Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE DYNAMICS OF PRINCIPAL SINGULAR CURVES: AN INNATE MOVING FRAME ON PARAMETRIC SURFACES

This article reports an exploratory work that unveils some interesting yet unknown phenomena for all smooth functions over the Euclidean spaces. The findings are based on the fact that, generalizing the conventional gradient dynamics, the right singular vectors of the Jacobian matrix of any differentiable map point in directions that are most pertinent to the infinitesimal deformation of the underlying function and that the singular values measure the rate of deformation in the corresponding directions. A continuous adaption of these singular vectors therefore constitutes a natural moving frame that carries indwelling information of the variation. This inherence exists in functions over spaces of any dimensions, but the development of fundamental theory and algorithm for surface exploration is the important first step for immediate application and further generalization. For 2-parameter maps, including 3-D surfaces, trajectories of these singular vectors, referred to as singular curves, unveil some intriguing patterns per the given function. At points where singular values coalesce, curious and complex behavior occurs, manifesting specific landmarks for the function. Upon analyzing this dynamics, it is discovered that there is a remarkably simple and universal structure underneath all smooth 2parameter maps. This work delineates with graphs this interesting dynamical system and the possibly new discovery that, analogous to the double helix with two base parings in DNA, two strands of critical curves and eight base pairings could encode properties of a generic and arbitrary surface. Such an innate structure thus arouses the curiosity, which is yet to be further investigated, that maybe this approach could lead to a unifying paradigm of function genetics where all smooth surfaces can be genome sequenced and classified accordingly. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary: 37B35, 37N30, 65L07, 51N05, ; Secondary: 65D18, 53A05.
Water Quality, Policy Diffusion Effects and Farmers Behavior

We exploit the Nitrate Directive setting allowing for a geographical and temporal variation in policy implementation to investigate the impacts of a command-and-control policy on nonpoint source water pollution in France. We combine novel datasets on surface water quality and hydrographic network, considering upstream/downstream interactions between watersheds, to disentangle the policy diffusion effects on physicochemical and biological outcomes. Our results suggest a decreasing dose-response effect of the policy on nitrate concentration and a global improvement of water quality. We show that wastewater treatments and land use changes are unlikely to drive our results. We then explore changes in farmers behavior and practices as underlying explanatory mechanisms: the policy sharply increased the development of nitratefixing crops, improved the efficiency of nitrogen fertilizers use, decreased nitrogen losses to the environment and, perhaps surprisingly, boosted productivity while keeping the amount of nitrogen fertilizers used unchanged, revealing that the technological standards imposed by the regulation triggered a significant change in farmers behavior by better informing them on when and how to put fertilizers, ensuring in turn gains in productivity.
Audiovisual interpretative skills: between textual culture and formalized literacy

Abstract: This paper presents the results of a study on the process of acquiring interpretative skills to decode audiovisual texts among adolescents and youth. Based on the conception of such competence as the ability to understand the meanings connoted beneath the literal discourses of audiovisual texts, this study compared two variables: the acquisition of such skills from the personal and social experience in the consumption of audiovisual products (which is affected by age difference), and, on the second hand, the differences marked by the existence of formalized processes of media literacy. Based on focus groups of young students, the research assesses the existing academic debate about these processes of acquiring skills to interpret audiovisual materials.
Diversification and poverty upward mobility in isolated areas of Zambia: An agricultural assets transfer perspective

that should dramatically move their asset base towards the threshold necessary to take the first step out of poverty. Some beneficiaries of production assets have however, often remained the same or even relapsed into worse poverty. Understanding households’ diversification behavior according to stages in the domestic life cycle, and having a better insight into the structure of poverty dimensions that show a positive change when assets are availed is indispensable in deciding what type of interventions may be effective in reducing poverty. This study aimed at clarifying factors that influence household diversification within the domestic life cycle stages, and determine the structure of poverty dimensions involved in positive experiences following acquisition of agricultural production assets. Data for the analysis were collected from 150 randomly selected households using semi-structured interviews. Participatory profiling was used to identify poverty experiences. Logistic regression and factor analysis were used to respectively identify potential determinants of diversification and determine the structure of poverty dimensions which showed positive changes following assets transfer. Results indicate that ownership of animal draft power (ADP), fishing and brewing of local opaque beer were potential determinants of diversification within the domestic life cycle stages. There was a bifurcation into capital accumulation and domestic consumption smoothing within the structure of poverty dimensions that show positive experiences following assets acquisition. Key words: Diversification, domestic life cycle, participatory profiling, poverty upward mobility, Zambia
Bank Liquidity Management, Collateral Quality and Policies∗

