Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Les modèles génératifs en classification supervisée et applications à la catégorisation d'images et à la fiabilité industrielle. (Generative models in supervised statistical learning with applications to digital image categorization and structural reliability)

L'apprentissage statistique utilise le formalisme des probabilites et des statistiques pour creer des algorithmes qui "s'adaptent" automatiquement en fonction des donnees qui leurs sont fournies. Les outils les plus performants aujourd'hui (Support Vector Machine, boosting, regression logistique penalisee et reseaux de neurones) font partie d'une classe generale d'algorithmes de type "discriminatif". Cependant, dans le cas de donnees structurees (e.g. les series temporelles et les images numeriques) ou en presence d'une forte information a priori, ces methodes ne permettent pas de modeliser facilement le probleme et necessitent une veritable expertise pour pouvoir etre appliquees. A l'oppose, l'approche generative permet de modeliser toutes les variables d'un probleme sous la forme d'une distribution de probabilite incluant les informations sur la structure des donnees grâce a tous les outils de modelisation non-supervises. Dans cette these, nous montrons que cette approche, longtemps consideree comme sous-optimale, permet de resoudre des problemes complexes de maniere coherente. L'approche generative est definie dans un cadre de classification supervisee et de regression et propose plusieurs outils novateurs pour l'apprentissage statistique supervise. Un critere de selection de modele adapte a ce type d'approche est developpe. Les deux principales manieres d'estimer les parametres - generative et discriminative - sont introduites et analysees en classification et en regression, conduisant a la definition d'un nouveau type d'estimateur intermediaire appele Generative-Discriminative Tradeoff (GDT). Des exemples d'approches generatives utilisant le formalisme des modeles graphiques sont etudiees pour la categorisation d'objets dans des images numeriques et pour calculer une probabilite de defaillance en fiabilite industrielle. Enfin, un exemple de methode discriminative utilisant un estimateur a noyau est propose pour estimer la frontiere d'un ensemble de points.
A Contractual Approach to Restructuring Financial Institutions

I am grateful for extensive conversations with Mark Flannery, fellow members of the Squam Lake Group, Chris Culp, Andrew Gladin, Jason Granet, Barbara Havilcek, Dick Herring, Bev Hirtle, Tom Jackson, Bill Kroener, Phil Prince, Ernst Schaumberg, Alex Wolf, and many Stanford colleagues, particularly Peter DeMarzo, Joe Grundfest, Ken Scott, Kimberly Summe, and John Taylor. I especially benefited from a discussion of this chapter provided by David Skeel.
The Power of Ambiguity: How Participatory Budgeting Travels the Globe

From its inception in Brazil in the late 1980s, Participatory Budgeting has now been instituted in over 1500 cities worldwide. This paper discusses what actually travels under the name of Participatory Budgeting. We rely on science studies for a fundamental insight: it is not enough to simply speak of “diffusion” while forgetting the way that the circulation and translation of an idea fundamentally transform it (Latour 1987). In this case, the travel itself has made PB into an attractive and politically malleable device by reducing and simplifying it to a set of procedures for the democratization of demand-making. The relationship of those procedures to the administrative machinery is ambiguous, but fundamentally important for the eventual impact of Participatory Budgeting in any one context.
MAHOROBA: Tacrolimus eluting coronary stent.

EuroInterv.2007;3:149-153 Description Kaneka’s coronary stent, MAHOROBATM, is a new drug eluting stent (DES), which combines a thin, flexible cobalt-chromium (CoCr) metal stent platform coated with a biodegradable polymer including the pharmaceutical agent tacrolimus. The device has been designed and developed to inhibit the growth of neointimal hyperplasia and avoid interference with the vascular healing response.
A molecular genetic analysis of the communal nesting of the ostrich (Struthio camelus)

The ostrich breeding system is complex and unique; communal clutches are laid by several females, although only one female, the major female, and the resident territorial male provide parental care. More eggs are laid in the nest than can be incubated and the major female ejects surplus eggs from the incubated central clutch. Microsatellite markers were used to analyse the parentage of communal nests in Nairobi National Park. This revealed that major females contributed a disproportionate number of fertile eggs to the central, incubated clutch and that multiple paternity and maternity within a nest were common; 68.9% of all incubated eggs on a nest were not parented by both the resident territorial male and the major female of that nest. All the males fertilized eggs on the clutches of neighbouring males. Unexpectedly, every major female with her own nest was also simultaneously a minor female with incubated eggs on neighbouring clutches. The relatedness between females laying in the same nest was not significantly different from the population average and significantly less than that between chicks hatched from the same nest.
The effects of aerobic physical activity on adiposity in school-aged children and youth: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

