Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fixed income investments: evolution in a liquidity shortage episode

During the last decade, the Chilean fixed income market has shown impressive growth in terms of liquidity and deepness. At the same time, institutional investors such as pension funds and mutual funds have systematically increased their presence in this market, to a share of 40% and 14% of total Chilean fixed income assets as at December 2008, respectively. The monitoring of financial stability could therefore be improved with supplementary statistics on the portfolio decisions of such investors, which could be especially valid in light of the financial turbulence during the last quarter of 2008. In this regard, the goal of this paper is to describe how fixed income holdings evolved during this period and to analyse whether they can provide complementary information to the monitoring of financial markets.
Gaussian mixture modeling for source localization

Exploiting prior knowledge, we use Bayesian estimation to localize a source heard by a fixed sensor network. The method has two main aspects: Firstly, the probability density function (PDF) of a function of the source location is approximated by a Gaussian mixture model (GMM). This approximation can theoretically be made arbitrarily accurate, and allows a closed form minimum mean square error (MMSE) estimator for that function. Secondly, the source location is retrieved by minimizing the Euclidean distance between the function and its MMSE estimate using a gradient method. Our method avoids the issues of a numerical MMSE estimator but shows comparable accuracy.
Enhancing Real-Time Behaviour of Parallel Applications using Intel TSX

—With the Transactional Synchronization Extensions (TSX), implemented in the current Intel Haswell processor architecture, hardware transactional memory has now arrived at general-purpose computing. Although TSX simpliﬁes parallel programming and speeds up general-purpose parallel applications, it entails timing difﬁculties for real-time systems in case of conﬂicts and transaction aborts. In this paper, we propose a software-based contention manager, which enhances the task scheduler of a real-time Linux system and thus allows for using Intel TSX in real-time context.
Bayesian statistics of non-linear inverse problems: example of the magnetotelluric 1-D inverse problem

SUMMARY We present a practical algorithm for determining the Bayesian solution of non-linear inverse problems with a limited number of parameters. This approach allows the use of very general conditional probability density functions (pdfs of the data given the model parameters) and a priori pdfs (prior beliefs upon the parameters). The results consist in the a posteriori marginal pdfs of the model parameters. The marginal pdfs describe the additional information (if any) brought by the data to the prior knowledge about the model parameters. We have paid a special attention to the numerical calculation of the a posteriori pdfs and we propose a solution which enables the simultaneous determination of the numerical estimates of the a posteriori pdfs and their uncertainties. With the help of a practical example (the 1-D magnetotelluric inverse problem) with synthetic and real data, we show that in most cases, the a posteriori marginal pdfs are complicated functions and cannot be predicted from the data pdf or the a priori pdfs. Consequently, the standard analyses applied to the same data sets such as the maximum likelihood techniques or the asymptotic estimation technique would lead to severely biased estimates of the parameters. This remark is likely to be true for any non-linear inverse problem.
Chapter 4 Symmetric Encryption 4.1 Symmetric Encryption Schemes

The symmetric setting considers two parties who share a key and will use this key to imbue communicated data with various security attributes. The main security goals are privacy and authenticity of the communicated data. The present chapter looks at privacy. A later chapter looks at authenticity. Chapters 3 and 4 describe tools we shall use here. The primitive we will consider is called an encryption scheme. Such a scheme specifies an encryption algorithm, which tells the sender how to process the plaintext using the key, thereby producing the ciphertext that is actually transmitted. An encryption scheme also specifies a decryption algorithm, which tells the receiver how to retrieve the original plaintext from the transmission while possibly performing some verification, too. Finally, there is a key-generation algorithm, which produces a key that the parties need to share. The formal description follows. Definition 4.1. 1 A symmetric encryption scheme SE = (K, E, D) consists of three algorithms, as follows: • The randomized key generation algorithm K returns a string K. We let Keys(SE) denote the set of all strings that have non-zero probability of being output by K. The members of this set are called keys. We write K $ ← K for the operation of executing K and letting K denote the key returned.
The identification of index terms in natural language object descriptions