We develop a model in which financial intermediaries hold near-cash assets to protect themselves from shocks. Depending on parameter values, banks may choose to hold too much or too little cash on aggregate compared to the socially optimal amount. The model, therefore, provides a unified framework for thinking, on the one hand, about policy measures that can reduce hoarding of cash by banks and, on the other hand, about liquidity requirements of the type imposed by the new Basel III regulation. Key to our results is a market in which banks can obtain cash by selling or repo-ing their marketable securities. The quantity of cash obtained on this market is determined endogenously by the market value of the marketable securities and is subject to cashin-the-market pricing. When uncertainty about the value of marketable securities is low, banks hold too little cash and liquidity regulation can achieve a better allocation. When uncertainly about the value of marketable securities is sufficiently high, banks hoard cash leading to a market freeze.
The effect of entrepreneur’s passion and transactional leadership style on the performance of employees

+905322313673 Passion is at the heart of entrepreneurship because it can foster creativity and the recognition of new information patterns critical to the discovery and exploitation of promising opportunities. Entrepreneurs who are passionate have been thought by both academics and practitioners to be more successful and affect their employees’ performance than those who are not. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effect of an entrepreneurs’ passion and transactional leadership style on the performance of employees as only few scholars have investigated these relationships separately. Data was collected from 103 entrepreneurs and 206 employees (two per entrepreneur) working in SME’s using questionnaires. Our findings indicate that entrepreneurs’ passion and transactional leadership style have a significant effect on the performance of employees, and entrepreneurs’ passion moderated the relationship between transactional leadership style and performance of the employee. This study has clearly demonstrated that the effect of transactional leadership style (passive management by exception\laissez-faire) on the performance of employees is higher when the entrepreneur is passionate about his/her job. Passion (especially harmonious passion) mediated the effect of some factors of transactional leadership on the performance of the employee. Data analysis reveals that one of several ways transactional behaviors boosts the performance of the employee is through the leader’s type of passion.
Consumer Debt and Default: A Macroeconomic Perspective

In this survey, we review the quantitative macroeconomic literature analyzing consumer debt and default. We start by providing an overview of consumer bankruptcy law in the US and document the relevant institutional changes over time. We proceed with a comprehensive empirical section, describing key facts about consumer debt, defaults and delinquencies, as well as charge-off and interest rates for the United States. In addition to the evolution of these variables over time, we construct life-cycle profiles using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances and show that debt and defaults display a clear hump-shaped profile by age. Third, we show how credit card debt has evolved along the income distribution. Finally, we document a large amount of heterogeneity in credit card interest rates across consumers. In the second part of the survey, we describe what has by now become the workhorse model of consumer credit and default. We discuss a quantitative version of the model and use it to decompose the main reasons for default. We also use the model to illustrate how the details of default costs matter. The remainder of the survey then discusses the literature centered around two questions. First, what are the welfare implications of various bankruptcy laws? And second, what caused the rise in filings over time? We end with a discussion of open questions and fruitful avenues for future research.
Far Beyond Cancer Immunotherapy: Reversion of Multi-Malignant Phenotypes of Immunotherapeutic-Resistant Cancer by Targeting the NANOG Signaling Axis

Cancer immunotherapy, in the form of vaccination, adoptive cellular transfer, or immune checkpoint inhibitors, has emerged as a promising practice within the field of oncology. However, despite the developing field's potential to revolutionize cancer treatment, the presence of immunotherapeutic-resistant tumor cells in many patients present a challenge and limitation to these immunotherapies. These cells not only indicate immunotherapeutic resistance, but also show multi-modal resistance to conventional therapies, abnormal metabolism, stemness, and metastasis. How can immunotherapeutic-resistant tumor cells render multi-malignant phenotypes? We reasoned that the immune-refractory phenotype could be associated with multi-malignant phenotypes and that these phenotypes are linked together by a factor that acts as the master regulator. In this review, we discussed the role of the embryonic transcription factor NANOG as a crucial master regulator we named “common factor” in multi-malignant phenotypes and presented strategies to overcome multi-malignancy in immunotherapeutic-resistant cancer by restraining the NANOG-mediated multi-malignant signaling axis. Strategies that blunt the NANOG axis could improve the clinical management of therapy-refractory cancer.
On the Identification of Noise Covariances and Adaptive Kalman Filtering: A New Look at a 50 Year-Old Problem

