Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A derivation of the Black-Scholes option pricing model using a central limit theorem argument

The Black-Scholes model (sometimes known as the Black-Scholes-Merton model) gives a theoretical estimate for the price of European options. The price evolution under this model is described by the Black-Scholes formula, one of the most well-known formulas in mathematical finance. For their discovery, Merton and Scholes have been awarded the 1997 Nobel prize in Economics. The standard method of deriving the Black-Scholes European call option pricing formula involves stochastic differential equations. This approach is out of reach for most students learning the model for the first time. We provide an alternate derivation using the Lindeberg-Feller central limit theorem under suitable assumptions. Our approach is elementary and can be understood by undergraduates taking a standard undergraduate course in probability.
MIMO Volterra Modeling for Nonlinear Communication Channels

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Volterra models have applications in different areas, including telecommunications. An overview of the modeling of nonlinear communication channels using MIMO Volterra models is presented in this paper. First, the development of an equivalent baseband discrete-time representation of a single-input single-output (SISO) Volterra system is carried out. This development constitutes the basis for several versions of discrete-time equivalent baseband MIMO Volterra systems presented in the sequel. The spectral broadening provided by a Volterra system on the equivalent baseband received signals is shown by calculating the frequency domain representation of the Volterra channel output. Some important block structured nonlinear MIMO models are also described, with their link to MIMO Volterra models. Finally, some applications of such models for communication systems are briefly discussed.
Microbial community composition of black band disease on the coral host Siderastrea siderea from three regions of the wider Caribbean

Microbial communities associated with black band disease (BBD) on colonies of the reef building coral Siderastrea siderea from reefs in 3 regions of the wider Caribbean were studied using 16S rRNA gene-targeted amplification, cloning, and sequencing. Samples were collected from 7 BBD-infected S. siderea colonies on 2 reefs near Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas, one reef in the Florida Keys, Florida, USA, and 2 reefs in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. Genomic DNA extracted from BBD samples was PCR-amplified with universal bacterial primers (27F and 1492R). Seven clone libraries were constructed and 411 sequences were retrieved. All of the clone libraries were domi- nated by Alphaproteobacteria and contained sequences associated with bacteria of the sulfur cycle, including the first report of the molecular detection of sequences related to the sulfide-oxidizing genus Beggiatoa in BBD field samples. Additionally, all clone libraries had sequence types of bacte- ria associated with toxin producing dinoflagellates. These sequences were most abundant in a sewage impacted reef site in St. Croix, which also had the highest prevalence of BBD-infected colonies. Non-metric multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis showed clustering of BBD micro- bial communities by relative level of anthropogenic impact. The results support the hypothesis that BBD is composed of variable members of distinct physiological and toxin associated bacterial groups and that the microbial community variation is associated with environmental differences such as anthropogenic impact. We propose that with degrading water quality (i.e. increasing nutrients) cer- tain proteobacteria thrive and increase BBD virulence.
The Relationship of Life Satisfaction with Buying Intention and Brand Behavior for Global Brand

The aim of this research is to explore the relationship of life satisfaction to brand behavior and brand loyalty for global brand. Global brand Levi’s is taken for this study. A total of 317 respondents from major universities in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore participated through self-administrated Likert scale basedquestionnaire. The study is exploring the mutual linkage of life satisfaction, brand consciousness, brand loyalty, willingness to buy, emotional value and perceived quality. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the study has shown that life satisfaction has an impact on brand consciousness positively, whereas brand consciousness has a direct relationship with perceived quality and emotional value, furthermore willingness to buy and emotional value has lead to brand loyalty; perceived quality also has a positive relation with willingness to buy.This study indicates that global retailers should pay attention to the importance of emotional aspects of global brands, especially for brand conscious consumers in order to enhance their intension to buy global brands. Keywords: Brand Behavior, Brand Consciousness, Foreign Brand, Life Satisfaction.
Setting up Innovation Networks: The Case of a Small Company in the Calibration Industry

From the recent studies about open innovation paradigm, it emerges that the choice of the governance mode ”right” to cooperate is still an interesting topic. Theoretical frameworks about the topic are available, suggesting the need for coherence among a series of factors and the governance mode to be selected. However, applications on concrete cases are still scarce, above all as concerns small companies. This empirical work aims at increasing this area of knowledge by describing the practical experience of a small company which had to choose the governance mode in order to organize and manage a New Product Development network. The first inconsistency between factors and form of government chosen leads to failure of the network. The next consistency turns failure into success, and this makes the case an interesting example of how to build an external innovation network. Moreover, peculiarities of small businesses emerge. In particular, has shown that some highly integrated governance modes, even if they could be the ”ideal choice”, are not really feasible for small companies. Strong planning, control and formalization can anyway serve the scope of reinforcing the governance mode in terms of integration and commitment.
Trend on Silicon Technologies for Millimetre-Wave Applications up to 220 GHz

