Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Combined Effects of Financial Derivatives and Discretionary Accruals on the Value Relevance of Earnings and the Book Value of Equity

This study aimed to understand (1) the association between the use of discretionary accruals and financial derivatives, taking into consideration the implementation of revised PSAK 55 (1999), which was adopted from SFAS 133; (2) the combined effects of derivatives and discretionary accruals on the value relevance of earnings and equity. The analysis used panel data regressions and the Wald test over the period from 2001-2008. The results showed a positive or complementary association between derivatives and discretionary accruals. The positive association implied that managers tended to intensify the use of discretionary accruals to offset a higher use of derivatives. Price and return models demonstrated negative significant effects of derivatives on the value relevance of earnings. The return model showed negative significant effects of discretionary accruals on the value relevance of earnings but negative effects on the value relevance of equity with the price model.
Effects of Metal Toxicity on Growth and Pigment Contents of Annual Halophyte ( A . hortensis and A . rosea )

The toxicity of four potentially toxic trace elements (Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) to Annual Atriplex (A. hortensis and A. rosea) was examined to determine if this plant showed sufficient tolerance to be used to phytoremediate soils polluted with these heavy metals. The soils, which contained up to (per kilogram) 501 mg Cu, 1674 mg Ni, 1334 mg Pb and 3588 mg of Zn were sampled around metal-contaminated site in southwest of France. We submit therefore that it could be that the presence of some heavy metals accumulated in the plants may have reached toxic levels thereby causing inhibition to their growth and pigment contents. The plant growth expressed as shoot and root dry weight of Atriplex plant was adversely inhibited when exposed to high concentrations of polluted soil. Significant increases in chlorophyll content were observed in leaves for three Atriplex varieties after the plants were exposed to stress treatments. The carotenoid and anthocyanin content also decreased. Red variety of Atriplex accumulated more anthocyanins in leaves than green and rosea ones. The lipid peroxidation increased, considerably at 100% polluted soil, which is a typical plant reaction to the oxidative stress. We proposed for the reduction state of photosynthetic parameters to be a useful tool in bioassay toxicity testing of metal polluted soil. These results demonstrate that heavy metal contamination of soil has adversely affected the photosynthetic parameters of annual Atriplex. The present study shows that exposure to heavy metals induced oxidative stress which was accompanied by growth inhibition, enhanced lipid peroxidation levels, increase content of chlorophyll, decrease content of carotenoids and anthocyanins. Finally, it was concluded that annual Atriplex has a high ability to tolerate Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn, so it might be a promising plant to be used for phytostabilization of metal contaminated soil.
A Thresholding-Based Antenna Switching in SWIPT-Enabled MIMO Cognitive Radio Networks with Co-Channel Interference

In this paper, we consider the simultaneous wireless power and information transfer (SWIPT) for spectrum sharing (SS) in cognitive radio (CR) networks with a multiple antenna SWIPT-Enabled secondary receiver (SR). The SR harvests the energy from the signals sent from the secondary transmitter (ST) and the interfering signals sent from the primary transmitter (PT). Moreover, the ST uses the antenna switching (AS) technique which selects a subset of the antennas to decode the information and the rest to harvest the energy. The antenna selection is performed via a thresholding strategy inspired from the maximum ratio combining (MRC) technique with an output threshold (OT-MRC). The thresholding-based antenna selection strategy is proposed in two ways: one is prioritizing the information data and the other is prioritizing the harvested energy. For the two proposed selection schemes, we study the probability mass function of the selected antennas, the average harvested energy, and the data transmission outage probability. Through the analytic expressions and the simulation results, we show that there is a tradeoff between the outage probability and the harvested energy for both schemes. We see also that the preference of one scheme on the other is also affected by this energy-data trade off.
Reducing data movement in multicore chips with computation and data co-scheduling

Energy efficiency is the main limitation to the performance of parallel systems. Current architectures often focus on making cores more efficient. However, data movement is much more costly than basic compute operations. For example, at 28 nm, a main memory access is 100x slower and consumes 1000x the energy of a floatingpoint operation, and moving 64 bytes across a 16-core processor is 50 x slower and consumes 20 x the energy. Without a drastic reduction in data movement, memory accesses and communication costs will limit the scalability of future computing systems. Conventional hardware-only and software-only techniques miss many opportunities to reduce data movement. This thesis presents computation and data co-scheduling (CDCS), a technique that jointly performs computation and data placement to reduce both on-chip and off-chip data movement. CDCS integrates hardware and software techniques: Hardware lets software control data mapping to physically distributed caches, and software uses this support to periodically reconfigure the chip, minimizing data movement. On a simulated 64-core system, CDCS outperforms a standard last-level cache by 46% on average (up to 76%) in weighted speedup, reduces both on-chip network traffic (by 11 x) and off-chip traffic (by 23%), and saves 36% of system energy. Thesis Supervisor: Daniel Sanchez Title: Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Impaired Crosstalk Between Insulin and Glucagon Secretion in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

