Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Micro-Evidence on the Strategies of Chinese and Indian Multinationals: Determinants and Motivations

Using a sample of 603 subsidiaries Chinese Multinational Corporations (MNCs) and 174 subsidiaries Indian MNCs, we explore the regional and industrial pattern of their direct investment strategies. Our analysis reveals several important facts. First, most of outward foeign direct investment (FDI) is directed in finance and real estate and services. Second, by far the majority of investment projects are carried out in the home region of Asia-Pacific. Third, outward FDI is highly concentrated geographically and the average investment project is relatively small. Fourth, establishment of subsidiaries is the most preferred way of carrying out FDI. Finally, firm-specific and location-specific characteristics are important drivers of FDI strategies. Last but not least, a large proportion of Chinese and Indian investments is conducted mainly within those countries themselves, revealing a strong multidomestic character.
A novel approach to intelligent scheduling based on fuzzy feature selection and fuzzy classifier

Intelligent scheduling policy is needed for dynamic manufacturing systems, which tailors the dispatching rule adaptively depending on the prevailing state of the system. In this kind of system-features-oriented intelligent scheduling method, appropriately choosing the group of system features is very critical to scheduling performance. However, research efforts on this topic are limited. In this article, based on general fuzzy model and heuristic searching tree, a new quantitative method is proposed to evaluate and reduce the system features. Then, an intelligent scheduler using fuzzy classifier is created, which can present fuzzy or uncertainty cases. The fuzzy classifier is constructed by fuzzy neural network. Tests of simulation and contrast show that, through applying fuzzy logic in intelligent scheduling framework, the learning performance of classifier and scheduling performance of scheduler are both improved. In conclusion, the fuzzy feature selection and fuzzy pattern classifier methods have great potential in improving the performance of intelligent scheduler.
Cosplay in the pulpit and ponies at prayer: Christian faith and lived religion in wider fan culture

ABSTRACT This article examines the way in which Christian fans of popular media franchises have incorporated their fan identity into a lived religious experience, producing religious fan works such as fan fiction, art, and fan-themed church services. Based around a series of interviews with fans in the United States and the UK, both lay and clergy, it suggests the powerful affective connections forged through fandom, and examines the way in which fandom operates as a shared language to engage the wider fan community with theological ideas. Fans viewed their fandom as an arena through which God communicated and developed personal faith, working through fan texts and fan works to encourage and develop their connection to the divine. This article, therefore, challenges academic positions that see fandom as a secular replacement for religion, or as a form of blasphemous excess.
Predicting Community Engagement? The Carnegie Foundation’s Elective Classification

The Carnegie Foundation’s elective Community Engagement classification is valuable for colleges and universities seeking to demonstrate a mutually beneficial relationship with the community. This study uses logistic regression analysis to identify predictive institutional characteristics for applying for and receiving the Community Engagement classification. The findings suggest that publicly available institutional financial variables are not predictive of an institution applying for and receiving the classification.
The Lincoln robust continuous speech recognizer

The Lincoln stress-resistant HMM (hidden Markov model) CSR has been extended to large-vocabulary continuous speech for both speaker-dependent (SD) and speaker-independent (SI) tasks. Performance on the DARPA resource management task (991-word vocabulary, perplexity 60 word-pair grammar) is 3.5% word error rate for SD training of word-context-dependent triphone models and 12.6% word error rate for SI training of (word-context-free) tied-mixture triphone models. <<ETX>>
State estimation methods using indirect measurements

The report presents mathematically well grounded statistical methods for state estimation in the indirect measurement setting, when the measurement is performed on an ancilla system that is put into interaction with the unknown one. The considered measurement scheme is the simplest possible discrete time case, where both the unknown and the ancilla quantum systems are quantum bits. The measurements applied on the ancilla qubit are the classical von Neumann measurements using the Pauli matrices as observables. The repeated measurements performed on the ancilla enables us to construct estimators of the initial state of the unknown system. Based on the statistical properties of the considered indirect measurement scheme [15], three related but different approaches are proposed and investigated: (i) a direct estimation procedure that is based on the estimated relative frequencies of the characterizing conditional probability densities, (ii) Bayesian recursive approach for state estimation, and (iii) a martingale approach that bases the estimator on the stopping times of the state evolution as a martingale driven by the repeated measurements. The statistical properties, i.e. the unbiasedness and the efficiency of the proposed procedures are investigated both analytically and experimentally using simulation. 1 Process Control Research Group, Computer and Automation Research Institute, Budapest, Hungary 2 Department of Analysis, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary
COMBINED APPROACH FOR FACE FRONTAL VIEW ESTIMATION FOR REAL TIME FACES DETECTION IN MULTICAMERA SYSTEM

