Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Calibration of a hand/eye matrix and a connection matrix using relative pose measurements

The problem investigated in this paper is an extension of the robotic hand/eye calibration problem. The system consists of a robot, a gimbal and a three dimensional sensor. The task is to determine the hand/eye matrix that relates the sensor coordinate frame to the first coordinate frame in the gimbal and the connection matrix that relates the first coordinate frame in the gimbal to the tool frame in the robot. The paper focuses on a special case of the mentioned problem. In this study, the robot is a x-y-z type and the gimbal has two rotary joints. Two solution methods, one of which is linear and another is nonlinear, are presented in this paper. Issues such as the uniqueness of the linear solution and the observability of error parameters are also investigated. Simulation and experimental results are given to demonstrate the feasibility of the method.
Role of Existing Channels on Customer Adoption of New Channels: A Case of ATM and Internet Banking

Banks harness the technological platforms known as Self Service Technologies (SSTs) to the maximum extent to deliver their services. Barring ATM the patronage to other channels is not overwhelming. Customers do need different level of skills and competence to create the services for them on the different types of SSTs. Hence it is necessary to identify the factors that influence the adoption of these SSTs. In this research through a structural equation model the adoption issues of internet banking as an SST was analyzed. The findings indicate that both trust in technology and self efficacy have a direct impact on attitude towards SSTs in general and the findings support the existence of hierarchy of attitudes that overall attitude have an effect on attitude towards internet banking. Further the results indicate that, though the satisfaction with existing channel does not have an impact on the attitude of SSTs in general, but it indirectly affects through trust in technology.
A detailed study of time‐dependent changes in human red blood cells: from reticulocyte maturation to erythrocyte senescence

The use of microfabrication technology in the study of biological systems continues to grow rapidly in both prevalence and ascendancy. Customised microdevices that provide superior results than traditional macroscopic methods can be designed in order to investigate specific cell types and cellular processes. This study showed the benefit of this approach in precisely characterising the progressive losses of surface area and haemoglobin (Hb) content by the human red blood cell (RBC), from newborn reticulocyte to senescent erythrocyte. The high‐throughput, multiparametric measurements made on individual cells with a specialised microdevice enabled, for the first time, delineation and quantification of the losses that occur during the two stages of the human RBC lifespan. Data acquired on tens of thousands of red cells showed that nearly as much membrane area is lost during the 1–2 d of reticulocyte maturation (c. 10–14%) as in the subsequent 4 months of erythrocyte ageing (c. 16–17%). The total decrease in Hb over the red cell lifespan is also estimated (c. 15%) and a model describing the complete time‐course of diminishing mean RBC area and Hb is proposed. The relationship between the losses of Hb and area, and their possible influence on red cell lifespan, are discussed.
Natural Hormones in Food-Producing Animals:Legal Measurements and Analytical Implications

Hormones are chemicals that are naturally produced in the body of animals and human beings and have a number of important functions in life, such as reproduction or growth. They act as messengers through the different parts of the organism and trigger and modulate key reactions to support and promote life. However, and due to the important role of these chemicals in several body functions, they also have been exogenously applied to animals and humans in order to obtain some kind of benefit in health or even to improve physical and growth performance. Focusing on the veterinary field, the most desirable action of hormones has always been reducing costs and obtaining more products of animal origin in shorter productive times, increasing the benefit per unit head for farmers. As a matter of fact, anabolic steroid hormones have played a key role among veterinary products in farming history and they have been one the most used and controversial components among veterinary drugs.
A Tale of Two Market Microstructures: Spillovers of Informed Trading and Liquidity for Cross Listed Chinese A and B Shares

Using a novel multivariate microstructure model and time varying estimation framework we analyse the change in the information structure of the segmented Shanghai A and B share listed stocks after a significant set of regulatory reforms in 2001, nicknamed the 'year of regulation' by commentators. This provides an interesting natural experiment to determine whether a standard rational expectations model can capture the impact of these regulatory reforms on the information structure of this market. We find that whilst there is an increase in the number of informed traders after the B market was opened up to domestic traders the major reaction was a substantial spike then sudden a drop in the variance of uninformed traders order submissions in the B market post 2001. Simultaneously, the variance of the global noise surrounding the informed traders increases by around 5%. We suggest that our methodology and results will help inform regulators outside of the Chinese market when attempting to establish the impact of changes in trading restrictions.
A 2.5 GHz low phase noise silicon germanium heterojunction bipolar transistor ring oscillator