CONTEXT The role of aerobic physical activity as a standalone treatment in decreasing adiposity in school-aged children and youth has not been well established. OBJECTIVE To systematically search and assess the quality of the literature on the efficacy of aerobic physical activity to decrease adiposity in school-aged children and youth. METHODS An electronic search strategy was conducted in EBSCO databases, including MEDLINE and CINAHL. Retrieved articles that met the eligibility criteria were rated for methodological quality by using the Downs and Black checklist. RESULTS 10 articles met the inclusion criteria in the form of RCTs. Results indicate that five articles had positive results in decreasing adiposity compared to controls and five articles had no change in adiposity compared to controls. CONCLUSION There is a paucity of evidence to support aerobic physical activity as a successful standalone treatment for decreasing adiposity. Despite the heterogeneity of the methods there is some evidence to support that school-aged children and youth benefit from aerobic physical activity to decrease adiposity and to limit weight gain.
Mechanisms that contribute to the stable segregation of plasmids.

A closer analysis of different plasmids revealed that some of the stability functions did not involve real partition functions, i.e. functions that actively distribute the plasmid molecules to the daughter cells, but affected other aspects of plasmid life cycles, such as the resolution of oligomers formed by recombination or the killing of plasmid-free cells by plasmid-coded functions. This article reviews these processes and attempts to explain how they work together to achieve stable maintenance
Project Management in Bayelsa: Issue and Challenges

Project management is believed to be justified as a means of avoiding the ills inherent in the construction and production sectors of the economy and for which reasons most projects fail and or abandoned. The project managers role arises from the need for a technical expert to take charge, control of events on the project implementation process, someone who understands the intricacies of co-coordinating, controlling, organizing and directing the efforts and activities of the professional team and the physical problems of implementation process with the needs in the decision making process. The success of any project implementation process in the construction industry in the public and private sectors depend largely on the project managers concept on staff appointments and control, strict monitoring of time, cost, material, quality and environmental constraints. However, developing countries still suffer project failures traceable to project management factors. This study is aimed at identifying and analyzing project management constraining factors to the expected success in the construction industry using Bayelsa as a model in the study of a developing economy Keywords: Project, management, issues, challenges
Long-term back problems and physical work exposures in the 1990 Ontario Health Survey.

OBJECTIVES This study sought to provide data on the relationship of work exposures to long-term back problems in a population survey. METHODS The Ontario Health Survey in 1990 used a representative population sample of the province. It included data on long-term back problems, occupational activity, and physical work exposures. The current study examined relationships between these variables. RESULTS The prevalence of long-term back problems was 7.8% in working-age adults. It generally increased with age. Long-term back problems were more prevalent in blue-collar occupations and among those not working, as well as among people with less formal education, smokers, and those overweight. Physical work exposures--awkward working position, working with vibrating vehicles or equipment, and bending and lifting--were all associated with a greater risk of back problems. The number of simultaneous physical exposures was monotonically related to increased risk. CONCLUSIONS Within the limitations of the data and assuming the relationship to be causal, about one quarter of the excess back pain morbidity in the working population could be explained by physical work exposures.
Entrepreneurial Opportunity Recognition and Orientation via Strategic Alliance: A Case Study of RTAP

Opportunity recognition is the first nascent step towards entrepreneurship and in high tech sector it differs due to the tacit knowledge component. The purpose of this case is to complement existing theories and demonstrate how entrepreneur’s internal and external motivators have an impact on diagnosis and assessment of informational cues present in the external environment. This case describes how an entrepreneur assesses opportunity‐related information in order to arrive at a decision while connecting them via innovative practices. It also demonstrates how strategic business alliances help new ventures to constantly meet continuous innovation pressure and how dynamic customization and social network acts as a key driving force behind venture creation. RTAP is a small time engineering service provider, seeded by its founder when Indian economy moved towards liberalization. The founding members were first generation entrepreneurs without any prior start-up experience. The case attempts to examine the antecedents of, and the relationships between, entrepreneurial opportunity recognition, individual-level motivation and innovation performance, strategic alliances and social networking.
Compulsive Use of Social Networking Sites in Belgium: Prevalence, Profile, and the Role of Attitude Toward Work and School

