Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Migration, Openness and the Global Preconditions of 'Smart Development'

In this article, we present a first empirical reflection on 'smart development', its measurement, possible 'drivers' and 'bottlenecks'. We first provide cross-national data on how much ecological footprint is used in the nations of the world system to 'deliver' a given amount of democracy, economic growth, gender equality, human development, research and development, and social cohesion. To this end, we first developed UNDP-type performance indicators on these six main dimensions of development and on their combined performance. We then show the non-linear regression trade-offs between ecological footprints per capita on these six dimensions of development and their combined performance index. The residuals from these regressions are our new measures of smart development: a country experiences smart development, if it achieves a maximum of development with a minimum of ecological footprint. We then look at the cross-national drivers and bottlenecks of this 'smart development' and compare their predictive power using stepwise regression procedures. Apart from important variables and indicators, derived from sociological dependency and world systems theories, we also test the predictive power of several other predictors as well. Our estimates underline the enormous importance of the transfer of resources from the center to the periphery, brought about by migration, with huge statistical observed positive effects of received worker remittances on smart human development, Happy Life Years, smart gender justice, smart R&D, and both formulations of the smart development index.
The Back and Forth Nudging algorithm for data assimilation problems : theoretical results on transport equations

In this paper, we consider the back and forth nudging algorithm that has been introduced for data assimilation purposes. It consists of iteratively and alternately solving forward and backward in time the model equation, with a feedback term to the observations. We consider the case of 1-dimensional transport equations, either viscous or inviscid, linear or not (Burgers' equation). Our aim is to prove some theoretical results on the convergence, and convergence properties, of this algorithm. We show that for non viscous equations (both linear transport and Burgers), the convergence of the algorithm holds under observability conditions. Convergence can also be proven for viscous linear transport equations under some strong hypothesis, but not for viscous Burgers' equation. Moreover, the convergence rate is always exponential in time. We also notice that the forward and backward system of equations is well posed when no nudging term is considered.
China's banking reform : a corporate governance perspective

This study investigates the process of the construction of a system of corporate governance in China's banking sector, with particular reference to the reforms of the SOBs since the late 1990s. The study provides a comprehensive analysis of both external and internal governance mechanisms of the banks. The study shows that the Chinese SOBs have been undergoing a profound transformation since 1998 from a qualitative point of view. A new governance structure of the SOBs has been established through institutional reforms, which have mainly focused on three aspects aiming at addressing the ownership, asset quality and governance issues of the banks. The study demonstrates that the Chinese government has emerged as still in 'control of the SOBs, which has seen little change throughout the reforms process. The reform efforts, however, have made significant changes in the ways that the government conducts its control over the SOBs. This has seen shifting from a system of direct influence and control of management to control through indirect forms. The study shows that corporate governance reforms of the SOBs have all been a strategic choice in the whole process of the Chinese economic reform. The forms, approaches and pace are all subject to the country's dynamic political and economic institutions. The major steps of the reform have been motivated by the improvement of the efficiency of state ownership and interference.
The HR3 discovery system: design decisions and implementation details

Automated Theory Formation is a hybrid AI technique which has been implemented in two scientiﬁc discovery systems, HR1 and HR2, both of which have been used successfully in various applications. We describe here the latest iteration in the HR series, in terms of the lessons learned from the successes and failures of the previous versions, and how these lessons have informed our design choices and the implementation details of the new version. We also present two case studies: a synthetic domain mirroring an aspect of medical diagnosis, and invariant discovery in formal meth-ods. In each case, we compare HR3 with HR2 to highlight various improvements in the new version.
Competition and Consumer Confusion

In many markets consumer biases do not affect prices, since competition forces firms to price their products close to marginal cost; competition protects the consumer. We show that noisy consumer product evaluations undermine the force of competition, enabling firms to charge high mark-ups in equilibrium, even in highly competitive environments. We analyze markets in which rational firms sell goods to consumers who evaluate products with noise. Using results from extreme value theory, we show that competition generally has a remarkably weak impact on markups. For normally distributed evaluation noise, we show that markups are proportional to the inverse of the square root of log(n), where n is the number of competitors. In this setting, a highly competitive industry with n=1,000,000 firms will retain 1/3 of the markup of a highly concentrated industry with only n=10 competitors. When we make noise an endogenous variable, we find that firms choose excess noise by making their products inefficiently confusing. Moreover, competition exacerbates this effect: a higher degree of competition causes firms to choose even more excess complexity. Firms with lower intrinsic quality and higher production costs choose the most excess complexity. Educating consumers to reduce their evaluation noise would generate large welfare gains. But the gains accrue mostly to the consumer, so firms can't profitably educate consumers and steal them away from competitors. Finally, we introduce an econometric framework that measures bounded rationality and confusion in the marketplace
Job search and employment: a personality-motivational analysis and meta-analytic review.

