Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INVESTIR SUR LE MARCHE INERNATIONAL DES ACTIONS A-T-IL PLUS D'EFFET SUR LA PERSISTANCE DE LA PERFORMANCE DES FONDS ? ILLUSTRATION BRITANNIQUE

L'objectif de cet article est de tester si la diversification internationale des portefeuilles a un effet positif sur leur performance comme le soutient la theorie de finance moderne. Pour se faire, nous proposons d'etudier la persistance de la performance d'un ensemble d'echantillon des fonds de pension et des unit trusts britanniques investissant en actions internationales sur la periode mars 1995 et fevrier 2005. Nous utilisons des mesures inconditionnelles et conditionnelles (Ferson et Schadt (1996) et Christopherson, Ferson et Glassman (1998)) pour evaluer la performance des ces fonds. Pour l'analyse de la persistance de cette performance nous nous referons aux tests non-parametriques. Globalement la majorite des fonds ont des performances instables, voir meme reversibles pour quelques-uns, particulierement a long terme et au debut de periode d'un horizon moyen. Neanmoins, Compares entre eux, les fonds de pension et les unit trusts peuvent se concurrencer en termes de la stabilite de leur performance quand elle existe.
Applications of wavelet transform on power engineering problems - A brief review

The main scope of this paper is about the applications of wavelet transform (WT) on power engineering research. This review paper deals with the summary of applications of WT to different power system problems including transmission line faults detection, power quality issues, power forecasting, power measurements and power system stability. Different types of wavelet are used for the solution of various power engineering issues, and the selection of suitable wavelet for specific problems is also discussed in this paper with the support of literature.
A new model for monitoring intrusion based on Petri Nets

Computers and the information they process are critical to many organizations’ ability to perform their mission and business functions. It therefore makes sense that executives view computer security as a management issue and seek to protect their data which are stored in these computers. Presents a main objective of introducing a modeling design and verification of the monitoring part of common intrusion detection framework (CIDF) using Petri Nets. To enhance the security of a system by monitoring system activity and detecting a typical behavior, statistical unusual behavior must be found in the observation of the system. Such a monitoring system will be capable of detecting intrusion that could not be detected by any other means. These systems that do collect audit data are the only way to build a real secure system which is the most important part of the network. Presents a proposed model of the monitoring part of the CIDF based on Petri Nets modeling technique. Tests the proposed model using the Petri Nets properties.
Evolutionary implications of pericentromeric gene expression in humans

Human pericentromeric sequences are enriched for recent sequence duplications. The continual creation and shuffling of these duplications can create novel intron-exon structures and it has been suggested that these regions have a function as gene nurseries. However, these sequences are also rich in satellite repeats which can repress transcription, and analyses of chromosomes 10 and 21 have suggested that they are transcript poor. Here, we investigate the relationship between pericentromeric duplication and transcription by analyzing the in silico transcriptional profiles within the proximal 1.5 Mb of genomic sequence on all human chromosome arms in relation to duplication status. We identify an ∼5× excess of transcripts specific to cancer and/or testis in pericentromeric duplications compared to surrounding single copy sequence, with the expression of >50% of all transcripts in duplications being restricted to these tissues. We also identify an ∼5× excess of transcripts in duplications which contain large quantities of interspersed repeats. These results indicate that the transcriptional profiles of duplicated and single copy sequences within pericentromeric DNA are distinct, suggesting that pericentromeric instability is unlikely to represent a common route for gene creation but may have a disproportionate effect upon genes whose function is restricted to the germ line.
Pre‐operative percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage: The results of a controlled trial

The operative mortality for biliary tract obstruction due to malignancy is high. In 1981 a controlled clinical trial of pre‐operative percutaneous drainage was started at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School. At the time of percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography patients were randomized either to laparotomy or to pre‐operative percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) followed by laparotomy. Only patients with malignant biliary tract obstruction and serum bilirubin greater than 100 μmol/l were included. Seventy patients entered the trial, and five were withdrawn. Of the 65 remaining, 31 underwent laparotomy and 34 had pre‐operative PTBD followed by laparotomy. The median duration of drainage was 18 days and during this time the median bilirubin fell from 305 to 115 m̈mol/l. Five patients required early surgery for complications of PTBD and two died within 30 days of surgery. The mortality for laparotomy was 19 per cent (6/31) compared with 32 per cent (11/34) for drainage plus laparotomy. This trial highlights the hazards of PTBD in high risk patients and has failed to demonstrate a reduction in mortality with the use of pre‐operative PTBD.
Assessing Stress in Arctic Lemmings: Fecal Metabolite Levels Reflect Plasma Free Corticosterone Levels

