Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Additional Resources versus Organizational Changes in Education : Experimental Evidence from Kenya

Several studies have found that resources alone have limited impact on the quality of education in developing countries, while others have found that changes in pedagogy and incentives can have significant and large impacts. This paper compares increases in resources alone (changes in pupil-teacher ratios) to two frequently advocated (and implemented) changes in the organization of teaching: the use of locally hired teachers on short contracts, and the involvement of parents in the management of schools. We use data from 140 schools in Western Kenya, 70 of which were randomly selected to receive an extra contract teacher, and find that reducing the pupil-teacher ratio (from 82 to 43 on average), in the absence of any other changes, leads to reduced teacher effort, and to small and insignificant increases in test scores. In contrast, students who were (randomly) assigned to the contract teachers experience significant improvement in test scores, as did those who were in schools were school committees were given extra training. JEL Codes: I21, M51, O15
Risk of All-Cause Mortality in HIV Infected Patients Is Associated with Clinical, Immunologic Predictors and the CCR5 Δ32 Deletion

Objective Investigation of the interplay between the CCR5 Δ32/wt genotype and demographic, epidemiological, clinical and immunological factors associated with mortality in the cART era. Design Longitudinal data from 507 HIV-infected patients following the Δ32 allele detection were analyzed. Methods Cumulative 15 years mortality was calculated using Kaplan-Meyer methodology. Hazard ratios were estimated using univariate Cox models. Basing on Akakie information criteria and statistical significance multivariate Cox model was constructed and effect plots presenting adjusted hazard ratio time-dependency were drawn. Analysis of the association of all-cause mortality and CCR5 Δ32/wt genotype prior to the antiretroviral treatment (cART) initiation (n = 507) and on the therapy (n = 422) was also performed. Results A mortality rate of 2.66 (CI 2.57–3.19) per 100 person-years was observed. Univariate analysis factors modifying the risk of death included the CCR5 genotype, gender, history of cART, AIDS diagnosis and also CD4 lymphocyte nadir, zenith, the latest CD4 count and stable levels >500 cells/µl. For multivariate analysis the following predictors were selected: CCR5 genotype (HR for wt/wt 2.53, CI 1.16–5.53, p = 0.02), gender (HR for males 1.91, 95%CI 1.1–3.36, p = 0.023), introduction of combined antiretroviral treatment (HR 4.85, CI 3.0–7.89, if untreated or treated <1 month, p<0.0001) CD4 count of 500 cells/µl for six months or more (HR 4.16, CI 1.95–8.88 if not achieved, p = 0.028), the latest CD4 count (HR 5.44, CI 3.39–8.74 for <100 cells/µl, p<0.0001) and history of AIDS (HR 1.69, CI 1.03–2.79, p = 0.039). Among untreated individuals the Δ32/wt genotype was associated with notably better survival (p = 0.026), while among cART treated individuals the Δ32 mutation did not correlate significantly with higher survival rates (p = 0.23). Conclusions The Δ32 CCR5 allele is associated with a reduction of the risk of all-cause mortality in HIV (+) patients alongside clinical and immunologic predictors such as AIDS, history of cART, lymphocyte CD4 cell count and gender.
Gene Catchr—Gene Cloning And Tagging for Caenorhabditis elegans using yeast Homologous Recombination: a novel approach for the analysis of gene expression

Expression patterns of gene products provide important insights into gene function. Reporter constructs are frequently used to analyze gene expression in Caenorhabditis elegans, but the sequence context of a given gene is inevitably altered in such constructs. As a result, these transgenes may lack regulatory elements required for proper gene expression. We developed Gene Catchr, a novel method of generating reporter constructs that exploits yeast homologous recombination (YHR) to subclone and tag worm genes while preserving their local sequence context. YHR facilitates the cloning of large genomic regions, allowing the isolation of regulatory sequences in promoters, introns, untranslated regions and flanking DNA. The endogenous regulatory context of a given gene is thus preserved, producing expression patterns that are as accurate as possible. Gene Catchr is flexible: any tag can be inserted at any position without introducing extra sequence. Each step is simple and can be adapted to process multiple genes in parallel. We show that expression patterns derived from Gene Catchr transgenes are consistent with previous reports and also describe novel expression data. Mutant rescue assays demonstrate that Gene Catchr-generated transgenes are functional. Our results validate the use of Gene Catchr as a valuable tool to study spatiotemporal gene expression.
The causes of phylogenetic conflict in a classic Drosophila species group

