Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Concentration, Hold-Up and Information Revelation in Bank Lending: Evidence From Chilean Firms

In this paper we empirically study bank-client relationships using a sample of Chilean manufacturing firms. We examine whether concentration and the duration of bank-firm relationships affect the volume of bank lending. Our results indicate that lower concentration, measured by the number of banks a firm borrows from, is associated with a large and positive effect on borrowing. The length of borrower-lender relationships has a positive -although not always statistically significant- effect on the amount borrowed.
Function Prediction of Disease-Related Long Intergenic Non-Coding RNA Using Random Forest

A non-coding RNA (ncRNA) is an RNA molecule that is not coded into a protein. ncRNAs are important regulators of gene expression, and have a wide range of functions in cellular and developmental processes. However, to date, only a few well-studied ncRNAs have provided important clues about their relevance to particular diseases. This study aims to find disease-related mRNAs and long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) from microarray data. More specifically, this study focuses on acute lung injury (ALI) disease. It seeks to distinguish between ALI and normal one. We utilize microarray data including mRNAs and lincRNAs that contain transcriptomic characterization of mice's brain inflammation during ALI.These samples are obtained at six time points (1h, 1.5h, 3h, 4h, 18h, and 24h) after injection of oleic acid or physiological serum. Because microarray data contains a large number of genes with a small number of samples, we must extract genes that are relevant for classification. First, we divide the dataset into three groups according to elapsed time after injection: group1 with early elapsed time (1h, 1.5h, 3h, and 4h), group2 with late elapsed time (18h and 24h), and group3 with full-length elapsed time (1h to 24h). We then extract some genes using a random forest algorithm for each group. A random forest algorithm can identify which features (genes) are important for classification. Finally, we obtain some important genes (mRNAs and lincRNAs) for classification as output. From these result, we distinguish between mRNA and lincRNA, and extract some mRNAs and lincRNAs using a random forest algorithm from microarray data. The final results indicate that some extracted lincRNAs may function like some mRNAs in ALI disease. This study provides new knowledge for biologists and medical scientists by investigating lincRNAs that may be related to ALI disease.
A Hold-out method to correct PCA variance inflation

In this paper we analyze the problem of variance inflation experienced by the PCA algorithm when working in an ill-posed scenario where the dimensionality of the training set is larger than its sample size. In an earlier article a correction method based on a Leave-One-Out (LOO) procedure was introduced. We propose a Hold-out procedure whose computational cost is lower and, unlike the LOO method, the number of SVD's does not scale with the sample size. We analyze its properties from a theoretical and empirical point of view. Finally we apply it to a real classification scenario.
Lexical Access Preference and Constraint Strategies for Improving Multiword Expression Association within Semantic MT Evaluation

We examine lexical access preferences and constraints in computing multiword expression associations from the standpoint of a high-impact extrinsic task-based performance measure, namely semantic machine translation evaluation. In automated MT evaluation metrics, machine translations are compared against human reference translations, which are almost never worded exactly the same way except in the most trivial of cases. Because of this, one of the most important factors in correctly predicting semantic translation adequacy is the accuracy of recognizing alternative lexical realizations of the same multiword expressions in semantic role fillers. Our results comparing bag-of-words, maximum alignment, and inversion transduction grammars indicate that cognitively motivated ITGs provide superior lexical access characteristics for multiword expression associations, leading to state-of-the-art improvements in correlation with human adequacy judgments.
Optimal Dynamic Reinsurance

We consider a classical surplus process where the insurer can choose a different level of reinsurance at the start of each year. We assume the insurer’s objective is to minimise the probability of ruin up to some given time horizon, either in discrete or continuous time. We develop formulae for ruin probabilities under the optimal reinsurance strategy, i.e. the optimal retention each year as the surplus changes and the period until the time horizon shortens. For our compound Poisson process, it is not feasible to evaluate these formulae, and hence determine the optimal strategies, in any but the simplest cases. We show how we can determine the optimal strategies by approximating the (compound Poisson) aggregate claims distributions by translated gamma distributions, and, alternatively, by approximating the compound Poisson process by a translated gamma process.
Teachers’ Conceptions About the Child’s Developmental Needs: A Structural Analysis

Educational practice should be based on the developmental needs of the student, but teacher training rarely focuses on the link between those needs and practice. The aim of the present study was to investigate what teachers think about the needs of students. In this initial report of research on teachers’ beliefs, 247 practicing teachers from the Republic of Tatarstan, recruited from continuing education/recertification classes conducted in Kazan, Russia, responded to a list of 26 statements drawn from Self-determination theory (SDT), Maslow’s hierarchical theory of needs, and several other sources, rank-ordering them in terms of their importance for the child’s healthy psychological development. The article presents the rank-ordering of teachers’ beliefs about student needs as well as the factor structure of those needs. Two needs from SDT (relatedness, competence) ranked more highly than Maslow’s needs, but, unexpectedly, teachers ranked the need for meaning most highly. Results indicated that autonomy was valued less than most other candidate needs, and, additionally, an unexpected factor structure emerged. The paper, which suggests caution when testing and utilizing existing constructs in new cultural contexts, will be of interest to researchers and educators alike as they work to strengthen the link between student needs and educational practice.
Synchronization Algorithms and Receiver Structures for Multiuser Filter Bank Uplink Systems

