Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deregulation and the Cost of Public Debt

We assess the impact of deregulation on firms’ costs of issuing public debt. Using a difference-in-difference estimation approach, we find robust evidence that the at-issue yield spreads decline in the aftermath of deregulation. The declines are both economically and statistically significant. We also find that the impacts of deregulation on bond issue costs are long-lasting and show up in different phases of the deregulated period. These impacts exhibit substantial cross-sectional variations. Long maturity bonds, those with speculative credit ratings, and those with large principal amounts experience much greater yield reductions after deregulation. Moreover, firms with low profitability, low operating efficiency, small product market shares, high financial leverage, and facing severe financial distress and financing constraints also experience larger reductions in bond issue costs from deregulation.
Toward a Typology of Health 2.0 Services and Websites

During the past decade, there has been an explosive growth of online social networks. This proliferation of social media has infiltrated various sectors of social and business communications. Of particular interest is the growth of health related services and websites, and the health care sector’s adoption of social media. In this paper, we develop a typology of health 2.0 services and websites.
Comparisional Investigation of Load Dispatch Solutions with TLBO

This paper discusses economic load dispatch Problem is modeled with non-convex functions. These are problem are not solvable using a convex optimization techniques. So there is a need for using a heuristic method. Among such methods Teaching and Learning Based Optimization (TLBO) is a recently known algorithm and showed promising results. This paper utilized this algorithm to provide load dispatch solutions. Comparisons of this solution with other standard algorithms like Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Differential Evolution (DE) and Harmony Search Algorithm (HSA). This proposed algorithm is applied to solve the load dispatch problem for 6 unit and 10 unit test systems along with the other algorithms. This comparisional investigation explored various merits of TLBO with respect to PSO, DE, and HAS in the field economic load dispatch.
On the reclassification of box turtles (Terrapene): A response to Martin et al. (2014).

Species delimitation is a central issue in all fields of biology, and it is closely tied to the species concept employed. Thousands of pages have been filled with debates about competing species concepts; for instance, Coyne & Orr (2004) counted no less than 25 distinct species concepts. Among these are several phylogenetic species concepts. The paper by Martin et al. (2013) on box turtles is one of many recent publications that raise formerly recognized subspecies to the species level, based on molecular genetic evidence and favouring implicitly or explicitly a phylogenetic species concept as the theoretical foundation. We wish to underline that there is growing concern with respect to this approach (see Zachos et al. 2013 for mammals), and this concern guided our recent taxonomic update for turtles (Fritz & Havas 2013). Without intending to enter the debate on species concepts, we will briefly explain why we are not convinced by the conclusions of Martin et al. (2013).
The lost decade: neglect for harm reduction funding and the health crisis among people who use drugs.

Harm reduction interventions for people who use drugs—such as needle and syringe programmes (NSP) and opioid substitution therapy (OST)—are cost-effective, protect against HIV and hepatitis C, and save lives. Despite the potential for these interventions to contribute to healthier communities, funding for harm reduction in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) has flat-lined over the past decade. In 2016, US$188 million was allocated – the same amount as in 2007 and just 13% of the US$1.5 billion that UNAIDS estimates is required for an effective response in LMICs. Beneath this enormous funding shortfall are disturbing trends. International donor funding, which comprises the majority of harm reduction funding in LMICs, is declining. Donor governments are withdrawing direct funding to countries for harm reduction on the basis that it is being channelled through multilateral institutions like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund). Yet, Global Fund support for harm reduction may be decreasing, with data suggesting allocations in 2016 are 18% lower than those in 2011. Simply put, the lives of people who use drugs are being neglected.
Factors related to self-efficacy in persons with scleroderma.

PURPOSE Scleroderma (SSc) is rare, and few studies have examined self-efficacy in persons with the disease. Self-efficacy is one precursor that has been shown to initiate changes in behaviour when managing chronic disease. The objective of this study was to explore the levels of self-efficacy in persons with SSc, compare self-efficacy in persons with limited or diffuse SSc and determine correlations between self-efficacy, physical function and psychological variables. METHODS Sixty-two participants with SSc completed measures assessing self-efficacy, depression, fatigue, pain, hand function and activity limitations. The mean age of participants was 52.9 years. The mean educational level was 15.8 years. Sixty-seven per cent were married and 87.1% were women. Thirty participants had diffuse SSc, 27 had limited SSc and five were unclassified. RESULTS The only significant differences between the two disease subtypes were in hand function and self-efficacy function subscale scores. Total self-efficacy scores significantly correlated with marital status, employment, self-reported health, depression, functional ability, fatigue, pain and hand function. Similarly, self-efficacy function scale scores correlated significantly with employment, self-reported health, functional ability, pain and hand function. Self-efficacy pain scale scores correlated significantly with fatigability. The self-efficacy other scale scores correlated significantly with depression and fatigability. Participants with higher levels of pain and depression, more fatigue, more general disability and more hand disability had lower self-efficacy. CONCLUSION Self-efficacy correlates with physical function and psychological variables, and could predict how patients manage their health. Self-efficacy may increase through participation in educational programmes focusing on self-management of these variables.
Study of ICU patient condition alert generation process using D2D under LTE network