A representative sample (n=1,000) of the Belgian population aged 18 years and older filled out an online questionnaire on their Internet use in general and their use of social networking sites (SNS) in particular. We measured total time spent on the Internet, time spent on SNS, number of SNS profiles, gender, age, schooling level, income, job occupation, and leisure activities, and we integrated several psychological scales such as the Quick Big Five and the Mastery Scale. Hierarchical multiple regression modeling shows that gender and age explain an important part of the compulsive SNS score (5%) as well as psychological scales (20%), but attitude toward school (additional 3%) and income (2.5%) also add to explained variance in predictive models of compulsive SNS use.
Stability of recall of military hazards over time

Background Wartime traumatic events are related to subsequent psychological and physical health, but quantifying the association is problematic. Memory changes over time and is influenced by psychological status. Aims To use a large, two-stage cohort study of members of the UK armed forces to study changes in recall of both traumatic and ‘toxic’ hazards. Method A questionnaire-based follow-up study assessed 2370 UK military personnel, repeating earlier questions about exposure to military hazards. Results The κ statistics for reporting of hazards were good for some exposures, but very low for others. Gulf veterans reported more exposures over time (no significant rise in the Bosnia cohort). In the Gulf cohort only, reporting new exposures was associated with worsening health perception, and forgetting previously reported exposures with improved perception. We found no association between physical health, psychological morbidity or post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and endorsement or non-endorsement of exposures. Conclusions Reporting of military hazards after a conflict is not static, and is associated with current self-rated perception of health. Self-report of exposures associated with media publicity needs to be treated with caution.
Outsourcing Information Technology and the Insider Threat

Abstract : As one of our nation's top critical infrastructures, telecommunications is an essential element of many aspects of our lives upon which we, as a society, are becoming increasingly dependent. Computers, digital telephone switches, and interconnected information technology (IT) systems impact finances, travel, infrastructure management, and missions of national defense. This research examined whether the trend in increased outsourcing of information technology systems is a significant contributing factor to a reportedly increasing amount of insider attacks. In light of changing social, global economic, and technological conditions, the paradigm in which risk analysis, management practices, and operational and personnel security practices are applied to protect information has shifted over the last decade. A comprehensive model of the discursive nature of the insider threat in the outsourced IT environment was developed using a qualitative grounded theory approach put forth by Glaser and Strauss in 1967. The theory generated by this research suggests a multidimensional real and growing threat resulting from outsourced IT as well as preconditions for continued future growth of the insider threat phenomenon.
Real Estate Inheritance in Austria

As real estate inheritances are an important component of Austrian households’ assets, they are relevant for monetary policymaking and for the maintenance of financial stability. 20% of Austrian households have inherited real estate wealth, with some 2% of all households accounting for around 40% of the overall volume of real estate inheritances in Austria. In aggregate, real estate inheritances constitute up to 23% of households’ total real estate wealth. Households which have inherited differ from those which have not in so far as the former have a higher level of education, earn higher incomes and possess greater real estate wealth. The largest inheritance ratio is in the age group of 50- to 70-year-olds. Households with greater real estate wealth and higher income inherit more often, and they receive larger inheritances. Yet the relative share of inherited real estate properties in total real estate wealth is larger among households with smaller real estate wealth. Less well-off households may come into comparatively considerable real estate wealth through an inheritance. Real estate inheritances are of particular importance for farmers. The majority of real estate owners plan to bequeath their real estate. This intention is rather independent from wealth and income levels.
Evaluation of Romanian livestock sector from the perspective of availability of food products.

The Food security of the population is a global problem of mankind due to increased demand for agricultural products, driven by population explosion, increasing household income and changing of consumption structure. The major changes that have occurred in the Romanian economy after 1990, there have been felt in animal husbandry, both in terms of size livestock farms and livestock and yields obtained. This scientific approach aims to analyze the Romanian livestock sector in terms of availability and consumption of food products of animal origin. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the main indicators of production is based on statistical data provided by the National Institute of Statistics and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. According to this analysis of the Romanian livestock sector we conclude that the current level of production is much lower than a decade ago, as a result of the sharp and steady reduction of livestock, reduction of purchasing power of population, poor performance and lack export competitiveness. On the other hand, consumption of food products in Romania is much lower than the EU average consumption, the share of food self-consumption is the highest in the EU-27, while the share of food expenditure in total household expenditure remain at extremely high levels.
New solutions for a low-cost power electronic building block for matrix converters

This paper analyzes some aspects of integrating the matrix converter (MC) bidirectional switches into a power module. The analysis produces two optimal topologies for a power module: one for low-power and another for medium/high-power MCs. A new power module topology for a low-power three-phase-to-three- phase MC is proposed. By using bootstrap circuits to feed the gate-drivers, the proposed configuration requires only three insulated power supplies for a complete MC. This proposal constitutes a solution recommended in the low-power range, where low cost and low volume are the main objectives. Furthermore, a configuration of a power electronic building block for MCs is proposed. This includes the commutation control logic and the overcurrent protection, provides safe operation, and eliminates the specific problem of operating the bidirectional switches.
A Note on the Observability of Temporal Boolean Control Network

