Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ambisonics User Defined Opcodes for Csound

This text describes the implementation of Ambisonics as user defined opcodes (UDOs) for Csound. The presented package of UDOs includes a basic encoder and a decoder up to 8th order, an encoder with distance correction, an in-phase decoder, opcodes for the two-dimensional equivalent of Ambisonics for any order, opcodes for Ambisonics equivalent panning (AEP) and several utilities such as coordinate converters, Doppler effect and more. Finally the usage of the UDOs is explained in some examples.
What's Size Got to Do with It? Implications for Contemporary Management Practices in IT Companies

JOHN RODWELL IS A RESEARCH OFFICER AND doctoral scholar and Mark Shadur a Principal Research Fellow in the Australian Centre in Strategic Management at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. The study reported here explores differences between small and medium-sized companies across a range of human resource management, quality and general management practices, based on a survey of the Australian information technology industry. Small companies were less unionised, subcontracted less, had a more centralised structure and had higher levels of research and development. Medium-sized companies reported greater use ofjust-in-time (JIT), greater use of statistical process control (SPC), more successfulJlT systems and SPC systems. Despite the lower levels of quality system use and success, small companies were found to have a stronger espoused quality philosophy than the medium-sized companies. It is proposed that using non-unionised labour across a range ofjobs while maintaining a higher level of research and development and a quality philosophy allows small business to keep its flexibility while maintaining control, aiming for quality and focusing on the future.
Practice guidelines for themanagement of arterial hypertension of the European Society of Hypertension ( ESH ) and the European Society of Cardiology ( ESC ) ESH / ESCTask Force for theManagement of Arterial Hypertension

List of authors/Task Force members: Giuseppe Mancia (Chairperson) (Italy), Robert Fagard (Chairperson) (Belgium), Krzysztof Narkiewicz (Section co-ordinator) (Poland), Josep Redón (Section co-ordinator) (Spain), Alberto Zanchetti (Section co-ordinator) (Italy), Michael Böhm (Germany), Thierry Christiaens (Belgium), Renata Cifkova (Czech Republic), Guy De Backer (Belgium), Anna Dominiczak (UK), Maurizio Galderisi (Italy), Diederick E. Grobbee (Netherlands), Tiny Jaarsma (Sweden), Paulus Kirchof (Germany/UK), Sverre E. Kjeldsen (Norway), Stéphane Laurent (France), Athanasios J. Manolis (Greece), Peter M. Nilsson (Sweden), Luis Miguel Ruilope (Spain), Roland E. Schmieder (Germany), Per Anton Sirnes (Norway), Peter Sleight (UK), Margus Viigimaa (Estonia), Bernard Waeber (Switzerland), and Faiez Zannad (France)
Appropriate Use of Artificial Neural Networks

is possible to train networks with sufficient ability to map very complex functions. But the aim of training neural networks is to use the networks for newly seen data [2] . In other words, we try to generalize the neural network. In practice, the networks may easily overtrain and lose their ability to generalize [3] . For practical purposes, the data given in the study for the training group do not have any clinical value. It is not known whether the networks performed as well in the validation and, more importantly, in the test group where generalization will be estimated. If the patient numbers are limited in comparison to weights in the neural network, a leave-one-out cross-validation scheme can be selected to predict generalization [4] .
How broad-based is broad-based black economic empowerment?

Common perceptions about broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) have been that it is nothing more than a tool for the already affluent to access further wealth and has limited potential to address the economic exclusion of the most marginalised. An analysis was conducted of data on black economic empowerment (BEE) deals between 2004 and 2009. The findings demonstrate that although the elite continue to benefit from deals, broad-based beneficiaries, particularly employees and women, are also beginning to benefit to some extent. This suggests that empowerment policies have some potential to promote private sector involvement in addressing the state's social transformation agenda. However, a closer analysis of the BEE transactions shows that the BEE landscape is far more complex and nuanced than commonly thought. Further research is necessary to understand the real impacts of BEE on the ground.
Growth and Cycles, in the Mode of Marx and Schumpeter

I propose a theory of endogenous growth and cycles under competitive conditions. Firms choose how many workers to hire, how much to invest, and which technologies to use. New capacity, embodying labor-saving technologies, is costlier than old one but allows for a lower wage bill. The interaction between labor-saving innovations and changes in the relative price of labor is the source of growth cycles.
The relationship between ceremonial adoption of popular management practices and the motivation for practice adoption and diffusion in an American MNC