"The flowering part, it looks like someone is sticking their tongue out" (a subject's description of Arethusa bulbosa, see Figure 1). The mechanisms that people use in natural settings to describe objects to one another can be used to inform the design of image retrieval and museum systems. The image retrieval problem may be recast as an object description problem where the images are of objects. This study examines the vocabulary and communication constructs that are used by novices and domain experts to describe objects in an object identification task. These human-centered devices may prove to be more understandable and easier to use than some purely computational approaches. The experimental conditions mimic a scenario where a person queries an agent (active botanical information resource) in natural language in order to identify plant images. The analysis identified the objects of discourse (objects, parts and relations) including analogies, exemplars, prototypical shapes and shape modification predicates such as "longer," and "wider. " In spoken language novices and horticulturists use descriptive mechanisms similar to that in botanical text but at different frequencies. For example, participants rely heavily on visual analogies to objects both within and outside of the domain. "This looks like a X" where X is a plant (i.e. "daisy") or a non-plant (i.e. "butterfly" or "child's drawing of the sun"). The results suggest that indexing and retrieval systems should provide semantic level similarity mechanisms to allow for whole-object as well as part-wise visual analogy. The systems should also provide a visual vocabulary, a set of images that represent prototypes of the verbal terms collected in this study. Listener's Set[1] Speaker's Set[2] Figure 1: Arethusa bulbosa (Dragon's-mouth)
Perfection and Stability of Stationary Points with Applications to Noncooperative Games

It is well known that an upper semi-continuous compact- and convex-valued mapping o from a nonempty compact and convex set X to the Euclidean space of which X is a subset has at least one stationary point, being a point in X at which the image o (x)has a nonempty intersection with the normal cone at x.In many circumstances there may be more than one stationary point.In this paper we refine the concept of stationary point by perturbing simultaneously both the set X and the solution concept.In case a stationary point is the limit of a sequence of perturbed solutions on a sequence of sets converging continuously to X we say that the stationary point is stable with respect to this sequence of sets and the mapping which defines the perturbed solution.It is shown that stable stationary points exist for a large class of perturbations.A specific refinement, called robustness, is obtained if a stationary point is the limit of stationary points on a sequence of sets converging to X.It is shown that a robust stationary point always exists for any sequence of sets which starts from an interior point and converges to X in a continuous way.We also discuss several applications in noncooperative game theory.We first show that two well known refinements of the Nash equilibrium, namely, perfect Nash equilibrium and proper Nash equilibrium, are special cases of our robustness concept.Further, a third special case of robustness refines the concept of properness and a robust Nash equilibrium is shown to exist for every game.In symmetric bimatrix games, our results imply the existence of a symmetric proper equilibrium.Applying our results to the field of evolutionary game theory yields a refinement of the stationary points of the replicator dynamics.We show that the refined solution always exists, contrary to many well known refinement concepts in the field that may fail to exist under the same conditions.
Characteristics and models of effective professional development: the case of school teachers in Qatar

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of effective professional development and effective models of professional development as perceived by school teachers in the State of Qatar. This study is quantitative in nature and was conducted using a survey methodology. Means, standard deviations, t-test, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were utilized to analyze the collected data. Results of the study revealed that school teachers in Qatar perceived the proposed characteristics of effective professional development to be highly effective. Further, school teachers in Qatar perceived mentoring model (mentoring model (providing professional support from experienced teacher to new hiring teacher) as the most effective professional development model. However, an online training program was rated to be the least effective professional development model. Finally, results showed that there are no significant differences among school teachers in perceiving the proposed characteristics of effective professional development and in perceiving the most and the least effective professional development models that are attributed to their gender, years of experience in teaching, and school level.
SPICE modeling of memristors with multilevel resistance states

With CMOS technologies approaching the scaling ceiling, novel memory technologies have thrived in recent years, among which the memristor is a rather promising candidate for future resistive memory (RRAM). Memristor's potential to store multiple bits of information as different resistance levels allows its application in multilevel cell (MCL) technology, which can significantly increase the memory capacity. However, most existing memristor models are built for binary or continuous memristance switching. In this paper, we propose the simulation program with integrated circuits emphasis (SPICE) modeling of charge-controlled and flux-controlled memristors with multilevel resistance states based on the memristance versus state map. In our model, the memristance switches abruptly between neighboring resistance states. The proposed model allows users to easily set the number of the resistance levels as parameters, and provides the predictability of resistance switching time if the input current/voltage waveform is given. The functionality of our models has been validated in HSPICE. The models can be used in multilevel RRAM modeling as well as in artificial neural network simulations.
An Energy-Efficient Algorithm for Maximum Lifetime and Minimum Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have received more and more attention due to the limited energy of battery-powered nodes, but rarely consider the maximum lifetime and the shortest path at the same time. In this paper, we present an energy-efficient algorithm for maximum lifetime and minimum routing (EE-MLMR) in wireless sensor networks. EE-MLMR improves energy utility by changing the activity of wireless communication module of sensor nodes, energy model and state transition of sensor nodes. EE-MLMR employs the minimum angle of source node and goal node to prolong network lifetime. Simulation results show that EE-MLMR performs better than DD and EER algorithm for wireless sensor network with high-density deployment and low traffic.
Protein Contact Prediction Based on Protein Sequences ∗