This paper presents the modelling of phase noise for a two-stage single-ended silicon germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistor-based ring oscillator using the impulse sensitivity function. It is shown that the lower flicker noise characteristic of the SiGe technology at low frequencies translates into low-frequency phase noise improvements. The ring oscillator has a computed phase noise of -80 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset for a 2.5 GHz signal. The figure of merit obtained for this oscillator is -142 dBc/Hz.
Using Financial Ratios and Managing Financial Risks in Investing in “Grey” Zone Companies: Evidence from Malaysia

Most studies on company financial performance have mainly focused on either the successful companies or companies that are already in financial distress. However, there is a large group of companies that are in between, that is they are average performers and can be described as belonging to the “grey” zone. The purpose of this study is to analyze the companies in the “grey” zone to identify those that are likely to go into financial distress over time and those that may progress into the good financial performing category. Utilizing 3 key financial ratios, 90 Malaysian publicly listed companies in the manufacturing sector were initially classified into 3 clusters using“ Cluster Analysis” over the period 2006-2010. The classification accuracy in each year is then tested by applying Multiple Discriminant Analysis (MDA). Interestingly, a classification accuracy of more than 90% was obtained for each of the 5 years. The companies in the “grey” zone in the years 2006 and 2010 were further cluster analysed into the below average and into the above average clusters. Out of the 63 companies that were found to be in the “grey” zone in the 2 years under review, 31 companies or 50% improved their position, 18 companies or 28% declined with 14 companies or 22% remaining stagnant. Of special interest would be 5 companies that moved up 3 clusters from poor to good performers and 21 companies that moved up 2 clusters from poor to above average performers. Of concern would be 17 companies that move down one cluster and 1 company dramatically collapsing two clusters downward. A key finding of the study is that by appropriately utilizing financial ratios, investor risk can be minimized. In addition it enhances credit evaluation, stock market value and investment potential.
An evaluation of software requirements tools

Software requirements gathering from users, customers, and stakeholders is the very first and critical step in software development. Requirements are volatile due to change in needs, processes and technology. This makes manual requirement management a challenging task. To overcome such problems, practitioners developed various tools to collect and manage software requirements. Use of these tools can safe efforts and time and remove inconsistencies. In this study, we evaluated different tools which are used to manage and gather requirements during the whole life-cycle of software development or in a particular phase, which includes requirements elicitation, analysis, specification, verification, traceability, document support, graphical representation, and tool integration. Tools are analyzed according to functionality, scope, performance and availability.
The Effect of a Quality Improvement Feedback Loop on Paramedic Skills, Charting, and Behavior

Abstract Objective: A mechanism was initiated for conveying quality improvement (QI) results to paramedics as a means of improving chart documentation in difficult-to-correct areas. This study examines the impact of this QI feedback loop on charting, resuscitation rates from cardiac arrest, endotracheal intubation (ETI) success rates, and trauma scene times. Design: Paramedic trip sheets were reviewed before and after the institution of the QI feedback hop in this interrupted time series design. Setting: The New Castle County, Delaware, Paramedic Program. Participants: All New Castle County paramedics participated in the study. Interventions: In January 1990, the medical director began to circulate a QI summary among the paramedics in an effort to improve performance and chart documentation. The summary focused on the management of respiratory distress or arrest, cardiac arrest, and major trauma. The success rate for ETI was compared with the rate of field resuscitation from cardiac arrest, the percentage of unjustified prolonged trauma scene times (longer than 10 minutes), and the percent compliance with minimum endotracheal intubation documetation (ETID) requirements from a six-month period before institution of the QI feedback mechanism with data obtained from a six-month period after the program had been operational for one year. Results: Comparing results from before with after the initiation of the QI program, the ETI success rate was 273 of 295 (92.5%) before and 300 of 340 (88.2%) after (X2 = 3.04, p <.1, ns); field resuscitations totaled 26 of 187 (13.9%) before and 44 of 237 (18.6) after (X2 = 1.40, p <.25, ns); ETID rate was 249 of 295 (84.4%) before and 336 of 340 (98.8%) after (X2 = 44.24, p <.001), and unjustified prolonged trauma scene times were 69 of 278 (24.8%) before and seven of 501 (1.4%) after (X2 = 320.5, p <.001). Conclusion: The use of QI feedback had little effect on psychomotor skills such as the ETI success rate or resuscitation rate, but had a dramatic effect on chart documentation, as evidenced by ETID rate, and behavior, as evidenced by the reduction in prolonged trauma scene times. The use of QI feedback is recommended as a means of correcting charting deficiencies or modifying behavior.
Marketing Offshore Private Banking