In this issue (P6), Morimitsu and Hamasaki report that once-weekly glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist, dulaglutide ameliorated glycemic control by suppressing fasting and postprandial glucagon secretion in a patient with type 2 diabetes [1]. Their report reminded me a significance of impaired crosstalk between insulin and glucagon secretion in patients with type 2 diabetes. In normal individuals, serum glucagon falls after carbohydrate ingestion. In diabetic patients, serum glucagon is not suppressed by carbohydrate ingestion despite hyperglycemia [2]. An inverse relationship between insulin and glucagon secretion observed in normal individuals has been lost in patients with type 2 diabetes [3]. Such an impaired crosstalk between insulin and glucagon secretion was also observed in pre-diabetic individuals [4]. Postprandial hyperglucagonemia in type 2 diabetes is likely due to loss of intra-islet postprandial suppression of glucagon secretion by insulin [5]. Therefore, altered insulin-to-glucagon ratio which was used in the report by Morimitsu and Hamasaki should play an important role in the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes [6]. GLP-1 receptor agonist improved glycemic control by amelioration of insulin-to-glucagon ratio. Effects of other anti-diabetic drugs on insulin-to-glucagon ratio should be studied in the future.
Facial emotion feature extraction based eigenface for three-dimensional video

Recent psychological research has shown that facial expressions are the most expressive way in which humans display emotion. Facial expressions are widely used in the behavioral interpretation of emotions, cognitive science, and social interactions. Therefore, automated and real-time facial expression recognition would be useful in many applications, such as human-computer interfaces, virtual reality, video-conferencing, and customer satisfaction studies. This paper presents a proposed technique for facial expression extraction, which is based on the appearance features technique principle component analysis, which depending on extract features (largest eigenvalues and eigenvectors). Experimental results show the quick technique for feature extraction of threedimensional video frames, which takes 5.1 s in the process of feature extraction.
Periodic sulfide irruptions impact microbial community structure and diversity in the water column of a hypersaline lake

The occurrence of hypoxia/anoxia and sulfide formation in productive lakes, enclosed seas, and the coastal ocean often results in catastrophic loss of plankton, benthic invertebrates, and fish populations. Sulfide formed in deeper waters is mixed upward due to storm events or currents, thereby removing oxygen from large portions of the water column. Although the deleterious effects of these events on many organisms are known, the effects on microbial communities have received less attention. Archaeal and bacterial community structure and diversity were investigated at 6 sta- tions along 2 intersecting transects passing through a sulfide-rich plume formed in the moderately hypersaline Salton Sea, California, USA. Community structure analysis clearly distinguished samples within and outside the sulfide plume, and multivariate analyses found these patterns to be correlated with sulfide concentration. Cloning and sequencing of 16S rRNA genes revealed that Actinobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria (purple sulfur bacteria), and Chlorobi (green sulfur bacteria) were more pre- valent at stations with higher sulfide concentration, and Synechococcus spp. was the most abundant bacterial lineage at most stations. Archaeal diversity was low, and sequences were affiliated with Methanohalophilus spp. , Methanococcoides spp. , Methanosarcinales spp. , many of which are related to known methylotrophs, and Marine Benthic Group (MBG)-D sequences. Compositional differences detected between stations may reflect differential tolerances or utilization of sulfide and other reduced-sulfur compounds by the planktonic microbial community.
SO 2 noontime-peak phenomenon in the North China Plain

Abstract. A phenomenon of frequent noontime SO2 concentration peaks was discovered in a detailed analysis of the SO2 concentrations in the North China Plain (NCP). The possible causes and their contributions are analyzed. The impacts of such a phenomenon on the sulphur cycle were studied and the implications of the phenomenon for atmospheric chemistry, cloud physics, and climate were discussed. Different from the more common SO2 diurnal patterns with high nighttime concentrations, NCP witnessed high frequencies of noontime SO2 peaks, with an occurrence frequency of 50 to 72% at four stations. Down mixing of elevated pollution layers, plume transport processes, mountain-valley winds, and fog/high RH haze events were the possible causes. The contribution of each process varies from day to day and from station to station, however, none of those four processes can be neglected. SO2 peaks occurring during noontime instead of nighttime will lead to a 13 to 35% increase in sulphur dry deposition, a 9 to 23% increase in gas phase oxidation, and an 8 to 33% increase in aqueous phase conversions, which will increase the hygroscopicity and the light scattering of aerosols, thus having important impacts on atmospheric chemistry, cloud physics, and climate.
Cloud's Center of Gravity – a compact approach to analyze convective cloud development