An ICU patient is vulnerable at any moment and requires constant monitoring and fast response from the doctors and nurses at critical moments. To do so, the doctors and nurses must know when the critical situation arises to attend the patient right on time. In this paper, we propose a heterogeneous network merged with an automated system to generate alert signal if the patient is in critical condition and pass the alert mode to the nurses and doctor for fast response from them. Another issue is to inform the patient's worried visitor/attendant waiting at the hospital by sending a report periodically with selective data stating his condition. Since D2D communication under LTE network works well in close proximity, we can deploy this technique to alert the doctor about his patient's critical condition and also to transfer the report of the ICU patient's attendants waiting outside or nearby. Simulations showed that the time required for transmitting alert signal to the doctors is only few seconds indicating critical condition of the patient. This proposal needs 4G LTE network enabled smart phones as it uses D2D communication from server point to nurse station, doctor and patient attendants. Still, employing D2D will be very cost effective as we emphasis on saving human lives in time.
Valuation of New Trademarks

Firms often register trademarks as they launch new products or services. We find that the number of new trademark registrations positively predicts firm profitability, stock returns, and underreaction by analysts in their earnings forecasts. Using the Federal Trademark Dilution Act (FTDA) as an exogenous shock to trademark protection, we find that greater trademark protection strengthens the predictability of new trademark registrations. Together, our evidence suggests that investors undervalue new trademark registrations.
Energy information sharing in social networks: The roles of objective knowledge and perceived understanding

As sustainability educators and communication professionals consider various strategies to engage audiences with regard to household energy use, one option now seemingly available is to leverage social networks by encouraging people to share information with others they know. At the same time, we currently do not know enough about the potential spread of energy-related information in this fashion. Whether, when, or how people share energy-related information with peers or family members are crucial questions, for example. Using national survey data from U.S. residents (n=816), we predicted energy information sharing as a function of objective energy knowledge (measured using a factual energy knowledge index), perceived energy understanding, and demographic variables. Our analyses underscored the importance of assessing not only factual energy knowledge but also perceived understanding, as both are equally predictive of energy information sharing frequency (β=.11, p<.05, for objective knowledge and β=.11, p<.01 for perceived understanding). Number of children also predicted energy information sharing, β=. 11, p<. 01. We discuss the implications of these results for informal energy education efforts in the 21 st century.
Compare Clouds : Visualizing Text C orpora to Compare Media Frames

Media frames represent distinct ways of communicating about issues that are reflected in choices of key words and phrases. In this paper we develop a visualization technique and visual analytic system that enables the study of media frames across text corpora. In particular our system allows scholars or other analysts to compare media frames in a visualization called the Compare Cloud, which explicitly maps word prevalence and context information between two corpora. We assess the error profile of the visualization layout and demonstrate the utility of the system by comparing the media discussion between mainstream media and blogs on the topic of surveillance. We report salient observations that the visualization made possible and discuss future challenges related to scalability and effective filtering to support visual frame analysis. Author
Scalability Analysis of Cloud Software Services

Cloud computing theoretically offers its customers unlimited cloud resources. However, the scalability of software services is often limited by their underlying architecture. In contrast to current scalability analysis approaches, we make work parameters, quality thresholds, as well as the resource space explicit in a conceptually consistent set of equations. We propose two scalability metric functions based on these equations. The resource scalability metric function describes the relation between the capacity of the multi-tier cloud software service and its use of cloud resources, whereas the cost scalability metric function replaces cloud resources with cost. We validate using the Cloud-Store application. CloudStore follows the TPC-W specification, representing an online book store. We have experimented with 21 different public Amazon Web Service configurations and two private OpenStack configurations.
Modélisation hybride RANS/LES temporelle des écoulements turbulents

