Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants of Short-Term Corporate Yield Spreads : Evidence from the Chinese Commercial Paper Market ∗

What drives short-term credit spreads is a very important question in credit markets, yet the empirical literature on the determinants of such spreads is rather thin perhaps due to data limitations. Using a unique data set of secondary market transaction prices of Chinese commercial papers, this paper provides a comprehensive study on the determinants of short-term credit spreads within the structural framework of credit risk modeling. Specifically, we propose a model of risky debt pricing with rollover risk, jumps, and endogenous liquidity. Among other things, this model allows us to decompose commercial paper yield spreads into a credit component and a liquidity component in a unified manner. We find that both credit and liquidity factors are important determinants of short-term credit spreads and that on average, the proposed structural model can largely match levels of commercial paper spreads in our sample. ∗We thank Zhi Da, Jens Dick-Nielsen, Zhiguo He, Jun Pan, Wei Xiong, seminar participants at Southwest University of Finance and Economics and Tsinghua University; and participants at the 2019 Five-Star Workshop at Hanqing Institute for valuable comments and suggestions. We also thank Yanyi Ye for her able research assistance.
The Economic Consequences of R = 1: Towards a Workable Behavioural Epidemiological Model of Pandemics

This paper reviews the literature on incorporating behavioural elements into epidemiological models of pandemics. While modelling behaviour by forward-looking rational agents can provide some insight into the time paths of pandemics, the non-stationary nature of Susceptible-Infected-Removed (SIR) models of viral spread makes characterisation of resulting equilibria difficult. Here I posit a shortcut that can be deployed to allow for a tractable equilibrium model of pandemics with intuitive comparative statics and also a clear prediction that effective reproduction numbers (that is, R) will tend towards 1 in equilibrium. This motivates taking R=1 as an equilibrium starting point for analyses of pandemics with behavioural agents. The implications of this for the analysis of widespread testing, tracing, isolation and mask-use is discussed.
Design and Simulation of MEMS Pressure Sensor Using COMSOL Multiphysics Tool and Analysis of its Compatibility with Digital Interfacing Unit for Pressure Measurement

This paper summarizes variation of characteristic which arises from the longitudinal change of stress that induced in the sensor circuit main part or the p-type Si piezoresitive element with respect to induced stress. This sensing or conversion of stress to analog voltage resulted from the piezeoresistive effect occurred within the sensor when stress applied. The location of the sensor on the membrane surface has chosen near to the fixed edge of the plate where maximum stress exits. The pSi piezoresistive sensor has included in readout circuit configuration as one of the two elements in the sensor circuit and the other one of them placed in a stress-free region that is on the fixed edge with the same orientation. This circuit configuration is chosen to generate readable analog sensor output voltage which is simple and convenient to make both analytical and computer-aided analysis. Since the two sensing elements used in the sensor circuit are identical, in absence of pressure the output voltage is found to be nearly half of the biasing voltage. And also we observed that the sensor output voltage linearly varies with the applied pressure at the center of the diaphragm. Finally, the change in output voltage per one 100kPa pressure is calculated in the longitudinal orientation. We have determined that this resolution is matched with 8-bit analog to digital converter’s output resolution if suitable signal conditioning circuit is employed for pressure measurement purpose. Keywords— MEMS, Peizoresistor, Diaphragm, Readout circuit, Longitudinal stress
Factors Driving Consumer Involvement in Energy Consumption and Energy-Efficient Purchasing Behavior: Evidence from Korean Residential Buildings