A motivational, self-regulatory conceptualization of job search was used to organize and investigate the relationships between personality, expectancies, self, social, motive, and biographical variables and individual differences in job search behavior and employment outcomes. Meta-analytic results indicated that all antecedent variables, except optimism, were significantly related to job search behavior, with estimated population correlations ranging from -. 15 to . 46. As expected, job search behavior was significantly and positively related to finding employment. Several antecedents of job search were also significantly related to employment success, although the size of these relationships was consistently smaller than those obtained for job search. Moderator analyses showed significant differences in the size of variable relationships for type of job search measure (effort vs. intensity) and sample type (job loser vs. employed job seeker vs. new entrant).
Ordinal hyperplanes ranker with cost sensitivities for age estimation

In this paper, we propose an ordinal hyperplane ranking algorithm called OHRank, which estimates human ages via facial images. The design of the algorithm is based on the relative order information among the age labels in a database. Each ordinal hyperplane separates all the facial images into two groups according to the relative order, and a cost-sensitive property is exploited to find better hyperplanes based on the classification costs. Human ages are inferred by aggregating a set of preferences from the ordinal hyperplanes with their cost sensitivities. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms conventional multiclass-based and regression-based approaches as well as recently developed ranking-based age estimation approaches.
Function and content words evoke different brain potentials

Word class-specific differences in brain evoked potentials (EP) are discussed for connotative meaning and for function versus content words. A well-controlled experiment found matching lexical decision times for function and content words, but clear EP differences (component with maximum near 550 msec) among function words, content words, and nonwords that depended on brain site. Another EP component, with a 480 msec maximum, differentiated words (either function or content) from nonwords.
Solid Lipid Nanoparticles as Effective Reservoir Systems for Long-Term Preservation of Multidose Formulations

Cosmetic multidose preparations, as well as pharmaceutical ones, are at risk of contamination by microorganisms, due to their high water content. Besides the risk of contamination during manufacturing, multidose cosmetic preparations may be contaminated by consumers during their use. In this paper, the results of the utilization of nanoparticles as reservoir systems of parabens, the most used class of preservatives, were reported. Two different systems, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) made of pure precirol and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) made of precirol and almond oil, containing three parabens as single molecules or as a mixture, were prepared and tested. All the systems were characterized for size, polydispersion index, zeta potential and encapsulation efficiency. Release experiments, carried out in steady state and sink conditions, allowed to evidence that both SLN and NLC were able to act as reservoir systems. The antimicrobial activity of the systems was tested against Candida albicans ATCC 10231 with repeat insult tests. The results of the release experiments and the antimicrobial tests showed very low water concentration of parabens still maintaining their antimicrobial activity.
Smart Charging for Electric Vehicles: A Survey From the Algorithmic Perspective

Smart interactions among the smart grid, aggregators, and EVs can bring various benefits to all parties involved, e.g., improved reliability and safety for the smart gird, increased profits for the aggregators, as well as enhanced self benefit for EV customers. This survey focuses on viewing this smart interactions from an algorithmic perspective. In particular, important dominating factors for coordinated charging from three different perspectives are studied, in terms of smart grid oriented, aggregator-oriented, and customer-oriented smart charging. Firstly, for smart grid oriented EV charging, we summarize various formulations proposed for load flattening, frequency regulation, and voltage regulation, then explore the nature and substantial similarity among them. Secondly, for aggregator-oriented EV charging, we categorize the algorithmic approaches proposed by research works sharing this perspective as direct and indirect coordinated control, and investigate these approaches in detail. Thirdly, for customer-oriented EV charging, based on a commonly shared objective of reducing charging cost, we generalize different formulations proposed by studied research works. Moreover, various uncertainty issues, e.g., EV fleet uncertainty, electricity price uncertainty, regulation demand uncertainty, etc., have been discussed according to the three perspectives classified. At last, we discuss challenging issues that are commonly confronted during modeling the smart interactions, and outline some future research topics in this exciting area.
The Rickettsia prowazekii Invasion Gene Homolog (invA) Encodes a Nudix Hydrolase Active on Adenosine (5′)-pentaphospho-(5′)-adenosine*

