Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predicting Bank Financial Strength Ratings in an Emerging Economy: The Case of Turkey

The recent global financial crisis shows us that the rating of bank’s financial strength can be very misleading. As the credibility of the credit rating agencies has been shaken, the objectivity of the credit rating agencies has been questioned. Based on this observation, we investigate whether the forecast of the rating of bank’s financial strength using the publicly available data is consistent with those of the credit rating agency. The data of Turkish banks is used for this investigation. Furthermore, we identify the variables that play an important role in assigning these ratings. For this purpose, we used quantitative proxies for some qualitative factors that are used by Moody’s. The important factors in these ratings are profitability (measured by return on equity), efficient use of resources, and funding of businesses and households instead of government.
Phase I clinical trial of weekly combretastatin A4 phosphate: clinical and pharmacokinetic results.

PURPOSE A phase I trial was performed with combretastatin A4 phosphate (CA4P), a novel tubulin-binding agent that has been shown to rapidly reduce blood flow in animal tumors. PATIENTS AND METHODS The drug was delivered by a 10-minute weekly infusion for 3 weeks followed by a week gap, with intrapatient dose escalation. Dose escalation was accomplished by doubling until grade 2 toxicity was seen. The starting dose was 5 mg/m2. RESULTS Thirty-four patients received 167 infusions. CA4P was rapidly converted to the active combretastatin A4 (CA4), which was further metabolized to the glucuronide. CA4 area under the curve (AUC) increased from 0.169 at 5 mg/m2 to 3.29 micromol * h/L at 114 mg/m2. The mean CA4 AUC in eight patients at 68 mg/m2 was 2.33 micromol * h/L compared with 5.8 micromol * h/L at 25 mg/kg (the lowest effective dose) in the mouse. The only toxicity that possibly was related to the drug dose up to 40 mg/m2 was tumor pain. Dose-limiting toxicity was reversible ataxia at 114 mg/m2, vasovagal syncope and motor neuropathy at 88 mg/m2, and fatal ischemia in previously irradiated bowel at 52 mg/m2. Other drug-related grade 2 or higher toxicities seen in more than one patient were pain, lymphopenia, fatigue, anemia, diarrhea, hypertension, hypotension, vomiting, visual disturbance, and dyspnea. One patient at 68 mg/m2 had improvement in liver metastases of adrenocortical carcinoma. CONCLUSION CA4P was well tolerated in 14 of 16 patients at 52 or 68 mg/m2; these are doses at which tumor blood flow reduction has been recorded.
Synthesis of Soluble and Fluorescent Hybrid Polymer Using Organic / inorganic Assemblies as Building Blocks

A synthetic pathway is introduced to construct fluorescent hybrid polymers with supramolecular assemblies as building blocks. The supramolecular assembly is composed of nanoparticle core of II~IV group semiconductor and organic compound shell containing polymerizable groups. Their homopolymerization and copolymerization with vinyl monomers produce soluble and fluorescent hybrid polymers. Light scattering data show that the polymer from the assembly (2) of CdSe nanoparticle core with mixed organic compounds has an average size of about 310nm in diameter in chloroform; AFM image illustrates that the polymer has an average diameter of 120nm and an average height of 35nm on a mica surface and photoluminescent spectra reveal that the polymer performs an extraordinary enhancement in fluorescence intensity of the semiconductor nanoparticles.
The cellular analysis of liver carcinogenesis: ultrastructural alterations within hyperplastic liver nodules induced by 2-fluorenylacetamide.

