Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FRANCHISING PROPENSITY AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF FRANCHISING ORGANISATIONS: A CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW

ABSTRACT Purpose - This paper investigates the relationship between franchising propensity and financial performance of franchising organisations and explores literature on possible intervening and moderating factors on the relationship. Methodology - This is a critical review of theoretical and empirical literature on franchising propensity and financial performance. Findings - Literature reveals that most studies on franchising focus on the antecedents of franchising but very few examine the consequences moreover, the studies are anchored on either agency theory or resource scarcity theory. Studies examining the relationship between franchising and performance provide conflicting results. Some studies indicate that increasing the number of franchised units result to superior performance while other studies find no significant difference between franchising and running company owned units. The effect of franchising on capital structure of the franchisor has been examined by a few studies with no conclusive results. Furthermore, prior studies indicate that the relationship between franchising and performance is influenced by firm characteristics. There is a dearth of studies examining franchising in sectors other than the restaurant industry moreover there is need to use time series data to observe the consequences of franchising over time. Implications: This review of literature mainly consists of studies carried out in developed economies which have superior business models and access to finance. Developing economies are mostly supported by small and medium enterprises and lack the skills and resources similar to advanced economies. Therefore, although developing economies stand to benefit more from the franchising model, there are few studies carried out in developing economies. Therefore, the findings of this study may vary in the developing economies. Value: This study has presented a new dimension that may explain the inconsistent findings from prior studies and contribute to the discussion of franchising and firm performance. The relationship between franchising and firm performance may be moderated by firm characteristics and mediated by capital structure.
The polyglot computer

Performing security verications on a compromised system can give a false sense of security. If compromised, a computer system can return false results, thus \deceiving" the verication process. Our motivation for this work is straightforward: Computers should not be trusted, at least not when they are attesting their own integrity. In our project Babel, this problem is addressed by, quite literally, thinking outside the box. Babel introduces an architecture where the user’s computer is unable to execute any program by itself and depends on an external entity to execute any application. Taking into consideration the advances in computer network and cloud computing, we move the verication process to outside the physical limits of the computer. Babel can be mistaken for yet another instance of extant approaches. In this paper, we revisit the Babel architecture with the twofold intention of clarifying what Babel is and showing how Babel diers from previous work.
Simulasi Pengaruh Phase Noise pada Kinerja Sistem Komunikasi Nirkabel Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) merupakan salah satu alternatif terbaik dalam mengurangi pengaruh lintas jamak pada komunikasi bergerak. OFDM mempunyai kelemahan, yaitu sensitivitas tinggi terhadap perubahan waktu pada kanal disebabkan efek Doppler, frekuensi offset carrier, dan phase noise. Penelitian ini menganalisis kinerja sistem OFDM terhadap phase noise dengan perbedaan jumlah subcarrier menggunakan modulasi Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK). Hasil simulasi menunjukkan, dengan varians phase noise yang berbeda, phase noise dapat menyebabkan penurunan rasio sinyal terhadap noise (SNR) dan penurunan laju transmisi.
Consistency Checking UML Interactions and State Machines

As changes are made during a software development process, related artefacts and elements of the system speci cations may quickly become inconsistent. Todays software projects often consists of a large number of artefacts and thus the job of keeping them consistent is very hard or even impossible to do manually by the developers. The scope of the method presented in this thesis is to locate and display inconsistencies within Uni ed Modeling Language (UML) Interactions and State Machines, where the Interaction is the primary speci cation and the State Machine is the concrete, implementable speci cation. We demonstrate a manual method for consistency checking of Interactions and State Machines that is implemented as a tool to assist the developer keeping the speci cations consistent on-they while modelling. The tool is integrated with the Eclipse platform and was empirically evaluated in a case study which results show that the tool helps the developer in keeping the speci cations more consistent than the manual method, in less amount of time. There is a signi cant win by this kind of work if the developer community regards UML as more valuable when they are assisted in keeping their speci cations consistent, which is important in order to make good use of speci cations within a development process. This work is usually done manually, if done at all.
Sequential monte carlo methods for physically based rendering

