Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Utilizing the Urban Crowd to Enrich Computational Knowledge of Cities

For decades, many successful applications have been engineered to incorporate factual knowledge about places, like the location-awaremaps aboard our mobile phones that guide us to where we need to go. However, a person's knowledge about a place ismuchmore expressive than the view of the world often presented by today’s applications. Humans develop rich and personal local knowledge gradually over time through their many daily experiences with their city, its places, and its people. I call this experiential local knowledge. Distinct from factual local knowledge like the structure of a city's road network, which has an objective external reality, experiential local knowledge can be perceptual and subjective, encompassing aspects of the environment that are difficult to know or understand a priori without actually experiencing them. Although this distinction is subtle, experiential local knowledge is critical to life in cities, helping individuals make sense of the complexity of the city around them, and facilitating coordination and natural interactions between groups of city dwellers who share common experiences. In this dissertation proposal, I contend that the collective knowledge and local experiences of the urban crowd can be leveraged to build computer systems with an enriched understanding of the physical world. In support of this claim, I introduce three systems that utilize the urban crowd to collect and model meaningful aspects of the urban experience. Livehoods demonstrates that the footprints of the urban crowd left behind in geospatial social media data can be used to discover socially meaningful geographic regions of a city, depicting a snap-shot of the ever-changing activity patterns of its people. Latent City takes this idea further, by introducing statistical models that uncover not just distinct areas of the city, but also provide some notion of the underlying meaning behind why they are distinct. Finally, Curated City is a website that producing scalable, yet expressive externalizations of peoples' local experiences, while providing collaborative and social mechanisms for aggregating the common experiences of the city. Success in the proposed research program supports a vision of future computer systems that know the city more completely and intimately than any of the city's local residents.
Risks in macroeconomic fundamentals and excess bond returns predictability

I provide evidence that risks in macroeconomic fundamentals contain valuable information about bond risk premia. I extract factors from a set of quantile-based risk measures estimated for US macroeconomic variables and document that they account for up to 31% of the variation in excess bond returns. The main predictor factors are associated with point expectations of real economic activity, uncertainty about real GDP growth, and downside and upside risks in housing starts and the unemployment rate. In addition, factors provide information about bond risk premia variation that is largely unrelated to that contained in the Cochrane-Piazzesi and Ludvigson-Ng factors. These results are confirmed statistically and economically in an out-of-sample setting and hold when factors are constructed using macroeconomic data available in real-time. All together, these findings suggest that risks to macroeconomic fundamentals are an important source of fluctuations in the US government bond market.
Social Media in Tourism and Hospitality: A Literature Review

ABSTRACT Being one of the “mega trends” that has significantly impacted the tourism system, the role and use of social media in travelers' decision making and in tourism operations and management have been widely discussed in tourism and hospitality research. This study reviews and analyzes all extant social media-related research articles published in academic journals during 2007 to 2011, mainly in tourism and hospitality fields. Based on a content analysis on the analyzed articles from both the consumers' and the suppliers' perspectives, this article found that consumer-centric studies generally focused on the use and impact of social media in the research phase of the travelers' travel planning process. Supplier-related studies have concentrated closely on promotion, management, and research functions, but few discussed product distribution. Research findings thoroughly demonstrate the strategic importance of social media for tourism competitiveness. This study also contributes to the academia and industry by identifying some research voids in extant research and providing an agenda for future research.
Head Movements While Crossing Streets: Effect of Vision Impairment

Background. Crossing the street is an activity that requires gathering information over a large area. The challenge in safely crossing a street is to acquire the necessary information for a decision of when to cross within a limited window of time. The purpose of this study was to compare the head movement behavior of visually impaired pedestrians with fully sighted pedestrians at two types of complex intersections: a plus intersection and a roundabout. Method. We measured the head movement behavior of 12 subjects with normal vision, 11 subjects with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and 10 subjects with glaucoma as they approached and crossed at the two intersections. The primary measures were the percentage of time the head was directed to the left, center, or right and the frequency of head turns. We compared measures across groups and relative to three criteria of head movement behavior for maximizing street-crossing safety. Results. Crossing the street can be divided into three phases: walking to the curb, standing at the curb, and crossing the street. We found that while moving, the majority of subjects directed their head to the center. This was true at the plus intersection and roundabout. Group differences were found in the frequency of head turns at the plus intersection, with the AMD pedestrians having a lower frequency of head turns compared with the fully sighted pedestrians. However, the frequency of head turns increased for all the groups during the last 4 seconds before crossing, with the frequency being the greatest during the last second. Numerous subjects had head movements consistent with pedestrian safety, although there were subjects in each group who failed to demonstrate maximum safety. More of the visually impaired pedestrians exhibited less safe head movement behavior than the fully sighted pedestrians. Conclusions. The effects of visual impairment on head movement behavior were associated with pedestrian safety at critical moments in the street-crossing process. Mobility training programs aimed at teaching safe head movement behavior for street crossing could help to increase the safety of visually impaired pedestrians.
Urban bias: Of consequences, classes and causality