The fine structure of 2-fluorenylacetamide-induced hyperplastic liver nodules and non-nodular surrounding liver in rats following a 24-hour fast was described. Within the nodule, annulate lamellae were frequently observed. These organelles were associated with an increase in smooth endoplasmic reticulum frequently arranged in cluster formation. In addition, within the nodule there was a concomitant decrease in parallel-arrayed rough endoplasmic reticulum and numerous small, lightly staining vacuoles. On the other hand, the adjacent non-nodular liver did not contain annulate lamellae, but did show large osmiophilic lipid bodies. Surrounding liver displayed preservation of rough endoplasmic reticulum and less clustered smooth endoplasmic reticulum. The combination of ultrastructural features imparted a characteristic appearance which specifically differentiated the hyperplastic nodule from adjacent liver.
Cyber-Physical Control Systems : Vulnerabilities , Threats , and Mitigations

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are yielding novel problems and solutions for security researchers. CPSs connect computerized controllers and human supervisors with physical systems used in the energy, transportation, water, manufacturing, and other sectors. A recent and well-known attack is the Stuxnet computer worm [1], which targeted Siemens industrial software used to control nuclear fuel processing plants. The worm exploited several extremely complicated cyber attack vectors, including four Windows zero-day vulnerabilities, to sabotage a suspected uranium processing facility. The scale and complexity of the attack clearly demonstrated the need to fully monitor cyber-physical critical infrastructures in real time for both accidental and malicious failures. Recent similar attacks against CPS have prompted unprecedented investigation into new threats [2] and mitigations [3], [4] against CPSs. However, despite the increased interest in CPS security problems, the security community faces significant learning curves in addressing them. Modern CPSs are founded on control theory, real-time systems, and obscure, often ad-hoc programming practices. Furthermore, the traditional definitions of security are often in conflict with the goals and operational constraints of CPSs. A security measure that blocks a system operator from executing a critical action could cause as much or more damage than an actual attack!
A digital intensive circuit for low-frequency noise monitoring in 28nm CMOS

A test monitor circuit for low-frequency noise characterization is demonstrated in 28nm CMOS technology. The circuit allows a fast evaluation of the low frequency noise performance of transistors, providing a digital output. The VCO-based quantizer used for analog to digital conversion is capable of converting signal of small amplitude, in the μV range. A good agreement between the results obtained with the proposed circuit and standard measurements techniques is obtained.
Measurement of the financial risk and forecasting the Mispricing of Volatility in Indian market

The present research paper main objective is that the study of Measurement of the Financial Risk and Mispricing of Volatility in the present scenario in the Indian equity. Money and debt market while the traditional theory explored in the present situation that high returns of money are associated with high risks, The market appears to be underestimating the probability of market movements in either direction, and thereby underpricing volatility severely in the research paper shows in that under certain conditions, a portfolio with low volatility stocks can yield higher returns than a high-volatility portfolio. Market operation is unacceptable in any financial market even if this influence is performed by the state itself. Moreover market operation to reduce interest rates would reintroduce financial repression through the back door and would reverse the principal success of the financial sector reforms. The main agenda of this research paper is the relatively new phenomenon of ‘Risk-based anomaly. The present study mainly using a low-volatility portfolio strategy over a 6year period (from 2010 to 2016) with rolling monthly iterations in the Indian money market, The present Research Paper main proposes a substitute design for the government securities market and also a new monitoring construction. Integrated markets, unbiased access to all modules of investors, intense competition and investor safety are the key elements of the anticipated design. The research study has focused on financial market volatility mispricing and measurement of the financial risk in Indian money market have wide scale repercussion on the economy as a whole. Hence there is a necessity to understand time path and nature of volatility of stock returns. In this study, an attempt has been made to analyze the behavior of volatility in the Bombay Stock Exchange Index shares and other share capital market in India. The nature of volatility persistence, its possible relationship with foreign institutional investment and the flow of unexpected news have been examined in this study.
Experimental and computational studies on the refractive index and interface state for nano interface of SiO2/Si and Si3N4/SiO2/Si

The refractive index and the interface state were studied for SiO2/Si and Si3N4/SiO2/Si using ellipsometry and the conductance method. The local optical performance of interface structure is modeled and calculated by layered capacitors method. The fitting ellipsometry dates agreed with its measurement and the calculate date of refractive index cross the SiO2/Si interface showed the similar trend with the results of ellipsometry. And the correlation between the thickness of the interface structure, the oxidation state, the refractive index, and the interface state is analyzed.
Moving Average Trading Rules for NASDAQ Composite Index

