Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Automated Segmentation Approach for Quantification and Analysis of Brain Tumors from Magnetic Resonance Images

Medical image processing has come to play a key role in diagnosis and planning of treatment modalities. The huge volume of medical data especially in the form of medical images has necessitated the need for automated analysis of the image, especially in the case Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), which is an important ally in the fight against brain tumor. In this paper a tool for automated segmentation of brain tumors from brain MRI is devised. The tool is capable of quantifying the segmented tumors for different types of analysis in order to aid the radiologist. The three different segmentation approaches like K means, Fuzzy C Means Clustering (FCM) and Watershed segmentation are evaluated for their suitability. The results of the segmentation have been evaluated using different evaluation parameters. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) which is designed as part of the tool is also presented.
Formal Model of Conformity Analysis Method of Java Bytecode Programs annotated with BML Specifications

—This paper presents an analysis method of detecting the inconsistencies between a Java Bytecode program and its formal specification expressed at the Bytecode level, using the Bytecode Modeling Language (BML). The main objective of our work is not only to check the execution code of the called method of a Java object class from a valid input state but also to show how these inconsistencies can be extracted from the Control Flow Graph of the Method Under Test. We believe that Java Bytecode programs can contain bugs that the techniques used for objected-oriented software testing do not necessarily detect from their Java source programs. The proposed formal model shows how both the BML assertions and the Java Bytecode program can be translated into the same model of constraints, and how they can be used for detecting non-conformances of the method under test.
Research on risk management in logistics : metrics and trends / Pesquisa sobre gestão de riscos em logística : métricas e tendências

This study intends to provide researchers with metrics and trends in the area of Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM). This study analyzed 980 scientific articles with diverse methods, including counting of references, co-authorship, research share per country and visual representations of the partnerships between authors and most common words per country.The research used a set of tools, named MetrIA, to perform the processing of data. The results highlighted the cooperation between countries, and indicated what the institutions are engaging in research about the theme. Other indicators also point what are the most common themes being studied and how this interest changed over time.
The Application of the Concept of Green Marketing in the Productive Companies form the Perspective of Workers

This study aimed to identify the role of marketing communications on influencing the marketing performance and confirmed the importance of the integration of marketing communications because of their direct impact on the organization's marketing performance sample consisting of (100) items of the research community. 1There are the level of The Application of the Concept of Green Marketing in the Productive Companies form the Perspective of Workers . 2There are a statistically effect at (α=0.05 )between Sample about The Application of the Concept of Green Marketing in the Productive Companies form the Perspective of Workers Depending on the different variables( income, scientific, Qualification, Gender, Age). the study recommends the following: The study also recommended by a set of recommendations including :Taking care of the fundament a shifts of the production processes making them consistent with the orientations of the green marketing which are the green operations , Taking care of the fundamental shifts of the production processes making them consistent with the orientations of the green marketing which are the green operations, Formulating plans, policies and strategies for the companies in the light of the philosophy of the green marketing in addition to setting policies and procedures, Working on not depleting the natural resources and presenting green products which require significant change in order to be consistent with the organization's goals .
Style Analysis and Value at Risk of Asia-Focused Hedge Funds

In this paper, we attempt to identify risk factors for Asia-focused hedge funds through modified style analysis technique. Using an Asian hedge fund index, we find that Asian hedge funds show significant positive exposures to emerging equity markets, especially emerging markets in Asia, and also hold significant portion of portfolio in cash and high credit rating bonds while short sell world government bond and emerging market bonds. A rolling window style analysis is further employed to analyse the time-variation risk exposures of Asian hedge funds. For both static and rolling period style analysis, our model provides a high explanatory power for returns of the hedge fund index. We further conduct a Value-at-Risk analysis using the results of rolling window style analysis as inputs. Our results indicate that the accuracy of VaR model is dominated by its ability to capture the tail distribution of the hedge fund returns. Moreover, the distribution assumption is superior to the volatility model in VaR forecast. Also, our findings suggest that parametric approach outperforms the historical simulation based past observation.
Can the Information Content of Share Repurchases Improve the Accuracy of Equity Premium Predictions?