En situation industrielle, le calcul des caracteristiques instationnaires et tridimensionnelles d'ecoulements complexes, est souvent necessaire. La simulation des grandes echelles requiert un cout de calcul prohibitif surtout pres de parois. L'un des objectifs des methodes hybrides est d'optimiser le cout de calcul, en simulant certaines zones d'un ecoulement en mode RANS et d'autres en mode LES. Cette derniere s'articule en general autour du filtrage spatial, alors que dans la plupart des ecoulements, l'operateur RANS correspond a une moyenne temporelle. L'approche PITM (Partially Integrated Transport Model ), concue en turbulence homogene, est une methode hybride justifiee theoriquement. Sa transposition au contexte temporel (turbulence stationnaire) a deja ete exploree precedemment, montrant que, sous certaines hypotheses, les versions spatiale et temporelle sont formellement identiques. La methode PITM presente toutefois une certaine difficulte a piloter le niveau de resolution. La presente these propose une approche dynamique pour corriger ce point. Dans un second temps, la version temporelle du PITM, le T-PITM, est comparee a a DES (Detached Eddy Simulation), une methode hybride populaire, mais empirique. Il est montre que les deux methodes produisent des resultats similaires, conferant une justification theorique par procuration, a la DES. Le modele RANS sous-jacent est la ponderation elliptique, permettant la prise en compte des effets induits par une paroi, sans utiliser de fonctions d'amortissement ni de lois de paroi.
Numerical identification of epidemic thresholds for susceptible-infected-recovered model on finite-size networks

Epidemic threshold has always been a very hot topic for studying epidemic dynamics on complex networks. The previous studies have provided different theoretical predictions of the epidemic threshold for the susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model, but the numerical verification of these theoretical predictions is still lacking. Considering that the large fluctuation of the outbreak size occurs near the epidemic threshold, we propose a novel numerical identification method of SIR epidemic threshold by analyzing the peak of the epidemic variability. Extensive experiments on synthetic and real-world networks demonstrate that the variability measure can successfully give the numerical threshold for the SIR model. The heterogeneous mean-field prediction agrees very well with the numerical threshold, except the case that the networks are disassortative, in which the quenched mean-field prediction is relatively close to the numerical threshold. Moreover, the numerical method presented is also suitable for the susceptible-infected-susceptible model. This work helps to verify the theoretical analysis of epidemic threshold and would promote further studies on the phase transition of epidemic dynamics.
Age-Related Changes in Central and Peripheral Corneal Thickness: Determination of Normal Values With the Orbscan II Topography System

Purpose: The thickness of corneal tissue is an important parameter in refractive surgery, Goldmann applanation tonometry, and corneal diseases. The purpose of the study was to record system-specific normal values with the Orbscan II system and to investigate the influence of sex and age on central and peripheral corneal thickness to characterize more precisely the anatomy of the cornea. Methods: The Orbscan II topography system is a computer-assisted slit-beam scanning technology that can map the anterior section of the eye. It was used to take 2 measurements at 10-minute intervals on 777 eyes of 390 normal white subjects ranging in age between 10 and 80 years. Two hundred forty-two participants were men and 148 were women. The central corneal thickness and the nasal, superior, inferior, and temporal peripheral corneal thickness at a distance of 3 mm from the center were analyzed. No correction factor was used. Using nonparametric test methods, we carried out a statistical analysis of the parameters of sex and age. Results: The mean central corneal thickness of all 777 eyes was 595 ± 41 μm. No sex-specific central difference was identifiable (P = 0.33), there was no significant difference between the sides (P = 0.23), and no significant difference was found between the first and second measurement. The group of 10- to 39-year-olds had a mean central corneal thickness of 591 ± 41 μm, whereas that of 40- to 80-year-olds was 600 ± 39 μm, which was a significant difference (P = 0.03). The mean peripheral corneal thickness was 689 ± 46 μm nasally, 688 ± 42 μm superiorly, 667 ± 40 μm inferiorly, and 655 ± 42 μm temporally. Nasally and superiorly, we found a significant negative correlation with age (Spearman rank correlation, P = 0.02). Conclusions: The normal values presented here are a suitable reference basis for future studies in whites. Peripheral corneal thickness is asymmetric and seems to undergo age-related anatomic changes. This information should be considered when planning penetrating keratoplasty and refractive surgery.
Neural network with bee colony optimization for MRI brain cancer image classification