This paper tests a few moving average technical trading rules for the NASDAQ Composite and Goldman Sack commodity indexes from 1972 to 2015. Our results indicate that moving average rules do exhibit strong predictive power for NADSAQ composite index but much weaker predictive power for GSCI. Can a trader use this predictive to beat the B&H strategy? We show that MA-100 days could most of the time make an abnormal profit in the case of NASDAQ composite index by considering both transaction costs and risk.
The Design of an Integrated Control System in Heavy Vehicles Based on an LPV Method

In this paper an integrated control structure with individual active control mechanisms, i.e. active anti-roll bars, active suspensions, and an active brake mechanism, is proposed. Its purpose is to improve rollover prevention, passenger comfort, road holding and guarantee the suspension working space. In the control design the performance specifications both for rollover and suspension problems, and the model uncertainties are taken into consideration. In the weighting strategy of control design fault information is also taken into consideration. The design of the control system is based on an H∞Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) method. To enhance the performance of the controlled system, the control mechanism is extended with a prediction procedure, in which an observer-based prediction algorithm is proposed.
A Semi-Markov Model for Control of Energy Storage in Utility Grids and Microgrids With PV Generation

Photovoltaic (PV) penetration levels in the power grid have significantly increased during the last years. However, issues such as cloud-induced intermittency in PV generation forces equipment on the electrical grid to cycle excessively, preventing PV generation from being considered as a reliable or dispatchable source of power, particularly by utilities. A semi-Markov process model is proposed to model PV power. Unlike existing models of PV power, the proposed model has a wide range of applicability across both small and large timescales. These applications include simulating PV power, short-term forecasting of PV power, design of rule-based controllers for energy storage units (ESU), and stochastic scheduling of ESU in conjunction with other resources. The model is applied to study two cases of coordinating ESU with PV generation. In the first case, the model serves to design a coordination scheme for a hybrid battery-ultracapacitor (UC) ESU where the UC serves to extend the lifetime of a lead-acid battery. In the second case, the model allows probabilistic scheduling in a standalone PV/diesel/battery-ESU microgrid. In both cases, the model improves performance in terms of either battery lifetime or fuel consumption.
Novel Evolutionary Engineering Approach for Accelerated Utilization of Glucose, Xylose, and Arabinose Mixtures by Engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae Strains

ABSTRACT Lignocellulosic feedstocks are thought to have great economic and environmental significance for future biotechnological production processes. For cost-effective and efficient industrial processes, complete and fast conversion of all sugars derived from these feedstocks is required. Hence, simultaneous or fast sequential fermentation of sugars would greatly contribute to the efficiency of production processes. One of the main challenges emerging from the use of lignocellulosics for the production of ethanol by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is efficient fermentation of d-xylose and l-arabinose, as these sugars cannot be used by natural S. cerevisiae strains. In this study, we describe the first engineered S. cerevisiae strain (strain IMS0003) capable of fermenting mixtures of glucose, xylose, and arabinose with a high ethanol yield (0.43 g g−1 of total sugar) without formation of the side products xylitol and arabinitol. The kinetics of anaerobic fermentation of glucose-xylose-arabinose mixtures were greatly improved by using a novel evolutionary engineering strategy. This strategy included a regimen consisting of repeated batch cultivation with repeated cycles of consecutive growth in three media with different compositions (glucose, xylose, and arabinose; xylose and arabinose; and only arabinose) and allowed rapid selection of an evolved strain (IMS0010) exhibiting improved specific rates of consumption of xylose and arabinose. This evolution strategy resulted in a 40% reduction in the time required to completely ferment a mixture containing 30 g liter−1 glucose, 15 g liter−1 xylose, and 15 g liter−1 arabinose.
Accounting Turnover Ratios and Cash Conversion Cycle

