Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic detection and prediction of topic changes through automatic detection of register variations and pause duration

In this article a clustering algorithm, allowing the automatic detection of speakers’ register changes, is presented. Together with automatic detection of pause duration, it has shown to be efficient for the automatic detection and prediction of topic changes. The need to take into account other parameters such as tempo and intensity, in the framework of Linear Discriminant Analysis, is proposed in order to improve the identification of the topic structure of discourse.
The Relative Information Content of Operating and Financing Cash Flow in the Proposed Cash Flow Statement

This study compares the relative information content of the new specifications of operating and financing cash flow as proposed jointly by the IASB and the FASB with the specifications in SFAS No. 95. A unique feature of the study is the use of the Siegel and Biddle (1994) test of relative information content. The results indicate that the proposed operating cash flow measure has less relative information content than the current measure, and the results for financing cash flow are consistent with equity investors finding no significant difference between the current and proposed measures.
An examination into the causal logic of rent generation: contrasting Porter's competitive strategy framework and the resource-based perspective

In this study we revisit some fundamental questions that are increasingly at the heart of current strategic management discourse regarding the relative impact of industry and firm-specific factors on sustainable competitive advantage. We explore this issue by referring to respective assertions of two major perspectives that dominate the literature over the last two decades: the Porter framework of competitive strategy and the more recent resource-based view of the firm. A composite model is proposed which elaborates upon both perspectives' divergent causal logic with respect to the conditions relevant for firm success. Empirical findings suggest that industry and firm specific effects are both important but explain different dimensions of performance. Where industry forces influence market performance and profitability, firm assets act upon accomplishments in the market arena (i.e., market performance), and via the latter, to profitability. The paper concludes with directions for future research that will seek to integrate both content and process aspects of firm behavior. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Visualisierung von Bedeutungsverschiebungen in großen diachronen Dokumentkollektionen

Große diachrone Dokumentkollektionen sind eine der wichtigsten Informationsquellen in Politik, Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft und so ziemlich allen Bereichen des öffentlichen Lebens. Eine wichtige wissenschaftliche Problemstellung bei der Nutzung dieser Ressourcen stellt dabei die geeignete Extraktion der in den Dokumenten behandelten Themen dar. Eine geeignete Visualisierung kann dabei helfen, größere Datenmengen – und damit eine große Anzahl behandelter Themen – für einen Benutzer handhabbar zu halten, und kann darüber hinaus die Grundlage für eine tiefere, interaktive und visuell unterstützte Analyse der Daten bilden. Nachfolgend soll ein neues Maß vorgestellt werden, welches die Bedeutungsveränderung von Termen über die Zeit misst. In diesem Artikel werden dabei der aktuelle Arbeitsstand und die ersten Ergebnisse des Teilprojektes »Topologybased Visual Analysis of Information Spaces« dokumentiert und ein Ausblick auf weitere Arbeiten im Sinne des Visual Analytics gegeben.
Design and experimental setup of a backup battery as a source to mobile phone battery

The charging of a mobile with direct DC supply at low cost is becoming an innovative technology. A new approach to recharge the mobile battery by direct DC supply without the conversion of AC to DC is reported. The approach applies a three terminal voltage regulator 78M05 IC to give a constant voltage 5V and current ≈500mA from a 9V rechargeable battery connected parallel to the voltage regulator. It is observed that the voltage difference of the rechargeable battery drops when the mobile phone battery is charged and a voltage regulator is added in addition to regulate constant voltage finally. The analysis was also done by the AC power supply via the mobile charger. The charger is helpful for the charging of the mobile phone battery when there is no AC power supply. The entire setup can be reduced as an integrated chip along with the mobile phone charger, so the size of the charger remains same. Based on extensive simulation results using Matlab/Simulink and experimental results, it has been established that the performance of the controller both in transient as well as in steady state is quite satisfactory.
Cross-Cultural Retailing Research

Abstract Relatively little is known about consumer perceptions of retailers in Central and Eastern Europe. What store attributes do consumers in these markets emphasize? Do these attributes reflect the culture of the region? These questions are addressed in the case of Estonia. However our main objective is to contrast the Estonian situation with that of a typical Western country, Canada. Two key shopping experience constructs are selected, namely merchandise selection and the interactivity between the store and the consumer. To make the comparison meaningful we have chosen a single retail category, namely discount or low-price department stores. In both countries there were two stores that dominated their respective market, so this facilitates the collection of consumer perceptions. Structural equation modeling using AMOS software has been used to test the equivalence of the constructs across cultures. Our main findings are that (1) both merchandise selection and store-customer interaction are valid constructs across both countries, (2) that the factor patterns have configural invariance or equivalence for each construct across the two cultures and (3) that the factor patterns do not have weak factor invariance across the cultures. In short, we conclude that there are major differences in consumer's discount store shopping experiences across the two cultures.
Forecasting the development of a pursuit race between competitors