Largely reserved for military applications at the origin, the field of transmissions by electromagnetic waves is strongly prevalent in recent years with the emergence of new applications. Recent evolutions in modern civilian millimetre-wave applications, such as collision-avoidance radar sensor, inter-satellite communications, pico-cell networks, and microwave imaging have led to hardened constraints in terms of selectivity, performances, and bulk reduction. In this frequency range, a high level technological resolution is needed at low wavelength. This means that millimetre-wave monolithic integrated circuits (MWMICs) are generally preferred to hybrid technology. Moreover, with the constant evolution of systems in millimetre wave frequency range, the ever growing mass market forced the technological to reduce their costs of production. Thereby, technologies usually reserved to millimetre-wave applications, such as III-V technologies (InP or GaAs), have reduced their use for the benefit of silicon clusters. Indeed, III-V technologies have been for a long time the unique ones able to address millimetrewave applications. One of the major advantages of III-V technologies is their low loss level; nevertheless their cost is prohibitive for general public applications and limited to a small series production. Conversely, silicon technologies which are more economics, present level of losses too high to meet drastic specifications of actual systems, especially for passive functions. Thereby, recently many studies were led to take advantage of silicon technology for the integration of passive functions on active chip. The trend was reversed since Si-based technologies now offer competing performances. Si-based technologies are indeed cheaper, which is reinforced by their high integration capabilities. Then increasing efforts have been carried out during the past years to evaluate the potential of silicon technologies to address millimetre-wave applications. For instance, the 7 GHz unlicensed bandwidth around 60 GHz and 77 GHz for automotive radar applications has focussed many attention since large volumes can be expected for those applications. Due to its cost advantage, improved millimetre-wave transistor characteristics, and ease of integration of high performance digital and high speed analog/RF circuits, silicon has emerged as the favourite solution satisfying the needs of rapidly growing communications market, and is now a competitive 1
Characterising the reliability of production from future British offshore wind fleets

The extent to which large volumes of offshore wind can contribute to a secure and reliable electricity supply is a subject of much debate. Key to providing credible answers requires a detailed understanding of the wind resource and its variability in time and space. Here, a mesoscale atmospheric model was employed to create a ten year hindcast of British onshore and offshore wind speeds. This was used to simulate the output of a British offshore wind fleet and combined with demand data to assess reliability during periods of high demand. Further, capacity value calculations using Effective Load Carrying Capability for the combined onshore and offshore GB wind fleet provides an estimate of the long-term reliability of production. (6 pages)
Molten-Salt-Cooled Advanced High-Temperature Reactor for Production of Hydrogen and Electricity

Abstract The molten-salt-cooled Advanced High-Temperature Reactor (AHTR) is a new reactor concept designed to provide very high-temperature (750 to 1000°C) heat to enable efficient low-cost thermochemical production of hydrogen (H2) or production of electricity. This paper provides an initial description and technical analysis of its key features. The proposed AHTR uses coated-particle graphite-matrix fuel similar to that used in high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs), such as the General Atomics gas turbine-modular helium reactor. However, unlike the HTGRs, the AHTR uses a molten-salt coolant and a pool configuration, similar to that of the General Electric Super Power Reactor Inherently Safe Module (S-PRISM) liquid-metal reactor. Because the boiling points for molten fluoride salts are near ~1400°C, the reactor can operate at very high temperatures and atmospheric pressure. For thermochemical H2 production, the heat is delivered at the required near-constant high temperature and low pressure. For electricity production, a multireheat helium Brayton (gas-turbine) cycle, with efficiencies >50%, is used. The low-pressure molten-salt coolant, with its high heat capacity and natural circulation heat transfer capability, creates the potential for robust safety (including fully passive decay-heat removal) and improved economics with passive safety systems that allow higher power densities and scaling to large reactor sizes [>1000 MW(electric)].
Optimisation of microwave-assisted extraction of flavonoids and phenolics from celery (Apium graveolens L.) leaves by response surface methodology

