Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Compensation of high interest rates by tax holidays : A real options approach

It is worth noting that increased credit risks imply increasing interest rates on credit. In the paper, we study the possibility to apply the tax holidays mechanism (on corporate profit tax) for a compensation of high-level interest rates. Tax holidays have been used until present days in South-eastern Asia, Eastern Europe and some Western European countries. One of the most successful applications was the tax holiday program in Puerto Rico which was initiated in 1949. Tax holidays granted for a period of 10-15 years have also been introduced for start-up corporations specialized in Hi-Tech products in Singapore. In Italy, beginning in 1986, 10 years tax holidays were established, for firms that were settling their activity in the southern part of the country. Many developed and developing countries (included China. India, Brazil, Malaysia et al.) provide tax holidays to attract foreign investment. In Russia, tax holidays were commonly used in the nineteen-nineties (a list of the regions where those mechanisms were introduced can be found in [4]). Tax
Congestion-Aware Routing Protocol for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Congestion in mobile ad hoc networks leads to transmission delays and packet loss, and causes wastage of time and energy on recovery. Routing protocols which are adaptive to the congestion status of a mobile ad hoc network can greatly improve the network performance. In this paper, we propose a congestion-aware routing protocol for mobile ad hoc networks which uses a metric incorporating data-rate, MAC overhead, and buffer delay to combat congestion. This metric is used, together with the avoidance of mismatched link data-rate routes, to make mobile ad hoc networks robust and adaptive to congestion.
Coping style as a psychological resource of grateful people.

We examined whether gratitude was correlated with distinct coping styles, and whether coping styles mediated the relationship between gratitude and well–being. Participants (n = 236) completed measures of coping styles, dispositional gratitude, and measures of well–being. Gratitude correlated positively with seeking both emotional and instrumental social support, positive reinterpretation and growth, active coping, and planning. Gratitude correlated negatively with behavioural disengagement, self–blame, substance use, and denial. Coping styles mediated up to 51% of the relationship between gratitude and stress, but did not substantially mediate the relationship between gratitude and either happiness, depression, or satisfaction with life. We suggest that different mechanisms relate gratitude to separate aspects of well–being. Further research is indicated into the role of gratitude in social support processes, and in growth following adversity.
On the Impact of Injection Triggers for OS Robustness Evaluation

Traditionally, in fault injection-based robustness evaluation of software (specifically for operating systems - OS's), faults or errors are injected at specific code locations. This paper studies the sensitivity and accuracy of the robustness evaluation results arising from varying the timing of injecting the faults into the OS. A strategy to guide the triggering of fault injection is proposed, based on the observation that the operational usage profile of a driver shows a high degree of regularity in the calls being made. The concept of call blocks (i.e., a distinct sequence of calls made to the driver) can be used to guide injections into different system states, corresponding to the driver operations carried out. A real-world case study compares the effectiveness of the proposed strategy to traditional location-based approaches, demonstrating that significant and useful insights can be gained by modulating the injection instants.
Few crucial links assure checkpoint efficiency in the yeast cell-cycle network

MOTIVATION The ability of cells to complete mitosis with high fidelity relies on elaborate checkpoint mechanisms. We study S- and M-phase checkpoint responses in silico in the budding yeast with a stochastic dynamical model for the cell-cycle. We aim to provide an unbiased functional classification of network interactions that reflect the contribution of each link to checkpoint efficiency in the presence of cellular fluctuations. RESULTS We developed an algorithm BNetDyn to compute stochastic dynamical trajectories for an input gene network and its structural perturbations. User specified output measures like the mutual information between trigger and output nodes are then evaluated on the stationary state of the Markov process. Systematic perturbations of the yeast cell-cycle model by Li et al. classify each link according to its effect on checkpoint efficiencies and stabilities of the main cell-cycle phases. This points to the crosstalk in the cascades downstream of the SBF/MBF transcription activator complexes as determinant for checkpoint optimality; a finding that consistently reflects recent experiments. Finally our stochastic analysis emphasizes how dynamical stability in the yeast cell-cycle network crucially relies on backward inhibitory circuits next to forward induction. AVAILABILITY C++ source code and network models can be downloaded at http://www.vital-it.ch/Software/
Query model refinement using word graphs