The recent rapid transition in energy markets and technological advances in demand-side interventions has renewed attention on consumer behavior. A rich literature on potential factors affecting residential energy use or green technology adoption has highlighted the need to better understand the fundamental causes of consumer heterogeneity in buildings’ energy-related behavior. Unresolved questions such as which consumers are most likely to opt into demand-side management programs and what factors might explain the wide variation in behavioral responses to such programs make it difficult for policy-makers to develop cost-effective energy efficiency or demand response programs for residential buildings. This study extends the literature on involvement theory and energy-related behavior by proposing a holistic construct of household energy involvement (HEI) to represent consumers’ personal level of interest in energy services. Based on a survey of 5487 Korean households, it finds that HEI has a stronger association with consumer values, such as preferences for indoor thermal comfort and automation, than with socioeconomic or housing characteristics and demonstrates HEI’s potential as a reliable, integrated predictor of both energy consumption and energy-efficient purchases. The study illuminates the multifaceted influences that shape energy-related behavior in residential buildings and offers new tools to help utility regulators identify and profile viable market segments, improve the cost-effectiveness of their programs, and eventually promote urban sustainability.
Polymerization depths of conventional and bulk fill composites photoactivated by different methods

The aim of this study was to evaluate the depth of cure of conventional (Filtek Z350 and Esthet-X HD) and bulk fill resins composites (Filtek bulk fill flow and SDR) using different photoactivation methods. Samples were made using five discshaped matrices (1 mm high and 8 mm central diameter) with interposed polyester strips. The samples were photoactivated using different methods [continuous high-irradiance light (LCA), continuous low-irradiance light (LCB), and soft-start (SS)], maintaining 24 J/cm² radiant exposure. After 24h, Knoop microhardness test was performed at 5 depths (surface, 1 mm, 2 mm, 3 mm and 4 mm). The Knoop microhardness were analyzed by ANOVA two-way and Tukey’s test (5%). Conventional resins presented the highest results up to 2 mm depth, except for Esthet-X photoactived by LCB, which showed significant lower Knoop hardness from 2 mm depth. Bulk fill resins photoactivated with LCA and SS had the highest results in 4 mm depth. The LCA and SS photoactivation methods produce suitable photoactivation in conventional composites up to 2 mm and bulk fill up to 4 mm depth and the bulk fill composites present higher polymerization depth than conventional composites. Keywords: Dental curing lights; hardness test; photoactivation; polymerization; resin
Acoustic velocities of calcium perovskite 1 CALCIUM SILICATE PEROVSKITE ’ S SEISMIC VELOCITIES CAN EXPLAIN LLVPS IN EARTH ’ S 1 LOWER MANTLE 2

A.R. Thomson1,2*, W.A. Crichton2, J.P. Brodholt1,3, I.G. Wood1, N.C. Siersch4, J. Muir5, D.P. Dobson1 and Simon A. Hunt1 3 1Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT. 4 2ESRF The European Synchrotron, 71 avenue des Martyrs, 38000 Grenoble, France. 5 3Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics, University of Oslo, N-0316 Oslo, Norway. 6 4Bayeriches Geoinstitut, University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany. 7 5School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT. 8 *Corresponding Author (a.r.thomson@ucl.ac.uk) 9 10 Seismology records the presence of various heterogeneities throughout the lower mantlee.g. 1,2, however, the origins 11 of these signals, whether thermal or chemical, remain uncertain and therefore much of the information they hold 12 about the nature of the deep Earth is obscured. Accurate interpretation of observed velocities requires knowledge of 13 the seismic properties of all of Earth’s possible mineral components. Calcium silicate perovskite (hereafter “calcium 14 perovskite”) is believed to be the third most abundant mineral throughout the lower mantle . Here we measure the 15 crystal structure, compressional and shear wave velocity of calcium perovskite samples , and provide direct 16 constraints for calcium perovskite’s adiabatic bulk and shear moduli. We observe that titanium incorporation into 17 calcium perovskite stabilises the tetragonal structure to higher temperatures, and that the shear modulus of calcium 18 perovskite is significantly lower than is predicted by computations3-5 or thermodynamic datasets6. When combined 19 with literature data and extrapolated our results suggest subducted oceanic crust will be visible as low velocity 20 anomalies throughout the lower mantle. In particular we show that large low-velocity provinces (LLVPs) are 21 consistent with moderate enrichment of recycled oceanic crust, and mid-mantle discontinuities can be explained by a 22 tetragonal-cubic phase transition in Ti-bearing calcium perovskite. 23
Single-Fiber Based Endoscopic Imaging: Methods and Characteristics