Choice‐theoretic accounts of urban bias (UB) in LDCs are popular, because they also ‘explain’ rural bias in richer countries. Such misguided elegance notwithstanding, class‐theoretic (not simply Marxist/productionist) accounts are preferable. Why? (1) UB alleges persistently inefficient and/or unfair (i) anti‐rural outcomes, (ii) intra‐rurally, biases towards rural elites who in return deliver surpluses townwards. (2) If UB declines for one outcome, it must increase for others ‐ unless pro‐urban classes weaken relative to pro‐rural. Thus farm‐price UB fell in 1975–90 in many LDCs, but ‐ with urban‐rural class/ power balances little changed ‐ public‐expenditure UB rose to compensate. (3) Yet long‐term development transforms such balances, shifting many outcomes from UB to rural bias. (4) Explaining (2) and (3) involves understanding urban‐rural class relations. When, and to obtain which, outcomes, do rural elites seek rural rather than urban alliances? Choice/game/coalition theories help, but only within i.
Asymmetric Momentum Effects Under Uncertainty

This paper studies asymmetric profitability of the momentum trading strategy. When investors face Knightian uncertainty, they react differently to past winners and losers, which creates asymmetric patterns in price continuations. This asymmetry increases with the level of market and idiosyncratic uncertainty relating to the fundamental value of stocks. We provide a model explaining this phenomenon and empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis. Our results also imply that momentum is more likely to continue for downward trends in a highly uncertain market. Copyright 2010, Oxford University Press.
Droits de retransmission, équilibre compétitif et profits des clubs

Nous presentons tout d’abord les enjeux du partage des droits de retransmission entre les clubs en Europe et en France. Puis, dans une approche microeconomique, nous comparons les effets des differentes politiques de redistribution des droits sur les strategies d’acquisition de talent sportif. Ceci permet d’en deduire les consequences sur l’equilibre competitif du championnat et sur les profits des clubs. L’accent est porte sur les aspects incitatifs des politiques mises en œuvre et sur le caractere determinant de l’environnement economique: opportunites financieres respectives des clubs et caracteristiques du marche du talent sportif.
Trade Unions and Industrial Relations in Switzerland

Switzerland's system of industrial relations was for a long time synonymous for stability. Once the system of collective bargaining had been put into place at the beginning of the 1950s, Swiss trade unions settled into their role as subordinate partners in decentralized and consensual industrial relations. Stability came to an abrupt end in the 1990s, a decade that confronted trade unions with three major challenges. The first and foremost challenge arose from the unusually long recession of the early 1990s, which dealt a severe blow to membership in the traditional union strongholds. A second challenge was raised by the neoliberal turn in business organizations, which caught trade unions on the wrong foot. Thirdly, trade unions were challenged, at the end of the 1990s, by the imminent opening up of Switzerland’s labour market to the European Union. The liberalization of labour migration was threatening to undermine unions’ influence on wage-setting. These challenges – notably declining membership and the questioning of collective bargaining – put unions under pressure to initiate revitalization efforts. They took place on three different fronts. First, Swiss unions responded to the harsher economic context by investing more resources into political action, using direct democratic instruments to block neoliberal reforms. In parallel, they began to adopt new means of recruitment, targeting hitherto almost union-free private services, and resorted more frequently to strikes. Finally, the European wave of union mergers also seized the Swiss labour movement. Starting in the mid-1990s and gaining pace after 2000, a series of union mergers led to a profound restructuring of organized labour in Switzerland.
Developing a comprehensive safety performance evaluation framework for Saudi schools