He Q. , Li Y. , Zhang P., Zhang A. , Wu H. (2016): Optimisation of microwave-assisted extraction of flavonoids and phenolics from celery (Apium graveolens L.) leaves by response surface methodology. Czech J. Food Sci., 34: 341–349. The conditions for microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) of total flavonoids (TF) and total phenols (TP), and antioxidant activity from celery (Apium graveolens L.) leaves by response surface methodology (RSM) were optimised. The 3-level, 3-factorial Box-Behnken design (BBD) was employed to study three main extraction conditions: microwave power (300–500 W), solid-solvent ratio (15–30 ml/g), and ethanol concentration (50–80%). It was found that microwave power of 500 W at 30 ml/g solid-solvent ratio with 75.6% (v/v) ethanol concentration was the most optimum conditions for the extraction of TF and TP from celery leaves with the consequent high antioxidant activity measured by the DPPH inhibition rate. Using the optimum extraction conditions, the extraction yields of TF and TP were 0.62 g RUE/100 g DW, 3.01 g GAE/100 g DW, respectively, and the DPPH inhibition rate was 88%. The results indicated that the nutritional quality of celery (Apium graveolens L.) leaves could be improved significantly by optimising the extraction process of MAE using response surface methodology.
QUID 2017, pp. 2151-2158, Special Issue N°1- ISSN: 1692-343X, Medellín-Colombia PREDICTION OF FIRMS’ FINANCIAL DISTRESS USING ADABOOST ALGORITHM AND COMPARING ITS ACCURACY TO ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS

One of the most important topics discussed in the area of financial management is investors’ ability to tell favourable investment opportunities from unfavourable ones. One way to help investors is to present firm’s financial distress prediction models. So far, different techniques have been used to design firm’s financial distress prediction models. Recent studies in the field of financial distress prediction have focused on creation and application of artificial intelligence and machine learning methods, AdaBoost algorithm and artificial neural networks are used in the present study as a comparative model to Companies’ financial distress prediction. 660 samples were selected from 112 financially distressed companies and 548 non-financially distressed over a 6year period from 2007 to 2012 have been selected. Research Findings suggest that in Companies’ financial distress prediction, the model based on AdaBoost algorithm has a higher overall accuracy than the model based on artificial neural network.
Epidemiological studies on Coccidiosis in cattle at Bahawalnagar-Pakistan

A total of 2100 rectal faecal samples were collected from Civil Veterinary Hospital, Bahawalnagar, Slaughter house, Bahawalnagar and Private cattle Farmers, in and around Bahawalnagar under different managemental practices. All the faecal samples were screened for the presence of different eimerian oocysts and 1440 were found positive for Eimeria species Viz E. bovis (25.3%), E. ellipsoidalis (23.86%), E. zuernii (18.78%), E. cylinderica (17.56%), E. subspherica (14.5%). The prevalence of E. bovis was highest followed by E, ellipsoidalis. The highest (65.59%) prevalence was noted during July whereas the lowest (25.48 %) during December.
Continuous measurements of net production over a shallow reef community using a modified Eulerian approach

[1] We made continuous measurements of the flux of dissolved oxygen over an algal-dominated reef flat community on the Kaneohe Bay Barrier Reef, Hawaii as a proxy for the net production (NP) of organic carbon. Fluxes were calculated from measurements of dissolved oxygen and current profiles taken from moored oxygen sensors and acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) located at points defining the vertices of a triangular control volume 250 m in length on each side. Surface cruciform drifters as well as dye patches were tracked across the control volume to get independent measurements of Lagrangian currents. While the dye patch speeds were highly correlated with the depth-averaged current speeds calculated from ADCP data on a 1:1 basis (r2 = 0.86, n = 24), drifter speeds exceeded both dye and calculated current speeds by 30–100% on average. Measurements of dissolved oxygen sampled within the dye patches as it propagated across the study site were used to calculate NP following a Lagrangian approach. Lagrangian estimates of NP were highly correlated with Eulerian estimates of NP on a 1:1 basis (r2 = 0.81, n = 7). Ratios of community production and community respiration varied from 0.7 to 1.4 on a daily basis, but approached a value of 1.0 when integrated over the entire data record.
5. Ecology of Hypersaline Microorganisms

The oceans are the largest bodies of saline water with average salinities ranging from 32-35 psu. Hypersaline environments, with salinities far more than the normal seawater salinities, generally originate as a result of evaporation of seawater. Such environments are inhabited by halophiles, the salt loving organisms. Halophiles are distributed in hypersaline environments all over the world, mainly in natural hypersaline brines in arid, coastal and deep sea locations as well as in artificial salterns. Halophiles include prokaryotes and eukaryotes which are adapted to these hypersaline environments at the highest salt concentrations at or close to the solubility limit of NaCl.
AFramework forMultivariableAlgebraic Loops inLinear Anti-windup Implementations ?