Different from imaging an object through a multimode optical fiber (MMF) directly, it is much more challenging to use a single MMF for practical endoscopic imaging in which the light wave has been distorted twice: on the way in for the illumination and on the way out for the detection. In this paper, based on obtaining the optical transmission matrix (TM) of the MMF working in the reflective mode, we demonstrate that, via the measured optical TM, the object can be reconstructed directly from its round-trip distorted output speckle fields. Compared with other single-fiber based endoscopic imaging methods, our method doesn’t involve any scanning operation during the imaging process. Such an efficient method might have potential applications for wide-field and ultrathin fiber endoscopic imaging.
Impact of ex-situ annealing on strain and composition of MBE grown GeSn

The application of GeSn is extended to semiconductor lasers thanks to its band engineering via Sn composition and strain manipulation. As one of the strain engineering methods, thermal annealing, however, is not yet being widely adopted by the majority due to the thermal instability it induces. The thermal stability of GeSn is highly sensitive to initial material conditions, consequently thorough investigations are still demanded with different purposes. A detailed investigation on the thermal annealing effects of thick GeSn layers with a nominal 8% Sn grown on Ge-buffered Si (001) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy is presented here. Atomic force microscopy and high-resolution x-ray diffraction were used to trace the change of GeSn surface morphology and the strain relaxation after annealing. It is confirmed that the tetragonal compressive strain in GeSn, which is a proven detriment to the realisation of direct-bandgap material, can be relaxed by 90% while improving crystal quality, e.g. reduced surface roughness by appropriate annealing conditions. These findings reveal the potential of annealed GeSn to serve as a much thinner (750 nm), better lattice-matched to GeSn active layer and highly strain-relaxed platform to grow GeSn on compared to the thick Ge or the compositional-graded (Si)GeSn buffer layers, which are complicated and time-consuming in growth procedures and also securing an easier approach.
Parallel Implenetation of the GPR Techniques for Detecting and Mapping Ancient Buildings by Using CUDA

Yere nufuz eden radar (GPR), bir duvarin arkasina gizlenebilen veya duvarin icine yerlestirilebilen nesnelerin algilanmasi icin kullanilan ultra genis bantli bir elektromanyetik sensordur. GPR yontemi, arayuzde yer alan yuksek hizda bir anten tarafindan yatay yonde yeraltina gonderilen elektromanyetik dalgalarin, yine alici tarafindan yatay yonde yansitilmasinin kaydedilmesi prensibi uzerine calisir. Gomulu yapilar; toplanan veriler, bilgisayar programlari ve cesitli filtreler kullanilarak algilanir. Hava cepleri gibi duvarlar arasinda gizlenmis hedeflerin bulunmasi arkeologlara yardimci olur. Bu calismada, topragin dagilimi icin Lorentz modeli kullanilmiltir. Sinir kosullarini sonumleyip acik bir alani simule etmek icin mukemmel uyumlu katman (PML) kullanilmis ve dagitici medyaya uyacak sekilde genisletilmistir. Sonlu farkli zaman alani (FDTD) yontemi, elektromanyetik alanlarin zaman basamaklamasindaki kismi diferansiyel denklemleri ayristirmak icin kullanilir. FDTD hesaplamasi cok yavas calismaktadir. Bu sorunu cozmek icin grafik islem biriminde (GPGPU) genel amacli programlama yapilabilmektedir. Bu calismada GPU'ya CUDA kullanilarak 3-B FDTD yontemi uygulanmis ve 10 kat hizlanmistir.
Strategic Trade Policy in Reciprocal Dumping Model with Incomplete Information