The literature on multinational corporations (MNCs) has assumed that the parent is generally motivated to transfer practices to subsidiary units that will improve subsidiary efficiency or facilitate comparison of subsidiary performance. Based on this assumption, problems with the transfer process have been understood as related to difficulties in balancing local versus global requirements. In this paper, we question this assumption. Using case-study data, we argue that MNCs may transfer management practices aimed at preventing longer-term economic and social losses, and implementation efforts may be low. In such circumstances, ceremonial adoption may be a possible outcome.
The never-ending project : understanding e-government project escalation

Public information technology (IT) projects are characterised by the numerous problems encountered during the realisation of the projects. This is demonstrated by major overspending resulting in the desired outcome not or only partially being achieved. This dissertation provides an insight into the escalation of commitment in public IT projects, a process in which a project is persisted in despite being shown not to achieve the desired outcome. Causes of this process as well as ways to prevent these are shown. Furthermore, it is examined how the escalation of commitment problem can be solved in a political environment.
Predictors of Suicidal Ideation in Chronic Pain Patients: An Exploratory Study

Objectives:To explore whether chronic pain (CP) patients who report suicidal ideation (SI) present a distinctive profile with regard to their sociodemographic characteristics, physical health, psychological well-being, cognitions, and use of antidepressants, illicit drugs, and alcohol for pain relief. Methods:Eighty-eight CP patients completed self-administered questionnaires during their intake assessment at 3 pain clinics located in the province of Québec (Canada). Patients reporting active or passive SI on the Beck Depression Inventory were compared with patients reporting no SI. Between-group univariate analyses were performed using profile variables to compare patients with and without SI. Significant variables were then entered into multiple logistic regression analyses to identify significant independent predictors of SI. Results:Twenty-four percent of patients reported having had SI. Unemployed/disabled patients were 6 times more likely to report SI. Poor sleep quality was the only predictor of SI among the physical variables. For psychological well-being, depressive symptoms did not significantly predict SI. However, the poorer the patients perceived their mental health to be the more likely they were to report SI. Pain-related helplessness was the only predictor for SI among the cognitive variables. Patients who had used illicit drugs as a form of pain relief at any time since pain onset were 5 times more likely to report SI. Similar results were obtained for those who were on antidepressants. Discussion:Some factors associated with SI seem pain specific, whereas others are more generally associated with SI. Better identification and understanding of these factors is essential for the development of targeted suicide prevention programs for at-risk CP patients.
Controlling Overestimation of Error Covariance in Ensemble Kalman Filters with Sparse Observations: A Variance-Limiting Kalman Filter

The problem of an ensemble Kalman filter when only partial observations are available is considered. In particular, the situation is investigated where the observational space consists of variables that are directly observable with known observational error, and of variables of which only their climatic variance and mean are given. To limit the variance of the latter poorly resolved variables a variance-limiting Kalman filter (VLKF)isderivedinavariationalsetting.TheVLKFforasimplelineartoymodelisanalyzedanditsrangeof optimal performance is determined. The VLKF is explored in an ensemble transform setting for the Lorenz96 system, and it is shown that incorporating the information of the variance of some unobservable variables can improve the skill and also increase the stability of the data assimilation procedure.
Book Review: Econometric Modeling and Inference

The scope, depth, and unified treatment of topics make this book quite remarkable. It provides a powerful and unified statistical presentation of a wide range of topics and methods used in modern econometric analysis. Yet, the authors have made a considerable effort at keeping the book reasonably accessible, though opinions might differ on its readability as the mathematical and statistical training of graduate students varies considerably across Ph.D. programs. This book clearly belongs to the French tradition with its strong emphasis on statistical rigor exemplified by Gourieroux et al. (1984a,b) and highlighted by Gourieroux and Monfort (1995a,b, 1997). Nevertheless, it is organized differently from the latter in that, as discussed further below, it introduces statistical tools before discussing specific techniques. The book is also exceptional in its depth of coverage and because it ignores boundaries commonly found in more conventional textbooks, such as time series versus microeconometrics or parametric versus nonparametric. Instead, the statistical foundations are introduced at a level of generality which allows for a subsequent unified presentation of a wide range of modern topics, eliminating repetition. This is particularly obvious in the context of estimation which is presented under the unifying umbrella of Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation. While the authors are by no means the first to adopt this viewpoint, they do so with considerable depth and efficiency in a 25-page chapter.
A 3MPixel Low-Noise Flexible Architecture CMOS Image Sensor

An image sensor with a 2.54mum pixel fabricated in a 0.18mum CMOS technology is presented. The 3T pixel with drain-side row-select reduces reset noise by cascoded feedback reset and increases responsivity with common-source readout. The reset noise is 13e- and the responsivity at 550nm is 1.12V/lux-s in source-follower readout mode and 5.6V/lux-s in common-source readout mode
Análise da capacidade de explicação dos investimentos das empresas brasileiras de capital aberto através do modelo do acelerador

