Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Value of Engaging Customers through a Gamification Marketing Strategy

Many firms try to engage customers in online social media marketing activities. These strategies represent a difficult challenge, but also an attractive opportunity for companies. One such opportunity is gamification. Gamification is a relatively new way to engage customers in online and app-based activities that have not yet been studied extensively in academic papers. Companies use gamification to enhance engagement with their consumer base and ultimately to get an economic benefit for the firm. However, it is unclear whether this strategy can create more valuable customers. This paper provides evidence for the existence of a positive causal association between gamification and revenues using data from an e-tailer that launched an online gamification program for its customer base. While self-selection is a concern with secondary data, we rule out multiple alternative explanations through a propensity score matching analysis. We find significant treatment effect on the treated (TTs), providing support to the effectiveness of gamification. However, we also find that the efficacy of gamification strongly depends on the particular mechanics that characterize the tool. For example, activities that motivate customers to share contents online significantly increase both amount spent and frequency of purchases. Providing incentives to write referrals or to subscribe to the company newsletter are effective in shortening the inter-purchase time. However, adding products to wishlists produce negative results. Companies, therefore, should wisely evaluate the design of a gamification strategy to generate incremental revenues.
SSC18-VI-03 The ISARA Mission – Flight Demonstration of a High Gain Ka-Band Antenna for 100Mbps Telecom

The NASA sponsored ISARA (Integrated Solar Array and Reflectarray Antenna) mission successfully demonstrated a 100 Mbps Ka-band CubeSat communications capability. The enabling technology is a high gain reflectarray antenna integrated into a modified Pumpkin “Turkey Tail” solar array which wraps around the spacecraft body, essentially requiring near zero volume to accommodate. A simple low gain feed is used to distribute RF power to the reflectarray through free space. The 0.5kg ISARA antenna mass is compatible with the requirements of a 3U (10x10x10 cm 3 ) spacecraft. The ISARA mission validated this approach in a flight technology demonstration. A unique on-orbit measurement system provided accurate measurement of the antenna gain from space. This system demonstrated 100Mbps downlink data rate capability using a relatively simple ground station with a 70cm parabolic reflector antenna. The spacecraft also verified ISARA solar panel output power and demonstrated the operational capability to accurately point the antenna to a Ka-band ground station, a key requirement for a telecom system. ISARA achieved a number of technological firsts. It is believed to be the first reflectarray antenna flown in space, first high gain antenna integrated with solar panels, first calibrated
RETRIEVAL OF TROPICAL PEATLAND FOREST BIOMASS FROM POLARIMETRIC FEATURES IN CENTRAL KALIMANTAN, INDONESIA

In this research, the potential of L-band SAR data is evaluated for tropical peatland forest biomass estimation using polarimetric features and field data. For this, ALOS-2 full polarimetric data are acquired over central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Total 54 sampled plots (20m×20m) were established in the study site; diameter at breast height (DBH) and tree species of every tree were collected in each plot. Locally developed allometric equations were used to convert field data to biomass and plot level biomass, and the upscaling factor was applied to upscale plot level biomass to standard tones per hectare scale. Backscattering coefficient (σo) was computed for HH,HV, V H and V V polarization. Similarly, eigen decomposition was performed to extract: entropy (E), alpha (α), and anisotropy (A); also diversity indices were computed. Yamaguchi decomposition was performed to extract scattering behavior of forest in central Kalimantan. All polarimetric parameters were upscaled to one-hectare scale. Field data were divided into training plots (70 percent → 42 plots) and validation plots (30 percent → 12 plots). Nonlinear regression analysis was performed between polarimetric parameters and training plots. Perplexity, Shannon index, entropy, Gini Simpson index, index of qualitative inversion, Reyni entropy (order 2), σHV , alpha, σV V , and volumetric scattering component were found significantly correlated (ranging R2 from 0.67 to 0.49) with the field data. The corresponding nonlinear model was inverted, and biomass maps were computed for the individual model. The resultant biomass maps were validated using a validation set of referenced measurements. Perplexity, Shannon index, entropy, Gini Simpson index, index of qualitative inversion, Reyni entropy (order 2), σHV , alpha, σV V , and volumetric scattering exhibited a significant correlation between field biomass and predicted biomass computed using developed model. R2 for validation ranges from 0.95 to 0.81 with RMSE ranging from 13.59 Mgha−1 to 25.63 Mgha−1. The estimated biomass in study site ranges from 49.31 Mgha−1 to 290.60 Mgha−1.
Munich Personal RePEc Archive Breakdowns and revivals: the long-run relationship between the stock market and real economic activity in the G-7 countries