In the increasingly complex international private banking system, intermediaries are often used to connect client and service provider for investment and advisory services. In the creation of offshore trusts, for example, intermediaries are often used to identify and screen the foreign investment institution to be used for financial investment services and asset administration. Private bankers need to manage such intermediary channels strategically. Presents an in‐depth study of intermediaries responsible for the referral of affluent clients to private banks for offshore trust services. Describes their participation in referral networks which determine their private bank selection decision‐making processes and institutional loyalty patterns
Reliability of Conjoint Analysis: Contrasting Data Collection Procedures

Variations in measures of reliability of alternative conjoint data collection procedures are examined empirically. The two most commonly used methods, multiple-factor evaluation (MFE) and two-factor evaluation (TFE), are comparatively evaluated. The results show that the reliability measures for both procedures are good with an overall preference for the MFE procedure.
A Study of Fastest Growing Countries Among Top 100 Brands

The purpose of this study is to illustrate the impact of Country of Origin (COO) on the top 100 global brands. A total of eighteen countries having 158 brands appeared during 2001-2013. Countries were analyzed on the basis of Cumulative Brand Equity (CBE), number of brands, Average Brand Equity (ABE) and growth patterns in Cumulative Brand Equity. Cumulative Brand Equity (CBE) represents summation of brand equities for all brands in a particular country while ABE represents CBE divided by number of brands in a particular country. The most distinctive part of this research is its usage of country of origin for brand equity trend analysis. Results indicate that (a) Korea is the fastest growing country among Top 100 brands; (b) The American brands are un-doubtfully champions of the world and form the major chunk of the global brand list; (c) As country of origin Germany is known for its Automobiles which is also reflected in the global brand list where 5 out of 12 brands are with German origin; (d) France: The birthplace of luxury fashion has 9 brands appeared during this period; (e) Switzerland: A small country by population but having strong country of origin effect has 9 brands in the global brand list appeared during 13 years; (f) Japan: Origin of eight strong and consistent brands having concentration in only two industry sectors i.e., Automotive (4) and Electronics (4); (g) United Kingdom: The world’s leading financial center has 8 brands in top 100 global brands list.
A Simulated Interprofessional Rounding Experience in a Clinical Assessment Course

Objective. To implement a simulated interprofessional rounding experience using human patient simulators as a required activity for third-year pharmacy students in a clinical assessment course. Design. Interprofessional student teams consisting of pharmacy, medical, and physician assistant students participated in a simulated interprofessional rounding experience in which they provided comprehensive medical care for a simulated patient in an inpatient setting. Assessment. Students completed a survey instrument to assess interprofessional attitudes and satisfaction before and after participation in the simulated interprofessional rounding experience. Overall student attitudes regarding interprofessional teamwork and communication significantly improved; student satisfaction with the experience was high and students’ self-perceived clinical confidence improved after participation. The mean team clinical performance scores were 65% and 75% for each simulated interprofessional rounding experience. Conclusion. Incorporating a simulated interprofessional rounding experience into a required clinical assessment course improved student attitudes regarding interprofessional teamwork and was associated with high student satisfaction.
Sensorless Speed and Position Control of Induction Motor Drives

Controlled induction motor drives without mechan- ical speed sensors at the motor shaft have the attractions of low cost and high reliability. To replace the sensor, the information on the rotor speed is extracted from measured stator voltages and currents at the motor terminals. Vector controlled drives require estimating the magnitude and spatial orientation of the funda- mental magnetic flux waves in the stator or in the rotor. Open loop estimators or closed loop observers are used for this pur- pose. They differ with respect to accuracy, robustness, and sensi- tivity against model parameter variations. Dynamic performance and steady-state speed accuracy in the low speed range can be achieved by exploiting anisotropic effects of the machine.
Conceptualizing total quality orientation

The academic marketing literature reflects remarkably little effort to conceptualize total quality orientation, which is key to understanding customer satisfaction. The author synthesizes extant knowledge on the subject and provides a foundation for future research by delineating the domain of the total quality orientation construct and providing an operational definition. The author draws on academic and practitioner writings from multiple disciplines, and 50 in‐depth interviews with corporate executives in a broad spectrum of manufacturing and service organizations.
International Financial Business Cycles

Recent international macroeconomics literature on global imbalances explains the U.S. persistent current account deficit and emerging countries’ surplus, i.e., the U.S. is the borrower. Little research has been done on the banking-sector level, where U.S. banks are lenders to banks in emerging countries. We build a two country framework where banks are explicitly modeled to investigate how lending in the banking sector can affect the international macroeconomy during the recent crisis. In steady state, banks in the developing country borrows from the U.S. banks. When the borrowers in the U.S. pay back less than contractually agreed and damage the balance sheet of the U.S. banks, with the presence of bank capital requirement constraint, U.S. banks raise lending rates and decrease the loans made to U.S. borrowers as well as banks in the developing country. The results are a sharp increase in the lending spread, a reduction in output and a depreciation in the real exchange rate of the developing country. They are the experience of many emerging Asian markets following the U.S. financial crisis starting in late 2007. Another feature of our model captures an empirical fact, documented by Devereux and Yetman (2010), that across different economies, countries with lower financial rating can suffer more when the lending country deleverages.
Comparative study of fade margins with hard and soft handoff in CDMA based microcellular systems

