Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Professional staff carve out a new space

A 2004 paper, ‘The invisible workers’ by Szekeres, lamented the ‘invisibility’ of professional staff in Australian higher education. Even then, professional staff constituted more than half the university workforce, but they were defined by what they were not (non-academic) and they experienced a high level of frustration in their relationships with academic staff and with their institutions. This paper examines whether the situation for professional staff has changed in the intervening period. It would seem that by 2009, professionals had carved out a more critical space in the sector than they had been able to do by 2004. At senior levels, professionals are no longer restricted to specialist roles such as human resources or information technology or building services but have moved into the Pro- and Deputy-Vice-Chancellor space, roles previously reserved for senior academics. However, has there been much change in the junior or middle management roles? This paper considers the literature over the last six years as it relates to professional staff, look at the changing statistics in Australia around employment of professional staff, and consider what changes have taken place for professional staff at all levels.
Essays on banking and monetary policy in the presence of Islamic banks

This thesis consists of two chapters and aims to investigate the presence Islamic banks in Indonesia in the context of stability and monetary policy transmission mechanism. The first chapter compares bank stability, in particular profit stability, in Islamic versus conventional banks amid business cycle fluctuations. The unique characteristics of Islamic finance principles hypothetically involve different financial structures and provide stability for banks that comply with them. Using monthly bank-level data with comparable banks across the two types, I investigate the dynamic responses of individual banks to business cycle fluctuations. The dynamic estimation results show that the profits of Islamic banks’ are more stable than those of conventional banks in the short run, yet generally indicate no significant difference in the long run. However, the inclusion of the loan-to-asset ratio removes the remaining short-run differences. I check for robustness by estimating the static relationship between individual bank’s profits and the average profitability of the total banking industry, and the outcomes support the no-difference results. The second chapter compares the monetary transmission through Islamic and conventional banks by investigating how a particular bank asset portfolio, which corresponds to their type from being conventional or Islamic, determines the equilibrium rate of return on loans and on deposits which in turn affects their loans and net-borrowing from the central bank. Certain application of Islamic finance principles leads to a marked difference in Islamic banks’ assets portfolio which corresponds to a consistently higher loan-to-asset ratio in comparison to conventional banks. I test a set of predictions conveyed by the theoretical model using a panel of individual bank data. The results turn to be highly dependent on how well the two types of banks are segregated from each other, in which slack segregation may dissipate the potential differences. In particular while initially the results show no significant difference in responses of the two types of banks to the central bank policy rate, excluding Islamic windows from the sample allow the potentially difference to be more apparent and significant. Overall, the possibility that both types of banks may after the same pool of consumers exposes them to compete with banks from the other type, generating arbitrage opportunities that drive prices toward equality across types and impede the potential difference across banks.
Accounting Classification in the IFRS Era

The degree to which, and the purposes for which, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been adopted vary internationally. This paper uses classification techniques in order to investigate the reaction of countries, or companies within them, to IFRS. In addition, this paper investigates five aspects of this; for example, whether European countries mandate IFRS for unconsolidated financial reports. Previous classifications in accounting are used to help to predict and explain this.
SVE: Distributed Video Processing at Facebook Scale

Videos are an increasingly utilized part of the experience of the billions of people that use Facebook. These videos must be uploaded and processed before they can be shared and downloaded. Uploading and processing videos at our scale, and across our many applications, brings three key requirements: low latency to support interactive applications; a flexible programming model for application developers that is simple to program, enables efficient processing, and improves reliability; and robustness to faults and overload. This paper describes the evolution from our initial monolithic encoding script (MES) system to our current Streaming Video Engine (SVE) that overcomes each of the challenges. SVE has been in production since the fall of 2015, provides lower latency than MES, supports many diverse video applications, and has proven to be reliable despite faults and overload.
MRSIM: Mitigating Reducer Skew In MapReduce

MapReduce has emerged as a popular programming model in the field of data-intensive computing. This is due to its simplistic design, which provides ease of use for programmers, and its framework implementations such as Hadoop, which have been adopted by large business and technology companies. One significant issue in practical MapReduce applications is data skew: the imbalance in the amount of data assigned to each task. This causes some tasks to take much longer to finish than others and can significantly impact performance. Existing solutions for the data skew in reduce side increase the overhead that the users need to customize a novel partitioner for the specific application, or perform additional sampling processes before the map function begins. To mitigate the data skew in reduce side, which is called Reducer skew in this paper, we proposed a load balancing strategy based on load statistics, namely MRSIM. To gets the input data distribution in reduce stage, MRSIM computed the statistics while preparing data, which makes full use of the shuffle stage in MapReduce. To balance the load of entire cluster, MRSIM reallocated reduce tasks on the heavy nodes to idle ones according to the data distribution. In addition, by introducing the load feedback mechanism, MRSIM further improved the cluster's performance when running complex applications. We evaluated MRSIM in YARN (Hadoop 2.2.0), the experimental results show that our MRSIM outperformed the default strategy in native Hadoop greatly, the improvement in execution time reached 17%.
In the Aftermath of War US Support for Reconstruction and Nation-Building in Panama Following Just Cause