Using monthly observations of industrial production and stock market indices from January 1961 to May 2012, we analyse the long-run relationship between the stock markets and real economic activity in the G-7 countries. In particular, this analysis uses the Toda and Yamamoto (1995) approach with the leveraged bootstrap methodology that was proposed by Hacker and Hatemi-J (2006). Our results indicate that although the expected long-run relationship holds for most of the G-7 countries, a break in this relationship occurred in the 1980s, followed by a subsequent revival after 2001.
Determination of Sorbic Acid in Cheese Samples by Rapid HPLC-DAD Method

The sorbic acid and its salts have been widely used in the food industries for many years as important food preservatives in order to inhibit the growth of various bacteria, yeasts, and fungi in acidic media. The health effects have led to limitation on the concentrations that can be used in food. Because of that, the analytical determination of these preservatives is important for consumer interest and protection. The purpose of this study is to determine the concentration of sorbic acid in cheese samples by using HPLC. For HPLC analysis, an X-Terra RP-18 (150 × 4.60 mm i.d. × 5 μm) column was selected as the stationary phase at 25°C. Analysis time is about 3 minutes. The developed method was applied to 10 different cheese samples collected from the Turkish market. The levels of sorbic acid in the analyzed samples were between 21.3 mg/kg and 511.3 mg/kg.
Exercise Preconditioning Plays a Protective Role in Exhaustive Rats by Activating the PI3K-Akt Signaling Pathway

Objective To investigate whether exercise preconditioning (EP) protects the rat heart from exhaustive exercise- (EE-) induced injury by inducing the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Methods 84 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 6 groups (n = 14 rats per group): control group (Con), exhaustive exercise group (EE), exercise preconditioning group (EP), exercise preconditioning + exhaustive exercise group (EP + EE), LY294002 (PI3K inhibitor) + exercise preconditioning + exhaustive exercise group (LY + EP + EE), and LY294002 group (LY). The Con and LY did not exercise. The remaining groups were subjected to treadmill running. The structure of myocardial tissue and serum biomarkers of myocardial injury were observed. Hemodynamic parameters were recorded with a pressure-volume catheter. TUNEL assay was used to detect the apoptosis of cardiac myocytes, and the level of mitochondrial membrane permeability transforming pore (mPTP) in myocardium was evaluated using ELISA. Pathway and apoptosis-related proteins in myocardium were assessed using western blotting. Results Compared to the Con group, the EE group showed remarkable myocardial injury, such as cardiac dysfunction and myocardial apoptosis. Compared to the EE group, the injuries in the EP + EE group were improved. EP increased the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway and regulated Bcl-2 family to decrease the mPTP openness level. However, the cardioprotective effects of EP were attenuated when pretreated with the LY294002. Conclusions EP protected the heart from EE-induced injury, and it may improve the cardiac function and reduce the cardiomyocyte apoptosis by activating the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway.
Medial Elastics

We propose a framework for the interactive simulation of nonlinear deformable objects. The primary feature of our system is the seamless integration of deformable simulation and collision culling, which are often independently handled in existing animation systems. The bridge connecting them is the medial axis transform (MAT), a high-fidelity volumetric approximation of complex 3D shapes. From the physics simulation perspective, MAT leads to an expressive and compact reduced nonlinear model. We employ a semireduced projective dynamics formulation, which well captures high-frequency local deformations of high-resolution models while retaining a low computation cost. Our key observation is that the most compelling (nonlinear) deformable effects are enabled by the local constraints projection, which should not be aggressively reduced, and only apply model reduction at the global stage. From the collision detection (CD)/collision culling (CC) perspective, MAT is geometrically versatile using linear-interpolated spheres (i.e., the so-called medial primitives (MPs)) to approximate the boundary of the input model. The intersection test between two MPs is formulated as a quadratically constrained quadratic program problem. We give an algorithm to solve this problem exactly, which returns the deepest penetration between a pair of intersecting MPs. When coupled with spatial hashing, collision (including self-collision) can be efficiently identified on the GPU within a few milliseconds even for massive simulations. We have tested our system on a variety of geometrically complex and high-resolution deformable objects, and our system produces convincing animations with all of the collisions/self-collisions well handled at an interactive rate.
FUNDING EMERGING ECOSYSTEMS Documents de travail GREDEG GREDEG Working Papers Series