Pseudo relevance feedback method is an effective method for query model refinement. Most existing pseudo relevance feedback methods only take into consideration the term distribution of the feedback documents, but omit the term's context information. This paper presents a graph-based method to improve query models, in which a word graph is constructed to encode terms and their co-occurrence dependencies within the feedback documents. Using a random walk, the weight of each term in the graph can be determined in a context-dependent manner, i.e. the weight of a term is strongly dependent on the weights of the connected context terms. Our experimental results on four TREC collections show that our proposed approach is more effective than the existing state-of-the-art approaches.
A Systematic Review of Financial Debt in Adolescents and Young Adults: Prevalence, Correlates and Associations with Crime

Financial debt in young people has increased in recent years. Because debt may have severe consequences, and it may enhance criminal behavior, insight into the prevalence and determinants of debt and its association with crime is important. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 36 manuscripts to examine the prevalence of financial debt (k = 23), correlates and risk factors of debt (k = 16), and associations between debt and criminal behavior in adolescents and young adults (k = 8). Findings revealed that the prevalence of debt is substantial among young people; on average, 49% reported to have at least some debt, 22% had financial problems. Older participants and ethnic minorities were found to have higher levels of debt than younger and indigenous counterparts. Females had more financial problems and higher student loans. Low self-esteem, a pro-debt attitude (of young people and their parents), lack of perceived control towards financial management, poor social functioning, financial stress and external locus of control were found to have the strongest associations with debt. Studies reported strong associations between debt and crime. Particularly, strong associations were found between serious and persistent crime in young people and later (young adult) debt or financial problems.
Semi-automatic Segmentation of 3D Liver Tumors from CT Scans Using Voxel Classification and Propagational Learning

A semi-automatic scheme was developed for the segmentation of 3D liver tumors from computed tomography (CT) images. First a support vector machine (SVM) classifier was trained to extract tumor region from one single 2D slice in the intermediate part of a tumor by voxel classification. Then the extracted tumor contour, after some morphological operations, was projected to its neighboring slices for automated sampling, learning and further voxel classification in neighboring slices. This propagation procedure continued till all tumor-containing slices were processed. The method was tested using 3D CT images with 10 liver tumors and a set of quantitative measures were computed, resulted in an averaged overall performance score of 72.
Strong Calcium Entry Activates Mitochondrial Superoxide Generation, Upregulating Kinase Signaling in Hippocampal Neurons

Large increases in cytosolic free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) activate several kinases that are important for neuronal plasticity, including Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKII), protein kinase A (PKA), and protein kinase C (PKC). Because it is also known, mainly in non-neuronal systems, that superoxide radicals (O2-) activate these (and other) kinases and because O2- generation by mitochondria is in part [Ca2+]i dependent, we examined in hippocampal neurons the relationship between Ca2+ entry, O2- production, and kinase activity. We found that, after large stimulus-induced [Ca2+]i increases, O2- selectively produced by mitochondria near plasmalemmal sites of Ca2+ entry acts as a modulator to upregulate the two kinases, namely, CaMKII and PKA, whose activities are directly or indirectly phosphorylation dependent. The common mechanism involves O2- inhibition of inactivating protein phosphatases. Conversely, because small [Ca2+]i increases do not promote mitochondrial respiration and O2- generation, weak stimuli favor enhanced phosphatase activity, which therefore leads to suppressed kinase activity. Enhanced O2- production also promoted PKC activity but by a phosphatase-independent pathway. These results suggest that Ca2+-dependent upregulation of mitochondrial O2- production may be a general mechanism for linking Ca2+ entry to enhanced kinase activity and therefore to synaptic plasticity. This mechanism also represents yet another way that mitochondria, acting as calcium sensors, can play a role in neuronal signal transduction.
MapReduce Accounting System Integrated with High-Performance Computing Infrastructure

Many service providers have the capacity to immediately build a Hadoop platform on top of a virtual-machine cluster when a provision request arrives. However, the input/output intensive property of MapReduce dramatically harms virtual-machine job performance and lengthens the duration of job execution. In addition, fee of virtual-machine-based platforms is charged according to the uptime of created virtual machines, instead of by job execution duration. This study deployed a physical Hadoop big data platform for public use, and implemented an accounting system to accurately calculate consumed computing resource. Furthermore, this big data platform is integrated with a high-performance computing infrastructure that has operated for decades at National Center for High-performance Computing, Taiwan.
Expression analysis of the matrix GLA protein and VE-cadherin gene promoters in the outflow pathway.

