Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
2 Is AIM A Casino ? A study of the survival of new listings on the UK Alternative Investment Market ( AIM )

In this paper we study the survival rate of firms l isting on the junior segment of London Stock Exchange, the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). The results show that on average AIM IPOs have high survival rates over the windows we study (up to five years post-flotation). We conclude that, contrary to recent allegations by th e head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), AIM is not a casino. Sufficient q uality controls appear to be in place to ensure that firms admitted to the AIM have good cha n es of survival post-issue. Examining the determinants of survival rates of IPO firms over a window of five years post-IPO, we find that the probability of survival increases with firm age and size at the time of IPO. IPOs incorporated in the UK have higher survival rate than non-UK inc orporated IPOs. IPO firms operating in the financial, cyclical-service and resource sectors ha ve higher survival rates than IPOs operating in other sectors. New listings of the technology compa nies are particularly short-lived. Our results on the signs of the relationships between the proba bility of survival, on one hand, and initial returns and venture-capital backing are in line wit h previous findings for U.S. listings. However, in our study the relationships are not statisticall y significant. Finally, we examine the reasons for delistings, and differentiate between favourable an d u favourable reasons for delisting from investors’ perspective. The main category of favour able delistings is deemed to be mergers and acquisitions. Investigating the determinants of the probability of delisting due to a merger or acquisition, we find that it is inversely related t o the size of the firm at the time of IPO.
Highly integrated switching calibration front-end MMIC with active loads for w-band radiometers

A millimeter-wave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) consisting of a W-band (75 - 100 GHz) single-pole-five-throw (SP5T) switch and multiple internal active and passive loads for radiometer calibration was designed and manufactured in a low noise 50 nm GaAs mHEMT technology. This highly compact and integrated front-end device for radiometer systems is capable of fast ultra-fast switching between two identical input ports (e.g. for polarimetric applications) and three internal calibration references. It allows an accurate multi-load calibration with noise temperatures between 220 K and 1750 K at the output of the device. Compared to conventional calibration methods this marks a substantial advantage in terms of size, mass, power consumption, complexity and repetition rate.
Lexical Borrowing in the Speech of First-Generation Hungarian Immigrants in Australia

This article reports findings of a sociolinguistic project which investigated language contact phenomena in the speech of first-generation Hungarian Australians living in Sydney. The research aimed to identify and analyze English lexical items borrowed into the spoken Hungarian of first-generation Hungarian–English bilinguals. This research had a mixed methods approach including a quantitative element (count of lexical manifestations by categories such as part of speech) and a qualitative element in which the various lexical manifestations have been subjected to a linguistic analysis. The Hungarian National Corpus was used as a reference guide to determine the status of these phenomena in the lexicon of Standard Hungarian. The data were collected through semi-structured sociolinguistic interviews with 22 Hungarian Australians living in Sydney. The findings demonstrate that (a) first-generation Hungarians are highly creative language users and integrate a large number of English lexical items into their speech. Most lexical borrowings belong to the derivational blends with the highest proportion of the nominal group. Lexical borrowings from English are morphologically integrated with Hungarian-derivational suffixes and inflectional case markings. This research provides original empirical data to better understand the various inter-language lexical manifestations in Hungarian–English bilingual contexts. The study adds to the relatively small body of research on Hungarian–English bilingualism in diasporic context and contributes to understanding lexical borrowing from a contact linguistic perspective.
Host-Range Dynamics of Cochliobolus lunatus: From a Biocontrol Agent to a Severe Environmental Threat

We undertook an investigation to advance understanding of the host-range dynamics and biocontrol implications of Cochliobolus lunatus in the past decade. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L) farms were routinely surveyed for brown-to-black leaf spot disease caused by C. lunatus. A biphasic gene data set was assembled and databases were mined for reported hosts of C. lunatus in the last decade. The placement of five virulent strains of C. lunatus causing foliar necrosis of potato was studied with microscopic and phylogenetic tools. Analysis of morphology showed intraspecific variations in stromatic tissues among the virulent strains causing foliar necrosis of potato. A maximum likelihood inference based on GPDH locus separated C. lunatus strains into subclusters and revealed the emergence of unclustered strains. The evolving nutritional requirement of C. lunatus in the last decade is exhibited by the invasion of vertebrates, invertebrates, dicots, and monocots. Our results contribute towards a better understanding of the host-range dynamics of C. lunatus and provide useful implications on the threat posed to the environment when C. lunatus is used as a mycoherbicide.
Perisylvian language networks of the human brain