We adjust the dividend-price ratio for share repurchases and investigate whether predictive power can be improved when constructing forecasts of UK and French equity premia. Regulations in the two largest European stock markets allow us to employ actual repurchase data in our predictive regressions. Hence, we are able to overcome problems associated with markets characterised by less stringent disclosure requirements, where investors might have to rely on proxies for measuring repurchase activity. We find that predictability does not improve either in a statistical or in an economically significant sense once actual share repurchases are considered. Furthermore, we employ a proxy measure of repurchases which can be easily constructed in international markets and demonstrate that its predictive content is not in line with that of the actual repurchase data.
Dividend Reductions, The Timing of Dividend Payments and Information Content

Australian companies pay dividends semi-annually with smaller “interim” payments and larger “final” payments. Interim dividends are declared and paid within a less full information environment than final dividends. We analyze the interactions between the timing of dividends and their information content, controlling for share repurchase and tax effects. Dividend reductions that are not associated with share repurchases are statistically significantly related to future abnormal earnings and provide strong support for the information content of dividend reductions. The percentage of dividend reduction is stronger for interim than for final dividend reductions. The market reaction is negatively related to the reduction in imputation tax credit and reacts more aggressively and negatively to interim as compared to final dividend reductions.
Relationship Quality and Attachment in Online Environments

This study analyses the role played by diverse variables which ordinarily affect the quality of relationships on the Internet, extending the scope of application to the blogs. This analysis also focuses on attachment as an additional element in the quality of relationships. To do this, we selected a sample of political blogs. The results obtained verify the usual behaviour of the quality of relationships but, above all, they indicate significantly that attachment exercises a considerable influence on satisfaction and commitment but not on trust, and it is one of the variables that best explain commitment. In other words, if we try to explain how commitments are developed in what we call "human brands" in the political environments of the Internet, it is fundamental to see the role played by attachment, both indirectly and mediated by satisfaction. This has consequences on how to manage political action on the Internet.
Propriedades Ópticas e Vibracionais de Compostos Orgânicos Visando Aplicações em Optoeletrônica

Com o avanco tecnologico, os displays e televisores tem ficado cada vez mais sofisticados, com reducao de espessura, aumento de brilho e resolucao. Nos ultimos anos as pesquisas tem sido direcionadas para a utilizacao de diodos orgânicos emissores de luz (OLEDs) em displays de matriz ativa, e tambem na criacao de telas flexiveis, sendo esta uma grande vantagem do uso de OLED, em relacao aos diodos feitos de materiais orgânicos, esta na possibilidade de aplicacao das moleculas diretamente sobre a superficie da tela, barateando o custo de producao. A falta de uma caracterizacao maior dessas moleculas faz com que estudos estruturais, opticos e vibracionais sejam de grande interesse cientifico e tecnologico. Neste trabalho foram investigadas experimentalmente e teoricamente as propriedades opticas e estruturais de compostos orgânicos da familia hidoxifenil benzazolas visando aplicacoes em diodos orgânicos emissores de luz e dispositivos fotoeletricos. O estudo foi desenvolvido buscando a caracterizacao dos compostos e efeito da adicao de um radical amina em diferentes posicoes de uma molecula de 2-(2-hidroxifenil)benzoxazola. Foram realizados experimentos de absorcao e fotoluminescencia para verificar as energias de excitacao e fluorescencia dos compostos. Os procedimentos experimentais foram realizados no Laboratorio de Espectroscopia do Campus de Bage da Universidade Federal do Pampa e Laboratorio de Novos Materiais Orgânicos do Instituto de Quimica da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. A abordagem computacional foi realizada por meio de calculos de primeiros principios, baseados na Teoria do Funcional da Densidade (DFT), implementados no programa SIESTA (Spanish Initiative for Eletronic Simulations with Thousand of Atoms), com as interacoes entre eletrons e ions descritas pela aproximacao de pseudopotencial. Apos a obtencao dos resultados destes calculos, realizados no Centro Nacional de Alto Processamento (CENAPAD-UNICAMP), foi feita uma investigacao da estrutura geometrica molecular, obtendo-se as distâncias interatomicas, estrutura dos orbitais eletronicos, diagrama das bandas de energia, vibracoes moleculares, e frequencias dos modos vibracionais. Por meio da espectroscopia Raman foram obtidas as frequencias dos modos vibracionais Raman ativos, que puderam ser comparados com os resultados teoricos da simulacao. Com base nos resultados experimentais de absorcao e fotoluminescencia serao apresentados, dentre os compostos sintetizados, aqueles que apresentam maior potencial para aplicacao em dispositivos optoeletronicos.
Fear Trading

We introduce a new class of swap trading strategies in incomplete markets, which disaggregate the tradeable compensation for time-varying nonlinear risks in aggregate market returns. While the price of Hellinger variance, a tradeable put-call symmetric measure of variance, has a leading contribution to the VIX volatility index, the higher-order contribution to the VIX is comprehensively captured by the price of tradeable skewness and kurtosis. Risk premia for trading Hellinger variance, skewness and kurtosis do not vanish after transaction costs and are all linked to non-tradeable indices of fear. Skew swaps appear as the most appropriate vehicles for trading fear and disaster risk, as they are best spanned by non-tradeable indices of fear and consistently price market skewness benchmarked to put-call symmetry.
Stochastische Unternehmensmodelle als Kern innovativer Ratingsysteme (Stochastic Business Models As the Core of Innovative Rating Systems)