PURPOSE To test the ability of promoter fragments from the matrix Gla protein (MGP) and vascular endothelial-cadherin (VE-cad) genes to target gene expression in a specific manner in the cells of the outflow pathway, by using adenoviral-mediated gene transfer in organ culture. METHODS Perfused anterior segments of human eyes were infected with replication-deficient recombinant adenoviruses expressing the beta-galactosidase reporter gene driven by the cytomegalovirus (CMV; control, n = 6), MGP (n = 6), or VE-cad (n = 12) promoters. Forty-eight hours after infection, the anterior segments were fixed and stained for beta-galactosidase activity. The distribution of beta-galactosidase expression was analyzed in paraffin-embedded sections. RESULTS The MGP promoter fragment resulted in beta-galactosidase expression by the cells of the conventional outflow pathway and did not show any activity in the corneal endothelium or other cells posterior to the scleral spur. Adenovirus containing the VE-cad promoter fragment showed functionality of the promoter in vascular endothelial cells, but failed to produce any detectable expression in the cells of the outflow pathway. CONCLUSIONS Directed expression by the MGP gene promoter specifically to the trabecular meshwork (TM) provides a new tool for specific gene transfer to the outflow pathway. Results with the VE-cad promoter fragment indicate possible differences in the regulation of this gene between vascular and Schlemm's canal endothelial cells. Taken together, these data demonstrate the feasibility of targeted gene expression to the outflow pathway cells using tissue specific promoters.
The failure of the ‘single source of truth about Kenyans’: The NDRS, collateral mysteries and the Safaricom monopoly

ABSTRACT This article explores the recent failure of an elaborate biometric registration scheme, the National Digital Registry System (NDRS), in Kenya. The article shows that the Kenyan and South African economies are closely linked in their obsessions with biometric identification registration, and financialisation, but it also draws out the particular significance, in the Kenyan case of a conflict over the form and ownership of credit information as collateral. The failure of the project was the result of fractured financial interests, and specifically of a conflict between the formal banks and Safaricom, the monopoly telecommunications firm that has created the globally distinctive system of mobile money, M-Pesa. At issue between them were two very different models for decision-making, and profit, in the extension of personal credit.
Indoor navigation with uncertainty using sensor-based motions

This paper presents on operational framework to bridge the gap between planning with uncertainty and real-time sensor-based motion control. The environment being known, a planner produces a plan composed of free space and sensor-based motion commands. The representations of uncertainty and its evolution, environment landmarks, and actions generated at the planning level are discussed. Sensor-based actions and command definitions for a nonholonomic mobile robot based on a task-potential field approach are developed. These various elements are integrated in a system that actually generates the motions of the Hilare2 mobile robot.
Increased Serum Levels of 8-Hydroxy-2′-Deoxyguanosine in Clinical Depression

Objective: We sought to understand the pathophysiological effects of depression by examining group differences in serum levels of 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), a biomarker of oxidative damage. Methods: Our sample consisted of 169 participants. Eight-four of these participants met diagnostic criteria for clinical depression. The 85 participants in our comparison group were matched on age, gender, and ethnicity to the depressed group. 8-OHdG was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: After adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, years of education, daily smoking, average number of alcoholic drinks per week, average amount of physical activity per week, and body mass index, participants in the depressed group had significantly higher levels of oxidative DNA damage compared with participants in the control group. Pairwise comparisons showed that participants with major depression had significantly higher levels of 8-OHdG than control subjects and marginally higher levels of 8-OHdG compared with those with minor depression. Furthermore, participants with recurrent episodes of depression had more oxidative damage than participants with single episodes, who in turn had more damage than healthy control subjects. Finally, participants with recurrent episodes of major depression had more DNA damage than other depressed participants, who in turn had more damage than healthy control subjects. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that increased oxidative damage may represent a common pathophysiological mechanism, whereby depressed individuals become vulnerable to comorbid medical illness. 8-OHdG = 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine; DSM-IV= Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition; DISH = Depression Interview and Structured Hamilton Interview; ELISA = enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; HPLC-EC = high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection; GC-MS= gas chromatography–mass spectrometry; BMI= body mass index.
Acoustic signatures of the seafloor: Tools for predicting grouper habitat

Groupers are important components of commercial and recreational fisheries. Current methods of diver-based grouper census surveys could potentially benefit from development of remotely sensed methods of seabed classification. The goal of the present study was to determine if areas of high grouper abundance have characteristic acoustic signatures. A commercial acoustic seabed mapping system, QTC View Series V, was used to survey an area near Carysfort Reef, Florida Keys. Acoustic data were clustered using QTC IMPACT software, resulting in three main acoustic classes covering 94% of the area surveyed. Diver-based data indicate that one of the acoustic classes corresponded to hard substrate and the other two represented sediment. A new measurement of seabed heterogeneity, designated acoustic variability, was also computed from the acoustic survey data in order to more fully characterize the acoustic response (i.e., the signature) of the seafloor. When compared with diver-based grouper census data, both acoustic classification and acoustic variability were significantly different at sites with and without groupers. Sites with groupers were characterized by hard bottom substrate and high acoustic variability. Thus, the acoustic signature of a site, as measured by acoustic classification or acoustic variability, is a potentially useful tool for stratifying diver sampling effort for grouper census.
Re-weighting of Sound Localization Cues by Audiovisual Training