Abstract : In a more benign post-cold war international system, where no threat approaches that of the former Soviet Union, the rationale for the use of US military power cannot be based solely on the national interest. It will have to reflect concern with and support for such issues as self-determination, democratization, human rights, and economic development. The United States must have a postconflict reconstruction assistance policy that contributes to a positive consolidation of the situation and that promotes developments seen as contributing to stability and positive change. The use of force without a policy for the postconflict situation will be politically precarious. Additionally, in this new international security environment the employment of armed forces in missions outside of or short of war has become increasingly important and frequent. Several indicators suggest that these operations will continue to grow in prominence on the US national security agenda. What do these nontraditional operations encompass? The two that have received the most attention to date are peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance. Very recently, a third, peace enforcement, has been added to the list.
Numerical Analysis of Novel Micro Pin Fin Heat Sink With Variable Fin Density

Numerical analyses to characterize and design micro pin fin heat sinks for cooling the 2016s IC chip heat generation are carried out in this paper. A novel design with variable fin density is proposed to generate a more uniform temperature of the IC chip junctions. The variable-density feature allows the gradual increase of the heat transfer area as coolant passes through the system. Single-phase water in the laminar regime is employed. Four different fin shapes (circle, square, elliptical, and flat with two redounded sides) are analyzed. The junction temperature and pressure drop variations in the heat sink generated by these shapes are presented. The effects of varying the fin length and height are also studied. The best heat sink configuration has a thermal resistance ranging from 0.14 to 0.25 K/W with a pressure drop lower than 90 kPa and a junction temperature ~ 314 K under the conditions studied. The temperature gradient at the bottom wall of the heat sink is considered as a parameter for comparing various heat sink designs. The novel cooling device has an overall temperature gradient lower than 2°C/mm, which is significantly lower than the temperature gradients in other schemes reported in literature.
Contribution of systems thinking to business model research and business model innovation

Systems thinking (ST) offers leaders in management a systematic way of thinking for increased understanding and more effective work. However, ST has been seldom used in the past in combination with either business models or business model innovation (BMI). Because business model research is still diverse, and the process of BMI is a challenging and complex management task, the application of ST in this field is promising. This paper aims to contribute to the cross–fertilisation between ST and business model. To do so, we have reviewed the literature on systems theory and business models and identified an ST approach. The application of this ST approach to BMI is illustrated in a simplified case study example. Through this paper, we aim to contribute to business model research by conceptualising BMI types and BMI directions as well as by reviewing model theory. Additionally, the system–oriented framework provides a clear holistic agenda for practitioners to innovate business models.
Constraining optimal portfolios and the effect on real estate’s allocation

This paper re‐examines the role of real estate within mixed asset portfolios from the perspective of an Irish portfolio manager. The nature of the investment market in the Republic of Ireland leads to the study extending the existing literature by expanding the universe of assets beyond a solely domestic setting and by imposing constraints on the optimal portfolios. Irish funds generally hold proportionately more in international equities than in the domestic market due to the small and illiquid nature of the Irish market; therefore, unconstrained tests do not adequately model the behaviour of Irish portfolio managers. The study finds that while real estate plays an important role in both the domestic and international unconstrained portfolios, it exits the optimal portfolios at relatively low return levels. Additionally, the real estate series adjusted for smoothing fails to enter any of the optimal portfolios. However, the use of 20 per cent band constraints leads to an increase in the diversification role real estate can play in a mixed asset portfolio, with the asset maintaining a presence up to more acceptable return levels.
Outcomes after liver transplantation for alcoholic hepatitis are similar to alcoholic cirrhosis: Exploratory analysis from the UNOS database