The goal of global illumination is to generate photo-realistic images by taking into account all the light interactions in the scene. It does so by simulating light transport behaviors based on physical principles. The main challenge of global illumination is that simulating the complex light interreflections is very expensive. In this dissertation, a novel statistical framework for physically based rendering in computer graphics is presented based on sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods. This framework can substantially improve the efficiency of physically based rendering by adapting and reusing the light path samples without introducing bias. Applications of the framework to a variety of problems in global illumination are demonstrated. For the task of photo-realistic rendering, only light paths that reach the image plane are important because only those paths contribute to the final image. A visual importance-driven algorithm is proposed to generate visually important paths. The photons along those paths are also cached in photon maps for further reuse. To handle difficult paths in the path space, a technique is presented for including user-selected paths in the sampling process. Then, a more general statistical method for light path sample adaptation and reuse is studied in the context of sequential Monte Carlo. Based on the population Monte Carlo method, an unbiased adaptive sampling method is presented that works on a population of samples. The samples are sampled and resampled through distributions that are modified over time. Information found at one iteration can be used to guide subsequent iterations without introducing bias in the final result. After obtaining samples from multiple distributions, an optimal control variate algorithm is developed that allows samples from multiple distribution functions to be combined optimally.
Running a transactional Database on top of RamCloud

In today’s big scale applications, the database system has more and more evolved to the most limiting bottleneck. Unlike application servers and web servers, database systems are hard to scale. During the last few years a new generation of simpler but more scalable storage systems, often refered to as NoSQL (Not only SQL), recieved more attention. While these system often solve scalability issues, they sacrifice some fundamantal properties of traditional database systems like consistency or the data model. This thesis presents a relational and transactional database system which uses a key-value store instead of a hard drive disk as storage. This systems provides better elasticity and scalability than traditional disk based architecures without making any compromises in the consistency guarantees. In the first part we show that a transactional database can run on top of a key-value store without any performance or scalability penalties. We implemented such a system based on MySQL and RamCloud and provide benchmarking results of this system. In a next step we explain how this system can be made scalable and how the database system needs to be changed in order to be able to run several database instances on the same storage.
Analyzing the behavior of loop nests in the memory hierarchy: methods, tools, and applications

Processor speeds are improving at a much faster rate than the speeds of accessing main memory. As a result, data access time dominates the execution times of many programs. Understanding the behavior of programs executing in a memory hierarchy is therefore an important part of improving program performance. This dissertation describes an analytical framework for understanding the behavior of loop-oriented programs executing in a memory hierarchy. The framework has three components: (1) an alternative classification of cache misses that makes it possible to obtain the exact cache behavior of a sequence of program fragments by combining the cache behavior of the individual fragments; (2) the use of Presburger arithmetic to model data access patterns and describe events such as cache misses; and (3) algorithms exploiting the connection among Presburger arithmetic, automata theory, and graph theory to produce exact cache miss counts. The analytical framework presented in this dissertation goes beyond existing analytical frameworks for modeling cache behavior: it handles set-associative caches, data cache and translation lookaside buffer (TLB) misses, imperfect loop nests, and nonlinear array layouts in an exact manner. Experiments show both the framework's value in the exploration of new memory system designs and its usefulness in guiding code and data transformations for improved program performance.
DWT-SVD BASED ROBUST IMAGE WATERMARKING USING ARNOLD MAP

Digital watermarking techniques have been developed to protect the copyright of multimedia objects such as text, audio, video, etc. In this paper, we propose SVD-based digital watermarking technique for robust watermarking of digital images for copyright protection. The security of the proposed scheme is increased by applying Arnold map on the watermark to be embedded. We also demonstrate the good correlation between the embedded and the extracted watermark with the help of experimental results. One of the major advantage of the proposed scheme is the robustness of the technique on wide set of attacks. Analysis and experimental results show much improved performance of the proposed method in comparison with the pure SVD-based watermarking and the technique without using Arnold map. Experimental results confirm that the proposed scheme provides good image quality of watermarked images.
An Efficient Network Traffic Classification Approach with Bayesian Classifier

