Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Determinants of Sell-side Analysts ’ Forecast Accuracy and Media Exposure

This study examines contributing factors to the differential forecasting abilities of sell-side analysts and the relation between the sentiments of these analysts and their media exposure. In particular, I investigate whether the level of optimism expressed in sell-side analysts’ reports of fifteen constituents of primarily the S&P 500 Oil and Gas Industry1, enhance the media appearance of these analysts. Using a number of variables estimated from the I/B/E/S Detail history database, 15,455 analyst reports collected from Thompson Reuters Investext and analyst media appearances obtained from Dow Jones Factiva from 1999 to 2014, I run a multiple linear regression to determine the effect of independent variables on dependent variables. I find that an analyst’s forecast accuracy (as measured by the errors inherent in his forecasts) is negatively associated with the analyst’s level of media exposure, experience, brokerage size, the number of times he revises his forecasts in a year and the number of companies followed by the analyst, and positively associated with the analyst’s level of optimism expressed in his reports, forecast horizon and the size of the company he follows.
Learning Task-Oriented Grasp Heuristics from Demonstration by Reymundo

When people plan their motions for dexterous work, they implicitly consider the next likely step in the action sequence. Almost without conscious thought, we select a grasp that meets the implicit constraints related to the task to be performed. A robot tasked with dexterous manipulation should likewise aim to grasp the intended object in a way that makes the next step straightforward. In some cases, lack of consideration of these implicit constraints can result in situations in which the object cannot be manipulated in the desired manner. While recent work has begun to address task dependent constraints, they require direct specification of task constraints or rely on grasp datasets with manually defined task labels. In this thesis, we present a framework that leverages human demonstration to learn task-oriented grasp heuristics for a set of known objects in an unsupervised manner and defined a procedure to instantiate grasps from these learned models. Equating distinct motion profiles with the execution of distinct tasks, our approach leverages the motion during human demonstration in order to partition the accompanying grasp examples into tasks in an unsupervised manner through the incorporation of unsupervised motion clustering algorithms into a grasp learning pipeline. In order to evaluate the framework, a set of human demonstrations of real world manipulation tasks were collected. The framework with unsupervised task clustering produced comparable results to the semi-supervised condition. This translated to the discovery of the correct relationship between the tasks and objects, with the distributions of the resultant grasp point models following intuitive heuristic rules (e.g. handle grasps for tools). The grasps instantiated from these grasp models followed the learned heuristics, but had some limitations due to the choice of grasp model and the instantiation method utilized. Overall, this work demonstrates that the inclusion of unsupervised motion clustering techniques into a grasp learning pipeline can assist in the production of task-oriented models without the typical overhead of direct task constraint encoding or hand labeling of datasets. Thesis Supervisor: Julie A. Shah Title: Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
A Bayesian Critical Path Method for Managing Common Risks in Software Project Scheduling

Although project managers nowadays can use a range of tools and techniques to develop, monitor and control project schedules, the task of creating project schedules is often very difficult since it has to deal with planning against uncertainty. Popular techniques for project scheduling based on the assumption that projects are carried out as planned or scheduled -- which hardly happens. This paper takes the advantage of Bayesian Networks in modeling uncertainty and incorporates them in Critical Path Method - one of the most popular means of monitoring project scheduling. The paper also examines common risk factors in project scheduling and proposes a model of 19 common risk factors. A tool was also built, and experiments were carried out to validate the model.
Rice Grain Physical and Chemical analysis from Paddy Drying by Using a Solar Tunnel Dryer at Prathum Tani, Thailand

This paper presents the RD31 rice grain physical and chemical analysis from paddy drying by using a solar tunnel dryer. RD31 paddy was dried in a compact solar tunnel dryer, with a drying chamber volume in the size of 0.113 m 3 and 2.112 m 2 flat plate collectors. The experiment was performed on May 15, 2014 at Faculty of Industrial Technology Vallaya Alongkorn Rajabhat University Pathum Tani Thailand. The samples for testing were three varieties of Thai rice namely RD31 (from the farm), RD31 (dried in a solar tunnel dryer), and Prathum Tani 1 (from the market). The test consists of RD 31 dried by a solar tunnel dryer; the moisture content was reduced to about 14 wt. %. Then 3 varieties of rice were milled and sent to the laboratory for analyzing physical and chemical properties, repeated 3 times. The results showed that the average drying temperature was 67.75 °C. The paddy moisture reduction content was estimated from 49.96 to 14.64 MC (% w.b.) within 6 hours. All dimensions of RD31, dried by using solar tunnel dryer milled rice were closely related to those of the Prathum Tani 1, purchased from the market. The ratio of length to width of 3 samples: RD31 (raw rice), RD31 (dried in solar tunnel dryer), and Prathum Tani 1 (from the market) were 3.54, 3.47, and 3.44, respectively. 3 rice grain varieties were slender. The yield percentage was 60%, 75 %, and 70 %, respectively. Results from chemical test showed that the alkaline spreading value were 4-5, 3, and 2, respectively. The quality of the RD31 rice grain dried in a solar tunnel dryer passed the Thailand Ministry of Agriculture rice quality standard
FIELD-CORRELATION EFFECTS IN MULTIPHOTON ABSORPTION PROCESSES.