Data on liver transplantation for patients with alcoholic hepatitis are limited. Using the United Network for Organ Sharing database (2004‐2010), adults undergoing liver transplantation for a listing diagnosis of alcoholic hepatitis were matched for age, gender, ethnicity, and model for endstage disease (MELD) score, donor risk index, and year of transplantation with three patients transplanted for a listing diagnosis of alcoholic cirrhosis. Study outcomes of graft and patient survival on follow‐up were also analyzed for cohorts based on the diagnosis of the explant (46 alcoholic hepatitis and 138 alcoholic cirrhosis) and diagnosis at both listing as well as of the explant (11 alcoholic hepatitis and 33 alcoholic cirrhosis). Five‐year graft and patient survival of alcoholic hepatitis and alcoholic cirrhosis patients were 75% and 73% (P = 0.97) and 80% and 78% (P = 0.90), respectively. Five‐year graft and patient survival rates were also similar for cohorts based on diagnosis of the explant and diagnosis at listing as well as explant. Cox proportional regression analysis adjusting for other variables showed no impact of the etiology of liver disease (alcoholic hepatitis versus alcoholic cirrhosis) on the graft and patient survival. The causes of graft loss and patient mortality were similar in the two groups, and were not alcohol‐related in any patient. Conclusion: Compared with alcoholic cirrhosis, patients with alcoholic hepatitis have similar posttransplantation graft and patient survival. Based on these preliminary findings, liver transplantation may be considered in a select group of patients with alcoholic hepatitis who fail to improve with medical therapy. Prospective studies are needed to assess the long‐term outcome after liver transplantation in patients with alcoholic hepatitis. (HEPATOLOGY 2012)
DOES TRADE-OFF BETWEEN CHILD QUANTITY AND CHILD QUALITY EXIST IN MALAYSIA?

This paper analyzed whether the child quantity-quality (CQQ) trade-off is applicable in the case of Malaysia. Utilizing the instrumental variable (IV) method, our analysis produces results that are consistent with the hypothesis that the trade-off is unlikely to be applicable to Malaysia as a whole due to the generous public provision of education. However, the results show that the CQQ trade-off exists for the high-income group. Taken together, if both a larger stock of human capital and population are desired, the government should continue to provide education for its people while at the same time maintain policies that stimulate growth.
Critical Success Factors in Winning BOT Contracts

The build-operate-transfer (BOT) concept represents a step forward in meeting the needs of developing countries for more capital investments in infrastructure and industrial construction. However, for a private-sector consortium bidding for a BOT concession, the road to winning a major BOT contract is not easy. The consortium must be willing to take calculated risks and at the same time be adaptable to changing demands and circumstances in the host country. This paper describes the importance and characteristics of six critical success factors (CSF) that are vital for project sponsors in their endeavors to win lucrative BOT contracts. These factors are: entrepreneurship, picking the right project, a strong team of stakeholders, an imaginative technical solution, a competitive financial proposal, and the inclusion of special features in the bid.
Magnetic resonance imaging metrics and their correlation with clinical outcomes in multiple sclerosis: a review of the literature and future perspectives

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has revolutionized the diagnosis and management of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Conventional MRI metrics are employed as primary endpoints in proof-of-concept clinical trials evaluating new drugs for MS and as secondary endpoints in definitive phase III trials. Metrics derived from non-conventional MRI techniques are now emerging and hold significant promise since they appear to be more correlated with the most disabling features of MS. However, none of these has been approved for use as a surrogate endpoint for accumulation of physical disability, which is the most important clinical endpoint of this disease. Taking into account the large numbers of patients needed, the extensive exposure to placebo, and the relatively long duration required for phase III clinical trials to show a meaningful effect on progression of disability, the need for a valid, reliable, and objective paraclinical marker of disease evolution cannot be overemphasized. This paper reviews the most up-to-date data regarding MRI techniques, their relationship with central nervous system pathology, as well as with clinical endpoints, and proposes future insights into the use of MRI metrics as surrogate endpoints in clinical trials of MS.
Adaptive filtering in subbands with critical sampling: analysis, experiments, and application to acoustic echo cancellation

An exact analysis of the critically subsampled two-band modelization scheme is given, and it is demonstrated that adaptive cross-filters between the subbands are necessary for modelization with small output errors. It is shown that perfect reconstruction filter banks can yield exact modelization. These results are extended to the critically subsampled multiband schemes, and important computational savings are seen to be achieved by using good quality filter banks. The problem of adaptive identification in critically subsampled subbands is considered and an appropriate adaptation algorithm is derived. The authors give a detailed analysis of the computational complexity of all the discussed schemes, and experimentally verify the theoretical results that are obtained. The adaptive behavior of the subband schemes that were tested is discussed. >
Decision-making for automated vehicles at intersections adapting human-like behavior