In this work, an analytical approach is used to study the quantitative performance regarding the fade margins improvements, as well as cell coverage issues with hard- and soft handoff for the reverse link of a CDMA based microcellular system. To determine the required fade margins for different outage probabilities and different soft handoff scenarios, the Manhattan-like street pattern is considered. Since the analysis presented here involves the comparison of propagation losses among two or more base stations due to macroscopic selection diversity used on the reverse link, the generally accepted two slope propagation model, includes a cross-correlated shadow fading component, which allows taking into consideration the dependence between two shadowing components affecting different propagation paths, since they could experience many of the same obstructions in the path profile as has been observed in field test. From numerical evaluations, it is observed that the shadowing cross-correlation is determinant in the accuracy of handoff analysis and some suggestions regarding the fade margins are proposed for planning CDMA based microcellular systems in Manhattan environments.
The Effect of Introduced Defects on Saturation Magnetization and Magnetic Anisotropy Field of L1$ _{0}$ FePt

The introduction of defects into FePt is an effective method to lower the ordering temperature of L10 FePt. The residual defects, however, are inevitable to affect the magnetic properties of L10 FePt. Using first-principles calculations, we systematically study the effect of defects (vacancy, antisite and doping) on the saturation magnetization and magnetic anisotropy field of L10 FePt. Our results show that the Fe-rich composition has higher saturation magnetization than Pt-rich composition. The uniaxial anisotropy field decreases with the introduction of defects except for the vacancy defects which, however, are difficultly formed due to the high formation energy.
Acquisition of Information in Loan Markets and Bank Market Power - an Empirical Investigation

Do commercial banks invest less in information gathering activity when they compete more aggressively with each other? Does intensifying competitive pressure in bank loan markets affect the quality of informational ties that bind borrowers and lending banks? This paper contributes to this discussion by providing an empirical analysis of banks' information acquisition within a loan application situation. Using survey data from German manufacturing firms, we are able to measure information flows from loan applicants to banks. We find that firms located in more concentrated banking markets have to transfer more project-specific information to their lending banks. Furthermore we find that banks that systematically acquire more information about their loan customers are able to provide liquidity without inducing additional costly transfer of information. Third, we find credit to be more readily available in more concentrated banking markets. This confirms recent US findings. However, our analysis of banks' information acquisition offers an alternative explanation of why credit availability systematically varies with bank market structure.
High excretion of urinary beta-2-microglobulin and IgG predicts progressive renal function in idiopathic membranous nephropathy

Background: The treatment of idiopathic membranous nephropathy with nephrotic syndrome is contradictory. Although several biological markers have been used as predictors of prognosis, little is known about the clinical use of biomarkers which can explain contradictory results. We compared the accuracy of urinary beta2-microglobulin (Uβ2m), UIgG, N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase (Uβ-NAG) and α-1-microglobulin (Uα1m) in predicting renal insufficiency and analyzed the risk factors. Methods: We studied Uβ2m, UIgG, Uβ-NAG and Uα1m in urinary samples from patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy according to the kidney disease progression or not. Kaplan-Meier curve was used to present renal survival rates, and Cox regression analysis was employed to analyze the risk factors. Progression was defined as serum creatinine rise >50%, or serum creatinine rise to an absolute value of >135 mmol/L. Remission was defined as proteinuria <2.0 g/day with stable renal function. Results: Sixty patients were included (41 males and 19 females; age, 33 ± 15 years). So far, 20 (33.3%) patients progressed to the preset end point of renal failure and remission affected 27 patients (45%). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for Uβ2m and UIgG was 0.786 and 0.769, respectively. Sensitivity and specificity for Uβ2m (threshold value 1.17 mg/l) were 82% and 70%, respectively, and those for UIgG (threshold value 24.98 mg/l) were 80% and 62%, respectively, higher than those for Uβ-NAG and Uα1m. Multivariable COX model analysis revealed that the relative risk of UIgG and Uβ2m was 1.045 and 1.126, respectively, with the 95% confidence interval of 1.015-1.076 and 1.105-1.137, respectively. Conclusions: Although Uβ2m, UIgG, Uβ-NAG and Uα1m all can predict progression in iMN, Uβ2m and UIgG have a higher specificity and sensitivity, which are independent risk factors for progressive renal function and provide a better guidance for clinical physicians.