The Kalman filter requires knowledge of the noise statistics; however, the noise covariances are generally unknown. Although this problem has a long history, reliable algorithms for their estimation are scant, and necessary and sufficient conditions for identifiability of the covariances are in dispute. We address both of these issues in this paper. We first present the necessary and sufficient condition for unknown noise covariance estimation; these conditions are related to the rank of a matrix involving the auto and cross-covariances of a weighted sum of innovations, where the weights are the coefficients of the minimal polynomial of the closed-loop system transition matrix of a stable, but not necessarily optimal, Kalman filter. We present an optimization criterion and a novel six-step approach based on a successive approximation, coupled with a gradient algorithm with adaptive step sizes, to estimate the steady-state Kalman filter gain, the unknown noise covariance matrices, as well as the state prediction (and updated) error covariance matrix. Our approach enforces the structural assumptions on unknown noise covariances and ensures symmetry and positive definiteness of the estimated covariance matrices. We provide several approaches to estimate the unknown measurement noise covariance $R$ via post-fit residuals, an approach not yet exploited in the literature. The validation of the proposed method on five different test cases from the literature demonstrates that the proposed method significantly outperforms previous state-of-the-art methods. It also offers a number of novel machine learning motivated approaches, such as sequential (one sample at a time) and mini-batch-based methods, to speed up the computations.
Contextual uncertainty and energy efficiency investments , a barrier to action in French private homes ? The contributions of a discrete choice experiment

In the well-known framework of the energy efficiency gap, this paper investigates the role of contextual risk and uncertainty as barrier to make private energy retrofit decision in the French residential sector. More specifically, we aimed to explore how the expectations about future energy price and non-quality of energy retrofits are perceived during the decision-making process. This article employed a stated choice preference survey, elicited via sets of conjoint choice experiments, to reveal the nature of household preference for housing retrofit measure under purpose-designed risks guarantees. A mixed logit and a latent class models have been developed to examine the nature of systematic heterogeneity in household preferences for the attributes of energy retrofit solutions. The findings confirm that the non-quality of energy retrofits and the uncertainty regarding future energy prices are negatively perceived during the energy retrofit decision-making process. WTP to be covered against these sources of contextual uncertainty are highly positive (from 1,106€ to 18,423 € for the quality guarantee, from 1,263€ to 14,626€ for the “constant energy price” guarantee). Otherwise, this WTP could vary according to individual risk aversion and the nature of individual expectations about the future trend of energy price. Thus, our research would allow the identification of possible ways of increasing the rate of energy measures in the residential sector.
Neural Network Security: Hiding CNN Parameters with Guided Grad-CAM

: Nowadays, machine learning is prominent in most research ﬁelds. Neural Networks (NNs) are considered to be the most efﬁcient and popular architecture nowadays. Among NNs, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are the most popular algorithms for image processing and image recognition. They are therefore widely used in the industry, for instance for facial recognition software. However, they are targeted by several reverse-engineering attacks on embedded systems. These attacks can potentially ﬁnd the architecture and parameters of the trained neural networks, which might be considered Intellectual Property (IP). This paper introduces a method to protect a CNN’s parameters against one of these attacks (Tram`er et al., 2016). For this, the victim model’s ﬁrst step consists in adding noise to the input image so as to prevent the attacker from correctly reverse-engineering the weights
The impact of man-made noise on the passenger transport stations of Port of Barcelona

Ports and harbours are logistic nodes characterized by several types of noise, which can usually occur in a concurrent manner in the same harbour premises: ferries, cruises, fishing and trade ships coexist with other industrial and auxiliary services. Noise pollution can have negative effects on the urban population inhabiting the port vicinity. The Port of Barcelona is an infrastructure that serves trade, passengers and fishing. The purpose of this work is to describe the impact of certain acoustic events recorded in the maritime stations of Port of Barcelona dedicated exclusively to passengers and vehicle transport. The traffic of arrivals and departures of cruises with passengers is intense in these maritime stations; the characterization of the acoustic events caused by this traffic, as well as the acoustic events collected by means of a short but complete recording campaign in Port of Barcelona. This work presents a proposal of categorization of the noise sources in order to generate an algorithm to classify automatically several types of activity.
ANALYSIS OF PROFITABILITY AND FINANCIAL HEALTH OF THE SOCIETIES

Profits determine the liquidity and solvency of the firm. They serve as the yardstick for judging the competence and efficiency of the management. Profits are essential for the purpose of financing future activities.1 An important area of management is the post-facto assessment of the financial results of the organization in retrospect and of the financial effects of earlier decisions to invest. Profit maximization is the art of making as much profit as possible for a firm. This is a slogan, which raises several questions. Over what time horizon are profits to be maximized? There is liable to be a conflict between short run and long run growth. Profit maximization is a sensible objective only if the owners are risk-neutral. There is normally a trade off to be made between risks and mean expected profits. Also, the directors or owners may have their own objectives. These range from desire for a large empire or jobs for their relatives or the concern about environment. All these have to be traded off against profit. Other things beings equal, however, businesses prefer higher profits.2 B.S.Keirstead expressed the view that profits originate from monopoly, successful innovation and a correct estimation of uncertain factors, either particular to the industry or general to the whole economy.3 CHAPTER IV
Intelligent Training for Tamil Character Recognition using Tesseract OCR