The dependence of the multiphoton absorption probability for an atomic system on the statistical properties of the incident light is investigated. It is shown, by means of nth-order time-dependent perturbation theory, that the multiphoton absorption probability depends on the (n, n)th normally ordered correlation functions of the electromagnetic field. For stationary fields, the transition probability per unit time is constant and is directly related to the reduced cross-spectral correlation function of the electromagnetic field. This expression for the transition probability is then analyzed under various conditions of coherence. Explicit calculations are carried out for thermal light and for laser light, and the transition rates are compared when each has a Lorentzian spectrum. In particular, when the width of the final atomic level is much larger than the bandwidth of the field, the transition rate for thermal light is n! times higher than with laser light of the same mean intensity. The other extreme case, i.e., when the width of the final atomic level is much smaller than the bandwidth of the field, is also considered in detail. An equation for the density operator of the field is derived; this equation governs the change in the statistical properties of the photon system in n-photon absorption processes. On the basis of this equation, the time-dependent properties of the photon system are then studied and some physical consequences of these equations are discussed. Some numerical solutions relating to the time dependence of the factorial moments in two-photon absorption processes are presented.
BULGARIA AS A TOURIST DESTINATION: THE PRODUCT QUALITY PERCEPTION OF THE RESORT HOTELS

The paper presents the results of a secondary data analysis examining Polish tourists' perception of tourism product quality offered by Bulgarian hotels. The researchers examined data collected by Itaka travel agency between 2010-2012 regarding tourists' satisfaction with the package holidays in Bulgaria. Since the number of Polish tourists visiting Bulgaria has increased over the last years, it has been hypothesized that Bulgarian hotels offer a competitive value proposition and a very good price/quality relationship. The surveyed sample of tourists spent their summer holiday in one of 18 summer resorts located in Sunny Beach and in Golden Sands, 10 - three+-star hotels and 8 - four-star hotels and the total sample volume is 888 tourists. The quantitative analysis of tourists' perceptions of product quality offered by Bulgarian hotels was performed through the SERVPERF scale based on the evaluation of a list of hotel attributes representing values important for tourists.
Early intensive behavioral intervention for autism: Is it actually more "intensive" than a typical child's day?

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interaction, communication, and excessive ritualistic and repetitive behavior. Numerous treatments for autism devised over the last half-century have proven ineffective, or have never been scientifically evaluated. Despite the state of the research, the most demonstrably effective treatment, Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI), has been a target of much criticism, including accusations of being too intense. A large number of learning trials in relatively short periods of time supposedly induce children to have disordered stress responses. To explore the intensity of EIBI, behavior samples from children engaging in EIBI and typical children engaging in everyday activities were gathered and coded for rates of behavior. Operational definitions of what constituted a single behavioral interaction were developed, and those samples were used to calculate behavior rates. The results suggest that the rate of behavior exhibited by typical children exceeds the rate of behaviors in early intensive behavioral therapy, by a factor of two to three. Simply put, EIBI is generally not nearly as behaviorally intense as are ordinary child activities, and thus this dimension of EIBI is unlikely to be a precipitant for disordered stress responses.
Técnicas de imágenes de tórax para enfermedades relacionadas con el asbesto

RESUMEN El asbesto es una sustancia que puede provocar distintas alteraciones en los exámenes de imagen pleuro-pulmonar: asbestosis, engrosamientos pleurales, derrame pleural, tumores pulmonares y mesotelioma. En este artículo se revisan los principales métodos diagnósticos de estas enfermedades: Radiografía de Tórax, Tomografía Computarizada de Tórax (tradicional y de alta resolución), y otros. Se discuten las ventajas y desventajas de cada uno de ellos, así como su indicación en la vigilancia en salud ocupacional. Por último, se menciona y explica brevemente la clasificación de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT) para las radiografías de tórax.
The Gaussian Process Modeling Module in UQLab