B rain tumor is one of the foremost causes for the increase in mortality among children and adults. Computer visions are being used by doctors to analysis and diagnose the medical problems. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique, which is used to visualize internal structures of MRI brain images for analyzing normal and abnormal prototypes of brain while diagnosing. It is a non"invasive method to take picture of brain and the surrounding images. Image processing techniques are used to extract meaningful information from medical images for the purpose of diagnosis and prognosis. Raw MRI brain images are not suitable for processing and analysis since noise and low contrast affect the quality of the MRI images. The classification of MRI brain images is emphasized in this paper for cancer diagnosis. It can consist of four steps: Pre"processing, identification of region of interest, feature extraction and classification. For improving quality of the image, partial differential equations method is proposed and its result is compared with other methods such as block analysis method, opening by reconstruction method and histogram equalization method using statistical parameters such as carrier signal to ratio, peak signal"to"ratio, structural similarity index measure, figure of merit, mean square error. The enhanced image is converted into bi"level image, which is utilized for sharpening the regions and filling the gaps in the binarized image using morphological operators. Region of Interest (ROI) is identified by applying region growing method for extorting the five features. The classification is performed based on the extracted image feature to determine whether the brain image is normal or abnormal and it is also, introduced hybridization of Neural Network (NN) with bee colony optimization for the classification and estimation of cancer affect on given MRI image. The performance of the proposed classifier is compared with traditional NN classifier using statistical measures such as sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. The experiment is conducted over 100 MRI brain images.
Table of contents.

Experience with RAPID Prototypes p. 62 An Approach for Hardware-Software Codesign p. 73 Rapid Development of Signal Processors and the RASSP Program p. 82 Geometric Parallelism and Cyclo-Static Data Flow in GRAPE-II p. 90 Buffer Memory Requirements in DSP Applications p. 108 Hardware Emulation Board Based on FPGAs and Programmable Interconnections p. 126 Some Design Issues in Multi-chip FPGA Implementation of DSP Algorithms p. 131 Project Spinnaker: A New Generation of Rapid Prototyping System p. 141 Extended VHDL for the Rapid Prototyping of Systems with Synthesizable and Nonsynthesizable Subsystems p. 146
Risk perceptions in Japanese SMEs: the role of Internet marketing capabilities in firm performance

Abstract Internet plays a very important role for the success of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Many Japanese SMEs are risk-averse in adopting technological innovation such as the Internet. Others, despite these risk-related business norms, recognize the importance of technology and develop and deploy Internet marketing technology to compete in the current competitive environment. Drawing upon these contradicting practices among Japanese SMEs, this study investigates how Japanese SMEs risk perception impacts on the deployment of Internet marketing capabilities, the relationships between perception of risk, international mind-set, business networks, Internet marketing capabilities, and firm performance. This study makes two contributions. Firstly, there has been limited research investigating how Internet-related capabilities impact on firms’ performance. Secondly, there are few Internet-related studies in Japan. Thus, our emphasis on key antecedents and outcomes of Internet marketing capabilities among Japanese SMEs contributes significantly to our understanding of this unique contextual setting. The findings also provide some insights to managers/owners of Japanese SMEs that lower risk perception fosters adoption of the Internet and combined with other resources creates Internet marketing capabilities which results in higher performance.
Estimation of human myocardial mass with MR imaging.

The accuracy and reproducibility of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the determination of left ventricular mass in humans was investigated. Left ventricular wall volume was measured from ten short-axis, end-diastolic MR images that spanned the left ventricle. Mass was estimated on the basis of average left ventricular wall volume and an assumed myocardial density. To establish the accuracy of the technique, the authors imaged ten cadaver hearts and compared true left ventricular weight with the mass estimate based on MR imaging findings. In vivo determination of left ventricular mass was evaluated in 40 subjects, with resultant calculated masses of 156.4-319.3 g. Intra- and interobserver variabilities of the technique were analyzed in ten subjects. Both the intra- (r = .96, standard error of estimate [SEE] = 11.1 g) and interobserver variabilities (r = .91, SEE = 17.8 g) were excellent. Eight subjects were imaged on two separate occasions to evaluate reproducibility of the technique and confidence limits for a given measurement. For these eight, there was good correlation between the two estimates (r = .93, SEE = 21 g). The authors conclude that MR imaging yields highly accurate and reproducible estimates of left ventricular mass in humans in vivo.
Back to basics

This paper describes the introduction of continuous flow manufacturing as an integral component of a comprehensive plan to reduce cycle time and improve output stability. The paper includes the background leading up to the implementation, three phases of the implementation and a summary of the results to date. CFM, along with associated methodologies such as TOC (theory of constraints, {Eliyahu Goldratt et al., 2004}) and other lean actions have resulted in a static cycle time reduction of 45% and an output variation reduction of 70%