We address the synchronization problem in an uplink multiuser filter bank system. The system differs from orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) since it deploys subchannel frequency confined pulses. User multiplexing is still accomplished by partitioning the tones among the active users. Users are asynchronous such that the received signals experience independent time offsets, carrier frequency offsets, and multipath fading. We first consider the synchronization problem in conventional receivers that implement an analysis filter bank with precompensation of the subchannel time and frequency offsets followed by recursive least square linear subchannel equalization. Several correlation metrics that use data training are described. Then, we consider the synchronization problem in a novel multiuser receiver that comprises two efficiently implemented fractionally spaced analysis filter banks. In this receiver, time/frequency compensation can be jointly done for all the users. Despite its lower complexity, we show that it approaches the performance of single-user transmission.
Robust mean square stability of open quantum stochastic systems with Hamiltonian perturbations in a Weyl quantization form

This paper is concerned with open quantum systems whose dynamic variables satisfy canonical commutation relations and are governed by quantum stochastic differential equations. The latter are driven by quantum Wiener processes which represent external boson fields. The system-field coupling operators are linear functions of the system variables. The Hamiltonian consists of a nominal quadratic function of the system variables and an uncertain perturbation which is represented in a Weyl quantization form. Assuming that the nominal linear quantum system is stable, we develop sufficient conditions on the perturbation of the Hamiltonian which guarantee robust mean square stability of the perturbed system. Examples are given to illustrate these results for a class of Hamiltonian perturbations in the form of trigonometric polynomials of the system variables.
Surgical treatment of neuroendocrine tumors of the lung.

OBJECTIVE This report reviews the pattern of neuroendocrine (NE) differentiation, lymph-node involvement, extension of surgery, and survival in 125 NE lung tumor patients. METHODS Standard diagnostic workup included CT scan, bronchoscopy, bronchial biopsy or Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy, (111)In-pentetreotide scan (OctreoScan) and mediastinoscopy in selected patients. NE differentiation was assessed based on the morphology and immunohistochemical reactivity for pan-neuroendocrine markers NSE, CGA, and Synaptophysin. For small cell carcinoma (SCC), only clinical stage I and II patients underwent surgery. Several different surgical procedures were utilized, from limited resections to lobectomy, pneumonectomy, and bronchoplastic procedures. Survival was assessed using Kaplan-Meyer method at 5 years. RESULTS There were 79 typical carcinoid (TC), eight atypical carcinoid (AC), 18 large cell carcinoma (LCC) and 20 SCC patients. Mean age at diagnosis was 54.6+/-15.2 (ranges from 16 to 77 years) for TC, 68.5+/-9.1 (range 53-81) for AC, 68.7+/-4.6 (range 58-77) for LCC, 64.6+/-7.9 (range 48-82) for SCC. Male/female ratio was 1/1 for TC and AC, 2.6/1 for LCC and 9/1 for SCC. Lymph-node involvement was present in 14% of TC, 0% of AC, 31.5% of LCC, and 45% of SCC. Cancer specific survival was 96% for TC, 87.5% for AC, 37.5% for LCC, and 30% for SCC at 5 years from surgery. Presenting symptoms were invariably of respiratory-related. None had the carcinoid syndrome. History of tobacco abuse ranged from 46% for TC to 100% in SCC. Survival ranged from a minimum of 1 month for SCC to a maximum of 168 months with no evidence of disease for TC. Synchronous multicentric forms were found in 14% of TC. Twenty-one percent (4/19) of the patients with SCC treated by induction therapy and surgery, and in few cases by surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy are alive without the evidence of the disease for 5 years. CONCLUSIONS Due to the high percentage of lymph-node involvement and multicentric forms found in our series lobectomy with radical lymph-node dissection appears, in our opinion, the most appropriate surgical treatment in well-differentiated forms, while more limited resection appears sub-optimal. Also, due to the finding of recurrences many years after surgery, the follow-up must be accurate and protracted in this subgroup. Only Small Cell Lung Carcinoma patients in clinical stage I and II underwent surgery with good long-term results.
Higher order statistics and neural network for tremor recognition