Early anatomically based models of language consisted of an arcuate tract connecting Broca's speech and Wernicke's comprehension centers; a lesion of the tract resulted in conduction aphasia. However, the heterogeneous clinical presentations of conduction aphasia suggest a greater complexity of perisylvian anatomical connections than allowed for in the classical anatomical model. This article re‐explores perisylvian language connectivity using in vivo diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging tractography. Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging data from 11 right‐handed healthy male subjects were averaged, and the arcuate fasciculus of the left hemisphere reconstructed from this data using an interactive dissection technique. Beyond the classical arcuate pathway connecting Broca's and Wernicke's areas directly, we show a previously undescribed, indirect pathway passing through inferior parietal cortex. The indirect pathway runs parallel and lateral to the classical arcuate fasciculus and is composed of an anterior segment connecting Broca's territory with the inferior parietal lobe and a posterior segment connecting the inferior parietal lobe to Wernicke's territory. This model of two parallel pathways helps explain the diverse clinical presentations of conduction aphasia. The anatomical findings are also relevant to the evolution of language, provide a framework for Lichtheim's symptom‐based neurological model of aphasia, and constrain, anatomically, contemporary connectionist accounts of language. Ann Neurol 2005
A distributed algorithm for throughput optimal routing in overlay networks

We address the problem of optimal routing in overlay networks. An overlay network is constructed by adding new overlay nodes on top of a legacy network. The overlay nodes are capable of implementing any dynamic routing policy, however, the legacy underlay has a fixed, single path routing scheme and uses a simple work-conserving forwarding policy. Moreover, the underlay routes are pre-determined and unknown to the overlay network. The overlay network can increase the achievable throughput of the legacy network by using multiple routes, which consist of direct routes and indirect routes through other overlay nodes. We develop an optimal dynamic routing algorithm for such overlay networks called the Optimal Overlay Routing Policy (OORP). OORP is derived using the classical dual subgradient descent method, and it can be implemented in a distributed manner. We show that the queue-lengths can be used as a substitute for the dual variables in the algorithm. However, the underlay queuelengths are unknown to the overlay, so we propose two regression based schemes that learn simplified models of the backlog in the underlay using historical data and use them to estimate the queue-lengths in real time. Simulation results show that nearoptimal performance can be achieved without any knowledge of the underlay.
Swimming of a waving plate

The purpose of this paper is to study the basic principle of fish propulsion. As a simplified model, the two-dimensional potential flow over a waving plate of finite chord is treated. The solid plate, assumed to be flexible and thin, is capable of performing the motion which consists of a progressing wave of given wavelength and phase velocity along the chord, the envelope of the wave train being an arbitrary function of the distance from the leading edge. The problem is solved by applying the general theory for oscillating deformable airfoils. The thrust, power required, and the energy imparted to the wake are calculated, and the propulsive efficiency is also evaluated. As a numerical example, the waving motion with linearly varying amplitude is carried out in detail. Finally, the basic mechanism of swimming is elucidated by applying the principle of action and reaction.
A Petri net model for analysis, optimisation, and control of railway networks and train schedules

Petri nets and railway networks are considered in this paper with the aim of providing a comprehensive model to be used for analysis, optimisation, and control purposes. The overall model consists of two interconnected Petri nets that represent, respectively, the physical part of the network (stations, blocks, crossovers, tracks, and so on, as well as trains travelling on the network) and the logical part of it (train schedule over the available lines). The former Petri net has a fixed structure whereas the second one changes in accordance with the number of trains, lines, and timetable. In the paper, the main elements of the two Petri nets are described in detail, making use of an example of network which is representative of real-word railways. Moreover, some applications of the proposed model are discussed in order to highlight the effectiveness in employing Petri nets to analyse, optimise, and control railway networks and train schedules.
Evolutionary Games on Visibility Graphs

We show that time series of different complexities can be transformed into networks that host individuals playing evolutionary games. The irregularity of the time series is thereby faithfully reflected in the fraction of cooperators surviving the evolutionary process, thus effectively linking time series with evolutionary games. Pivotal to the linkage is a simple visibility algorithm that transforms time series into networks. More specifically, periodic series yield regular networks, chaotic series yield random networks, while fractal series yield scale-free networks. As an example, we use a chaotic time series from the Logistic map and a fractal time series of Brownian motion, yielding an interaction network with an exponential and a power-law degree distribution, respectively. By employing the prisoner's dilemma and the snowdrift game, we demonstrate that such heterogeneous interaction networks facilitate the evolution of cooperation if compared to the traditional square lattice topology. Due to the simplicity of the employed methodology, newcomers with a basic command of nonlinear dynamics or stochastic processes can become easily acquainted with evolutionary games, and moreover, integrate these interesting and vibrant subfields of physics more effectively into their research.
Sequence Variation in a Newly Identified HLA-B35-Restricted Epitope in the Influenza A Virus Nucleoprotein Associated with Escape from Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes

ABSTRACT Here, we describe a new HLA-B*3501-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitope in the influenza A virus (H3N2) nucleoprotein, which was found to exhibit a high degree of variation at nonanchor residues. The influenza virus variants emerged in chronological order, and CTLs directed against old variants failed to recognize more recent strains of influenza A virus, indicating an escape from CTL immunity.
Instructional support and implementation structure during elementary teachers’ science education simulation use

ABSTRACT This investigation sought to identify patterns in elementary science teachers’ computer simulation use, particularly implementation structures and instructional supports commonly employed by teachers. Data included video-recorded science lessons of 96 elementary teachers who used computer simulations in one or more science lessons. Results indicated teachers used a one-to-one student-to-computer ratio most often either during class-wide individual computer use or during a rotating station structure. Worksheets, general support, and peer collaboration were the most common forms of instructional support. The least common instructional support forms included lesson pacing, initial play, and a closure discussion. Students’ simulation use was supported in the fewest ways during a rotating station structure. Results suggest that simulation professional development with elementary teachers needs to explicitly focus on implementation structures and instructional support to enhance participants’ pedagogical knowledge and improve instructional simulation use. In addition, research is needed to provide theoretical explanations for the observed patterns that should subsequently be addressed in supporting teachers’ instructional simulation use during professional development or in teacher preparation programs.
Hidden Markov Models for Speech Recognition

The use of hidden Markov models for speech recognition has become predominant in the last several years, as evidenced by the number of published papers and talks at major speech conferences. The reasons this method has become so popular are the inherent statistical (mathematically precise) framework; the ease and availability of training algorithms for cstimating the parameters of the models from finite training sets of speech data; the flexibility of the resulting recognition system in which one can easily change the size, type, or architecture of the models to suit particular words, sounds, and so forth; and the ease of implementation of the overall recognition system. In this expository article, we address the role of statistical methods in this powerful technology as applied to speech recognition and discuss a range of theoretical and practical issues that are as yet unsolved in terms of their importance and their effect on performance for different system implementations.
Real Time Detection of Hurricanes from Satellite Cloud Imagery Using Haar Wavelet

Hurricane is one of the most powerful and disastrous natural calamities of all times. Hurricanes form over the warm oceans due to the complex interactions of the underlying ocean and the storm environment. Prediction of the trajectory of these hurricane storms is quite accurate after landfall but the forecast of the future storm is more difficult due to intensity change. There are different observations used for forecasting hurricane. A direct observation using research aircraft is extremely expensive and an indirect observation method called Doppler radar is useful only the storm comes close to shore and after landfall. So in order to predict before landfall, satellites can be used and even this is an indirect observation. Visible satellite images are used for estimating precipitation, amount of ice within the clouds, which tells us the strength of convection or the overturn of the atmosphere within the hurricane. The hurricane storm detection model presented in this paper uses satellite images containing different textures are subjected to k-means clustering to obtain cloud texture on which analysis is carried out. The distance difference between clusters is typically based on pixel color, intensity, texture, and location, or a weighted combination of these factors. The Haar wavelet transform is used to eliminate striping noise and transform the satellite image in spatial domain to frequency. The threshold values of wavelength for cloud image are estimated with higher accuracy using soft thresholding and square root balance sparsity norm.
Polyamine Resistance Is Increased by Mutations in a Nitrate Transporter Gene NRT1.3 (AtNPF6.4) in Arabidopsis thaliana

Polyamines are small basic compounds present in all living organisms and act in a variety of biological processes. However, the mechanism of polyamine sensing, signaling and response in relation to other metabolic pathways remains to be fully addressed in plant cells. As one approach, we isolated Arabidopsis mutants that show increased resistance to spermine in terms of chlorosis. We show here that two of the mutants have a point mutation in a nitrate transporter gene of the NRT1/PTR family (NPF), NRT1.3 (AtNPF6.4). These mutants also exhibit increased resistance to putrescine and spermidine while loss-of-function mutants of the two closest homologs of NRT1.3, root-specific NRT1.1 (AtNPF6.3) and petiole-specific NRT1.4 (AtNPF6.2), were shown to have a normal sensitivity to polyamines. When the GUS reporter gene was expressed under the control of the NRT1.3 promoter, GUS staining was observed in leaf mesophyll cells and stem cortex cells but not in the epidermis, suggesting that NRT1.3 specifically functions in parenchymal tissues. We further found that the aerial part of the mutant seedling has normal levels of polyamines but shows reduced uptake of norspermidine compared with the wild type. These results suggest that polyamine transport or metabolism is associated with nitrate transport in the parenchymal tissue of the shoot.
Functional partitioning for hardware-software codesign using genetic algorithms