This paper presents the combined approach for face frontal view estimation from video sequences in a multiview camera setup. This task is important for person identification by face image in video surveillance systems. Face tracking algorithm was developed based on optical flow and cascade face detector. We also found way to estimate quality of face detection. This quality is used as base for best frontal view estimation.
Backdoors To Typical Case Complexity

There has been significant recent progress in reasoning and constraint processing methods. In areas such as planning and finite model-checking, current solution techniques can handle combinatorial problems with up to a million variables and five million constraints. The good scaling behavior of these methods appears to defy what one would expect based on a worst-case complexity analysis. In order to bridge this gap between theory and practice, we propose a new framework for studying the complexity of these techniques on practical problem instances. In particular, our approach incorporates general structural properties observed in practical problem instances into the formal complexity analysis. We introduce a notion of "backdoors", which are small sets of variables that capture the overall combinatorics of the problem instance. We provide empirical results showing the existence of such backdoors in real-world problems. We then present a series of complexity results that explain the good scaling behavior of current reasoning and constraint methods observed on practical problem instances.
SIP : Session Initiation Protocol

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) est un protocole de signalisation defini par l’IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) permetant l’etablissement, la liberation et la modification de sessions multimedias (RFC 3261). Il herite de certaines fonctionnalites des protocoles HTTP (Hyper Text Transport Protocol) utilise pour naviguer sur le WEB, et SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) utilise pour transmettre des messages electroniques (E-mails). SIP s’appuie sur un modele transactionnel client/serveur comme HTTP. L’adressage utilise le concept d’URL SIP (Uniform Resource Locator) qui ressemble a une adresse E-mail. Chaque participant dans un reseau SIP est donc adressable par une URL SIP. Par ailleurs, les requetes SIP sont acquittees par des reponses identifiees par un code numerique. D’aileurs, la plupart des codes de reponses SIP ont ete empruntes au protocole HTTP. Par exemple, lorsque le destinataire n’est pas localise, un code de reponse «404 Not Found » est retourne. Une requete SIP est constituee de headers comme une commande SMTP. Enfin SIP comme SMTP est un protocole textuel. SIP a ete etendu afin de supporter de nombreux services tels que la presence, la messagerie instantanee (similaire au service SMS dans les reseaux mobiles), le transfert d’appel, la conference, les services complementaires de telephonie, etc. SIP a ete retenu par le 3GPP pour l’architecture IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) comme protocole pour le controle de session et le controle de service. Il remplacera a terme les protocoles ISUP (utilise pour le controle d’appel dans le Reseau Telephonique Commute) et INAP (utilise pour le controle de service dans l’architecture Reseau Inteligent) Le protocole SIP n’est qu’un protocole de signalisation. Une fois la session etablie, les participants de la session s’echangent directement leur trafic audio/video a travers le protocole RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol). Par aileurs, SIP n’est pas un protocole de reservation de ressource, il ne peut donc pas assurer laQoS. Il s’agit d’un protocole de controle d’appel et non de controle du media. SIP n’est pas non plus un protocole de transfert de fichier tel que HTTP, utilise afin de transporter de grands volumes de donnees. Il a ete concu pour transmettre des messages de signalisation courts afin d’etablir, maintenir et liberer des sessions multimedia. Des messages courts non relatifs a un appel peuvent neanmoins etre transportes par SIP a la maniere des SMS.
Multi-type Feature Fusion Technique for Weed Identification in Cotton Fields

Weed identification is core of precision variable spray technology and weed information management system. Single type features are difficult to identify multi-class weeds in cotton fields. In this paper, multi-type feature fusion technique for weed identification is proposed. Firstly, multi-type features are extracted. In color feature extraction, FMS, SMS and TMS in HSI are extracted by color moment. In shape feature extraction, REC, RWL, CIR and SPH are extracted by geometric parameter method. In texture feature extraction, ASM, CON and COR are extracted by GLCM. Secondly, because feature dimension is too large, principle component analysis is used to reduce dimension to extract new features including COR, ASM, REC and two components. Finally, three comparative experiments including identification of five kinds of weeds, three kinds of weeds and two kinds of weeds are carried out. Experimental results show that method proposed in this paper is superior to state of the art and is suitable for identification of multi-class weeds. This method can also be applied in identifying weeds in other fields.
Effects of body contact during incremental and intermittent exercise on running power in handball players