This paper is concerned with the tremor characterization for the purpose of recognition. Three different types of tremor are considered in this paper: the parkinsonian, essential, and physiological. It has been proven that standard second-order statistical description of tremor is not sufficient to distinguish between these three types. Higher order polyspectra based on third- and fourth-order cumulants have been proposed as the additional characterization of the tremor time series. The set of 30 quantities based on the polyspectra has been proposed and investigated as the features for the recognition of tremor. The neural network of the multilayer perceptron structure has been used as a classifier. The results of numerical experiments have proven high efficiency of the proposed approach. The average error of recognition of three types of tremor did not exceed 3%.
OBLIQUITIES OF HOT JUPITER HOST STARS: EVIDENCE FOR TIDAL INTERACTIONS AND PRIMORDIAL MISALIGNMENTS

We provide evidence that the obliquities of stars with close-in giant planets were initially nearly random, and that the low obliquities that are often observed are a consequence of star–planet tidal interactions. The evidence is based on 14 new measurements of the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect (for the systems HAT-P-6, HAT-P-7, HAT-P-16, HAT-P-24, HAT-P-32, HAT-P-34, WASP-12, WASP-16, WASP-18, WASP-19, WASP-26, WASP-31, Gl 436, and Kepler-8), as well as a critical review of previous observations. The low-obliquity (well-aligned) systems are those for which the expected tidal timescale is short, and likewise the high-obliquity (misaligned and retrograde) systems are those for which the expected timescale is long. At face value, this finding indicates that the origin of hot Jupiters involves dynamical interactions like planet–planet interactions or the Kozai effect that tilt their orbits rather than inspiraling due to interaction with a protoplanetary disk. We discuss the status of this hypothesis and the observations that are needed for a more definitive conclusion.
Aspects of descriptive, referential, and information structure in phrasal semantics

Phrasal semantics is concerned with how the meaning of a sentence is composed both from the meaning of the constituent words, and from extra meaning contained within the structural organization of the sentence itself. In this context, grammatical constructions correspond to form-meaning mappings that essentially capture this “extra” meaning and allow its representation. The current research examines how a computational model of language processing based on a construction grammar approach can account for aspects of descriptive, referential and information content of phrasal semantics.
Rising Natural Gas Prices and Real Economic Activity

In the aftermath of the disruptions caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, natural gas prices rose to record-high levels. Because natural gas is an important energy source for the U.S. economy, there was widespread concern that these high prices might cause a significant slowing in the economy - especially among those manufacturing industries that heavily consume natural gas. The analysis presented in this article suggests that output is responsive to natural gas prices in some manufacturing sectors. Although perhaps significant, this result must be balanced against the finding that, when the analysis is extended to the macroeconomy (real gross domestic product growth), increases in crude oil prices significantly predict real gross domestic product growth, but natural gas prices do not.
Tree Species Classification Using Terrestrial Photogrammetry

This thesis investigates how texture classification can be used to automatically classify tree species from image of bark texture. The texture analysis methods evaluated in the thesis are, grey level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), two different wavelet texture analysis methods and finally the scale-invariant feature transform. To evaluate the methods two classifiers, a linear support vector machine (SVM) and a kernel based import vector machine (IVM) was used. The tree species that were classified were Scotch Pine and Norwegian Spruce and the auxiliary class ground. Three experiments were conducted to test the methods. The experiments used subimages of bark extracted from terrestrial photogrammetry images. For each sub-image, the X,Y and Z coordinates were available. The first experiment compared the methods by classifying each sub-image individually based on image data alone. In the second experiment the spatial data was added. Additionally feature selection was performed in both experiments to determine the most discriminating features. In the final experiment individual trees were classified by clustering all data from each tree. For sub-image classification, the addition of spatial data increased the overall accuracy for the best method from 75.7% to 94.9% The best method was IVM on GLCM textural features. The most discriminating textural feature was homogeneity in the horizontal direction. The best methods to classify individual trees were SVM with GLCM with an overall accuracy of 88%. In summary, the methods was found to be promising for tree bark classification. However, the individual tree results were based on a low number of trees. To establish the methods’ true usefulness, testing on a larger number of trees is necessary.
Distributed traffic network control system

This paper presents a consensus based traffic network management system. A consensus algorithm is used to control the traffic lights. The traffic lights can cooperatively manage the traffic flow among the whole traffic network. The system aims to average the traffic flow and force the road resources to reach maximum usage around the whole network. As a decentralized system, consensus based traffic management system has no central control. Intelligent traffic lights are located around the whole network. We will prove system stability with control theory. A realistic simulation platform will be built to test the system performance. The results illustrate that the system is flexible, reliable and feasible for practical uses.
Error performance of multi-hopping half-duplex relay networks