The inter-residue contacts in a protein impact the formation of its protein folds, which plays a critical role in building protein structures. In this paper, we propose a classiﬁcation method to predict the residue-residue contacts of a target protein, and develop a new measurement to evaluate the accuracy of prediction. We compare three prediction tools, which are the support vector machine (SVM), the k -nearest neighbor algorithm (KNN), and the penalized discriminant analysis (PDA), by referring to the self-testing of the training set derived from representative protein chains from PDB (PDB-REPRDB). After that, we apply the best classiﬁer (SVM) to predict a testing set of 173 protein chains derived from previous study. The experimental results show that the accuracy of our prediction achieves 24.84%, 15.68%, and 8.23% for three categories of diﬀerent contacts , which improves the result of random exploration (5.31%, 3.33%, and 1.12%, respectively).
A Criança com Síndrome de Down: o sentido da inclusão no contexto da exclusão

This study aims to understand the process of school inclusion of a sophomore elementary school with Down syndrome. We emphasize the goal of inclusive school, whose intention is not match the child to colleagues, but to make learn within their means. For this to happen, it is crucial that children with disabilities have the support they need, respect for their limitations and the provision of adequate opportunities, taking into account individual differences, diverse and motivating activities. The research, qualitative, sought, through everyday participant observation of the child down and open questionnaires with education professionals, as the coordinator, the regent teacher and traveling helper, grasp the process of inclusion in a public school the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. the analysis of systematic data and signaled theoretical framework that inclusive schools should recognize the factors that influence the process of inclusion and give an answer to each of them, ensuring education through an appropriate curriculum, organizational, teaching strategies, appropriate use of resources and partnerships. The evidence raised in the observations, compared to reports, support the idea that the support offered by the school where the study was conducted is insufficient for successful inclusion. The study favored the reflection that dispenses schools systematization of its time, space and relationships, to be made effective an inclusion that overcomes the gap between theory and practice.
Variational sums and power variation: a unifying approach to model selection and estimation in semimartingale models

In the framework of general semimartingale models we provide limit theorems for variational sums including the p-th power variation, i.e. the sum of p-th absolute powers of increments of a process. This gives new insight in the use of quadratic and realised power variation as an estimate for the integrated volatility in finance. It also provides a criterion to decide from high frequency data, whether a jump component should be included in the model. Furthermore, results on the asymptotic behaviour of integrals with respect to Levy processes, estimates for integrals with respect to Levy measures and non-parametric estimation for Levy processes will be derived and viewed in the framework of variational sums.
Impact on Human Health of Microorganisms Present in Fermented Dairy Products: An Overview

Fermented dairy products provide nutrients in our diet, some of which are produced by the action of microorganisms during fermentation. These products can be populated by a diverse microbiota that impacts the organoleptic and physicochemical characteristics foods as well as human health. Acidification is carried out by starter lactic acid bacteria (LAB) whereas other LAB, moulds, and yeasts become dominant during ripening and contribute to the development of aroma and texture in dairy products. Probiotics are generally part of the nonstarter microbiota, and their use has been extended in recent years. Fermented dairy products can contain beneficial compounds, which are produced by the metabolic activity of their microbiota (vitamins, conjugated linoleic acid, bioactive peptides, and gamma-aminobutyric acid, among others). Some microorganisms can also release toxic compounds, the most notorious being biogenic amines and aflatoxins. Though generally considered safe, fermented dairy products can be contaminated by pathogens. If proliferation occurs during manufacture or storage, they can cause sporadic cases or outbreaks of disease. This paper provides an overview on the current state of different aspects of the research on microorganisms present in dairy products in the light of their positive or negative impact on human health.
Program understanding and maintenance with the CANTO environment

During maintenance activities, the availability of integrated conceptual views that present software at different levels of abstraction, from software architecture to control and data flow relations at code level, is fundamental to understand and modify legacy systems. This paper presents CANTO (Code and Architecture Analysis Tool), a comprehensive program understanding and maintenance environment which integrates fine grained information with architectural views extracted from source code, giving the user control of what is being computed by analyses. The capabilities and usefulness of CANTO are illustrated with reference to a real understanding and maintenance task
Ray-Knight theoremsvia continuous treesRomain