The purposes of this study were to (1) examine the eŠect of body contact (BC) on running power, and (2) evaluate the relationship between physical ability and BC in the measurement of both aerobic exercise and intermittent anaerobic running power. The subjects comprised 14 male university handball players; all subjects were court players. There was a signiˆcantly lower the running distances achieved in the yo-yo intermittent endurance test [yo-yo IE] with full BC than yo-yo IE, and a signiˆcant relationship was present between the ˆnal distances run during the yo-yo IE and yo-yo IE with full BC. Intermittent exercise was measured by the intermittent shuttle sprint test (ISST) that involved eight 20-m shuttle sprints with a 20-s rest period after each sprint. The subjects exhibited a signiˆcantly lower retention rate during the eighth repetition of the ISST with BC than during the eighth repetition of the ISST without BC, but there was no signiˆcant correlation between the mean retention rates during the two tests. The positive correlation between retention rates during the ISST BC and muscle strength and body weight showed since 2 ～ 3 sets of the ISST with BC. And negative correlation between retention rates during the ISST BC and yo-yo IE showed since 5 sets of the ISST with BC. These results indicate that intermittent anaerobic running power is important to high aerobic ability. But, intermittent exercise that includes BC is necessary to take in higher body weight and muscle strength to prevent a decrease in running power.
Effects of filtering on event-related potential waveforms

Analog and digital filters are commonly used in recording and analyzing event-related potentials (ERPs). However, an inadvertent application of filter can considerably distort the ERP waveforms. This paper presents basic knowledge on how filters work and how they affect signals represented in the time domain. After a brief introduction of analog and digital filters, the following three common misconceptions about filtering are addressed: (1) filtered waveforms do not include signals below or above the cutoff frequency; (2) any high-pass filter can be described in terms of the time constant; and (3) zerophase filters do not distort the waveforms. None of these three propositions are true. Finally, this paper makes some recommendations for the use of filters in ERP research. (Japanese Journal of Physiological Psychology and Psychophysiology, 26(3) : 237-246, 2008. )
A Simple Procedure for Constructing Resolvable Row-Column Experiment Designs

A method is described for constructing connected resolvable row-column experiment designs for v = ks treatments in s rows and k columns in each complete block. The optimality of the constructed designs is compared with those obtained using the software package GENDEX. Since the design optimality does not reach those obtained from the package, suggestions are made for improving the method. The method is illustrated using two examples, i.e., for v = 30, k = 5, and s = 6 and for v = 228, k = 12, and s = 19. Some comments on designing experiments are given in the last section.
Discrete-time sliding mode control

This chapter discusses the concept of discrete-time sliding mode control (DTSMC) and its design procedure. It also covers how the states are brought to a predefined sliding surface mathematically and kept in a region near to the surface within a small band. This band is termed as an ultimate band in the field of DTSMC, which denotes the degree of robustness. Researchers have been working to find out different approaches to reach to that surface, but the most promising and well-defined way is reaching law approach. The idea of reaching law is discussed briefly in this chapter with examples for better understanding of the design procedure. In this chapter, a small introduction of continuous time sliding mode control (CTSMC) is given. Finally, the current state of the art is presented.
Targeting the reversible drug-tolerant state: aurora kinase A, is that the final answer?

Clinical application of the first-generation (1G) epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) gefitinib and erlotinib launched the era of molecular targeted therapies for lung adenocarcinoma. At the same time, acquired resistance to these agents has been problematic given that 1G EGFR-TKIs are associated with a median progression-free survival of 9–12 months (1).
A grammar checker based on web searching

This paper presents an English grammar and style checker for non-native English speakers. The main characteristic of this checker is the use of an Internet search engine. As the number of web pages written in English is immense, the system hypothesises that a piece of text not found on the Web is probably badly written. The system also hypothesises that the Web will provide examples of how the content of the text segment can be expressed in a grammatically correct and idiomatic way. Thus, when the checker warns the user about the odd nature of a text segment, the Internet engine searches for contexts that can help the user decide whether he/she should correct the segment or not. By means of a search engine, the checker also suggests use of other expressions that appear on the Web more often than the expression he/she actually wrote.
Design Of Fountain Codes With Error Control