Interest in the ecology of stress in wild populations has triggered the development of noninvasive methods for quantifying stress hormones. Measurement of fecal corticosteroid metabolites (FCMs) is one such method, but it is still unclear whether FCMs can be a reliable proxy of free plasma glucocorticoids. To assess the validity of this assumption, we carried out a robust assessment on brown lemmings (Lemmus trimucronatus) from Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada, that were hand captured and anesthetized and related plasma glucocorticoid levels to fecal metabolite glucocorticoid levels. We examined endogenous factors that could explain interindividual variability. Blood corticosterone was measured from samples obtained on capture and 30 min later, and FCM levels were measured from animals kept in captivity for 72 h. Plasma free corticosterone increased 135-fold over baseline values 30 min after capture, which confirmed that initial handling was perceived as a stressor. We found that FCM levels were highly related with free (marginal Rm2 = 0.53) but not with total (Rm2 = 0.02) corticosterone levels, regardless of age, sex, and reproductive condition. FCM levels started increasing 2 h after capture and reached maximum levels 4 h after capture. No circadian rhythm in FCMs was found. Plasma total corticosterone levels were much higher in adult females compared with adult males, but this difference was much smaller when measuring free corticosterone levels and FCM levels. Our results suggest that FCM levels are good measures of stress by being closely related to plasma free corticosterone levels in brown lemmings.
A rule-based system for dense-map name placement

Placement of names on a dense map is a complex and difficult process to automate. Maps consist of features represented by points, lines, and areas. On dense maps, features are closely spaced, leaving little room for names or labels. Names must be placed so they do not overlap each other or conceal existing features. The placements should contribute to the aesthetic quality of the map. To demonstrate name-placement techniques on dense maps, a fully automated cartography system was developed. This system automatically creates digital map databases, places names, and produces high-quality human-readable maps. It uses sets of rules to define how maps are to be labelled and plotted. A single map database may be used to produce different kinds of maps of the same region. Features may be labelled and represented differently on each map simply by changing the rules. The name-placement rules determine the location, orientation, font, size, and slant of each character in the names of the features. After each rule is processed, the name-placement quality is evaluated to determine whether additional rules must be processed. If the quality of a name placement deteriorates after new names are placed, backtracking occurs and the name is repositioned. If the map is too dense, acceptable placements may not be found for all names and the placement quality degrades gracefully. Rules in the dense-map name-placement system may place names for point features next to the points or shift them horizontally and vertically until acceptable positions are found. Line feature names may be centered on the line or offset from it. Area feature names may be placed horizontally inside a region or next to it. The names may also be placed along the skeleton or border of the region.
Dwarfism with Retinal Atrophy and Deafness

The two children with this dystrophy, a girl aged seven years and eleven months and a boy aged six years and three months were admitted to the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, in June, 1935. The parents, who are natives of north Hampshire, are of English race, normal and not blood-relations, and they have been unable to trace the occurrence of the condition in their ascendants or collaterals. Dr. N. F. Kendall, under whose care they were before admission, has ascertained that before marriage the parents lived sixteen miles apart, and as their families have lived in the neighbourhood for a long time it is not unlikely that there has been intermarriage between them some generations back. There are four older children, three girls, aged eighteen, fifteen, and twelve years respectively, and a boy, aged ten, and one younger, a boy aged three years, who is taller than either of the affected ones. The dwarfs are so much alike in facial appearance, build and disposition, that the same general description will suffice (fig. 1, 2). Both have small heads, that of the girl being the smaller (fig. 3), but, although the vault of the skull is flattened and the circumference small, the general shape is normal, and neither child has the receding forehead characteristic of microcephaly. Their faces are small with sunken eyes and prominent superior maxillae. They are slightly built with short, slender trunks and unduly long legs, and their feet and hands are too large in proportion. The third and fourth fingers of their hands are deviated a little towards the mesial line.
Evidence and the patient's role in safer care

I will never forget the frigid snowy February day when I was to make the 30 min flight to Boston from the island where I live. This local airline uses nine-seat twin-engine planes, the last of which came off the assembly line in the mid-1980s. The ninth passenger sits in the co-pilot's seat. The temperature was subfreezing—where ice formation on the wings is a safety concern because it reduces the plane's lift. I was the only passenger that day. The young pilot walked through the waiting area with a window scraper, the kind I had used to clean the ice off my car windows that morning. She smiled and said, ‘gotta de-ice this puppy. ’ I must have blanched because she later walked back into the waiting area and nodded toward me again. ‘Don't worry doc, I'm going too. ’ I assumed this was intended to reassure me. And it did. I think. It …
Radar waveform design in a spectrally crowded environment via nonconvex quadratic optimization