In this paper, we are interested in obtaining the generalized Ray-Knight theorems (previously proved by Yor 10]) using branching processes. It was already observed in O'Connell's thesis 6] that the construction of the natural tree associated to Brownian excursion (Le Gall 4], Neveu-Pitman 5]) enables to obtain one of the "classical" Ray-Knight theorems. Our aim is to use the same ideas to get those theorems when the excursion is no longer Brownian but is associated to a Brownian motion perturbed by its local time. 1 The generalized Ray-Knight theorem. On a probability space ((; F; IP), we consider the following process: 8t 0; X t = jB t j + ? 1 (2l t) where (B t) t0 is a Brownian motion starting at 0 l t is its local time at level 0 and time t is a strictly increasing C 1-function on 0; +1 such that (0) = 0 and lim t! +1 (t) = +1 We denote by L a t the local time of X at level a and time t. Yor ((10] Theorem 3.3) proved the following result: Theorem 1 the process (L a 1 ; a 0) is a "Bessel square process of dimension " starting at 0, i.e. an inhomogeneous diiusion process with generator ? t f(x) = 2x d 2 f dx 2 + 0 (t) df dx for every function f 2 C 2 b (IR). We propose here to prove this theorem via branching processes techniques.
What Happens When Extremists Win Primaries?

This article studies the interplay of U.S. primary and general elections. I examine how the nomination of an extremist changes general-election outcomes and legislative behavior in the U.S. House, 1980–2010, using a regression discontinuity design in primary elections. When an extremist—as measured by primary-election campaign receipt patterns—wins a “coin-flip” election over a more moderate candidate, the party’s general-election vote share decreases on average by approximately 9–13 percentage points, and the probability that the party wins the seat decreases by 35–54 percentage points. This electoral penalty is so large that nominating the more extreme primary candidate causes the district’s subsequent roll-call representation to reverse, on average, becoming more liberal when an extreme Republican is nominated and more conservative when an extreme Democrat is nominated. Overall, the findings show how general-election voters act as a moderating filter in response to primary nominations.
Phylogenetic Patterns in the Microbial Response to Resource Availability: Amino Acid Incorporation in San Francisco Bay

Aquatic microorganisms are typically identified as either oligotrophic or copiotrophic, representing trophic strategies adapted to low or high nutrient concentrations, respectively. Here, we sought to take steps towards identifying these and additional adaptations to nutrient availability with a quantitative analysis of microbial resource use in mixed communities. We incubated an estuarine microbial community with stable isotope labeled amino acids (AAs) at concentrations spanning three orders of magnitude, followed by taxon-specific quantitation of isotopic incorporation using NanoSIMS analysis of high-density microarrays. The resulting data revealed that trophic response to AA availability falls along a continuum between copiotrophy and oligotrophy, and high and low activity. To illustrate strategies along this continuum more simply, we statistically categorized microbial taxa among three trophic types, based on their incorporation responses to increasing resource concentration. The data indicated that taxa with copiotrophic-like resource use were not necessarily the most active, and taxa with oligotrophic-like resource use were not always the least active. Two of the trophic strategies were not randomly distributed throughout a 16S rDNA phylogeny, suggesting they are under selective pressure in this ecosystem and that a link exists between evolutionary relatedness and substrate affinity. The diversity of strategies to adapt to differences in resource availability highlights the need to expand our understanding of microbial interactions with organic matter in order to better predict microbial responses to a changing environment.
Progress in Treatment of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease with Liver-Soothing and Stomach-Harmonizing Chinese Herbal Compound: A Post-Fundoplication Case

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is one common disease involving the digestive system, defined as a combination of symptoms induced by reflux of gastric contents into esophagus, mouth and/or lungs. The symptoms can be controlled or alleviated in most patients after lifestyle adjustment, administration of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and agents to improve gastric mobility, or surgery. Among them, PPI agent was most preferred and not every patient would seek for surgery. Patients may turn to operation when severe and unbearable heartburn and acid reflux developed which may induce severe esophagitis. But it was rare to see post-operative cases where PPI treatment was ineffective and the symptoms were not under control. Here we are going to report a case of GERD after fungoplication. The symptoms did not get lessened and there was no response to the PPI agents. In contrast, there was significant progress in treatment after administration of liver-soothing and stomach-harmonizing Chinese herbal compound.
Distance-field based skeletons for virtual navigation

We present a generic method for rapid flight planning, virtual navigation and effective camera control in a volumetric environment. Directly derived from an accurate distance from boundary (DFB) field, our automatic path planning algorithm rapidly generates centered flight paths, a skeleton, in the navigable region of the virtual environment. Based on precomputed flight paths and the DFB field, our dual-mode physically based camera control model supports a smooth, safe, and sticking-free virtual navigation with six degrees of freedom. By using these techniques, combined with accelerated volume rendering, we have successfully developed a real-time virtual colonoscopy system on low-cost PCs and confirmed the high speed, high accuracy and robustness of our techniques on more than 40 patient datasets.