This brief paper addresses the implementation and well-posedness aspects of multivariable algebraic loops which arise naturally in many anti-windup control schemes. Using the machinery of linear complementarity problems, a unified framework is developed for establishing well-posedness of such algebraic loops. Enforcing well-posedness is reduced to a linear matrix inequality feasibility problem that can be solved during the anti-windup design stage. Several existing anti-windup implementations appear as special cases of the unified framework presented in this brief paper.
An analysis of some major antennas using frequency 750 MHz to 850 MHz

An antenna is transducer, an impedance matching device, a radiator and a sensor of electromagnetic waves. It is essential device/element in all types of communication and radar systems. It can be considered as a source of electromagnetic wave. In this research paper an attempt has been made to study the characteristics of major antenna using frequency from 750MHz to 850MHz. In this experiment as well as research ATS-B Antenna system trainer is utilized. An antenna (or aerial) is an electrical device which converts electric power into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receivers. In transmission, a radio transmitter supplies an oscillating radio frequency electric current to the antenna’s terminals, and the antenna radiates the energy from the current as electromagnetic waves(radio waves). In receptions , an antenna intercepts some of the power of an electromagnetic wave in order to produce a tiny voltage as its terminals, that is applied to a receiver to be amplified. Typically an antenna consists of an arrangement of metallic conductors (elements), electrically connected to the receiver or transmitter. As oscillating current of electrons forced through the antenna by a transmitter will create an oscillating magnetic field around the antenna elements, while the change of the electrons also creates an oscillating electric field along the elements. Antenna can be broadly classified by the directions in which they radiate or receive electromagnetic radiation. They can be isotropic ,omni-directional or directional. An antenna is chosen for a particular application according to its main physical and electrical characteristics. Further an antenna must perform in a desired manner for the particular application. An antenna can be characterized by the following key factors , not all are applicable to all types of antenna. Main characteristics of an antenna are : radiation resistance, radiation pattern, the bandwidth etc. Further it has been found that graph of antenna polar plot which describes about antenna characteristics. Antenna are essential components of all equipment that uses radio. They are used in systems such as radio broadcasting, broadcast television, two-way radio, communication receivers, radar, cell phones, and satellite communication, as well as other devices such as garage door openers, wireless microphones, Bluetooth enabled devices, wireless computer networks, baby monitors, and RFID tags on merchandise. This paper introduces antenna theory and discusses various antenna types and applications. The basic equations and principles of antenna theory are presented. Five different types of antennas are introduced: dipoles and monopoles, loop antennas, microstrip antennas, helical antennas, and horn antennas.The characteristics of each type of antenna are given.
Efficacité des simulations dans l’apprentissage de l’entretien motivationnel. Une revue de la littérature

L’entretien motivationnel est un style de conversation collaboratif, fonde sur l’empathie, le partenariat, l’evocation et le non-jugement. Il a pour objectif de favoriser l’engagement du patient vers le changement, lorsque celui-ci est ambivalent face a un comportement problematique de sante. Son apprentissage necessite du temps. Rechercher de nouveaux outils pedagogiques semble necessaire. La simulation en sante constitue une approche pedagogique emergente. Nous avons souhaite savoir si les simulations d’entretiens pouvaient ameliorer l’acquisition de competences en entretien motivationnel. Nous avons realise une revue de la litterature. Des equations de recherche adaptees ont ete appliquees a quatre bases de donnees. Une analyse de la qualite des etudes controlees a ete effectuee. Dix etudes controlees et huit etudes non controlees ont ete analysees. La simulation humaine sous forme de patients standardises semble permettre une meilleure acquisition des competences que la formation standard ou l’auto-formation. Les jeux de role paraissent equivalents aux patients standardises. La simulation electronique etait peu etudiee, mais offre des resultats prometteurs. Les etudes etaient majoritairement de faible qualite methodologique, heterogenes en termes de formation dispensee, de comparateur et d’evaluation. En depit de ces limites, les techniques de simulation humaines et electroniques semblent ameliorer l’acquisition des competences en entretien motivationnel. Des etudes controlees randomisees supplementaires sont necessaires pour confirmer l’efficacite de la simulation electronique et tester sa superiorite eventuelle sur la simulation humaine.
Credit derivatives: prospects of usage in the formation of a new global financial order

The article examines the technologies of credit derivatives application in the international financial markets, especially the most common ones, credit default swaps. Both positive and negative aspects of their application to risk management have been revealed. Moreover, the grounds for their considering to be responsible for the global crisis aggravation have been identified. The prospects of CDS utilization in the development of a new global financial order have been illustrated.