Radar signal design in a spectrally crowded environment is a very challenging and topical problem due to the increasing demand for both military surveillance/remote-sensing capabilities and civilian wireless services. This paper deals with the synthesis of optimized radar waveforms ensuring spectral compatibility with the overlayed licensed electromagnetic radiators. A priori information, for instance, provided by a radio environmental map (REM), is exploited to force a spectral constraint on the radar waveform, which is thus the result of a constrained optimization process aimed at improving some radar performances (such as detection, sidelobes, resolution, tracking). The feasibility of the waveform optimization problem is extensively studied, and a solution technique leading to an optimal waveform is proposed. The procedure requires the relaxation of the original problem into a convex optimization problem and involves a polynomial computational complexity. At the analysis stage, the waveform performance is studied in terms of trade-off among the achievable signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), spectral shape, and the resulting autocorrelation function (ACF).
The modular class of a Poisson map

We introduce the modular class of a Poisson map. We look at several examples and we use the modular classes of Poisson maps to study the behavior of the modular class of a Poisson manifold under different kinds of reduction. We also discuss their symplectic groupoid version, which lives in groupoid cohomology.
TRADERS, SAINTS, AND IRRIGATION: REFLECTIONS ON SAHARAN CONNECTIVITY*

ABSTRACT Studies of trans-Saharan trade have recently been revitalized, mainly through an exploration of local archives. These archives offer a further possibility: to investigate the link between local settlement and wider patterns of exchange. Material from southern Algeria and northern Mali suggests that oases were not viable without outside investment, that pastoral economies needed storage space and agricultural produce, and that intra-Saharan and trans-Saharan trade relied on each other. Hence, regional mobility and outside connections were not subsidiary but constitutive of the local, and local patterns of production and trans-Saharan commerce were aspects of the same system.
How people with cognitive disabilities experience electronic planning devices.

BACKGROUND People with cognitive disabilities have difficulties in accomplishing everyday tasks. Electronic planning devices (EPDs) may compensate for the gap between a person's capacity and everyday challenges. However, the devices are not always used as intended. Despite that, cognitive assistive technology has been investigated in several studies, knowledge regarding when and what makes adults decide to use EPDs is incomplete. OBJECTIVE The aim was to explore the subjective experiences of people with cognitive disabilities in relation to the use of EPDs. METHODS A qualitative approach was applied with a qualitative content analysis. Twelve respondents were interviewed with support from a study specific guide. RESULTS A model representing the respondents' experiences in the use of EPDs, comprising one theme, Possibility to master my daily life, four categories, Degree of fit to my needs, I am aware of my cognitive disability, I get help to structure my everyday life and The EPD improves my volition and ten subcategories, was developed. CONCLUSIONS EPDs allow people with cognitive disabilities the possibility to deal with daily challenges; those who find EPDs beneficial tend to use them. EPDs can help people with cognitive disabilities in organisation, managing time and improve volition.
Politics, Markets and Schools: Quasi-Experimental Evidence on the Impact of Autonomy and Competition from a Truly Revolutionary UK Reform

Supporters of market-based education reforms argue that school autonomy and between-school competition can raise student achievement. Yet U.S. reforms based in part on these ideas - charter schools, school-based management, vouchers and school choice - are limited in scope, complicating evaluations of their impact. In contrast, a series of remarkable reforms enacted by the Thatcher Government in Britain in the 1980s provide an ideal testing ground for examining the effects of school autonomy and between-school competition. In this paper I study one reform - described by Chubb and Moe (1992) as ‘truly revolutionary’ - that allowed public high schools to ‘opt out’ of the local school authority and become quasi-independent, funded directly by central Government. In order to opt out schools had to first win a majority vote of current parents, and I assess the impact of school autonomy via a regression discontinuity design, comparing student achievement levels at schools where the vote barely won to those where it barely lost. To assess the effects of competition I use this same idea to compare student achievement levels at neighbouring schools of barely winners to neighbouring schools of barely losers. My results suggest two conclusions. First, there were large gains to schools that won the vote and opted out, on the order of a onequarter standard deviation improvement on standardised national examinations. Since results improved for those students already enrolled in the school at the time of the vote, this outcome is not likely to be driven by changes in student-body composition (cream-skimming). Second, the gains enjoyed by the opted-out schools appear not to have spilled over to their neighbours - I can never reject the hypothesis of no spillovers and can always reject effects bigger than one half of the ‘own-school’ impact. I interpret my results as supportive of education reforms that seek to hand power to schools, with the caveat that I do not know precisely what opted-out schools did to improve. With regards to competition, although I cannot rule out small but economically important competition effects, my results suggest caution as to the likely benefits.
Plasma Levels of Apolipoprotein E and Risk of Stroke in Old Age