This paper extends the conventional literature on strategic trade policy in reciprocal dumping model to the context that involves market demand uncertainty and incomplete information. In order to highlight the role of uncertainty and incomplete information, a simple scenario with linear asymmetric demand, additive stochastic market shock, homogeneous products, and identical constant marginal costs are considered. It is shown that incomplete information at industrial level redistributes the option value associated with better information to the country with the better informed firm. As a result, both governments tend to choose tariffs over export subsidies in the Nash equilibrium of the simultaneous strategic trade policy games under complete and incomplete information. This yields a second best outcome. Moreover, we show that Nash equilibrium outcome is inferior to free-trade outcome.
Regularity of minimizers of variational integrals with wide range of anisotropy by Menita Carozza University of Sannio

In this paper we characterize the minimizers of integral functionals of the form F(v,Ω) = ∫ Ω F (Dv(x)) dx, where the integrands F are autonomous and suitably convex but not subjected to any growth conditions from above and defined for mappings v : Ω ⊂ R → R in the Sobolev class W, satisfying a Dirichlet boundary condition. We establish, under a natural regularity assumption on the boundary datum, that the minimizers of F are precisely the energy solutions to the Euler– Lagrange system for F. More precisely it is shown that u is minimizing precisely when F ′(Du) is integrable, row–wise solenoidal and F ′(Du) ·Du is integrable. As an application, we also deduce a higher differentiability result for the minimizers in a special case. AMS Classifications. 49N15; 49N60; 49N99.
Does inflation impact shariah (islamic) equity index and conventional equity index differently?the case of Malaysia

There have been a lot of works done on the impact of inflation on the conventional equity index. However, not much work has been done on the impact of inflation on Islamic equity index. This paper is an attempt at investigating whether the impact of inflation on Shariah (islamic) equity and conventional equity is similar or different. The standard time series techniques have been employed for the analysis. The finding tends to indicate that the impact of inflation on Shariah (islamic) equity index and conventional equity index is not significantly different but similar. This finding has an important implication for the policy makers, practitiners and investers in that they would be aware of whether an investment in islamic equity is any better or worse (than conventional equity) as a hedge against inflation at least in the context of Malaysia.
The Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of Secondary High School Students Regarding Food Safety and Hygiene in Khorramdarreh, Iran

Background: The studies on children and adolescents provide the basic information for educational interventions such as the assessment of the knowledge of community health promotion. The present study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practices of secondary high school students regarding food safety and hygiene in Khorramdarreh, Zanjan, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 640 secondary high school students during December 2014-December 2015. The participants were selected via cluster sampling, and data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire after assessing its validity and reliability. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 16. Results: The mean scores of the knowledge, attitude, and practices of the students were 36.6±6.96 (moderate), 57.95±6.88 (favorable), and 40.59±5.80 (favorable), respectively. The lowest knowledge level of the students was observed in milk and egg hygiene (27%), meat hygiene (35%), effect of temperature on microorganisms (35%), and brucellosisrelated aspects (7.33%). Conclusion: Although the students had a positive attitude toward food safety, they had inadequate knowledge of the effects on their practices. Therefore, it seems that training is essential in the food safety and hygiene fields for students and their parents.
The Role of Storylines in Hate Speech Detection (short paper)

The paper explains why it is necessary to consider offensive statements in the context of their respective narratives if we want to achieve a more accurate classification of hate comments. By considering the narrative, text analysis is more sensitive to a person’s affective state that, in turn, helps to reveal the true orientation of the statements in its close proximity. The approach present here is mainly built on named-entity recognition for identifying the different text features we can encounter in hate speech. First, the statements often exhibit a writing style that differs from a regular one in deliberate and unintentional misspellings, strange abbreviations and interpunctuations, and the use of symbols. Central to text analysis here is the identification of toxic terms that clearly evidence the offensive and aggressive character of each statement. However, the biggest challenge is the recognition of emotions and affective state of the writer. Analysis described here underpins the design of a prototype that operates on statements along storylines using a series of bags of words for names of persons, locations, and groups as well as insults, threats, and emotions. First results from this work-in-progress show hate speech analysis of German tweets that refer to the vitally discussed topic “refugees” in Germany.
How to Measure and Assess the Turnout Effects of Election Reforms