Bifurcating phylogenies are frequently used to describe the evolutionary history of groups of related species. However, simple bifurcating models may poorly represent the evolutionary history of species that have been exchanging genes. Here, we show that the history of three well–known closely related species, Drosophila pseudoobscura, D. persimilis and D. p. bogotana, is not well represented by a bifurcating phylogenetic tree. The phylogenetic relationships among these species vary widely between different genomic regions. Much of this phylogenetic variation can be explained by the potential of different genomic regions to introgress between species, as measured in laboratory studies. We argue that the utility of multiple markers in species–level phylogenetic studies can be greatly enhanced by knowledge of genomic location and, in the case of hybridizing species, by knowledge of the functional or linkage relationships among the markers and regions of the genome that reduce hybrid fitness.
The Nature of the Times to Flight Software Failure during Space Missions

The growing complexity of mission-critical space mission software makes it prone to suffer failures during operations. The success of space missions depends on the ability of the systems to deal with software failures, or to avoid them in the first place. In order to develop more effective mitigation techniques, it is necessary to understand the nature of the failures and the underlying software faults. Based on their characteristics, software faults can be classified into Bohrbugs, non-aging-related Mandelbugs, and aging-related bugs. Each type of fault requires different kinds of mitigation techniques. While Bohrbugs are usually easy to fix during development or testing, this is not the case for non-aging-related Mandelbugs and aging-related bugs due to their inherent complexity. Systems need mechanisms like software restart, software replication or software rejuvenation to deal with failures caused by these faults during the operational phase. In a previous study, we classified space mission flight software faults into the three above-mentioned categories based on problems reported during operations. That study concentrated on the percentages of the faults of each type and the variation of these percentages within and across different missions. This paper extends that work by exploring the nature of the times to software failure due to Bohrbugs and non-aging-related Mandelbugs for eight JPL/NASA missions. We start by applying trend tests to the times to failure to check if there is any reliability growth (or decay) for each type of failure. For those times to failure sequences with no trend, we fit distributions to the data sets and carry out goodness-of-fit tests. The results will be used to guide the development of improved operational failure mitigation techniques, thereby increasing the reliability of space mission software.
Financialization and Strategy: Narrative and Numbers

Part 1: What Corporate Management Has Become 1. Introduction 2. Classical Strategy 3. The Intrusion of the Capital Market 4. Keeping it Going 5. Better Governance? Part 2: Cases 6. Introduction to the Cases 7. General Electric 8. Ford Motor Company 9. GlaxoSmithKline 10. Synthesis
Best linear unbiased filtering with nonlinear measurements for target tracking

In tracking applications, target dynamics are usually modeled in the Cartesian coordinates, while target measurements are directly available in the original sensor coordinates. Measurement conversion is widely used such that the Kalman filter can be applied in the Cartesian coordinates. A number of improved measurement-conversion techniques have been proposed recently. However, they have fundamental limitations, resulting in performance degradation, as pointed out in a recent survey conducted by the authors. A filter is proposed here that is theoretically optimal in the sense of minimizing the mean-square error among all linear unbiased filters in the Cartesian coordinates. The proposed filter is free of the fundamental limitations of the measurement-conversion approach. Results of an approximate, recursive implementation are compared with those obtained by two state-of-the-art conversion techniques. Simulation results are provided.
Climate Change and Inland Waterway Transport Welfare Effects of Low Water Levels on the river Rhine

The authors derive the annual welfare effects of low water levels on the river Rhine employing detailed trip data reported by bargemen between January 2003 and July 2005. They find a considerable effect of water levels on freight price per ton and load factor, but the effect on the price per trip is close to zero. Using water level information over a period of almost 20 years, the average annual welfare loss due to low water levels is estimated to be about €28 million. In years with extremely low water levels, such as in 2003, the loss amounts to about €91 million, about 13 per cent of the market turnover in the part of the Rhine market considered. © 2007 LSE and the University of Bath
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF UWB ON-BODY COMMUNICATION UNDER WIMAX OFF-BODY EMI EXISTENCE

A study of UWB on-body communication system performance, with the WiMax ofi-body electromagnetic interference (EMI) existence, is presented. Firstly, a compact UWB antenna with good on-body performance is verifled and chosen as our reference antenna. Using this realistic antenna, channel transfer function (CTF) of UWB on-body channel in an indoor room is investigated by measurements. Based on the measured data, the parameters of its pathloss model and its power delay proflle (PDP) model are extracted respectively. Secondly, a new body channel communication system model, composed of the on-body and ofi-body dual-link channel, together with UWB and WiMax signal models are presented. Finally, UWB on-body communication performances under difierent WiMax ofi-body EMI levels are studied by simulation. Simulated results show that this on-body system performance is quite limited and easily afiected by the ofi-body WiMax EMI. It is pointed out that the existing UWB on-body communication abilities should be greatly improved when WiMax ofi-body EMI signals are considered.
Kelvin Waves Activity in the Eastern Tropical Atlantic