Learning from human driver's strategies for solving complex and potentially dangerous situations including interaction with other road users has the potential to improve decision-making methods for automated vehicles. In this paper, we focus on simple unsignalized intersections and roundabouts in presence of another vehicle. We propose a human-like decision-making algorithm for these scenarios built up from human drivers recordings. The algorithm includes a risk assessment to avoid collisions in the intersection area. Three road topologies with different interaction scenarios were presented to human participants on a previously developed simulation tool. The same scenarios have been used to validate our decision-making process. The algorithm showed promising results with no collisions in all setups and the ability to successfully determine to go before or after another vehicle.
An evaluation of inflation targeting in South Africa.

This research was conducted to evaluate the adoption of inflation targeting in South Africa as a strategy to maintain price stability. The research was based on the period prior to inflation targeting and the period of inflation targeting. The comparison was done to determine if the Reserve Bank was on the right track in adopting inflation targeting. The research was conducted to determine if there is any correlation between CPIX inflation and other factors affecting inflation. The factors investigated were: food inflation, transport inflation, housing inflation, exchange rate, Brent crude oil, money supply, and the current account deficit to the GDP. The correlation studies were conducted during the same period and when the factors were lagged up to eight quarters. The correlations were statistically tested at 5% significant level. The results show that the period of inflation targeting has a strong correlation compared to the period prior to inflation targeting, when compared during the same time period and lagged time period.
No association between immunization and Guillain-Barré syndrome in the United Kingdom, 1992 to 2000.

BACKGROUND Our goal was to determine whether immunization is associated with the incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). METHODS We analyzed data for all patients registered with 253 general practices in the United Kingdom General Practice Research Database from 1992 to 2000, with a mean of 1.8 million registered patients. We identified new occurrences of GBS and estimated age- and sex-specific and age-standardized incidence rates. We then determined whether the date of diagnosis was made within 42 days of any immunization and estimated the relative risk of diagnosis following immunization after adjusting for age and sex. RESULTS There were 228 incident cases of GBS, including 107 women and 121 men. The age-standardized incidence rate per 100 000 person-years was 1.22 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.98-1.46) in women and 1.45 (95% CI, 1.19-1.72) in men. Age-specific incidence rates per 100 000 person-years were highest in men aged 65 to 74 years (3.86; 95% CI, 2.50-5.70) and women aged 75 to 84 years (2.54; 95% CI, 1.39-4.27). There were 7 cases (3.1%) in which the onset occurred within 42 days of any immunization; 3 of the 7 cases occurred after influenza immunization. There were 221 cases (97.0%) that were not associated with immunization. The adjusted relative risk during the 42 days after immunization was 1.03 (95% CI, 0.48-2.18; P = .94). CONCLUSIONS There is either minimal or no risk of GBS associated with routine immunization practice in the United Kingdom. Obtaining a precise estimate of any potential risk associated with an individual vaccine would require a study with more GBS cases.
Horizontal velocity estimation via downward looking descent images for lunar landing

In lunar landing missions, it is very important to closely estimate the horizontal velocity of a descending spacecraft for achieving a successful and safe lunar landing. The purpose of this paper is to present a novel, vision-aided approach for the accurate, efficient, and robust estimation of such horizontal velocity. Our algorithm processes images from a downward-looking camera, as well as attitude and altitude information from other sensors, to estimate horizontal velocities. During descent, images vary greatly in scale, orientation, and viewpoint. To begin, the scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm copes with such shifts, so one is able to use extracted keypoints to establish correspondences between consecutive descent images. Then, matched SIFT keypoints are projected to the level ground plane according to the measurement of the camera state and the central projection imaging collinear equation. A 1-point random sample consensus (RANSAC) algorithm is adopted to remove mismatched keypoints. From each correctly matched keypoint pair, the algorithm derives a hypothesis for the spacecraft displacement relative to lunar ground, since those keypoints represent measurements of the same position on the lunar surface. From the bundle of displacement hypotheses, our algorithm robustly recovers the mode of the sample distribution. This final horizontal displacement estimate of the spacecraft is obtained by using the mean shift method to search for an appropriate answer among these hypotheses. In combination with the time interval between shots, the horizontal velocity is estimated. Additionally, a digital signal processor with field-programmable gate array architecture is also presented to implement velocity estimation in real time. We evaluate the performance of our algorithm based on numerous simulated image sequences and real flight images compared with the descent image motion estimation system approach and an extended Kalman filter monocular simultaneous localization and mapping method.