Temporal Boolean network is a generalization of the Boolean network model that takes into account the time series nature of the data and tries to incorporate into the model the possible existence of delayed regulatory interactions among genes. This paper investigates the observability problem of temporal Boolean control networks. Using the semi tensor product of matrices, the temporal Boolean networks can be converted into discrete time linear dynamic systems with time delays. Then, necessary and sufficient conditions on the observability via two kinds of inputs are obtained. An example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the obtained results.
Texture Analysis Based Damage Detection of Ageing Infrastructural Elements

Abstract: To make visual data a part of quantitative assessment for infrastructure maintenance management, it is important to develop computer‐aided methods that demonstrate efficient performance in the presence of variability in damage forms, lighting conditions, viewing angles, and image resolutions taking into account the luminous and chromatic complexities of visual data. This article presents a semi‐automatic, enhanced texture segmentation approach to detect and classify surface damage on infrastructure elements and successfully applies them to a range of images of surface damage. The approach involves statistical analysis of spatially neighboring pixels in various color spaces by defining a feature vector that includes measures related to pixel intensity values over a specified color range and statistics derived from the Grey Level Co‐occurrence Matrix calculated on a quantized grey‐level scale. Parameter optimized non‐linear Support Vector Machines are used to classify the feature vector. A Custom‐Weighted Iterative model and a 4‐Dimensional Input Space model are introduced. Receiver Operating Characteristics are employed to assess and enhance the detection efficiency under various damage conditions.
Parental psychiatric hospitalisation and offspring schizophrenia

The risk of schizophrenia has been linked with a family history of schizophrenia and less strongly with other psychiatric disorders in family members. Using data from the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort and from the Danish Psychiatric Case Register, we studied the relationship between offspring risk of schizophrenia and a range of psychotic and non-psychotic psychiatric diagnoses in parents. Psychiatric admission data after 1969 were available for 7047 cohort members born between 1959 and 1961, and for 7006 mothers and 6993 fathers. Univariate analysis showed that neurosis, alcohol and substance dependence in both parents were associated with elevated risk of offspring schizophrenia; in addition, maternal schizophrenia, affective disorder and personality disorder were associated with elevated risk. Controlling for parental age, parental social status, and parental psychiatric co-diagnosis, offspring risk of schizophrenia was associated with maternal schizophrenia (OR = 15.41 with 95% CI 5.96–39.81) and, independently, with paternal hospitalisation with neurosis (OR = 5.90 with 95% CI 2.23–15.62). The risk of schizophrenia associated with paternal neurosis remained significant after excluding offspring of parents with non-affective psychosis from the sample. These findings suggest that genetic and family studies should not only focus on parental history of schizophrenia since the simple distinction between positive and negative family history could not accurately describe offspring risk in this sample.
Multi Agent Based Simulation (MABS) of Financial Transactions for Anti Money Laundering (AML)

Mobile money is a service for performing financial transactions using a mobile phone. By law it has to have protection against money laundering and other types of fraud. Research into fraud detection methods is not as advanced as in other similar fields. However, getting access to real world data is difficult, due to the sensitive nature of financial transactions, and this makes research into detection methods difficult. Thus, we propose an approach based on a Multi-Agent Based Simulation (MABS) for the generation of synthetic transaction data. We present the generation of synthetic data logs of transactions and the use of such a data set for the study of different detection scenarios using machine learning.
Topography growth drives stress rotations in the central Andes: Observations and models

Recent numerical models that couple global mantel circulation with lithosphere dynamics show that growth of the central Andes controls the 30% reduction of convergence velocity between the Nazca and South America plates observed over the past 10 Ma. The increase of gravitational potential energy due to topographic growth is also a major control on the stress pattern. Here we use numerical models which reproduce the Nazca/South America convergence history to predict the change of stress pattern in the central Andes for the past 10 Ma. Comparison of the modeled stress orientations at present‐day with the observed ones results in ±23.9° mean deviation. Based on this good agreement we attempt to predict paleostress orientations 10 Ma ago. Interestingly, the modeled stress orientations 3.2 Ma ago are very similar to the present‐day orientations. From this result we infer that stress rotations occurred between 10 and 3.2 Ma ago, when topography was considerably lower.