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a method of forecasting the development of the market shares of competitors in a pursuit race.Design/methodology/approach – The statistical concept of co‐integration is applied to a state space model in order to operationalize the pursuit race in competition. Two time series served as data input for the designed model. They document the development of the monthly market shares of German savings banks and German cooperative banks with respect to the end‐of‐month volume of non‐bank deposits.Findings – The analysis of the competition between the two bank groups proves that the development of their market shares is co‐integrated in the shape of a long lasting pursuit race. Therefore, the forecasts of the changes in market shares are very accurate and reliable.Practical implications – With the help of such a statistical analysis, a competitor is able to monitor the development of competition effectively to forecast the changes that are to be expected. Thus, the.
A Short Introduction to Correlation Markets

This short note gives a short overview of correlation markets and was prepared for the "Roundtable Discussion on Default Risk Correlation Models" given at the inaugural SoFiE-Conference in June 2008. Copyright The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org, Oxford University Press.
Strateji belirleme sürecinin kapsamlılığı

According to the integrated planning approach, strategic management comprehending a proactive, rational, normative and comprehensive sequence, is composed of the following main steps, namely, determination of the mission and goals, determination of the corporate strategies after an environmental analysis, and implementation and control of these strategies. One of the significant characteristics of the strategy determination process is the notion of comprehensiveness that is a detailed study of strengths and weaknesses of the firm and the opportunities and threats within the environment and a deeper evaluation of the collected data. Allocating more time and resources for this process, collecting more information and making more debates over conflicting opinions among strategists before the final decision are the important properties of this process.
Growth, Inequality and Well-being

This article revisits 50 years of the development trajectory of India’s Kerala state, well known for its human development attainments. To put the discussion in perspective we use a conceptual framework integrating growth, inequality and well-being. Long accustomed to a low per capita income and caste–class iniquities of the worst order, Kerala acquired great human development and social justice largely through a process of public action involving the state and society. The article argues how the liberalization reforms of the 1990s and beyond, while ushering in an era of unprecedented growth shows signs of widening inequalities and marginalization of the poor, in particular the historically deprived communities. The widely known land reforms virtually bypassed the poor and the state now has a highly skewed land distribution. The service-led growth of Kerala with a dual structure of earnings has a built-in bias towards inequality. The state budget has not been an instrument of equity and the policy choices of the state and the union need strategic reorientation.
Interaction of TonB with the Outer Membrane Receptor FpvA of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

ABSTRACT Pyoverdine-mediated iron uptake by the FpvA receptor in the outer membrane of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is dependent on the inner membrane protein TonB1. This energy transducer couples the proton-electrochemical potential of the inner membrane to the transport event. To shed more light upon this process, a recombinant TonB1 protein lacking the N-terminal inner membrane anchor (TonBpp) was constructed. This protein was, after expression in Escherichia coli, purified from the soluble fraction of lysed cells by means of an N-terminal hexahistidine or glutathione S-transferase (GST) tag. Purified GST-TonBpp was able to capture detergent-solubilized FpvA, regardless of the presence of pyoverdine or pyoverdine-Fe. Targeting of the TonB1 fragment to the periplasm of P. aeruginosa inhibited the transport of ferric pyoverdine by FpvA in vivo, indicating an interference with endogenous TonB1, presumably caused by competition for binding sites at the transporter or by formation of nonfunctional TonB heterodimers. Surface plasmon resonance experiments demonstrated that the FpvA-TonBpp interactions have apparent affinities in the micromolar range. The binding of pyoverdine or ferric pyoverdine to FpvA did not modulate this affinity. Apparently, the presence of either iron or pyoverdine is not essential for the formation of the FpvA-TonB complex in vitro.
Wnt-YAP interactions in the neural fate of human pluripotent stem cells and the implications for neural organoid formation

ABSTRACT Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have shown the ability to self-organize into different types of neural organoids (e.g., whole brain organoids, cortical spheroids, midbrain organoids etc.) recently. The extrinsic and intrinsic signaling elicited by Wnt pathway, Hippo/Yes-associated protein (YAP) pathway, and extracellular microenvironment plays a critical role in brain tissue morphogenesis. This article highlights recent advances in neural tissue patterning from hPSCs, in particular the role of Wnt pathway and YAP activity in this process. Understanding the Wnt-YAP interactions should provide us the guidance to predict and modulate brain-like tissue structure through the regulation of extracellular microenvironment of hPSCs.
International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics, Morals: Text and Materials