Sound localization requires the integration in the brain of auditory spatial cues generated by interactions with the external ears, head and body. Perceptual learning studies have shown that the relative weighting of these cues can change in a context-dependent fashion if their relative reliability is altered. One factor that may influence this process is vision, which tends to dominate localization judgments when both modalities are present and induces a recalibration of auditory space if they become misaligned. It is not known, however, whether vision can alter the weighting of individual auditory localization cues. Using non-individualized head-related transfer functions, we measured changes in subjects’ sound localization biases and binaural localization cue weights after ~55 minutes of training on an audiovisual spatial oddball task. Four different configurations of spatial congruence between visual and auditory cues (interaural time differences (ITDs) and frequency-dependent interaural level differences (interaural level spectra, ILS) were used. When visual cues were spatially congruent with both auditory spatial cues, we observed an improvement in sound localization, as shown by a reduction in the variance of subjects’ localization biases, which was accompanied by an up-weighting of the more salient ILS cue. However, if the position of either one of the auditory cues was randomized during training, no overall improvement in sound localization occurred. Nevertheless, the spatial gain of whichever cue was matched with vision increased, with different effects observed on the gain for the randomized cue depending on whether ITDs or ILS were matched with vision. As a result, we observed a similar up-weighting in ILS when this cue alone was matched with vision, but no overall change in binaural cue weighting when ITDs corresponded to the visual cues and ILS were randomized. Consistently misaligning both cues with vision produced the ventriloquism aftereffect, i.e., a corresponding shift in auditory localization bias, without affecting the variability of the subjects’ sound localization judgments, and no overall change in binaural cue weighting. These data show that visual contextual information can invoke a reweighting of auditory localization cues, although concomitant improvements in sound localization are only likely to accompany training with fully congruent audiovisual information.
Exploring the role of moral disengagement in the link between perceived narcissistic supervision and employees' organizational deviance: A moderated mediation model

Current research on leader narcissism has been predominantly centered on the intrapersonal perspective and discusses leader narcissism and associated behavioral outcomes. Few have adopted the interpersonal approach to explore the possible effects that leader narcissism can exert on their followers. Drawing on the social cognitive theory of moral disengagement, the present study aims to examine leader narcissism and followers’ outcomes from the interpersonal perspective. We propose that perceived narcissistic supervision will lead to employees’ organizational deviance via moral disengagement and that employees’ moral identity will moderate the link between perceived narcissistic supervision and employees’ moral disengagement; Moreover, there also exists a moderated mediation effect of employees’ moral identity. Study 1, a three-wave study conducted in 10 companies distributed among eight cities in China within 2 months, with a final sample containing 61 supervisors and 228 subordinates, preliminarily supported the main effect and the moderating effect of moral identity. In addition, we conducted a supplementary study on the basis of another three-wave investigation with a sample of 195 employees, which replicated our research results in Study 1 and also verified the moderated mediation effect. Implications of the model are described, and future research directions are suggested.
On Classification with Incomplete Data

We address the incomplete-data problem in which feature vectors to be classified are missing data (features). A (supervised) logistic regression algorithm for the classification of incomplete data is developed. Single or multiple imputation for the missing data is avoided by performing analytic integration with an estimated conditional density function (conditioned on the observed data). Conditional density functions are estimated using a Gaussian mixture model (GMM), with parameter estimation performed using both expectation-maximization (EM) and variational Bayesian EM (VB-EM). The proposed supervised algorithm is then extended to the semisupervised case by incorporating graph-based regularization. The semisupervised algorithm utilizes all available data-both incomplete and complete, as well as labeled and unlabeled. Experimental results of the proposed classification algorithms are shown
A Water Marking Algorithm of Digital Image Based on DWT-SVD

This paper presented a water marking algorithm based on discrete wavelet transform (DWT) of image and singular value decomposition (SVD). After decomposing the original image into four bands, the SVD is applied to the blocks of the low sub-band. To improve the security the watermark is scrambled by Arnold transform, and then is embedded into the largest singular value of every block. The watermark can be extracted without the original image, among which a person who does not know the secret key cannot correctly retrieve the watermark.