Many states allow some form of non-traditional precinct voting, from voting early in-person to various forms of mail-assisted balloting. Research on how these voting reforms impact voter participation has produced a wide range of mixed findings. We review this literature and describe how the research designs and measures used by past studies may have biased their results. We then offer a new theoretical approach for testing the relationship between convenience voting reforms and voter turnout that addresses some of the pitfalls in previous measurements of reforms. We also identify best practices for how to implement our new measures using a difference-in-difference research strategy that is robust to many confounding factors and describe a potential sustainable database for undertaking this research over time.
COVID-19 and implications for automation

ABSTRACT COVID-19 may accelerate the automation of jobs as employers invest in technology to safeguard against pandemics. We identify occupations that have high automation potential and also exhibit a high risk of viral infection. We examine regional variation in terms of which U.S. local labour markets are most at risk. Next, we outline the differential impacts COVID-19 may have on different demographic groups. We find that the highest-risk occupations in the U.S. are those held by females with mid- to low-wage and education levels. Using comparable data for 25 other countries, we also find that women in this demographic are at the highest risk internationally.
A NOVEL APPROACH FOR GENERATING SMALL - BIT S-BOXES

In this manuscript, we present -bit S-boxes of order by using the action of symmetric group on the LSB’s of the S-box generated from subgroup of Galois field. The inspiration is the improved performance parameters and the practical applications of existing S-boxes around Cryptography. The S-boxes use the permutations of symmetric group on the elements of the Galois field . Whereas, in the proposed S-boxes, the symmetric group acts on the LSB’s of the elements of the subgroup of Galois field. Consequently, new S-boxes have been attained. The fact that the elements of these S-boxes are different from those of the subgroup produces ambiguity about the algebraic complexity of the new S-boxes. The obtained S-boxes have been inspected and equated with the original S-box by balance property, nonlinearity test, linear approximation probability test, differential approximation probability test and strict avalanche criteria. The aptness of the S-boxes to encryption applications has been determined and verified with majority logic criterion.
Chosen-Ciphertext Secure Attribute-Hiding Non-Zero Inner Product Encryptions and Its Applications

Non-zero inner product encryption ( NIPE ) allows a user to encrypt a message with an attribute vector and a receiver holding a secret-key associated to a predicate vector can recover the message from the ciphertext if the inner product between the attribute and predicate vectors is non-zero. The main focus is to hide messages in most of the existing NIPE s and the associated attribute is trivially included in the ciphertext. In this work, we investigate the design of NIPE s that are capable of hiding attributes along with messages and secure against active adversaries. In particular, we describe a generic transformation of an attribute-hiding chosen-ciphertext attack ( CCA ) secure NIPE from an inner product functional encryption ( IPFE ) and a quasi-adaptive non-interactive zero-knowledge ( QANIZK ) proof system. This leads us to a set of attribute-hiding NIPE s ( AHNIPE ) with security based on several assumptions such as plain Decisional Diﬃe-Hellman ( DDH ), Learning With Errors ( LWE ) and Decision Composite Reciprocity ( DCR ). Furthermore, we build a more eﬃcient and concrete construction of a CCA secure AHNIPE the security of which can be based on DDH and Kernel Matrix Diﬃe-Hellman ( KerMDH ) assumptions. As DDH implies the computational KerMDH assumption, the latter construction achieves a CCA secure AHNIPE from minimal assumption to date. We explore a few applications of AHNIPE . More speciﬁcally, we show that AHNIPE directly implies an anonymous identity-based revocation ( IBR ) scheme. Consequently, we get the ﬁrst CCA secure IBR solely based on plain DDH assumption in the standard model, improving the security of any previous anonymous CCA secure IBR scheme which is proven secure relying on pairing-based assumptions in the random oracle model. Moreover, we add a tracing algorithm to our anonymous IBR scheme to convert it into an eﬃcient anonymous trace and revoked scheme with CCA security.