PART A: CONTEMPORARY HUMAN RIGHTS: BACKGROUND AND CONTENT 1. Introduction to Human Rights Issues and Discourse 2. Up to Nuremberg: Background to the Human Rights Movement 3. Civil and Political Rights 4. Economic and Social Rights PART B: WHAT ARE RIGHTS, ARE THEY EVERYWHERE, AND EVERYWHERE THE SAME? CHALLENGES TO UNIVERSALISM AND CONFLICTS AMONG RIGHTS 5. Rights, Duties, and Cultural Relativism 6. Conflicting Traditions and Rights: Illustrations PART C: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS 7. The Need for International Institutions and their Challenge to Notions of Sovereignty 8. Intergovernmental Enforcement of Human Rights Norms: The United Nations System 9. Treaty Organs: The ICCPR Human Rights Committee 10. Regional Arrangements 11. Civil Society PART D: STATES AS PROTECTORS AND ENFORCERS OF HUMAN RIGHTS 12. Interpenetration of International and National Systems: Internal Protection of Human Rights by States 13. Enforcement by States against Violator States PART E: CURRENT TOPICS 14. Massive Human Rights Tragedies: Prosecutions and Truth Commissions 15. Self-Determination and Autonomy Regimes 16. Globalization, Development, and Human Rights Annex on Documents Annex on Citations Index of Subjects Index of Authors Quoted
Ontological knowledge base-driven framework for semantic multimedia contents retrieval

Semantic search promises to provide more accurate result than present-day keyword matching-based search by using the knowledge represented logically (i.e., knowledge base). But, the ordinary users don't know well the complex formal query language and schema of the knowledge base. So, the system should interpret the meaning of user's keywords. Such requirements are conspicuous especially in smart media such as smart phone, IPTV and smart TV. In this paper, we describe a framework for the semantic retrieval of multimedia contents. Our framework is ontological knowledge base-driven in the sense that the interpretation process is integrated into a unified structure around a knowledge base, which is built on domain ontologies. Our framework also integrates such components as for knowledge base augmentation by user preference and context, and for adjustment of user query interpretation result. We also present our prototype system we have been developing to test our framework ideas.
An Analysis of Hedge Fund Performance Using Loess Fit Regression

In this article, we analyze the returns distribution of hedge funds strategies, the average returns obtained over the past 10 years, and their correlation with a traditional portfolio. The aim is to identify the characteristics of each hedge fund investment strategy in order to be able to construct an optimal hedge fund portfolio for a Swiss pension fund. We show that the classical linear correlation and the classical linear regression cannot be applied for hedge funds. Moreover, we show that only three strategies, convertible arbitrage, market neutral, and CTA, give diversification during market downturns. The techniques used are non-linear regressions and local correlations.
Chapter 8. Sick leave due to coronary artery disease or stroke

The assessment of the literature on sick-leave with cardiovascular diseases include only studies with sufficient scientific quality. These studies describe sick leave following stroke, myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We found limited scientific evidence for the following results: After stroke, more than half of the patients of working age returned to work (RTW) during the first year following onset (higher rate for the younger patients). The consequences of brain damage, e.g. impaired ADL ability or cognitive capacity, play an important role in this respect. Also after myocardial infarction most patients RTW. PCI is a milder coronary artery intervention than CABG and RTW is more rapid. However, in the long run there are no differences in sick leave. People at higher ages or with physically demanding jobs return to work to a lesser degree. An international comparison shows that the duration of sick leave due to these conditions in Sweden is longer than in other countries although there is no scientific evidence to support this practice. It appears that the interest in research on sick leave in patients with cardiovascular diseases has waned in recent years. Developments in acute cardiological care should inspire renewed scientific involvement in this area of research.
MODULATION OF NITROSATIVE/OXIDATIVE STRESS IN THE LUNG OF HYPERGLYCEMIC RABBITS BY TWO ANTIDIABETICS, PIOGLITAZONE AND REPAGLINIDE