This thesis is focused on providing unequal error protection (UEP) to two disjoint sources which are communicating to a common destination via a common relay by using distributed LT codes over a binary erasure channel (BEC), and designing fountain codes with error control property by integrating LT codes with turbo codes over a binary input additive white Gaussian noise (BI-AWGN) channel. A simple yet efficient technique for decomposing the RSD into two entirely different degree distributions is developed and presented in this thesis. These two distributions are used to encode data symbols at the sources and the encoded symbols from the sources are selectively XORed at the relay based on a suitable relay operation before the combined codeword is transmitted to the destination. By doing so, it is shown that the UEP can be provided to these sources. The performance of LT codes over the AWGN channel is well studied and presented in this thesis which indicates that these codes have weak error correction ability over the channel. But, errors introduced into individual symbols during the transmission of information over noisy channels need correction by some error correcting codes. Since it is found that LT codes alone are weak at correcting those errors, LT codes are integrated with turbo codes which are good error correcting codes. Therefore, the source data (symbols) are at first turbo encoded and then LT encoded and transmitted over the AWGN channel. When the corrupted encoded symbols are received at receiver, LT decoding is conducted followed by turbo decoding. The overall performance of the integrated system is studied and presented in this thesis, which suggests that the errors left after LT decoding can be corrected to some extent by turbo decoder.
An Improved Algorithm of Speech Emotion Recognition

The traditional K-nearest neighbor algorithm existences of the risk of miscarriage of justice, for its shortage a speech emotion recognition algorithm based on fuzzy K-nearest neighbors is proposed. By introducing the fuzzy membership concept, different characteristic parameters for the different contribution of emotion recognition are calculated, and the weighted Euclidean distance is used in speech emotion recognition. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the algorithm.
Blind source separation with the low computational costs for the mobile and portable speech equipment

In this dissertation, frequency bin selection is proposed as a method to reduce the computational cost of blind source separation (BSS) based on frequency domain independent component analysis (FDICA). Clear voice quality is expected by users when communicating through speech processing equipment such as teleconferencing equipment and mobile telephones. Speech processing equipment is usually manufactured with embedded processors, especially digital signal processors (DSP), because of their low electric power consumption and the need for real-time processing. BSS has been widely investigated for use in speech enhancement applications for the purpose of obtaining higher voice quality, and FDICA is one of the most popular methods used by researchers to perform BSS. This is because acoustic conditions are usually reverberant, and FDICA is an inverse filter method, and thus minimizes reverberation influence. However, the computational cost of FDICA is quite high because FDICA estimates inverse filter coefficients in each frequency bin using an optimization scheme employing higher-order statistics, usually an iterative update algorithm. Current DSPs can achieve high levels of performance, however the appropriate choice of a DSP strongly depends on the specifications of the speech processing equipment in which it is to be used. For mobile devices, due to battery life considerations, low-powered DSPs are normally used. ICA stores long-term observed signals because its optimization scheme employing higher-order statistics, so that the external memory usually consists of dynamic random access memory (DRAM). However, the required wait states of DRAM is another issue, because of the waste of electric power this involves. In addition, the amount of power wasted is not negligible. Therefore, implementing FDICA using embedded processors is difficult, despite the high performance of current DSPs. The proposed method aims at reducing computational cost by reducing the number of frequency bins in
Venture Capital and Method of Payment in Mergers and Acquisitions

We show that Venture Capital (VC)-backed targets receive a significantly higher fraction of stock and a greater likelihood of all-stock offers than non-VC-backed targets, even after controlling for self-selection bias, differences between VC-backed and non-VC-backed targets, and VC information bridge-building. Additionally, VC-backed targets receive a larger fraction of stock when the acquirer is young and risky, and has high growth rate, large investment and potential managerial improvement. Independent VCs, reputable VCs and VC syndicates who are capable of monitoring and advising accept a larger proportion of stock. We also document that the acquirer’s short-term and long-term returns are more positive when VC-backed targets choose stock payment. Altogether, our results indicate that VCs strategically hold shares of acquirers who meet their investment preferences and contribute to their performance.
Prequalification in municipal solid waste management public-private partnerships of India

Prequalification (PQ) is a significant process in the selection of private sector for the delivery of civil infrastructure projects. But, the extant literature, for the most part, focused on PQ of construction projects. The need for setting proper PQ, i.e., criteria and corresponding limits in public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects, especially municipal solid waste (MSW) projects is still a lacuna in the body of knowledge of Indian PPPs. To this end, this paper identified PQ criteria using content analysis of the sample of MSW projects. These identified criteria were subjected to regression modeling. These results were compared with the results of well-matured highway sector to draw comparison with MSW projects. The practical implications are that urban local bodies (ULBs) are but less competent and less uniform in the rationale of setting the PQ criteria and limits. This paper suggests that lowering the technical and financial PQ limits considering the market orientation will help in bringing more competitive bidders into the bidding. Since MSW is in a very nascent stage of application of PPP, the study results could lay directions for future project procurement to discern right limits for right project sizes.