Financial statements, and especially accounting ratios, are usually used to evaluate actual managerial performance and predict the consequences of their decisions (firm value or financial distress). For a better understanding of the empirical results, and to improve the correct evaluation of managerial decisions, it is necessary to establish a link between accounting ratios and concrete managerial decisions. This paper analyses the relationship established between accounting turnover ratios and the period of time spent concluding and operational process. In order to achieve this purpose, not only a set of possible averages of real conversion periods are defined, but also the conditions that guarantee that accounting turnover ratios offer a good approach to them are established. In general, the conditions which enable to approach accounting turnover ratios on good terms are difficult to accept in firms operating in growing or declining markets, with seasonal demand or with long operating cycles. On the other hand, some possible alternatives which, without needing more information, can help to measure real conversion periods of time in a more accurate way are also proposed and illustrated.
Adoption of Biometric Technology in Online Applications

This paper aims to determine the factors that influence the users' intention to use biometric technology in online applications. A questionnaire survey was conducted among internet users in Malaysia. Results demonstrate that the highest predictive power for intention to use is perceived credibility, followed by perceived ease of use, personal innovativeness, perceived risk towards new technology and computer self-efficacy. Perceived usefulness was found to be insignificant on intention to use. The results provide significant insights on the various factors that affect the adoption of biometric technology in Malaysia, which also might be applicable to other developing countries as well. By discovering and understanding the important determinants of biometric technology in online applications, appropriate strategies can be planned and implemented to increase the acceptance of this technology as a better security measure to customers.
Ecological Marketing: An Obligation or Responsibility

Ecological marketing or Green marketing one of the hot issues over the globe. As people become more aware about environmental problems it has transferred the behavior of big corporations towards a green lifestyle. This research paper investigates the attitude of companies whether ecological marketing is a social responsibility or an obligation for them. This paper focuses on the efforts put by producers in bringing change about green brands in customer’s mind. This paper also studies the factors which push the manufacturers to go green. This is also significant to know that the Indian consumer are exposed enough to ecological and environmental friendly product.
Distinguishing functional polymorphism from random variation in the sequences of >10,000 HLA-A, -B and -C alleles

HLA class I glycoproteins contain the functional sites that bind peptide antigens and engage lymphocyte receptors. Recently, clinical application of sequence-based HLA typing has uncovered an unprecedented number of novel HLA class I alleles. Here we define the nature and extent of the variation in 3,489 HLA-A, 4,356 HLA-B and 3,111 HLA-C alleles. This analysis required development of suites of methods, having general applicability, for comparing and analyzing large numbers of homologous sequences. At least three amino-acid substitutions are present at every position in the polymorphic α1 and α2 domains of HLA-A, -B and -C. A minority of positions have an incidence >1% for the ‘second’ most frequent nucleotide, comprising 70 positions in HLA-A, 85 in HLA-B and 54 in HLA-C. The majority of these positions have three or four alternative nucleotides. These positions were subject to positive selection and correspond to binding sites for peptides and receptors. Most alleles of HLA class I (>80%) are very rare, often identified in one person or family, and they differ by point mutation from older, more common alleles. These alleles with single nucleotide polymorphisms reflect the germ-line mutation rate. Their frequency predicts the human population harbors 8–9 million HLA class I variants. The common alleles of human populations comprise 42 core alleles, which represent all selected polymorphism, and recombinants that have assorted this polymorphism.
Multiple Fault Detection in Programmable Logic Arrays