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to empirically develop a safety performance (SP) framework for evaluating the various leading and lagging indicators of SP in Saudi public schools. Design/methodology/approach - – A comprehensive review of the safety and performance evaluation literature enabled the formulation of the constructs, factors and items that underpinned a conceptual SP evaluation framework. The research method involved a conceptual framework review and refinement process with 18 experts, followed by a questionnaire survey of 200 respondents from Saudi public schools. The final form of the SP evaluation framework was determined through a rigorous statistical analysis process, including exploratory factor analysis to uncover the underlying framework architecture from a relatively large set of items, and then the application of the partial least squares method to confirm framework adequacy and to assign loading coefficients. Findings - – The developed SP evaluation framework for Saudi schools included five constructs, namely, safety management and leadership, safety learning and training, safety policy, procedures, and processes, workforce safety culture and SP. Practical implications - – The developed SP evaluation framework is proposed for implementation by the Saudi Ministry of Education to better monitor and manage school safety in the future. Originality/value - – This SP evaluation framework is one of the first to holistically evaluate SP in schools, particularly in the Saudi Arabian context.
Stock Returns as Predictors of Interest Rates and Inflation

Abstract This study examines whether stock returns provide forecasts of changes in interest rates and inflation. In contrast to earlier work that indicated that changes in expected inflation negatively affect stock returns, we find a statistically significant positive relation between stock returns and future inflation rate changes as well as a significant positive relation between stock returns and future interest rate changes. Real estate investment trusts, which are particularly interest- and inflation-sensitive securities, provide better forecasts than a broad market index. Finally, we find that most of the evidence supporting the forecasting ability of stock returns occurs in the October 1979 to October 1982 period when the Federal Reserve Board chose not to counteract interest rate changes.
Green Shopping

Findings suggesting that consumers buy “green” products, such as organic foods, for selfish reasons are usually accepted at face value. In this article, the author argues that the evidence backing this claim is questionable and that it reflects post hoc rationalizations and self-presentation biases on behalf of respondents. Knowing that one has incurred substantial personal costs by contributing to a worthy cause can create an uneasiness that one is motivated to relieve, especially when one is uncertain about the ultimate impact of this contribution. A possible coping strategy is to adjust one’s beliefs about intangible private benefits in a way that justifies (bolsters) one’s purchasing decision. A survey study among a representative sample of approximately 4,000 respondents from four European countries (Denmark, Germany, United Kingdom, and Italy) confirmed that this is exactly what “green” consumers do. On the basis of Schwartz’s comprehensive Picture Value Questionnaire, it is also found that buying organic food is strongly, consistently, and positively related to unselfish values (i.e., universalism) but not selfish values (e.g., status, security, pleasure). This suggests that consumers at least start to buy these products for unselfish reasons (the common good). However, after having done so, they seem to bolster their beliefs about private benefits to preserve a self-image of being a competent and rational person.
Cell‐penetrating SH3 domain blocker peptides inhibit proliferation of primary blast cells from CML patients

Bcr‐Abl contributes prominently to the development of most chronic myeloid leukemias (CMLs). Prior work has identified the adapter protein CRKL as a major substrate of the Bcr‐Abl tyrosine kinase. CRKL can also bind via its first SH3 domain [SH3(1)] to specific sequences in Bcr‐Abl. Cell‐penetrating peptides were developed that bind with high affinity and selectivity to the SH3(1) domain of CRKL. They disrupt Bcr‐Abl‐CRKL complexes and strongly reduce the proliferation of primary CML blast cells and cell lines established from Bcr‐Abl‐positive patients. Activation‐specific antibodies against phosphorylated MAP kinase (MAPK) showed that MAPK activity is down‐regulated in blast cells treated with the CRKLSH3(1) blocker peptides. We conclude that the Bcr‐Abl‐CRKL complexes are largely dependent on the CRKLSH3(1) domain, that the central mitogenic cascade is down‐regulated as a consequence of the disruption of CRKLSH3(1) interactions, and that CRKL therefore contributes to the proliferation of CML blast cells. –Kardinal, C. , Konkol, B. , Schulz, A. , Posern, G. , Lin, H. , Adermann, K. , Eulitz, M. , Estrov, Z. , Talpaz, M. , Arlinghaus, R. B. , Feller, S. M. Cell‐penetrating SH3 domain blocker peptides inhibit proliferation of primary blast cells from CML patients. FASEB J. 14, 1529–1538 (2000)
Using Donation Mechanisms to Value Nonuse Benefits from Public Goods