Although prior research argues that location is important for firm performance, we lack an understanding of how resources accumulate in regions and how innovative ecosystems emerge and evolve over time. This paper focuses on the temporal development of an industry in a region and provides a framework for characterizing phase changes in a geographically defined entrepreneurial ecosystem. We add to the literature on entrepreneurial ecosystems by considering emergence as a temporal process and explicating finance as a mechanism that transitions between phases. Emergence is captured by the accumulation of individual entry by entrepreneurs, and punctuated by phase changes as the region accumulates resources and evolves. We use threshold regression to identify inflection points in stages of industry emergence. We then focus on the role of finance, from both public and private sources. Using a dynamic random effects probit model with regime analysis, we demonstrate interrelationships between public and private funding sources that differ over time. Finally, we estimate the relationship between the funding from various sources and firm survival within different phases using a discrete event history analysis. Our results demonstrate that public and private funding sources are complementary but with different impacts on firm survival during different phases. The results have implications for startup firms seeking funding and for policy making trying to encourage industry emergence. Acknowledgements: Funding for the development of the PLACE database was provided by the National Science Foundation and the Kauffman Foundation. We thank Makha Mooen for Bioscan data and Christos Kolympirisa for NIH data. We would also like to thank Mercedes Delgado and participants at AOM, APPAM, and Danish Research Unit for Industrial Dynamics (DRUID).
Crowd Intelligence: Conducting Asymmetric Impact-Performance Analysis Based on Online Reviews

Asymmetric impact-performance analysis (AIPA) is an effective technique for understanding customer satisfaction and formulating improvement strategies for products and services. Typically, AIPA is conducted based on data obtained from customer surveys, which are expensive in terms of time and money. As a new data source, online reviews have many advantages, which are a promising data source for conducting AIPA. To this end, this article proposes a method for conducting AIPA based on online reviews. To illustrate the feasibility and validity of the proposed method, a case study of AIPA for a five-star hotel in Singapore is given. The proposed method can provide managers one more choice for conducting AIPA with lower cost and shorter time since products and services online reviews can be easily collected.
Goal Start Goal Goal Start Start l l l l L

We propose a meta path planning algorithm named Neural Exploration-Exploitation Trees (NEXT) for learning from prior experience for solving new path planning problems in high dimensional continuous state and action spaces. Compared to more classical sampling-based methods like RRT, our approach achieves much better sample efficiency in high-dimensions and can benefit from prior experience of planning in similar environments. More specifically, NEXT exploits a novel neural architecture which can learn promising search directions from problem structures. The learned prior is then integrated into a UCB-type algorithm to achieve an online balance between exploration and exploitation when solving a new problem. We conduct thorough experiments to show that NEXT accomplishes new planning problems with more compact search trees and significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods on several benchmarks.
Remifentanil Protects against Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Inflammation through PARP-1/NF-κB Signaling Pathway

Sepsis is a leading cause of death in patients with severe infection worldwide. Remifentanil is an ultra-short-acting, potent opioid analgesic. In the study, we aimed to investigate the role and underlying mechanism of remifentanil in lipopolysaccharide- (LPS-) induced inflammation in human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs). HAECs were pretreated with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) or remifentanil (2.5 μM) for 30 min, then stimulated by LPS (10 μg/ml) for another 24 h. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1) was inhibited by small interfering RNA (siRNA). Superoxide anion production and DNA damage were analyzed by dihydroethidium (DHE) staining and comet assay. The inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), PARP-1, poly(ADP-ribose) (PAR), and nuclear factor-kappa B p65 (NF-κB p65) expressions were analyzed by RT-PCR or western blotting analysis. NF-κB p65 nuclear translocation was assessed by immunofluorescence. Compared with the control group, pretreatment with remifentanil significantly reduced superoxide anion production and DNA damage, with downregulation of iNOS, ICAM-1, and PARP-1 expressions as well as PAR expression. Moreover, pretreatment with PARP-1 siRNA or remifentanil inhibited LPS-induced NF-κB p65 expression and nuclear translocation. Remifentanil reduced LPS-induced inflammatory response through PARP-1/NF-κB signaling pathway. Remifentanil might be an optimal choice of analgesia in septic patients.
Virtual Flight Testing with VIRTTAC-Castor: New Capabilities and Flight Envelope Definition