The genomic sequence of Rickettsia prowazekii, the obligate intracellular bacterium responsible for epidemic typhus, reveals an uncharacterized invasion gene homolog (invA). The deduced protein of 18,752 Da contains a Nudix signature, the specific motif found in the Nudix hydrolase family. To characterize the function of InvA, the gene was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The expressed protein was purified to near homogeneity and subsequently tested for its enzymatic activity against a series of nucleoside diphosphate derivatives. The purified InvA exhibits hydrolytic activity toward dinucleoside oligophosphates (NpnN; n ≥ 5), a group of cellular signaling molecules. At optimal pH 8.5, the enzyme actively degrades adenosine (5′)-pentaphospho-(5′)-adenosine into ATP and ADP with a Km of 0.1 mm and kcat of 1.9 s−1. Guanosine (5′)-pentaphospho-(5′)-guanosine and adenosine-(5′)-hexaphospho (5′)-adenosine are also substrates. Similar to other Nudix hydrolases, InvA requires a divalent metal cation, Mg2+ or Zn2+, for optimal activity. These data suggest that the rickettsial invasion protein likely plays a role in controlling the concentration of stress-induced dinucleoside oligophosphates following bacterial invasion.
The Risk Modeling Evaluation Handbook: Rethinking Financial Risk Management Methodologies in the Global Capital Markets

The first in-depth analysis ofinherent deficiencies in present practices "A book like this helps reduce the chance of a future breakdown in risk management. " Professor Campbell R. Harvey, the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University "A very timely and extremely useful guide to the subtle and often difficultissues involved in model risk-a subject which is only now gaining theprominence it should always have had. " Professor Kevin Dowd, Nottingham University Business School, the University of Nottingham "This book collects authoritative papers on a timely and important topic . and should lead to many new insights. " Professor Philip Hans Franses, Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University "Inadequate valuation and risk management models have played their part intriggering the recent economic turmoil felt around the world. This timely book,written by experts in the field of model risk, will surely help risk managers andfinancial engineers measure and manage risk effectively. " Dr. Fabrice Douglas Rouah, Vice President, State Street Corporation "This invaluable handbook has been edited by experts . and should prove to beof great value to investment finance and credit risk modelers in a wide range ofdisciplines related to portfolio risk, risk modeling in finance, international moneyand finance, country risk, and macroeconomics. " Professor Michael McAleer, Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University About the Book: If we have learned anything from the globalfinancial collapse of 2008, it is this: themathematical risk models currently used byfinancial institutions are no longer adequatequantitative measures of risk exposure. In The Risk Modeling Evaluation Handbook,an international team of 48 experts evaluatesthe problematic risk-modeling methodsused by large financial institutions and breaksdown how these models contributed to thedecline of the global capital markets. Theirconclusions enable you to identify the shortcomingsof the most widely used risk modelsand create sophisticated strategies for properlyimplementing these models into your investingportfolio. Chapters include: Model Risk: Lessons from Past Catastrophes(Scott Mixon) Effect of Benchmark Misspecification on RiskadjustedPerformance Measures (Laurent Bodsonand George Hubner) Carry Trade Strategies and the Information Content ofCredit Default Swaps (Raphael W. Lam andMarco Rossi) Concepts to Validate Valuation Models(Peter Whitehead) Beyond VaR: Expected Shortfall and Other CoherentRisk Measures (Andreas Krause) Model Risk in Credit Portfolio Modeling(Matthias Gehrke and Jeffrey Heidemann) Asset Allocation under Model Risk (Pauline M. Barrieuand Sandrine Tobolem) This dream team of the masters of riskmodeling provides expansive explanations ofthe types of model risk that appear in riskmeasurement, risk management, and pricing,as well as market-tested techniques formitigating risk in loan, equity, and derivativeportfolios. The Risk Modeling Evaluation Handbook is thego-to guide for improving or adjusting yourapproach to modeling financial risk.
The Hubble Deep Field North SCUBA Super-map—I. Submillimetre maps, sources and number counts

We investigate the emission of submillimetre-wave radiation from galaxies in a 165 arcmin2 region surrounding the Hubble Deep Field North. The data were obtained from dedicated observing runs from our group and others using the SCUBA camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), and combined using techniques specifically developed for low signal-to-noise ratio source recovery. The resulting ‘Super-map’ is derived from approximately 60 shifts of JCMT time, taken in a variety of observing modes and chopping strategies, and combined here for the first time. At 850 μm we detect 19 sources at >4σ, including five not previously reported. We also list an additional 15 sources between 3.5 and 4. 0σ (where two are expected by chance). The 450-μm map contains five sources at >4σ. We present a new estimate of the 850- and 450-μm source counts. The number of submillimetre galaxies we detect account for approximately 40 per cent of the 850-μm submillimetre background, and we show that mild extrapolations can reproduce it entirely. A clustering analysis fails to detect any significant signal in this sample of SCUBA-detected objects. A companion paper describes the multiwavelength properties of the sources.
Building Representative Composite Items