Internet traffic classification is still an important research issue in the field of network traffic and issues over network. Even though various traditional approaches available they are counting with static measures, In this paper we are proposing an efficient and simple probability based approach with Bayesian classification for classifying the training dataset of record of ip packet meta information(source IP, source port, destination IP, destination port, header Length, isAck, isRst and isSyn) with testing data inputs.Our practical approach shows optimal results than the traditional approach. In the 21st century, the number of Internet users increaseddramatically. The users applied several Internet applications suchas WWW, FTP, peer-to-peer-based software, web media,messaging, email, VOIP etc. This led to fast increments of Internet traffic. The classification of Internet traffic offers three main functions to the network administrator, internet serviceprovider (ISPs), and governments: First, the packet classificationcan be used in the intrusion detection system (IDS) to detect thepatterns of denial of service (DoS) or other malicious attacks. Itcan also be used by the administrator to identify and control thenetwork applications when needed. Second, it can be used by the ISPs to monitor the network flows, diagnose the network to findfaults, properly allocate the bandwidth to applications, and ensurethe performance of the applications and services running on thenetworks. Third, it can be used by governments to do "LawfulInspection" (LI) of the payload of packets, to obtain userinformation. Just like how telephone companies offer to monitortelephone calls to the government, ISPs provide the LI services tothe governments. (1, 2, 3)We know the importance of the characterization of Internet traffic.Now we need to understand the barriers for packet classification.Internet traffic characterizing has been a challenge over the pastfew years. (4) It requires in-depth understanding of the sophisticated network protocol structure, because there are manyvarious types of traffic for the ISPs, as well as a large volume ofstream flows. With the bandwidth and number of servicesincreasing, users can perform much more complicated activitiesthan before. A broadband user can perform tasks such as VoIP,shopping and banding online, peer-to-peer-based file and videosharing among peers, and much more complicated functions thatwere previously known by dial-up users. (5) The complexity willincrease when using different wireless technologies such as the4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) system and the Wi-Fi system. (6)
A multi-view face detection system based on DSP platform

To meet the requirement of the multi-view face detection in the field of embedded system,this paper first implements Real Adaboost algorithm on the DSP platform(TMS320DM642). To improve performance,algorithm level and implementation level optimization are introduced and result in a processing speed of 18 frames per second.The experimental results show that compared with the system based on Discrete Adaboost algorithm,the system is more adapt to multi-view face detection.It enlarges the application scope of the face detection technology.
Dynamic Relocation of Virtual Machines for Load Balancing in Virtualization Environment

Server consolidation by sever virtualization can make one physical machine(PM) to run several virtual machines simultaneously. Although It is attractive in cost, it has complex workload behaviors. For that reason, efficient resource management method is required. Dynamic relocation of virtual machine(VM)[3,4] by live migration[1,2] is one of resource management methods. We proposed SCOA(Server Consolidation Optimizing Algorithm) : a fine-grained load balancing mechanism worked on this dynamic relocation mechanism. We could obtain accurate resource distribution information through pointed physical machines on multi dimensional resource usage coordination, so we could maintain more balanced resource state. In this paper, we show the effectiveness of our algorithm by comparison of experimental results between SCOA and sandpiper[3] by software simulation.
Réflexions sur la place et les moyens de la classification dans l'Ingénierie Des Modèles

Dans cet article nous nous interrogeons sur la place de la classification dans l'Ingenierie Des Modeles. Nous envisageons deux scenarii de transformation de modeles bases sur des operations de construction automatique de classifications. Nous introduisons l'analyse formelle de concepts (AFC) et sa version relationnelle comme un cadre theorique utile pour definir ces operations. Nous appliquons a notre contexte un patron associant trois transformations de modeles qui met l'AFC au cœur d'un processus de transformation de classifications, qui considere toute description d'un ensemble d'individus par un ensemble de proprietes pour produire une classification de ces memes individus. Une experience de reconstruction de modeles statiques UML, qui tire parti de l'analyse relationnelle de concepts en concevant les entites des modeles UML comme des individus, est ensuite decrite et nous en tirons les lecons en proposant de nouveaux axes de travail.
An Efficient and Automatic Iris Recognition System Using ICM Neural Network

Today, biometrics is a common and reliable way to authenticate the identity of a living person based on physiological or behavioral characteristics. A physiological characteristic is relatively stable physical characteristics, such as fingerprint, iris pattern, facial feature, etc. (Jain, Bolle, & Pankanti, 1999; Wayman, 2001). The human iris is an annular part between pupil and sclera and its complex pattern contains many distinctive features such as arching ligaments, furrows, ridges, crypts, and a zigzag collarette. Iris AbstrAct
Shortest Path Routing Optimization Algorithms Based on Genetic Algorithms

This paper presents a heuristic genetic algorithmic to solve shortest path routing optimization problem. Variable-length chromosomes (routing strings) and their genes (nodes) are used for encoding the problem. The crossover operation exchanges partial chromosomes (partial-routes) at positional independent crossing sites and the mutation operation maintains the genetic diversity of the population. The algorithm can cure all the infeasible chromosomes with a simple repair operation. Crossover and mutation together provide a search capability that results in improved quality of solution and enhanced rate of convergence. Computer simulations have verified that the algorithm is efficient and effective.
Spiritualized Nature: Hegel on the Transformative Character of Work and History [Special Issue]