We introduce the Gaussian process (GP) modeling module developed within the UQLab software framework. The novel design of the GP-module aims at providing seamless integration of GP modeling into any uncertainty quantification workflow, as well as a standalone surrogate modeling tool. We first briefly present the key mathematical tools on the basis of GP modeling (a.k.a. Kriging), as well as the associated theoretical and computational framework. We then provide an extensive overview of the available features of the software and demonstrate its flexibility and user-friendliness. Finally, we showcase the usage and the performance of the software on several applications borrowed from different fields of engineering. These include a basic surrogate of a well-known analytical benchmark function; a hierarchical Kriging example applied to wind turbine aero-servo-elastic simulations and a more complex geotechnical example that requires a non-stationary, user-defined correlation function. The GP-module, like the rest of the scientific code that is shipped with UQLab, is open source (BSD license).
Bridgewater State University Physics Quantum Field Theory and Jet Phenomena

This honors thesis studies graduate-level quantum field theory including Feynman diagrams and Feynman calculus in order to connect experimental results with the theoretical background. It discusses results of a research experience for undergraduates through Duke University’s high energy physics program regarding jet phenomena and explains the inadequacy of quantum mechanics in predicting particle interactions. It follows the canonical method of building a relativistic quantum field theory and describes the process for building one from Langrangians. It addresses the non-interacting part of the theory using the canonical quantization and uses the Feynman propagator and Wick’s theorem to address the interacting part of the theory and write it as Feynman diagrams. It then reconnects the theory to jets with a detailed following of an established jet calculation using the Feynman calculus. The final numerical computation establishes the goal of this work.
Revisiting the Existence of Self-Similar Property in SPEC

This paper studies self-similarity of memory accesses in high-performance computer systems. We analyze the auto- correlation functions of memory access intervals in SPEC CPU workloads with different time scales and present the statistical evidence that memory accesses have self-similar behavior. For memory traces studied in our experiments, all estimated Hurst parameters are larger than 0.5, which indicate that self-similarity seems to be a general pr operty of memory access behaviors. In addition, a self- similar model is proposed to generate memory access series and experimental results show that this model can faithfully emulate the complex access behaviors of real memory systems.
Service and quality and quality service: satisfying customers in the hospitality industry

The purpose of this paper is to identify related literature and cases regarding the management of quality in the hospitality industry. It appears that Parasuraman‟s gap model between expectations and delivery still appears to be the foundation of quality methodology in this sector. An understanding of the differences in the applied dimensions of quality between goods and services is critical. Quality in the service industry is highly employee centred and quality experienced at the point of consumption. The article concludes with how the popular quality frameworks could be used in the hospitality environment.
The relation between news events and stock price jump : an analysis based on neural network

The efficient-market hypothesis states that price movements are extremely efficient in reflecting information flows. Some studies have shown that stock prices are related to news events such as earnings announcements, political events and corporate takeovers, while others have failed to find convincing evidence to relate price changes to news. The aim of this study is to explore the relation between news and abnormal financial market volatility. We first investigate the Granger causality between news and stock returns. Our results show that stock price change is the Granger cause of news volume and news sentiment; news volume is not the Granger cause of stock price change while news sentiment is the Granger cause of stock price change. Moreover, we utilize an artificial neural network model to predict stock market collapses by using different volatility parameters. The findings from this study will further our understanding of stock price movements and the reasons for stock market collapses.
Route Map of Privacy Preservation to IOT

Data anonymization is the main feature of privacy preservation, and it assists in eradicating the privacy hazard in data preparation in various applications including IoT. Pseudonymity and Anonymization are two significant security factors that were adopted when sensitive data are shared. In medical field, data is usually distributed horizontally with diverse regions carrying a similar set of characteristics for various anonymization techniques. Accordingly, this paper intends to formulate a review on privacy preservation in IoT. Here, the literature analyses on diverse techniques associated with data hiding, data preservation and data anonymization along with data restoration properties. It reviews 60 research papers and states the significant analysis. Initially, the analysis depicts the chronological review of the overall contribution of different types of anonymization protocols in diverse applications. Subsequently, the analysis also focuses on various features such as applications, measures, key generation and data preservation in healthcare, etc. Furthermore, this paper provides the detailed performance study regarding data hiding and restoration process in each contribution. Finally, it extends the various research issues which can be useful for the researchers to accomplish further research on data preservation in IoT.
O uso da acústica multifrequência na caracterização das comunidades pelágicas em Ilhas Oceânicas do Atlântico Sul, Brasil