This paper seeks to explain the investments made by Brazilian firms operating in the capital market, using a modified accelerator model. The modification done in the basic model was the substitution of either the aggregate consumption or the capital stock by the firms' sales value. The parameters of the model were estimated by ordinary least squares using cross-sections. The application of such analysis to the selected sample allowed us to verify a strong correlation between investment expenditures and sales level. Based on these results, we can estimate changes in investments from one year to another. This is extremely important due to the simplicity of the model.
Dos Mundos: Rural Mexican Americans, Another America

Mexican Americans make up the largest minority in Idaho, yet they seemingly live in a different world from the dominant Anglo population, and because of pervasive stereotypes and exclusive policies, their participation in the community's social, economic, and political life is continually impeded. This unique ethnographic study of a small Idaho community with a large Hispanic population examines many dimensions of the impact race relations have on everyday life for rural Mexican Americans.
International Migration and Income Distribution in the Philippines

The author uses data on remittances from migrants to determine the effects of migration on household income and its distribution in the Philippines. "I briefly describe the evolution of household income distribution using FIES [The Family Income and Expenditure Survey] and the characteristics of households that receive income from migrants and those that do not. I discuss the analytical framework that is used [and outline] the changes in incomes and inequality that emigration causes. " (EXCERPT)
Growth, R&D and Welfare: The Role of Public Policy

This paper analyzes the normative side of an R&D growth model in which market structure and growth are jointly determined in the equilibrium of a one-sector economy under monopolistic competition. We find that a distortion in the allocation of R&D, namely the presence of technological spillovers between firms, generates two market failures: insufficient growth and excessive entry of firms. We show that this result is driven by the interplay between market structure and growth. A simple tax/subsidy scheme to support the efficient solution is proposed.
Political and Institutional Factors in Regime Changes in the ERM: An Application of Duration Analysis

This paper analyses the functioning of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). To that end, we apply duration models to estimate an augmented target-zone model, explicitly incorporating political and institutional factors into the explanation of European exchange rate policies. The estimations are based on quarterly data of eight currencies participating in the ERM, covering the complete history of the European Monetary System. Our results suggest that both economic and political factors are important determinants of the ERM currency policies. Concerning economic factors, the money supply, the real exchange rate, the interest in Germany and the central parity deviation would have negatively affected the duration of a given central parity, while credibility and the price level in Germany would have positively influenced such duration. Regarding political variables, elections, central bank independence and left-wing administrations would have increased the probability of maintaining the current regime, while unstable governments would have been associated with more frequent regime changes. Moreover, we show how the political augmented model outperforms, both in terms of explanatory power and goodness of fit, the model which just incorporates pure economic determinants.
Discussion to ’ Uncertainty Quantification for the Horseshoe ’ by Stéphanie van der Pas , Botond Szabó , and Aad van der Vaart

The authors present a detailed analysis of the asymptotic frequentist properties of credible sets derived from posteriors with normal-linear measurement models and horseshoe priors. Although we disagree with the claim that “In Bayesian practice credible balls are nevertheless used as if they were confidence sets”, the results in the paper are important for identifying where the horseshoe priors are fragile asymptotically, and hence particularly dangerous in the non-asymptotic regimes more typical of the applied problems where sparse models are needed. One clarification we believe is warranted is that the horseshoe family of prior distributions does not encode sparsity as is typically interpreted. Instead of partitioning parameters into those that are zero and non-zero, the horseshoe priors actually separate parameters into those that are resolvable by measurements and those that are not. In particular, as with any model the horseshoe priors cannot be interpreted outside of the context of a particular likelihood (Gelman et al., 2017). Consequently the statement that “τ can be interpreted as the proportion of nonzero parameters, up to a logarithmic factor” is not quite true. Piironen and Vehtari (2017b; 2017c) demonstrate that the effects of τ in horseshoe priors are intimately related to the measurement variability σ, even for the simple normal-linear measurement model. Figure 6 of Piironen and Vehtari (2017c), for example, clearly illustrates that rescaling the data changes the impact of the horseshoe prior unless τ is scaled by σ, even with an oracle prior information about the true number of significant parameters, p0 = pn. In particular, the resolution threshold √ 2 log(n/pn) arising in the paper implicitly assumes that the measurement variability σ is equal to 1,
Ag lending: the next generation