It is argued that one of Hegel’s main strategies in overcoming the opposition between nature and spirit is to recognize a realm of “spiritualized nature” that has a distinctive ontological character of its own, one that, though it is rooted in nature, must be understood in essentially historical terms. It is argued that for Hegel the activity of work is premised upon a commitment to the independent standing of such spiritualized nature and its historical character, and a detailed reading of Hegel’s account of the slave’s work in the Phenomenology of Spirit is developed to show just how it is that work transforms nature into something of historical import.
Tangible User Interfaces Ein kurzer Überblick über Forschungsfeld und Literatur

ABSTRAKT In dieser Arbeit gibt einen kurzer Überblick über Techniken und Anwendungen aus dem Bereich der ’Tangible User Interfaces’. Wie es die englische Bedeutung des Wortes ’tangible’ bereits andeutet, handelt es sich dabei um gegenständliche also anfassbare und begreifbare Benutzerschnittstellen, die dem User einen intuitiveren Zugang zu virtuellen Inhalten ermöglichen, als dies bei der klassischen Variante, den ’Graphical User Interfaces’ der Fall ist.
Face in person re-identification

The face represents one of the most diffused and established biometrics for both identity verification and recognition with a large corpus of research focused on advancing the accuracy, the robustness, and the response speed of face recognition systems by means of 2D, 3D, and hybrid approaches. One of the new research lines emerging in this field during the last years is face-based people re-identification, namely the task of recognizing new occurrences of an individual’s face once it has been detected and initialized at a given time on the same location or eventually at other locations covered by a network of non-overlapping cameras. In this chapter, the main issues and challenges specifically related to facebased people re-identification are described, and the most promising techniques and results proposed on this topic so far are presented and discussed.
Application and discussion of weights of journal quality in the calculation formula of impact factor

[Purposes]In order to refine the calculation formula of impact factor,the impact factor formula which considered the quality of citations was studied. [Methods]When calculating the impact factors,weshall refine the calculation of the weights of journal quality.We suggest that the weights calculation shall take the proportion of the impact factors for journals(that very year)as references to proceed modification.Based on the original data,we proceeded calculation of statistical simulation and data analysis. [Findings]The result of the calculation formula of the impact factor is more accurate by refining the calculation of the weights of journal quality. [Conclusions]More reasonable impact factors are obtained through refining the calculation of the weights of the journal quality,and it may provide a positive reference for the journal evaluation system.
WMT16 APE Shared Task Data

Training, development and text data (the same used for the Sentence-level Quality Estimation task) consist in English-German triplets (source, target and post-edit) belonging to the IT domain and already tokenized. Training and development respectively contain 12,000 and 1,000 triplets, while the test set 2,000 instances. All data is provided by the EU project QT21 (http://www.qt21.eu/).
The Fifth Profession

Thank you for reading the fifth profession. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have search hundreds times for their chosen novels like this the fifth profession, but end up in infectious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some harmful bugs inside their computer. the fifth profession is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can get it instantly. Our books collection spans in multiple locations, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Merely said, the the fifth profession is universally compatible with any devices to read.
Statistical tools for general association testing and control of false discoveries in group testing

Pratyaydipta Rudra: Statistical Tools for General Association Testing and Control of False Discoveries in Group Testing (Under the direction of Fred A. Wright and Andrew Nobel) In modern applications of high-throughput technologies, it is important to identify pairwise associations between variables, and desirable to use methods that are powerful and sensitive to a variety of association relationships. In the first part of the dissertation, we describe RankCover, a new non-parametric association test for association between two variables that measures the concentration of paired ranked points. Here ‘concentration’ is quantified using a disk-covering statistic that is similar to those employed in spatial data analysis. Analysis of simulated datasets demonstrates that the method is robust and often powerful in comparison to competing general association tests. We also illustrate RankCover in the analysis of several real datasets. Using RankCover, we also propose a method of testing the association of two variables while controlling the effect of a third variable. In the second part of the dissertation, we describe statistical methodologies for testing hypotheses that can be collected into groups, with each group showing potentially different characteristics. Methods to control family-wise error rate or false discovery rate for group testing have been proposed earlier, but may not easily apply to expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) data, for which certain structured alternatives may be defensible and enable the researcher to avoid overly conservative approaches. In an empirical Bayesian setting, we propose a new method to control the false discovery rate (FDR) for grouped hypothesis data. Here, each gene forms a group, with SNPs anno-