We derive a compact description of error performance of a multi-hopping half-duplex relay network, where each relay performs decoding. For this, we introduce the event of consecutive error which describes that a decoding error might not be corrected by chance at a subsequent relay node. Furthermore, two tight upper bounds are derived. The first one is based on the union bound method and the second one describes the probability that there occurs at least one decoding error in the network. General expressions on error probability in slow, flat fading Rayleigh channels are developed as well and adopted to the chosen transmission scenarios to ensure fair comparison with respect to the amount of transmitted data and system energy. It is shown and evaluated by simulations that relaying achieves better results on error performance even if no spatial diversity is employed. Gains are evaluated by a new metric called asymptotic probability gain.
Multiobjective evolutionary algorithm test suites

Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs) currently have no generic benchmark test suites. This paper provides several Multiobjective Optimization Problems (MOPS) for use as part of a standardized MOEA test suite, and proposes a methodology whereby various MOEAs can be directly compared. Supporting these contributions is a detailed discussion of MOP landscape and general test suite issues, and presentation of a new theorem defining the structural limitations of an MOP’s global optimum. This paper also discusses high-performance computer software deterministically computing an MOP’s Pareto front at a given computational resolution.
Membrane Dynamics in Three dimensional N=6 Supersymmetric Chern-Simons Theory

We study the membrane scattering in the three-dimensional N=6 supersymmetric Chern-Simons theory recently constructed by Aharony, Bergman, Jafferis and Maldacena and conjectured to be dual to M-theory on $AdS_4 \times S^7/Z_k$. We compute the one-loop effective action up to the $v^4$ terms in the derivative expansion and find exact agreement with the results from the supergravity computations. In particular, our results imply that the $v^2$ term is not renormalized and tree-level exact.
ects of biomanipulation on the biogeochemistry , carbon isotopic composition and pelagic food web relations of a shallow turf lake

The effects of biomanipulation on the biogeochemistry, carbon isotopic composition and pelagic food web relations of a shallow turf lake B. M. Bontes, R. Pel, B. W. Ibelings, H. T. S. Boschker, J. J. Middelburg, and Ellen van Donk Centre for Limnology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, KNAW, P.O. Box 1299, 3600 BG Maarssen, The Netherlands Centre for Estuarine and Marine Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, KNAW, P.O. Box 140, 4400 AC Yerseke, The Netherlands Received: 21 June 2005 – Accepted: 11 July 2005 – Published: 10 August 2005 Correspondence to: B. M. Bontes (b.bontes@nioo.knaw.nl) © 2005 Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Total ankle replacement for posttraumatic arthritis

Background and purpose — Most studies on total ankle replacement (TAR) have used a case mix of patients. We evaluated the outcome of TAR performed for end-stage arthritis either because of fracture or ligamentous injury. Patients and methods — We prospectively followed 88 consecutive patients (50 postfracture ankles and 40 ankles with instability arthritis (2 bilateral)) who underwent TAR between 2001 and 2009. Mean follow-up for both groups was 5 years. Results — Preoperative varus deformity of 10° or more was present in 23 ankles in the instability group. At 6 years, survival with revision or salvage fusion as an endpoint was 87% (95% CI: 74–99) in the postfracture group and 79% (95% CI: 63–94) in the instability group. Progressive periprosthetic osteolysis was seen in 23 ankles, and required salvage fusion in 6. The number of reoperations was similar in both groups. Clinical outcome, as assessed with 2 ankle scores and 2 questionnaires, showed good results and was similar at the latest follow-up. Interpretation — The outcome was similar in the postfracture and instability groups and also similar to that reported in series including a case mix of patients. In contrast to earlier reports, preoperative frontal plane deformity in this series was not identified as a risk factor for failure.
WAVE-RAY MULTIGRID METHOD FOR STANDING WAVE EQUATIONS

Multigrid methods are known for their high efficiency in the solution of definite elliptic problems. However, difficulties that appear in highly indefinite problems, such as standing wave equations, cause a total loss of efficiency in the standard multigrid solver. The aim of this paper is to isolate these difficulties, analyze them, suggest how to deal with them, and then test the suggestions with numerical experiments. The modified multigrid methods introduced here exhibit the same high convergence rates as usually obtained for definite elliptic problems, for nearly the same cost. They also yield a very efficient treatment of the radiation boundary conditions.
3D Rotational Digital Subtraction Angiography May Underestimate Intracranial Aneurysms: Findings from Two Basilar Aneurysms

SUMMARY: 3D digital subtraction angiography (DSA) allows clinicians to review intracranial aneurysms and other vascular lesions. We report 2 basilar aneurysms that were imaged by both 3D DSA and DynaCT. These 2 techniques produced very different aneurysm appearances. Anterior portions of the aneurysms were invisible on 3D DSA but were revealed by DynaCT. These aneurysms appeared to have been flattened by image artifacts in 3D DSA. Pulsation and gravity are 2 possible causes of aneurysm underestimation.