Tropical Atlantic intraseasonal variability is investigated in the framework of propagation of sea surface height anomalies along the equator and the West-African coastlines. We present a climatological analysis of the observed intraseasonal equatorial Kelvin wave activity and its coastally trapped extension signals. A OGCM simulation is used to provide the subsurface activity. The analysis focuses then on the wind activity that trigger the signal in the west equator and modulates it along the whole trajectories. An about two months periodicity is found for the Kelvin wave signals and the winter season presents more activity The equatorial Kelvin wave propagates eastward along the equator until the African coast where the wave splits and travels polewards, coastally trapped. The propagation is clear until about 12 degree of latitude North and South where it encounters the oceanic fronts of the Mauritanian and Benguela upwelling regions. Beyond, local wind effects become predominant and control largely the ssha.
The World Economy in 2050: a Tentative Picture

We present growth scenarios for 128 countries to 2050, based on a three-factor production function that includes capital, labour and energy. We improve on the literature by accounting for the energy constraint through dynamic modelling of energy productivity, and departing from the assumptions of either a closed economy or full capital mobility by applying a Feldstein-Horioka-type relationship between savings and investment rates. Our results suggest that, accounting for relative price variations, China could account for 28% of the world economy in 2050, which would be much more than the United States (14%), India (12%), the European Union (11%) and Japan (3%). They suggest also that China would overtake the United States around 2025 (2035 at constant relative prices). However, in terms of standards of living, measured through GDP per capita in purchasing power parity, only China would be close to achieving convergence to the US level, and only at the end of the simulation period.
Eigenvectors and minimal bases for some families of Fiedler-like linearizations

In this paper, we obtain formulas for the left and right eigenvectors and minimal bases of some families of Fiedler-like linearizations of square matrix polynomials. In particular, for the families of Fiedler pencils, generalized Fiedler pencils and Fiedler pencils with repetition. These formulas allow us to relate the eigenvectors and minimal bases of the linearizations with the ones of the polynomial. Since the eigenvectors appear in the standard formula of the condition number of eigenvalues of matrix polynomials, our results may be used to compare the condition numbers of eigenvalues of the linearizations within these families and the corresponding condition number of the polynomial eigenvalue problem.
A new view of the medial temporal lobes and the structure of memory

Recent research in cognitive neuroscience has supported the idea that active rehearsal of information over short delays, or working memory maintenance, is accomplished by activating long-term memory representations. Nonetheless, it is widely assumed that although the human hippocampus and related medial temporal lobe structures may be critical for the formation of long-term memories, they are not involved in working memory maintenance. Here, we reconsider this issue and review evidence suggesting that humans and nonhuman primates with large medial temporal lobe lesions have difficulty retaining complex, novel information even across short delays. These results suggest that perirhinal and entorhinal regions, and under some circumstances, even the hippocampus, may be necessary for some forms of working memory as well as long-term memory. Moreover, neurophysiological and neuroimaging evidence suggests that all of these medial temporal regions exhibit activity associated with the active maintenance of novel information. Finally, we review a neurally plausible computational model of corticohippocampal interactions that points to a special role of the hippocampus in the representation of relational codes in memory. Our analyses suggest that the hippocampus plays this special role not only in episodic long-term memory, but also in working memory maintenance. Collectively, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that the active maintenance of complex, novel information is accomplished through the sustained activation of long-term memory representations bound together by the hippocampus and medial temporal cortical regions.
The Mycetophila ruficollis Meigen (Diptera, Mycetophilidae) group in Europe: elucidating species delimitation with COI and ITS2 sequence data

Abstract European species of the Mycetophila ruficollis group are compared on the basis of morphology and sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit one (COI) and the ITS2 region of nuclear ribosomal DNA. The study represents the first evaluation of morphology-based species delimitation of closely related fungus gnat species by applying molecular information. Detailed descriptions and illustrations of the male terminalia are presented along with a key for the identification of all nine European species of the group. Phylogenetic analyses of molecular data generally supported the morphological species discrimination. The barcoding region of COI superseded ITS2 rDNA in resolving species. In the COI barcoding region interspecific differences ranged from 2.9 to 10.6% and the intraspecific distance from 0.08 to 0.8%. Only COI data distinguished between the similar and closely related Mycetophila ichneumonea and Mycetophila uninotata of which the latter was observed to include cryptic species. The host range of some species is suggested to be narrower than previously considered and to depend on the forest type. Presented evidence indicates the importance of analysing sequence data of morphologically very similar mycetophages reared from identified host fungi for elucidating species delimitation as well as their geographic and host ranges. New country records, viz. Estonia for Mycetophila evanida, Georgia for Mycetophila ichneumonea, Mycetophila idonea and Mycetophila ruficollis, and Norway for Mycetophila strobli, widen the known distribution ranges of these species.
What Replacement Rates do Households Actually Experience in Retirement?