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify relevant financial concepts and skills that are being taught and/or should be taught, as part of the financial management curriculum in undergraduate agricultural economics and agribusiness programs. Design/methodology/approach - The skill gap analysis uses survey respondents' rankings of the importance and competence scores of recent graduates' skills. The scores help to identify opportunities for improvement in the most critical areas of importance. The skill gap is calculated as (Average importance–Average competence)*Average importance. Findings - Generally, employers in the agricultural financial services sector saw greater opportunities for improvement in finance skills relative to non-finance skills. The results also indicated a greater focus on business and financial risk might be helpful in increasing the competence of new hires. Finally, respondents strongly endorsed maintaining a focus on the problem-solving skills in undergraduate agribusiness programs. Originality/value - The value of the study would be that departments of agricultural and applied economics would use the results of this survey to enhance their financial management curriculum and their undergraduate program. By responding to the desires of employers, agricultural economics and agribusiness programs cannot only remain relevant as a source of employees for the industry but the first choice of agricultural financial services sector when they are searching for new hires. This should also help inform students of the desirability of the skills they acquire in their degree programs. This information will also benefit the agricultural finance services sector by assisting college and university instructors in developing and/or enhancing their agricultural finance course(s) so that the may provide their students with the requisite financial and non-financial skills that they require.
The Effect of Unions on Earnings and Earnings on Unions: A Mixed Logit Approach

A LARGE NUMBER OF STUDIES have attempted to quantify the impact of unions on the wages or earnings of workers. See, for example, Lewis [9] or Ashenfelter and Johnson [1] for critical summaries of many of these studies. Several different research methodologies have been employed to ascertain the extent to which unions have raised relative wages. Empirically, time series and cross-sectional data at the firm, industry and economy-wide level have been examined. Theoretically, most of the analyses have been partial equilibrium in nature, although the recent papers by Johnson and Mieszkowski [7] and Diewert [4] investigate the impact of unionism in a general equilibrium setting. Virtually all of these studies have found a positive, significant effect of unions on wages, although there is considerable variation in the estimated size of the effect. Common to all of these studies is the assumption that unionism exerts a unilateral and exogenous effect on wages. Unfortunately, the interesting issue of the determinants of union membership has been relatively unresearched, and by and large the matter of membership remains unrelated to the effects of unionism on wages. This is at least potentially a serious matter since it seems clear that there may be an effect of wages on unionism as well as an effect of unionism on wages. This may occur because relative wages affect the attractiveness of various industries to a potential union organizer, or because they may affect the probability of a worker voting for a union in a representation election. That relative wages may affect the probability or extent of unionization has been previously noted-see, for example, Reder [12] and Wachter [20]. From a statistical point of view, this would imply that union membership, or extent of unionization, would more properly be viewed as jointly or simultaneously determined with wages, rather than being treated as exogenous. Nevertheless, most studies of the effects of unions on wages or earnings have treated unionization as exogenous. A notable exception in this regard is the recent work of Ashenfelter and Johnson [1], which examined at the industry level the effect of unionization on wages and the effect of wages on unionization. In this paper we perform a similar analysis, except using individual observations. The two endogenous variables
The Impact of External Monitoring and Public Reporting on Business Performance in a Global Manufacturing Industry

This study examines the importance of external monitoring and public reporting on the performance of firms in the global apparel industry. By focusing on the relevance of company reputation in the global community, the authors examine financial performance and stock market reaction to the release of information describing the manufacturing practices of firms made available by a third-party monitor. Using agency theory as a predictive framework, industry-wide changes in market measures of company risk as a result of third-party monitoring are found, suggesting that society values such external reports. The authors’ findings are important to business and society because they bridge the gap in knowledge about how voluntary compliance programs are supplemented by external monitoring and reporting for firms operating in the global environment. This work suggests that external monitoring is valuable to business and society by reducing information asymmetry between the two groups and encouraging accurate assessment of the risks associated with global operations.
Transnational networking and business performance: Ethnic entrepreneurs in Canada

It is generally acknowledged that transnational networking plays an important role in promoting the performance of ethnic entrepreneurial firms. Yet distinctions between the different types of transnational networking and their effects on business performance have received scant attention in the literature, probably because ethnicity has been considered to be the main actor in the networking–performance relationship. This paper argues that one of the reasons why business performance differs across ethnic entrepreneurial firms is that ethnic entrepreneurs engage in dissimilar types of transnational networking. Analyses of the data generated by 720 ethnic entrepreneurs in Canada revealed that ethnicity, along with human capital and push/pull factors, both of which are part of our conceptual framework, plays a central role in the engagement of different types of transnational networking and that the different types of transnational networking affect business turnover (sales) and business survival (age). Push/pull factors were found to play a marginal role in business performance. These results highlight the competitive market that immigrants and members of ethnic minority groups encounter in the hosting economy and stress the value of transnational networking.