<b>German Abstract:</b> In unserem Beitrag analysieren wir, basierend auf einer neuen Ratingmethodik, 105 Unternehmen aus Sachsen hinsichtlich ihrer Fähigkeit, ihren finanziellen Verpflichtungen nachzukommen. Sie basiert auf einem klassischen bilanziellen Ansatz, einer direkten Einbeziehung des Risikos und einem stochastischen Simulationsmodell der Unternehmensentwicklung. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die verwendete Methode den bisher verwendeten Ansätzen überlegen ist und unser Wissen über die Unternehmensentwicklung erweitert. Über ihre Basel-II-Anwendbarkeit hinaus ist sie ein Instrument zur Analyse individueller Entwicklungsstrategien von Unternehmen. <br><br><b>English Abstract:</b> In our paper, we analyze, based on a new rating methodology, 105 enterprises from Saxony with respect to their ability to meet their financial obligations. It is based on classical financial-statement approach, a direct inclusion of risk and a stochastic simulation model of enterprise development. The results show that the method used is superior to presently used approaches and that it extends our knowledge of enterprise development. On and above its Basel-II applicability, it is a tool to analyze individual development strategies of firms.
Do Shareholders Assess Managers’ Use of Accruals to Manage Earnings as a Negative Signal of Trustworthiness Even When its Outcome Serves Shareholders’ Interests?

We examine how shareholders’ trust in managers is affected by (1) the outcome of earnings management (inconsistent vs. consistent with shareholders’ interests) and (2) the method of earnings management (accruals vs. real methods). Using a controlled experiment, we predict and find that trust is impaired when the outcome of earnings management suggests that managers have put their interests above shareholders’ interests and/or when the method of earnings management suggests that managers misreported the firm’s economic performance. We argue that shareholders assess managers putting their interests above shareholders’ interests as a signal of untrustworthiness because it involves a transfer of the firm’s resources away from shareholders to managers. We argue that shareholders also assess managers’ use of accruals to manage earnings as a signal of untrustworthiness because, in this instance, managers misreport the firm’s economic performance. Finally, we show that trust mediates the combined effects of the outcome of earnings management and the method of earnings management on investment decisions. Our study incrementally contributes to the literature by highlighting the adverse implications of managers’ use of accruals to manage earnings even when its outcome serves shareholders’ interests.
The Influence of Foreclosure Delays on Borrower's Default Behavior

This paper investigates the influence of expected foreclosure duration on a borrower's future default propensity. We use the lagged actual time-varying state-level foreclosure times as proxies for borrower's expected benefit from default as the form of "free rent. '' While existing literature includes the single-year non-contested foreclosure times as proxies for lengthiness of the foreclosure process, our measure uses the actual foreclosure times and captures the variation in foreclosure duration over time. We document the increase in foreclosure duration in recent years and find a statistically and economically significant impact of foreclosure delay on borrower default behavior. The results are robust to various specifications including state fixed effects, different measures for delays, and year fixed effects. The results are not driven by the major states in the sample nor by the number of years of tracked loan performances. When the property value is likely to be less than the mortgage balance, the expected delay tends to have a larger impact on default. For high initial combined loan-to-value ratio mortgages, the delay has the strongest impact on default and the effect is consistent across various loan types and borrowers with different credit scores. In the current market condition where many borrowers have negative equity, the longer delay tends to have a larger magnitude of impact on default, which may make default optimal for more borrowers. We suggest policy makers to take the negative effect of longer foreclosure delay into consideration when taking actions to mitigate foreclosure crisis.
Float, Speculation, and Stock Price: Evidence from the Share Structure Reform in China

The Split Share Structure Reform in China offers a unique opportunity to test whether the supply of tradable shares (i.e. float) has a significant impact on the degree of speculation. After firms completed the reform, their float increased by 31% on average, while turnover and trading volume also increased substantially. We use information from firms’ reform plan to derive an estimate of the price premium of tradable shares over non-tradable shares before the reform and find that, after controlling for differences in liquidity and profitability, the price premium is significantly related to proxies for the level of speculative trading in tradable shares. Moreover, firms that were highly speculated before the reform had significantly smaller increase in turnover and trading volume than firms that were less speculated. Overall, our evidence confirms that there is a significant speculative component in the market price of tradable shares in China and a large increase in float dampens speculative trading.
The Torpedo Effect: Myth or Reality?