The increasing recognition of PLA's as efficient and viable modules for such purposes as microprogramming and design of sequential controllers has led to a growing interest in the development of optimum fault detection test sets for these modules. It is now well known that a fault type which is unique to PLA's is the class of contact faults. A single contact fault is the spurious presence or absence of a contact between a row and a column of a PLA. We consider in this paper the problem of determining the capability of complete single contact fault test sets to cover multiple contact faults of PLA's. Our approach consists of developing a model of PLA's which allows one to represent a contact fault in a PLA as a stuck-at fault in the model of the PLA. Using this model, it is shown that more than 98 percent of all multiple contact faults of size 8 and less are inherently covered by every complete single contact fault test set in a PLA. Applications of this model to stuck-at fault diagnosis are also discussed.
Hypercorrection of High Confidence Errors in Lexical Representations

Memory errors associated with higher confidence are more likely to be corrected than errors made with lower confidence, a phenomenon called the hypercorrection effect. This study investigated whether the hypercorrection effect occurs with phonological information of lexical representations. In Experiment 1, 15 participants performed a Japanese Kanji word-reading task, in which the words had several possible pronunciations. In the initial task, participants were required to read aloud each word and indicate their confidence in their response; this was followed by receipt of visual feedback of the correct response. A hypercorrection effect was observed, indicating generality of this effect beyond previous observations in memories based upon semantic or episodic representations. This effect was replicated in Experiment 2, in which 40 participants performed the same task as in Experiment 1. When the participant's ratings of the practical value of the words were controlled, a partial correlation between confidence and likelihood of later correcting the initial mistaken response was reduced. This suggests that the hypercorrection effect may be partially caused by an individual's recognition of the practical value of reading the words correctly.
Complete sequence of the mitochondrial DNA of the chlorophyte alga Prototheca wickerhamii. Gene content and genome organization.

The complete nucleotide sequence of the circular mitochondrial (mt) DNA of the chlorophyte alga Prototheca wickerhamii has been determined (55,328 base-pairs, A+T content 74.2%). The genes identified encode three subunits of the cytochome oxidase, apocytochrome b, nine subunits of the NADH dehydrogenase complex (nad1 to 7, nad4L and nad9), three ATPase subunits (atp6, atp9, atp1 (also referred to as atpA)), three ribosomal RNAs (5 S (rrn5), small subunit (srn) and large subunit (lrn) RNA), 26 tRNAs, and 13 ribosomal proteins. A total of five group I introns reside in lrn and cox1, two of which include intronic open reading frames (ORFs). Five free-standing ORFs longer than 60 codons are present. Three of these ORFs are counterparts to genes encoding proteins of unknown function in plant mitochondria (orf25 and orfB of angiosperms and orf244 of liverwort), whereas two of them are unique. Mitochondrial genes are encoded on both DNA strands in a way that suggests the existence of two transcription units, each including approximately one half of the mitochondrial genome. The two intergenic regions in which transcription is believed to initiate and terminate are about ten times longer than the other intergenic regions (1118 and 1993 nt versus 100 to 150 nt). A total of 29 recurring sequence motifs (30 to 200 nt long) have been found in intergenic regions. Nine different types of motifs are present, most of them arranged as tandem repeats. These motifs may be implicated in transcription, e.g. as signals for initiation, termination and/or processing. Phylogenetic analysis on the basis of the cox1 gene strongly suggested that P. wickerhamii and plant mitochondrial genomes are monophyletic. The finding of plant-specific mitochondrial genes such as orf25, orf244, orfB and rrn5 in P. wickerhamii mitochondria corroborates this idea.
Solitary Fibrous Tumour of the Kidney

Solitary fibrous tumours are relatively rare neoplasms initially described in the pleura. Such lesions are now reported in many extrathoracic sites. To our knowledge, only 8 cases have been reported in the kidney. All these cases were benign. We report a patient with a solitary fibrous tumour of the kidney with infiltration of the wall of the renal vein. Microscopic examination showed proliferation of spindle cells with a prominent vascular haemangiopericytoma-like pattern. Hypercellular areas were admixed with hyalinized collagenous zones. The neoplastic cells stained for vimentin and CD34. CD31 was negative. Biologically, we did not find any arguments for malignancy: the flow cytometric study showed diploid histograms, and immunostaining for p53 was negative.