Abstract This paper discusses an experiment in which the value for an unfamiliar environmental good, whose total value has a large nonuse component, is verified using a revealed-preference method. As we were unable to observe preferences via an incentive compatible mechanism, we collected voluntary contributions toward the provision of the good. We make a case for interpreting these contributions as a “theoretical lower bound” on the value of the public good and estimate the lower bound. We also investigate whether we can use contingent donation data to estimate such lower bounds on values. We used a follow-up to the contingent donation question about the respondent's level of certainty with respect to her response to the contingent donation question. The results of this study suggest that use of the follow-up certainty question to differentiate respondents who would actually donate from those who would not is a promising approach to estimating a lower bound to Hicksian surplus measures.
Economic ordering quantities for recoverable item inventory systems

We study a deterministic EOQ model of an inventory system with items that can be recovered (repaired/refurbished/remanufactured). We use different holding cost rates for manufactured and recovered items, and include disposal. We derive simple square root EOQ formulas for both the manufacturing batch quantity and the recovery batch quantity.
Robust Statistical Tests for Evaluating the Hypothesis of Close fit of Misspecified Mean and Covariance Structural Models

Model close fit is one key issue in the mean and covariance structure analysis. In this article, we utilize the latest results on the general distribution of likelihood ratio statistic in this methodology and propose several distribution free root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) tests for evaluating the hypothesis of close fit of misspecified models. Simulation studies show that three of these tests have robust and desirable performance in spite of severe nonnormality across the examples when sample size is as large as 300. A new two-stage procedure which combines model exact fit tests and the proposed RMSEA tests for model close fit is futher propose for overall model fit evaluation.
A method for simulation and analysis of reactive power market

This paper presents a method for the simulation and analysis of alternative reactive power market arrangements based on combined reactive power capacity and energy payments. The value of reactive power support, in terms of both capability and utilisation, of each particular generator is quantified using a developed security constrained reactive optimal power flow. The relative competitiveness of participating generators is also assessed for a spectrum of arrangements between a reactive capacity and a reactive utilisation based market. Also, the conflicting objectives of the system operator, as a purchaser of reactive power service, and generators, as suppliers of the services, are analysed.
Precautionary Saving Unfettered

Precautionary saving has engendered much interest, both because of the possibility that it can explain why, contrary to the basic Lifecycle/Permanent-Income Hypothesis, consumption roughly tracks income over the lifecycle and because of speculation that precautionary saving might account for a large fraction of aggregate saving. However, recent findings have indicated that the effects of precautionary saving are much less significant than was first thought. Early researchers did not take into account general equilibrium effects. Furthermore, most research into precautionary saving has employed buffer-stock saving models that also incorporate a borrowing constraint (either imposed exogenously or resulting endogenously from assumptions about the income process). After separating out the effects of uncertainty from the effects of the borrowing constraint, one finds that most buffer-stock saving can be accounted for by the borrowing constraint. However, buffer-stock models make the simple but unrealistic assumption that absolutely no borrowing can occur. While it has generally been assumed that borrowing constraints and precautionary saving are complementary, when these two frictions operate simultaneously a tight no-borrowing constraint will dominate. Here, we show that when borrowing is unconstrained, precautionary saving can, indeed, have significant effects. Moreover, a general equilibrium model of precautionary saving and unconstrained borrowing can better explain the lifecycle consumption profile than the corresponding buffer-stock saving model
THE COUNCIL OF CHIEF STATE SCHOOL OFFICERS

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and five U.S. extra‐state jurisdictions. CCSSO provides leadership, advocacy, and technical assistance on major educational issues. The Council seeks member consensus on major educational issues and expresses their views to civic and professional organizations, federal agencies, Congress, and the public. State Education Indicators The Council is a strong advocate for improving the quality and comparability of assessments and data systems to produce accurate indicators of the progress of our elementary and secondary schools. The CCSSO education indicators project is providing leadership in developing a system of state‐by‐state indicators of the condition of K–12 education. Indicators activities include collecting and reporting statistical indicators by state, tracking state policy changes, assisting with accountability systems, and conducting analyses of trends in education.
Bank Valuation, with an Application to the Implicit Duration of Non-Maturing Deposits

The purpose of the 'tutorial' paper is to present a model to value banks. First, three traditional models are summarised briefly. Next, a 'fundamental' bank valuation model is introduced. Based on sound economics and finance principles, it allows to identify the various sources of value and to derive managerial implications, such as the measurement of interest rate risk on non-maturing deposits. A first contribution includes the breakdown of the value of equity into two parts: a liquidation value and a franchise value. A second contribution is to call the attention of the corporate bond market, instead of the equity market, to find adequate risk premium to value banks. The valuation model concerns on-balance sheet banking business, such as deposit taking and lending. Off-balance sheet business, such as advisory services, can be valued with standard corporate finance tools.