when applied simultaneously, stabilize the closed-loop system for all admissible uncertainties. All the proposed conditions are expressed in term of bilinear matrix inequalities (BMIs) that can be solved as linear matrix inequalities (LMI) provided that certain design variables are fixed in advance. Numerical examples are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.
Generation of diversity by somatic mutation in the Camelus dromedarius T‐cell receptor gamma variable domains

In jawed vertebrates the V‐(D)‐J rearrangement is the main mechanism generating limitless variations of antigen‐specific receptors, immunoglobulins (IGs), and T‐cell receptors (TCRs) from few genes. Once the initial diversity is established in primary lymphoid organs, further diversification occurs in IGs by somatic hypermutation, a mechanism from which rearranged TCR genes were thought to be excluded. Here, we report the locus organization and expression of the T‐cell receptor gamma (TCRG) genes in the Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius). Expression data provide evidence that dromedary utilizes only two TCRG V‐J genomic arrangements and, as expected, CDR3 contributes the major variability in the V domain. The data also suggest that diversity might be generated by mutation in the productively rearranged TCRGV genes. As for IG genes, the mutational target is biased toward G and C bases and (A/G/T)G(C/T)(A/T) motif (or DGYW). The replacement and synonymous substitutions (R/S) ratios in TCRGV regions are higher for CDR than for framework region, thus suggesting selection toward amino acid changes in CDR. Using the counterpart human TCR γδ receptor as a template, structural models computed adopting a comparative procedure show that nonconservative mutations contribute to diversity in CDR2 and at the γδ V domain interface.
The annual glaciohydrology cycle in the ablation zone of the Greenland ice sheet: Part 1. Hydrology model

Abstract We apply a novel one-dimensional glacier hydrology model that calculates hydraulic head to the tidewater-terminating Sermeq Avannarleq flowline of the Greenland ice sheet. Within a plausible parameter space, the model achieves a quasi-steady-state annual cycle in which hydraulic head oscillates close to flotation throughout the ablation zone. Flotation is briefly achieved during the summer melt season along a ∼17 km stretch of the ∼50 km of flowline within the ablation zone. Beneath the majority of the flowline, subglacial conduit storage ‘closes’ (i.e. obtains minimum radius) during the winter and ‘opens’ (i.e. obtains maximum radius) during the summer. Along certain stretches of the flowline, the model predicts that subglacial conduit storage remains open throughout the year. A calculated mean glacier water residence time of ∼2.2 years implies that significant amounts of water are stored in the glacier throughout the year. We interpret this residence time as being indicative of the timescale over which the glacier hydrologic system is capable of adjusting to external surface meltwater forcings. Based on in situ ice velocity observations, we suggest that the summer speed-up event generally corresponds to conditions of increasing hydraulic head during inefficient subglacial drainage. Conversely, the slowdown during fall generally corresponds to conditions of decreasing hydraulic head during efficient subglacial drainage.
Architectural Considerations in Smart Object Networking

The term "Internet of Things" (IoT) denotes a trend where a large number of embedded devices employ communication services offered by Internet protocols. Many of these devices, often called "smart objects", are not directly operated by humans but exist as components in buildings or vehicles, or are spread out in the environment. Following the theme "Everything that can be connected will be connected", engineers and researchers designing smart object networks need to decide how to achieve this in practice. This document offers guidance to engineers designing Internet- connected smart objects.
Video inpainting algorithm using spatio-temporal consistency

A new video inpainting algorithm is proposed for removing unwanted or erroneous objects from video data. The proposed algorithm fills a mask region with source blocks from unmasked areas, while keeping spatio-temporal consistency. First, a 3-dimensional graph is constructed over consecutive frames. It defines a structure of nodes over which the source blocks are pasted. Then, we form temporal block bundles using the motion information. The best block bundles, which minimize an objective function, are arranged in the 3-dimensional graph. Extensive simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can yield visually pleasing video inpainting results even for dynamic sequences.
Experiential Learning in a Management Information Systems Course: Simulating IT Consulting and CRM System Procurement

Educating management students in technology-based disciplines can be enhanced through experiential team projects simulating the activities employees perform in actual technology jobs. This paper describes an experiential team project the authors use in the Management Information Systems course at Boston College. The project was developed jointly by Boston College faculty and consultants from the Boston office of a major consulting firm. The project involves student teams playing the roles of IT consultants who must compete against one another to win a consulting engagement at an imaginary company. The company’s business situation is communicated to students through a case study written in the format of a Request For Proposal (RFP) informing information technology (IT) vendors that the company is interested in procuring a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Each student team develops a consulting proposal responding to the RFP and presents the proposal to company managers. The activities involved in identifying the company’s business needs, developing a proposal, and determining which team “wins” the contract are simulated through phone calls and live meetings with company managers, who are role-played by consulting firm employees. These real-life business interactions expose students to the ever changing nature of IT, motivate them to improve their technical understanding, and challenge them to improve their communication skills through written deliverables and live business presentations. Student buy-in and response to the project is Communications of the Association for Information Systems (Volume 15, 2005) 428-463 429 Experiential Learning in A Management Information Systems Course: Simulating IT Consulting And CRM System Procurement by G.R. Heim, L. Meile, J. Tease, J. Glass, S. Laher, J. Rowan, K. Comerford strong and immediate since they find themselves challenged by complex, relevant business issues.