Abstract: Recently, high plasma apoE levels have been shown to be related to increased cardiovascular mortality, independent of APOE genotype. Here we studied the association of plasma apoE levels with risk of stroke. Within the Leiden 85‐plus Study, a prospective population‐based study of 561 subjects aged 85 years, we measured plasma apoE level and determined APOE genotype at base line. The presence of stroke in the medical history and the incidence of stroke during a 5‐year follow‐up period were assessed by interviewing treating physicians. At base line, an increase of one standard deviation (SD) of plasma apoE level associated with a 1.47‐fold higher risk of a history of stroke (P= 0.025). During follow‐up, an increase of one SD of plasma apoE level associated with an increased risk of stroke (risk of stroke: 1.58, P= 0.010). This association was also observed in ɛ3ɛ3‐ (1.95, P= 0.002) and ɛ3ɛ4 carriers (3.01, P= 0.008), but not in ɛ2ɛ3 carriers (0.62, P= 0.440). In conclusion, in old age, except for ɛ2‐allele carriers, high plasma apoE levels are associated with a higher risk of stroke, independent of APOE genotype, plasma levels of lipids, and other cardiovascular risk factors.
Symmetry Invariance of Multiagent Formations in Self-Pursuit

Structure in the interconnection topology among individuals of a multiagent system plays a fundamental role in the system's steady-state and transient behaviors. This paper explores how certain interconnection topologies influence symmetry in a multiagent system's trajectories. It is shown how circulant connectivity preserves rotation, and in particular instances, dihedral group symmetries in a formation of locally interacting planar integrators. Moreover, it is revealed to what extent circulant connectivity is also necessary in order that symmetric formations remain symmetric under the multiagent system's dynamics.
Towards a rigorous architectural reuse

Summary form only given. Object-oriented frameworks are recognized as a promising technique for architectural reuse. To guide a framework reuse and help in the traceability of a model, we have proposed an UML profile for framework design, called F-UML. In addition, to provide for precise analysis and reuse validation, we defined a formal semantics for the class diagram of F-UML. In this paper, we complete the formalization of F-UML in object-Z. We, then, show how the formal semantics can be used to analyze both syntactic and semantic/domain specific properties of a framework, and to validate a framework reuse.
Fiber optical chemical sensors rated for 800°C operation

A high-temperature fiber optical hydrogen sensor is demonstrated. The sensor is based on single-crystal sapphire fiber coated with nanostractured Pd-doped TiO2 thin film. The sensitivity of the sensor was evaluated for hydrogen concentrations varying from 0.02 % to 3% at temperature up to 800°C.
Having Fun With 31.521 Shell Scripts

Statically parsing shell scripts is, due to various peculiarities of the shell language, a challenge. One of the difficulties is that the shell language is designed to be executed by intertwining reading chunks of syntax with semantic actions. We have analyzed a corpus of 31.521 POSIX shell scripts occurring as maintainer scripts in the Debian GNU/Linux distribution. Our parser, which makes use of recent developments in parser generation technology, succeeds on 99.9% of the corpus. The architecture of our tool allows us to easily plug in various statistical analyzers on the syntax trees constructed from the shell scripts. The statistics obtained by our tool are the basis for the definition of a model which we plan to use in the future for the formal verification of scripts.
Influence of cutting parameters and conditions onto surface hardness of Duplex Stainless Steel after turning process

Cilj ispitivanja je utvrđivanje tvrdoce povrsine duplex nehrđajuceg celika nakon tokarenja prevucenim plocicama iz tvrdih metala. Istraživanje sadrži mjerenje tvrdoce duplex nehrđajuceg celika, koji je obrađen postupkom tokarenje pri razlicitim reznim uvjetima. Mjerenje tvrdoce se izvodilo za razlicite brzine rezanja, u uvjetima obrade sa i bez hlađenja. Rezultati mjerenja su uspoređeni za razlicite rezne alate: T1 alat prevucen keramickim slojem srednje debljine i viseslojno prevucen T2 alat. Istraživanje je provedeno mjerenjem tvrdoce HV10, a rezultati mjerenja su statisticki obrađeni.
Optimal multifilter banks: design, related symmetric extension transform, and application to image compression

The design of optimal multifilter banks and optimum time-frequency resolution multiwavelets with different objective functions is discussed. The symmetric extension transform related to multifilter banks with symmetric properties is presented. It is shown that such a symmetric extension transform is nonexpensive. More optimal multifilter banks for image compression are constructed, and some of them are used in image compression. Experiments show that optimal multifilter banks have better performances in image compression than Daubechies' orthogonal wavelet filters and Daubechies' least asymmetric wavelet filters, and for some images, they even have better performances than the scalar (9,7)-tap biorthogonal wavelet filters. Experiments also show that the symmetric extension transform provided in this paper improves the rate-distortion performance compared with the periodic extension transform.