This paper estimates how much people actually receive in retirement relative to earnings before retirement when all sources of income, including income generated by homeownership, are combined. Previous studies find that middle class people need between 70 and 75 percent of their pre-retirement earnings to maintain their life style once they stop working. The objective of this study is to determine what people are actually receiving in retirement. Regardless of how retirement income and pre-retirement income are defined, households with pensions appear to meet the threshold of adequacy. Those without pensions do not fare as well, and some must be really struggling. Taking into account a comprehensive measure of income both before and after retirement - including housing - produces replacement rates for those with pensions of 79 percent for couples and 89 percent for single person households. Those without pensions have replacement rates of 62 percent for couples and 63 percent for singles. These replacement rates drop about 15 percentage points, however, when recent earnings (the highest five years of the last ten) are used as the benchmark. The overall the picture is good. But today is in some sense the "golden age" of retirement income. Today's retirees are claiming Social Security benefits before the extension in the retirement age to 66 and then 67, which is equivalent to an across-the-board cut in benefits. Today's retirees also do not face the huge deductions in their Social Security check to cover Medicare premiums for Part B and Part D that tomorrow's retirees will. And today, the average retiree does not pay personal income tax on his Social Security benefits, whereas future retirees will increasingly see a portion of their benefits subject to taxation. Finally, most of today's retirees are covered primarily by a defined benefit plan and do not face the uncertainty associated with the inadequate lump-sum payments from 401(k) plans. The comfortable circumstances of today's retirees make it very hard to call attention to the challenges that future retirees will face.
City Development Options for Haiphong Charting a Path to the Year 2020 DRAFT FULL REPORT

pilot case study on urban and environment development for the nation, based on the city’s leadership among Vietnamese cities now engaged in modernization. This report therefore serves several purposes. It is a way to frame the city’s needs for assistance and to indicate promising options for development. At the same time, it forms a cornerstone for analytical work needed to deepen the Bank’s understanding of urban development in Vietnam. Urban development and environmental change in both Haiphong and the country are seen in the context of the Bank’s mission of public sector reform and poverty alleviation. (The reader should note that in addition to the inputs for this study noted in footnote one, two separate studies-- on city finances and strategies of the city’s poor, including social issues such as drugs-- are to be conducted over the next several months and will be integrated into this report at a later stage.)
Leveraging Web Services for Implementing Vertical Industry Standards: A Model for Service-Based Interoperability

With deeper levels of external process integration and a growing number of electronic business relationships, enterprises are striving to become more interoperable with their business partners. While two-way integration linkages have mostly been realized as point-to-point connections with a handful of business partners, new integration technologies such as Web services and XML give enterprises the opportunity to pursue more cost-efficient and scalable ways of external business process integration. This research develops a model for service-based B2B interoperability that leverages Web service technologies for implementing industry standards. The authors instantiate the conceptual model in a B2B scenario in the automotive industry, where a consortium of automotive manufacturers and suppliers are currently redesigning their interorganizational engineering change management processes. From the evaluation, the authors suggest that the specification of standards related to pragmatics, semantics and syntax has to be complemented by additional design rules which define how industry standards are mapped to a public Web service design. The paper concludes with a revised model for service-based interoperability and discusses implications for B2B standardization.
Weakly connected dominating set-based secure clustering and operation in distributed sensor networks

This paper presents an efficient approach to secure network formation in distributed sensor networks (DSNs), which could be used for secure communications among the nodes after the start of the network's operation. The structure of the network is formed on the basis of offline rank assignments by pre-distribution of secret keys to the participating sensors. Our approach uses the notion of weakly connected dominating set (WCDS) to reduce the number of cluster-heads in the network for greater resource efficiency. The clusters in the network are formed in a secure and efficient way so that no hostile entity could be included in any cluster during network structuring process. We propose an efficient algorithm to form a network-wide secure WCDS, which includes an optional re-keying mechanism to increase the level of security. Our objective is to ensure security in distributed sensor network from the bootstrapping stage up to the beginning of its operation. Along with the description of our approach, we present detailed analysis, simulation results and comparisons of our approach with other related schemes.