General evidence exists to indicate that managers manage earnings at three common earnings thresholds: analyst forecasts, prior period earnings, and zero earnings. We examine one market-based motivation suggested for this behavior. If managers perceive the market penalty for barely missing an earnings threshold to be disproportionately high (i.e., a torpedo effect), they may use discretion to manage earnings upward to meet the earnings threshold. This market-based incentive would explain the evidence in favor of earnings management at earnings thresholds. To test the existence of a torpedo effect, we employ a comprehensive model that measures the market’s reaction to reported earnings that barely miss earnings thresholds. This model controls for the level of unexpected earnings and several other firm characteristics known to affect the relation between returns and earnings. Overall, we conclude that there is little evidence of a torpedo effect. This conclusion holds for both low growth and high growth firms and is unaffected by the firm’s history of meeting the threshold. Our paper is important for dispelling some commonly held beliefs about the market’s response to earnings thresholds.
Institutional and Structural Constraints to Detecting Earnings Management of Firms Subjected to Price Regulation

This study examines the political costs of firms upon the establishment of the Prices Surveillance Authority in Australia in 1984. The paper identifies and defines a linkage between political actions likely to transfer wealth away from targeted firms and firms' subsequent earnings management. The cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence presented in this study does not support the hypothesis that firms are more likely to affect negative accounting accruals during periods when they are subjected to intense political scrutiny as a means of reducing their exposure to political costs. A further examination of the institutional environment and structural arrangements for price surveillance suggests that while establishing a linkage between political costs and earnings management by firms is a necessary condition, it is not by itself a sufficient condition. Earnings management is but one of several options which can be used to deflect political costs by firm managers.
Latency, Liquidity and Price Discovery

The speed of trading is an important factor in modern security markets. We still know relatively little about the e ffect of speed on liquidity and price discovery, two important aspects of market quality. On April 23rd, 2007, Deutsche Boerse made the most important upgrade to their trading system since 2002. With the 8.0 release of Xetra, system latency was reduced from 50 ms to 10 ms. Both quoted and eff ective spreads decreases post upgrade. This increase in liquidity, is due to dramatically lower adverse selection costs that are only partially translated into higher liquidity. We interpret this as a decrease in the competition between liquidity suppliers who are able to increase their revenues by more than 185 million Euros. The contribution of quotes to price discovery doubles to 90% post upgrade, indicating that prices are more effcient.
Factor Dependence of Bermudan Swaption Prices: Fact or Fiction?

This paper investigates the effect of interest rate correlation in the pricing of Bermudan swaptions. Investigating both Gaussian Markov models and Libor Market models, we find that Bermudan swaption prices depend only weakly on the number of factors in the underlying interest rate model. Moreover, we find that prices of standard Bermudan swaptions typically decrease slightly in the number of factors, primarily a consequence of effects on the time evolution of volatility induced by calibration of the model dynamics. Our findings are markedly different from those of Longstaff, Schwarz, and Santa-Clara (1999) who conclude that single-factor interest rate models significantly undervalue Bermudan swaptions. We argue that the conclusions of Longstaff, Schwarz, and Santa-Clara are due to non-standard choices of model dynamics and calibration methodology. Our study highlights the importance of using a reasonable set of calibration instruments when applying and comparing interest rate models.
Determination on Content of Free Glycerol in Biodiesel by HPLC-ELSD

An analytical method was established for the determination of free glycerol in biodiesel by using liquid-liquid extraction technique and high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) with evaporative light-scattering detector(ELSD). The biodiesel sample was extracted with acetonitrile-water(75∶25),followed by centrifugation.The obtained aqueous layer was analyzed by HPLC-ELSD.The testing conditions of HPLC-ELSD were optimized and the optimal conditions were as follows:separation column:Inertsil NH2 column(250 mm×4.6 mm,5 μm),mobile phase:mixture of acetonitrile and water(75∶25),flow rate:1.0 mL/min,injection volume:30 μL,drift tube temperature:28 ℃,gas pressure of nebulizer:360 kPa.The result indicated that,under the optimal conditions,the calibration curve was linear over the content of free glycerol in biodiesel in the range of 3.73-302.0 mg/kg with a correlation coefficient of 0.999 8,and the limits of detection(S/N≥3)were 2.1 mg/kg.The spiked recoveries were in the range of 98%-101% with relative standard deviations(RSDs) of 0.59%-1.8%. The method was sensitive,accurate and reproducible,and could provide an efficient way for the determination of the content of free glycerol in biodiesel.
Do Credit Default Swaps Mitigate the Impact of Credit Rating Downgrades?

We find that a firm's stock price reaction to its credit rating downgrade announcement is muted by 44--52% when credit default swaps (CDSs) trade on its debt. We explore the role of the CDS markets in providing information ex ante and relieving financing frictions ex post for downgraded firms. We find that the impact of CDS trading is more pronounced for firms whose debt financing is more dependent on credit ratings (e.g., those rated around the speculative-grade boundary, those with a higher number of rating-based covenants). Reductions in debt and investment, and the increase in financing costs are less severe for CDS firms than non-CDS firms following an identical credit rating downgrade. Our results suggest that CDSs mute the stock market reaction to a credit rating downgrade by alleviating the financing frictions faced by downgraded firms.