A acustica submarina tem um potencial ainda nao aproveitado no que diz respeito a caracterizacao da variedade de componentes bioticos dos ecossistemas. Atualmente muitos metodos (e.g., diferenca da refletividade, modelos gaussianos) sao usados para classificacao multifrequencia. Este estudo tem o objetivo de propor e implementar um metodo baseado na distribuicao espacial multifrequencia dos ecos de diferentes grupos de organismos, com aplicacao em ilhas oceânicas do Nordeste do Brasil. Inicialmente, os ecos dos diferentes grupos de organismos sao definidos atraves de amostras obtidas in situ. Posteriormente, aplica-se um criterio de separacao objetiva baseado na maxima diferenca de energia acumulada em cada componente de duas frequencias para maximizar a quantidade de energia dentro de cada grupo, quando comparadas com o grupo mais proximo. Este metodo foi aplicado usando dados coletados com quatro frequencias (38, 70, 120 e 200 kHz) durante a campanha ABRACOS (Acoustics along the BRAzilian COaSt), no entorno do Arquipelago Fernando de Noronha (FDN) e Atol das Rocas (ADR), uma regiao caracterizada pela baixa produtividade e alta biodiversidade. Durante este processo, foram utilizados ate cinco componentes bi-frequencia. A aplicacao desta metodologia permitiu a separacao de 6 grupos: Peixes (Sv38 ~ Sv70 ~ Sv120), dois tipos de Ressonantes a 38 kHz (Sv 38 > Sv70 > Sv120 > Sv200) associados com gelatinosos, Fluid-like (Sv38 Sv120 > Sv200), associados com algas e um grupo de ecos “Nao definidos”. Os resultados sao coerentes em termos dos padroes de distribuicao de cada um dos grupos. Pode-se observar a importância dos gelatinosos, que sao o grupo dominante ao redor de FDN e ADR, formando uma densa camada sobre a termoclina. Estes resultados abrem novas possibilidades a serem exploradas acerca do conhecimento dos padroes de distribuicao e interacao de varios grupos biologicos em ecossistemas aquaticos.
Cherenkov Telescope Array is Well Suited to Follow Up Gravitational Wave Transients

The rst gravitational-wave (GW) observations will greatly benet, or even depend on, the detection of coincident electromagnetic counterparts. These counterparts will similarly enhance the scientic impact of later detections. Electromagnetic follow-ups can be, nevertheless, challenging for GW event candidates with poorly reconstructed directions. Localization can be inecient in several important scenarios: (i) in the early advanced detector era, only the two LIGO observatories will be operating; (ii) later, even with more observatories, the detectors’ sensitivity will probably be non-uniform; (iii) the rst events, as well as a signicant fraction of later events, will likely occur near the detectors’ horizon distance, where they are only marginally detectable, having low signal-to-noise ratios. In these scenarios, the precision of localization can be severely limited. Follow-up observations will need to cover hundreds to thousands of square degrees of the sky over a limited period of time, reducing the list of suitable followup telescopes or telescope networks. Compact binary mergers, the most anticipated sources for the rst GW observations, will be detectable via advanced LIGO/Virgo from hundreds of megaparsecs, setting the scale to the sensitivity required from followup observatories. We demonstrate that the Cherenkov Telescope Array will be capable of following up GW event candidates over the required large sky area with sucient sensitivity to detect short gamma-ray bursts, which are thought to originate from compact binary mergers, out to the horizon distance of advanced LIGO/Virgo. CTA can therefore be invaluable starting with the rst multimessenger detections, even with poorly reconstructed GW source directions. This scenario also provides a further scientic
Mixed-stock analysis of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) on Antarctic feeding grounds

In understanding the impact of commercial whaling, it is important to estimate the mixing of low latitude breeding populations on Antarctic feeding grounds, particularly the endangered humpback whale populations of Oceania. This paper estimates the degree of genetic differentiation among the putative populations of Oceania (New Caledonia, Tonga, the Cook Islands and French Polynesia) and Australia (western Australia and eastern Australia) using ten microsatellite loci and mtDNA, assesses the power of the data for a mixed-stock analysis, determines ways to improve statistical power for future studies and estimates the population composition of Antarctic samples collected in 2010 south of New Zealand and eastern Australia. A large proportion of individuals could not be assigned to a population of origin (> 52%) using a posterior probability threshold of > 0.90. The mixed-stock analysis simulations however, produced accurate results with humpback whales reapportioned to their population of origin above the 90% threshold for western Australia, New Caledonia and Oceania grouped using a combined mtDNA and microsatellite dataset. Removing the Cook Islands, considered a transient region for humpback whales, from the simulation analysis increased the ability to reapportion Tonga from 86% to 89% and French Polynesia from 89% to 92%. Breeding ground sample size was found to be a factor influencing the accuracy of population reapportionment whereas increasing the mixture or feeding ground sample size improved the precision of results. The mixed-stock analysis of our Antarctic samples revealed substantial contributions from both eastern Australia (53.2%, 6.8% SE) and New Caledonia (43.7%, 5.5% SE) [with Oceania contributing 46.8% (5.9% SE)] but not western Australia. Despite the need for more samples to improve estimates of population allocation, our study strengthens the emerging genetic and non-genetic evidence that Antarctic waters south of New Zealand and eastern Australia are used by humpback whales from both eastern Australia and the more vulnerable breeding population of New Caledonia, representing Oceania.