The problem of summarizing a large collection of homogeneous items has been addressed extensively in particular in the case of geo-tagged datasets (e.g. Flickr photos and tags). In our work, we study the problem of summarizing large collections of heterogeneous items. For example, a user planning to spend extended periods of time in a given city would be interested in seeing a map of that city with item summaries in different geographic areas, each containing a theater, a gym, a bakery, a few restaurants and a subway station. We propose to solve that problem by building representative Composite Items (CIs). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that addresses the problem of finding representative CIs for heterogeneous items. Our problem naturally arises when summarizing geo-tagged datasets but also in other datasets such as movie or music summarization. We formalize building representative CIs as an optimization problem and propose KFC, an extended fuzzy clustering algorithm to solve it. We show that KFC converges and run extensive experiments on a variety of real datasets that validate its effectiveness.
Context-Awareness in Geographic Information Services ( CAGIS 2014 ) in conjunction with GIScience 2014

One of the major challenges in the development of context-aware applications has always been the initial step of collecting enough information about a user's context. With the increasing prevalence of smartphones equipped with a plethora of sensors, more and more users have a context machine on them that constantly collects, uses, and transmits different kinds of passively collected contextual information. Additionally, many users actively provide contextual information by participating in online social networks. This talk will shed some light on the implications of these developments for research on context awareness. Starting with a brief review of the history of research in context awareness, it will discuss the role of research conducted in industry in this field, upcoming research challenges, and implications for user privacy.
Techniques for performance improvement of VoIP applications

In order to effectively compete in today's telecommunication market, service providers and enterprises are turning towards voice over IP (VoIP) technology. Initially, the goal of using VoIP in enterprises was a better utilisation of internal packet networks and avoiding long-distance toll charges. On the other side service providers need to rollout new revenue generating services quickly. There are many compelling reasons to migrate voice traffic to IP networks, but certain problems must be solved first. This paper introduces important concepts surrounding the performance of VoIP applications in corporate networks and in the Internet. We explain the problem of end-to-end delays, delay jitter, packet reordering and frame erasures and also emerging techniques for solving those problems. This paper focuses on the performance of VoIP applications in wide area networks.
The Other Canon: The History of Renaissance Economics

The expert contributors gathered here approach underdevelopment and inequality from different evolutionary perspectives. It is argued that the Schumpeterian processes of ‘creative destruction' may take the form of wealth creation in one part of the globe and wealth destruction in another. Case studies explore and analyse the successful 19th century policies that allowed Germany and the United States to catch up with the UK and these are contrasted with two other case studies exploring the deindustrialization and falling real wages in Peru and Mongolia during the 1990s. The case studies and thematic papers together explore, identify and explain the mechanisms which cause economic inequality. Some papers point to why the present form of globalization increases poverty in many Third World nations.
Disentangling contextual effects on cause-specific mortality in a longitudinal 23-year follow-up study: impact of population density or socioeconomic environment?

BACKGROUND Various studies have investigated urban/rural differences in cause-specific mortality. A separate body of literature has analysed effects of socioeconomic environment on mortality. Almost no studies have attempted to disentangle effects of population density and socioeconomic environment on mortality, beyond the effects of individual characteristics. METHODS Considering all individuals living in the region of Scania, Sweden, from 1970-93, we performed 10 year mortality follow-ups on (i) individuals aged 55, (ii) individuals aged 65, and (iii) individuals aged 75 years at baseline. Cox multilevel models adjusted for individual factors allowed us to investigate the independent effects of population density and median income in the parish of residence on mortality from ischaemic heart disease (IHD), lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among individuals who had lived in the same parish for at least 10 years prior to mortality follow-up. RESULTS In females, as in males, after adjustment for individual and contextual socioeconomic status, we found a dose-response association between population density and mortality from lung cancer and COPD in all age groups investigated, and from IHD especially in the youngest age group. Overall, the population density effect was the strongest on lung cancer mortality. Median income had an additional impact only in 2 out of 16 subgroups of age x gender x cause of death. CONCLUSIONS In our region-wide study conducted at the parish level, contextual disparities in mortality were dominated by the population density effect. However, it may be unwise to conclude that truly contextual effects exist on mortality, before identification of plausible mediating processes through which urbanicity may influence mortality risk.