Tamil character Recognition is one of the challenging tasks in Optical Character Recognition. While the current methodologies employed give higher accuracy for English characters, Tamil characters still face issues. The complexity of Tamil characters when compared to English is multi-fold due to is font style, character combination, etc. These features could be trained using Tesseract which is an open-source optical character recognition (OCR) engine that was developed at Hewlett-Packard, released under Apache2.0 license. Originally developed for English text only, but now efforts have been made to modify the engine and its training system to make them able to deal with other languages and UTF-8 characters. Tesseract needs to know about different shapes of the same character by having different characters separated explicitly. Any language that has different punctuation and numbers is going to be disadvantaged by some of the hard-coded algorithms that assume ASCII punctuation and digits. There have been efforts to “extend” the engine for Tamil. But the accuracy is not comparable with that of English as the style of both languages varies significantly. The scope for ambiguity is high in Tamil (Example - ( ைன being recognised as னன , ெவ being recognised as கிவ ). Also Tamil has specific characters like ஃ . Taking these factors into account, the present attempt is to understand the Tesseract OCR and try to find out an efficient/intelligent way to train Tamil characters and give in GPL compatible license so that the community at large benefits from it and enables future work on it .
Multiscale Modeling Framework and Parameterization

For a variety of reasons, discussed below, the grid-cell average precipitation rate and other grid-cell statistics are intrinsically uncertain (e.g., Hohenegger and Schär, 2007). Although it is true that uncertainties arise from deficiencies of the models, and from lack of precision in the initial conditions and boundary conditions, there is a more fundamental, irreducible component of uncertainty that comes from the probabilistic character of the predicted cloud parameters, which are merely ‘expected values’. As explained in the next section, this problem is more severe in the emerging high-resolution global models, which begin to resolve the mesoscale.
TimeCrypt: Encrypted Data Stream Processing at Scale with Cryptographic Access Control

A growing number of devices and services collect detailed time series data that is stored in the cloud. Protecting the confidentiality of this vast and continuously generated data is an acute need for many applications in this space. At the same time, we must preserve the utility of this data by enabling authorized services to securely and selectively access and run analytics. This paper presents TimeCrypt, a system that provides scalable and real-time analytics over large volumes of encrypted time series data. TimeCrypt allows users to define expressive data access and privacy policies and enforces it cryptographically via encryption. In TimeCrypt, data is encrypted end-to-end, and authorized parties can only decrypt and verify queries within their authorized access scope. Our evaluation of TimeCrypt shows that its memory overhead and performance are competitive and close to operating on data in the clear.
Direct Numerical Simulation of Transition Induced Vibration over Flexible Marine Propeller Sections

The objective of this paper is to investigate the interaction between laminar to turbulent transition and the vibration of a hydrofoil, through a numerical coupling between Direct Numerical Simulation and a One Degree of Freedom System (DNS-1DOF). The hydrofoil have a NACA66, laminar section, where highly transitional flows has been observed by previous experimental observations, even at relatively high Reynolds numbers. In this work, we use an open source DNS code ’Nek5000’ to solve the flow, which is based on a high order spectral element method. In parallel, vibration measurements in hydrodynamic tunnel are performed on the same hydrofoil section using a 3D configuration, where the hydrofoil is clamped at the root, and free at the tip. After validation of the DNS-1DOF model with lower Reynolds number test cases, we study the effect of different small amplitude forced pitching frequencies on the behavior of laminar to turbulent transition. The pitching frequency and amplitudes are representative of the first torsional mode observed experimentally under various conditions. The results shows that the transition mechanism and the resulted wall pressures are affected by the forced vibrations. The results of the DNS-1DOF coupling will be presented during the conference. The present work will help to understand the fluid structure interaction of marine propellers in transitional flows.
The Influence Of Belief And Justice On Brand Loyalty In Social Commerce

This paper presents a research model to examine factors influencing brand loyalty and these relationships in social commerce. The model comprises four research hypotheses with five constructs, including behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, control beliefs, justice and brand loyalty. The constructs are measured by well-supported measures in the literature. The hypotheses are tested via an empirical study of social commerce. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze survey data collected from 363 usable responses. The results show that, in the order of importance, control beliefs, behavioral beliefs and normative beliefs are the major factors contributing to justice and in turn enhance brand loyalty for the social commerce as a whole.