Abstract. As cloud resolving models become more detailed, with higher resolution outputs, it is often complicated to isolate the physical processes that control the cloud attributes. Moreover, due to the high dimensionality and complexity of the model output, the analysis and interpretation of the results can be very complicated. Here we suggest a novel approach to convective cloud analysis that yields more insight into the physical and temporal evolution of clouds, and is compact and efficient. The different (3-D) cloud attributes are weighted and projected onto a single point in space and in time, that has properties of, or similar to, the Center Of Gravity (COG). The location, magnitude and spread of this variable are followed in time. The implications of the COG approach are demonstrated for a study of aerosol effects on a warm convective cloud. We show that in addition to reducing dramatically the dimensionality of the output, such an approach often enhances the signal, adds more information, and makes the physical description of cloud evolution clearer, allowing unambiguous comparison of clouds evolving in different environmental conditions. This approach may also be useful for analysis of cloud data retrieved from surface or space-based cloud radars.
Shortened Log-Periodic Dipole Antenna Using Printed Dual-Band Dipole Elements

In this paper, a compact log-periodic dipole array (LPDA) antenna is developed at 0.5–10 GHz. This LPDA structure constitutes fewer dipole elements than a conventional LPDA antenna that exhibits similar resonant frequencies. In the design of a miniaturized LPDA antenna, various size-reduction techniques have been proposed in the open literature to decrease the lateral size of a conventional LPDA. However, little or no attention has been focused on reducing the size of the LPDA antenna by shortening the boom or axial length. In pursuit of reducing the total length of a conventional LPDA, a dual-band dipole antenna is proposed as the radiating elements for the LPDA antenna in this paper. The proposed dipole structure is a printed half-wave principal dipole loaded with a pair of resistive structures via subfeeding lines. A pair of resistive loads forms the auxiliary (secondary) dipole of the proposed dipole antenna. The structure of the proposed dual-band dipole is achieved without a ground plane as opposed to many existing dual-band antenna types. As a result, the dipole antenna has a simple geometry with omnidirectional characteristics. Also, the feeding structure of this dipole can provide an extra degree of freedom to tune the antenna for matching purposes. A 25-element LPDA antenna is designed with a much reduced boom length compared with existing LPDA structures. To confirm the feasibility of the technique, the experimental results of the proposed LPDA prototype were analyzed and juxtaposed with a benchmark LPDA.
Aalborg Universitet New Integrated Multilevel Converter for Switched Reluctance Motor Drives in Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles with Flexible Energy Conversion

This paper presents an integrated multilevel converter of switched reluctance motors (SRMs) fed by a modular front-end circuit for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) applications. Several operating modes can be achieved by changing the on-off states of the switches in the front-end circuit. In generator driving mode, the battery bank is employed to elevate the phase voltage for fast excitation and demagnetization. In battery driving mode, the converter is reconfigured as a four-level converter, and the capacitor is used as an additional charge capacitor to produce multilevel voltage outputs, which enhances the torque capability. The operating modes of the proposed drive are explained and the phase current and voltage are analyzed in details. The battery charging is naturally achieved by the demagnetization current in motoring mode and by the regenerative current in braking mode. Moreover, the battery can be charged by the external AC source or generator when the vehicle is in standstill condition. The SRM-based PHEV can operate at different speeds by coordinating power flow from the generator and battery. Simulation in MATLAB/Simulink and experiments on a three-phase 12/8 SRM confirm the effectiveness of the proposed converter topology.
Success factors for using ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems to improve competitiveness in the hospitality industry

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems emerged as a tool to automate and add efficiency to repetitive business processes, providing managers with a global vision and timely responses to the ongoing business operations, and at the same time solving information fragmentation and disintegration problems. These problems are felt in the hospitality industry just as much as in any other industry. Implementing an ERP system may imply deep modifications in structure, business processes and even the culture of an organization. Despite some drawbacks, the benefit of these kind of IT (Information Technology) systems are numerous and may bring important contributes to increase business competitiveness. In order to achieve the expected benefits there are some critical success factors that have to be closely looked at. The purpose of this paper (supported by a case study of a Portuguese group of companies) is to identify the major success factors when using this kind of systems in the hospitality industry, as well as factors that may obstruct organizations from being competitive. Another goal is to provide some recommendations for organizations of the same type.
Distributed Active Traction Control System Applied to the RoboCup Middle Size League