Hardware-software partitioning is one of the most important issues of codesign of embedded systems because it is made at the beginning of the cycle of design. In terms of costs and delays, final results will strongly depend on partitioning. In this work we address the functional partitioning problem of hardware-software codesign using a genetic algorithm. Experimental results includes a comparative study with three algorithms: simulated annealing, Fiduccia-Matheyses and a modified version of this with an improvement of results.
Performance Evaluation of Exhaustive-Search Equivalent Pattern Matching under Chebyshev distance

Pattern Matching is a fundamental problem in computer vision, and image and video processing. Exhaustive-Search equivalent algorithms yield the same results as exhaustively searching all patterns in the image but significantly faster. Though much work have been done over the L1 and L2 distances, only small amount of work has been dedicated to the Chebyshev distance though its importance in many applications. In this paper, we provide an evaluation of available state-of-art exhaustive-search equivalent algorithm that targets the Chebyshev distance; we also provide detailed analysis of the performance characteristics of evaluated algorithms.
Modulation of Auditory Responses to Speech vs. Nonspeech Stimuli during Speech Movement Planning

Previously, we showed that the N100 amplitude in long latency auditory evoked potentials (LLAEPs) elicited by pure tone probe stimuli is modulated when the stimuli are delivered during speech movement planning as compared with no-speaking control conditions. Given that we probed the auditory system only with pure tones, it remained unknown whether the nature and magnitude of this pre-speech auditory modulation depends on the type of auditory stimulus. Thus, here, we asked whether the effect of speech movement planning on auditory processing varies depending on the type of auditory stimulus. In an experiment with nine adult subjects, we recorded LLAEPs that were elicited by either pure tones or speech syllables when these stimuli were presented prior to speech onset in a delayed-response speaking condition vs. a silent reading control condition. Results showed no statistically significant difference in pre-speech modulation of the N100 amplitude (early stages of auditory processing) for the speech stimuli as compared with the nonspeech stimuli. However, the amplitude of the P200 component (later stages of auditory processing) showed a statistically significant pre-speech modulation that was specific to the speech stimuli only. Hence, the overall results from this study indicate that, immediately prior to speech onset, modulation of the auditory system has a general effect on early processing stages but a speech-specific effect on later processing stages. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that pre-speech auditory modulation may play a role in priming the auditory system for its role in monitoring auditory feedback during speech production.
The Holocene thermal maximum in the Nordic Seas: the impact of Greenland Ice Sheet melt and other forcings in a coupled atmosphere–sea-ice–ocean model

Abstract. The relatively warm early Holocene climate in the Nordic Seas, known as the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM), is often associated with an orbitally forced summer insolation maximum at 10 ka BP. The spatial and temporal response recorded in proxy data in the North Atlantic and the Nordic Seas reveals a complex interaction of mechanisms active in the HTM. Previous studies have investigated the impact of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS), as a remnant from the previous glacial period, altering climate conditions with a continuous supply of melt water to the Labrador Sea and adjacent seas and with a downwind cooling effect from the remnant LIS. In our present work we extend this approach by investigating the impact of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) on the early Holocene climate and the HTM. Reconstructions suggest melt rates of 13 mSv for 9 ka BP, which result in our model in an ocean surface cooling of up to 2 K near Greenland. Reconstructed summer SST gradients agree best with our simulation including GIS melt, confirming that the impact of the early Holocene GIS is crucial for understanding the HTM characteristics in the Nordic Seas area. This implies that modern and near-future GIS melt can be expected to play an active role in the climate system in the centuries to come.
Optimizing Schrödinger Functionals Using Sobolev Gradients: Applications to Quantum Mechanics and Nonlinear Optics

In this paper we study the application of the Sobolev gradients technique to the problem of minimizing several Schrodinger functionals related to timely and difficult nonlinear problems in quantum mechanics and nonlinear optics. We show that these gradients act as preconditioners over traditional choices of descent directions in minimization methods and show a computationally inexpensive way to obtain them using a discrete Fourier basis and a fast Fourier transform. We show that the Sobolev preconditioning provides a great convergence improvement over traditional techniques for finding solutions with minimal energy as well as stationary states and suggest a generalization of the method using arbitrary linear operators.