This paper presents the newest release (v0.52-beta) of the VIRTTAC-Castor flight dynamical simulation model. VIRTTAC-Castor is the first model of a larger family, VIRTTAC (Virtual Test Aircraft), developed at the DLR Institute of Flight Systems and freely available on GitHub. These models are black boxes in order to put the users in the situation of a flight test engineer who does not have access to the model equations or parameters but can only test the complete aircraft system as a whole. The VIRTTAC-Castor configuration is a 100-passenger twin-engine high-wing T-tail transport aircraft. The novelties introduced with this new version include the first versions of two fault/abnormal scenarios: a wing icing case and actuator jamming for one or more primary control surfaces (elevators, ailerons, or rudder). In addition to introducing these new features, the paper also provides new information regarding the operational flight envelope (e.g. service ceiling, VMO, MMO, VFE for each configuration).
On the binary self-dual [ 96 , 48 , 20 ] codes with an automorphism of order 9 1

In this paper we study the existence of binary self-dual [96, 48, 20] codes possessing an automorphism of order 9. Using a method for classification of binary self-dual codes having an automorphism of order p for an odd prime p we prove the nonexistence of an optimal self-dual code of length 96 with an automorphism of order 9 with 10 cycles and 6 fixed points.
µRAI: Securing Embedded Systems with Return Address Integrity

Embedded systems are deployed in security critical environments and have become a prominent target for remote attacks. Microcontroller-based systems (MCUS) are particularly vulnerable due to a combination of limited resources and low level programming which leads to bugs. Since MCUS are often a part of larger systems, vulnerabilities may jeopardize not just the security of the device itself but that of other systems as well. For example, exploiting a WiFi System on Chip (SoC) allows an attacker to hijack the smart phone’s application processor. Control-flow hijacking targeting the backward edge (e.g., Return-Oriented Programming–ROP) remains a threat for MCUS. Current defenses are either susceptible to ROP-style attacks or require special hardware such as a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) that is not commonly available on MCUS. We present μRAI , a compiler-based mitigation to prevent control-flow hijacking attacks targeting backward edges by enforcing the Return Address Integrity (RAI) property on MCUS. μRAI does not require any additional hardware such as TEE, making it applicable to the wide majority of MCUS. To achieve this, μRAI introduces a technique that moves return addresses from writable memory, to readable and executable memory. It repurposes a single general purpose register that is never spilled, and uses it to resolve the correct return location. We evaluate against the different control-flow hijacking attacks scenarios targeting return addresses (e.g., arbitrary write), and demonstrate how μRAI prevents them all. Moreover, our evaluation shows that μRAI enforces its protection with negligible overhead.
Simulation of Hydraulic Fracturing Using Different Mesh Types Based on Zero Thickness Cohesive Element

Hydraulic fracturing is a significant technique in petroleum engineering to enhance the production of shale gas or shale oil reservoir. The process of hydraulic fracturing is extremely complicated, referring to the deformation of solid formation, fluid flowing in the crack channel, and coupling the solid with fluid. Simulation of hydraulic fracturing and understanding the course of the mechanism is still a challenging task. In this study, two hydraulic fracturing models, including the Khristianovic–Geertsma–de Klerk (KGD) problem and the hydraulic fracture (HF) intersection with the natural fracture (NF), based on the zero thickness pore pressure cohesive zone (PPCZ) element with contact friction is established. The element can be embedded into the edges of other elements to simulate the fracture initiation and propagation. However, the mesh type of the elements near the PPCZ element has influences on the accuracy and propagation profile. Three common types of mesh, triangle mesh, quadrangle mesh, and deformed quadrangle mesh, are all investigated in this paper. In addition, the infinite boundary condition (IBC) is also discussed in these models. Simulation indicates that the results of pore pressure for zero toughness regime simulated by the triangle mesh are much lower than any others at the early injection time. Secondly, the problem of hydraulic fracturing should be better used with the infinite boundary element (IBE). Moreover, suggestions for crack intersection on the proper mesh type are also given. The conclusions included in this article can be beneficial to research further naturally fractured reservoirs.
A corpus study of derivational morphology: Prefixes UN and non in the BNC

Corpora as a tool for studying morphology has been mainly used to examine morphological productivity, since English is rich in derivational morphology. Corpora can also be used to study the relationship between collocations and affixes which constitute them. The aim of this research is to establish the similarities and differences between nouns which follow adjectives with prefixes UN and non in collocations with unmarried and non-married in the British National Corpus (BNC). The emphasis is on the occurrence of nouns which denote human beings. The aim is to learn what characterises the prefixes and their distribution. By focusing on the prefixes in unmarried and non-married, we also examine how an electronic corpus can help bring semantic and morphological analysis closer together, and whether it can yield significant findings about culture and society.