This work addresses the problem of traction control in mobile wheeled robots in the particular case of the RoboCup Middle Size League (MSL). The slip control problem is formulated using simple friction models for ISePorto Team Robots with a differential wheel configuration. Traction was also characterized experimentally in the MSL scenario for relevant game events. This work proposes a hierarchical traction control architecture which relies on local slip detection and control at each wheel, with relevant information being relayed to a higher level responsible for global robot motion control. A dedicated one axis control embedded hardware subsystem allowing complex local control, high frequency current sensing and odometric information procession was developed. This local axis control board is integrated in a distributed system using CAN bus communications. The slipping observer was implemented in the axis control hardware nodes integrated in the ISePorto Robots and was used to control and detect loss of traction. An external vision system was used to perform a qualitative analysis of the slip detection and observer performance results are presented.
Enhanced Mediterranean‐Atlantic exchange during Atlantic freshening phases

The Atlantic‐Mediterranean exchange of water at Gibraltar represents a significant heat and freshwater sink for the North Atlantic and is a major control on the heat, salt and freshwater budgets of the Mediterranean Sea. Consequently, an understanding of the response of the exchange system to external changes is vital to a full comprehension of the hydrographic responses in both ocean basins. Here, we use a synthesis of empirical (oxygen isotope, planktonic foraminiferal assemblage) and modeling (analytical and general circulation) approaches to investigate the response of the Gibraltar Exchange system to Atlantic freshening during Heinrich Stadials (HSs). HSs display relatively flat W–E surface hydrographic gradients more comparable to the Late Holocene than the Last Glacial Maximum. This is significant, as it implies a similar state of surface circulation during these periods and a different state during the Last Glacial Maximum. During HS1, the gradient may have collapsed altogether, implying very strong water column stratification and a single thermal and δ18Owater condition in surface water extending from southern Portugal to the eastern Alboran Sea. Together, these observations imply that inflow of Atlantic water into the Mediterranean was significantly increased during HS periods compared to background glacial conditions. Modeling efforts confirm that this is a predictable consequence of freshening North Atlantic surface water with iceberg meltwater and indicate that the enhanced exchange condition would last until the cessation of anomalous freshwater supply into to the northern North Atlantic. The close coupling of dynamics at Gibraltar Exchange with the Atlantic freshwater system provides an explanation for observations of increased Mediterranean Outflow activity during HS periods and also during the last deglaciation. This coupling is also significant to global ocean dynamics, as it causes density enhancement of the Atlantic water column via the Gibraltar Exchange to be inversely related to North Atlantic surface salinity. Consequently, Mediterranean enhancement of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation will be greatest when the overturning itself is at its weakest, a potentially critical negative feedback to Atlantic buoyancy change during times of ice sheet collapse.
Towards Resource-Efficient Service Function Chain Deployment in Cloud-Fog Computing

Most studies on network function virtualization are based on cloud computing environments. Fog computing has been proposed as a supplement to cloud computing. When deploying the service function chain (SFC), the consumption of network resources can be effectively reduced by taking advantage of a combination of cloud and fog computing. However, few SFC studies are based on fog computing environments. Moreover, the problem of combining SFCs for the support of live online services to reduce network congestion and save network resources has not been considered. To effectively take advantage of cloud-fog computing and thus achieve the goal of saving resources and reducing network congestion, in this paper, we study the SFC combination and deployment problem in cloud-fog computing environments. To solve this problem, we present an efficient SFC combination and deployment algorithm. Finally, we conduct extensive simulations to evaluate the performance of our proposed algorithm. The results show that our proposed algorithm can effectively reduce network resource consumption and effectively resolve network congestion caused by live online services.
DETECTION OF RHODOCOCCUS EQUI IN TRACHEOBRONCHIAL ASPIRATE OF FOALS IN ENZOOTIC FARMS DEPENDING ON AGE AND SEASON

The aim of the study was to assess the effectivenes s of detecting virulent Rhodococcus equi strains in tracheobronchial aspirate (TBA) of foals in enzootic farms depending on foals’ age and season. Between January and July, 385 TBA samples were collected. The samples were used for culture examin ation on the NANAT selective medium and for DNA extraction amplified in PCR and multiplex PCR. The most positive results confir ming isolated strains as R. equi species were obtained in May and June. The least positive results were obtained in April and J uly. Between January and March, none of the TBA samples were positive in culture and PCR. The analysis of positive results of TBA spec imens in regard to foals’ age revealed that the pat hogen was detected most often in foals aged 2 and 3 months and was sporadic ally detected in foals aged 1 and 6 months. In 14 o ut of 28 TBA samples, multiplex PCR examination revealed the presence of th e plasmid vapA gene. The highest number of virulent strains was detected in May and June. In 14 out of 28 foals positive for R. equi in culture examination and PCR, the multiplex PCR det ecting vapA gene, was negative, which categorised these strains as av irulent. The results of the studies confirm the eff ectiveness of detecting R. equi in TBA of foals in enzootic farms. The interpretation of the results requires taking into account foal ag e, season, and epizootic situation of the farm.