The lungs are involved in diabetes in the cause of the complex phenomena diabetes generates. In the present study, hyperglycemia inhibited pulmonary antioxidants, including superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione. These effects were accompanied by significant elevation of lipid peroxidation, total nitrites, and nitrotyrosine levels. The study investigated the effects of 2 oral antidiabetics, pioglitazone and repaglinide, on the mentioned parameters. It is concluded that pioglitazone exerts protective effect in the lung by inhibiting nitrosative stress and normalizing the nitrites and nitrotyrosine levels. Administration of repaglinide prevents oxidative and, to a smaller extent, nitrosative changes.
Country reputation and attitudes towards made in Italy products: a study on Chinese consumers

The study examines the relation between stereotypes linked to country-of-origin and consumer assessment relative to foreign product supply systems. Evolving trends in terms of the impact of country-of-origin demands an in-depth analysis that highlights and enhances its multidimensional nature. The research conceptualises from an innovative perspective, the underlying dynamics of country reputation in order to analyse its structure and system. Reputation represents an interpretative criterion underpinning the influence exerted by country-of-origin on foreign consumer’s decision-making processes. A field study to verify the relations existing between Italy, country-of-origin, and China as target country, tested the model proposed.
Crosstalk Study of Simultaneous Wireless Power/Information Transmission Based on an LCC Compensation Network

The effective simultaneous wireless transmission of power and information (SWTPI) is an issue of great interest. To reduce the crosstalk between power and information channels while increasing the transmission air gap and power level, we introduce an inductor–capacitor–capacitor (LCC) compensation network for an SWTPI system. First, the crosstalk between the power and information channels is analyzed. An effective parametric design method is then proposed for the LCC compensation network, which is analyzed theoretically to minimize the crosstalk. Finally, experiments are conducted at 1000 W and 115.2 kbps with an air gap of 100 cm to verify whether the proposed structure and design method of the LCC compensation network are suitable for the SWTPI.
Development of a genetic assay to distinguish between Leishmania viannia species on the basis of isoenzyme differences.

BACKGROUND Tegumentary leishmaniasis in Latin America is caused mainly by Leishmania viannia braziliensis complex parasites. L. braziliensis and Leishmania viannia peruviana are the 2 predominant Leishmania species in Peru. L. braziliensis is more virulent, because it can cause mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, known as espundia, that results in severe facial destruction. Early identification of the species that causes the initial cutaneous infection would greatly help to prevent mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, because it would allow more aggressive treatment and follow-up. However, because of the close genetic similarity of L. braziliensis and L. peruviana, there currently exists no simple assay to distinguish between these species. METHODS We cloned the mannose phosphate isomerase gene from both L. braziliensis and L. peruviana. It is the only known isoenzyme capable of differentiating between L. braziliensis and L. peruviana in multilocus enzyme electrophoresis. Interestingly, only a single nucleotide polymorphism was found between the mannose phosphate isomerase genes from L. braziliensis and L. peruviana, resulting in an amino acid change from threonine to arginine at amino acid 361. A polymerase chain reaction assay was developed to distinguish the single nucleotide polymorphism of the mannose phosphate isomerase gene to allow for the specific identification of L. braziliensis or L. peruviana. RESULTS This assay was validated with 31 reference strains that were previously typed by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis, successfully applied to patient biopsy samples, and adapted to a real-time polymerase chain reaction assay. CONCLUSIONS This innovative approach combines new genetic knowledge with traditional biochemical fundamentals of multilocus enzyme electrophoresis to better manage leishmaniasis in Latin America.
Active compensation for a driving system with chopper and DC motor

The paper deals with the behavior of a load consisting of an uncontrolled rectifier+chopper+DC motor at the supplying from the AC line. Experimental data are presented for the analyzed cases with current absorbed by motor from the AC line of approximately 100 A rms in two cases: with or without an power active filter. The necessity to protect the DC motor, not only the supplying line, is underlined. The tests were performed on a stand using a schematic for energy recovering that can also be found in the case of real driving from a tram. The difference between the active compensation from a tram and its counterpart from the transforming substation AC/AC 20kV/0.4 kV is presented.
Institutions, Interests, and Judicial Outcomes

Since 1789, diversity of citizenship jurisdiction has been a staple of the American judicial system. After presenting a general theory of jurisdictional change and reviewing diversity jurisdiction's development, the author undertakes a quantitative analysis of congressional activity vis-à-vis diversity jurisdiction. That analysis provides evidence that both administrative concerns and attention to federal judicial outcomes have impacted legislative decisions concerning the scope of diversity jurisdiction. These findings also suggest that members of Congress are selective in dealing with the jurisdiction of federal courts and that approaches to jurisdictional oversight vary in response to the salience of the legal issues at hand.