Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Urban structure, location of economic activity and aggregate growth: empirical evidence and policies

This thesis explores two distinct but related aspects of the relationship between the spatial location of people within a country and national economic growth. The first three essays set out to establish whether a country’s urban structure impacts economic growth at the aggregate level. Each paper explores a different aspect of the location of people, including the level of urban concentration and the size of a country’s cities. The analyses rely on cross-country regressions and employ different estimation techniques, including fixed effects, system GMM and instrumental variables. Particular attention is paid to whether the relationship differs between developed and developing countries and how contextual factors, such as a country’s economic structure and government capacity, shape the relationship. Across the three papers, the results consistently suggest that concentration and larger cities can be growth promoting at the country level; however only in developed countries or if certain contextual factors are met. The findings add to a growing body of empirical literature which questions the universal validity of the benefits of agglomeration for economic growth. Furthermore, they specifically address a gap in the empirical literature which so far had failed to link city size to aggregate growth as opposed to city-level productivity. The fourth essay moves to the policy level and analyses Special Economic Zones (SEZs) – a policy which isfrequently employed to influence the location of economic activity and people. Specifically, it studies the performance drivers of SEZs. A scarcity of data has limited quantitative research on this topic so far. The analysis relies on a novel dataset, which resorts to nightlights as SEZ performance proxy and covers zone and policy characteristics for SEZs in 22 countries. The findings partially confirm, but also refute the dominant knowledge on the viability of SEZs. While larger zones tend to perform better, growth is difficult to sustain over time and particularly hard to achieve for high-technology focused zones. Other factors commonly assumed to matter, such as the nature of the zone operator, the incentive package and programme set-up, seem to be highly context dependent. Furthermore, contextual factors, such as proximity to markets and a pre-existing industrial base, influence zone performance.
A rapid B-type natriuretic peptide assay accurately diagnoses left ventricular dysfunction and heart failure: a multicenter evaluation.

BACKGROUND B-Type natriuretic peptide (BNP), a protein released from the left ventricle in response to volume expansion and pressure overload, has emerged as the first whole blood marker for the identification of individuals with congestive heart failure (CHF). OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of a point-of-care assay to diagnose and evaluate the severity of CHF on the basis of the New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification system. METHODS Through a prospective, multicenter trial, whole blood samples were collected from a total of 1050 inpatients, outpatients, and healthy control patients. Participants were divided into subgroups for BNP analysis: patients without cardiovascular CHF (n = 473), patients with hypertension and no cardiovascular disease (n = 168), NYHA class I CHF (n = 73), class II CHF (n = 135), class III CHF (n = 141), and class IV CHF (n = 60). RESULTS Circulating BNP concentrations determined from the bedside assay increased with CHF severity, as determined by the NYHA classification system, but were only statistically significant (P <.001) between individuals with and without CHF. Individuals without CHF had a median BNP concentration of 9.29 pg/mL. Median BNP values, with their corresponding interquartile ranges, for NYHA classification I through IV were 83.1 pg/mL (49.4-137 pg/mL), 235 pg/mL (137-391 pg/mL), 459 pg/mL (200-871 pg/mL), and 1119 pg/mL (728->1300 pg/mL), respectively. With the use of a decision threshold of 100 pg/mL, the assay demonstrated 82% sensitivity and 99% specificity for distinguishing control patients and patients with CHF. CONCLUSIONS BNP concentrations obtained from whole blood samples are useful in the diagnosis of CHF and staging the severity of the disease.
Why do Hurdle Rates Differ from the Cost of Funds ?

Analysing a sample of business units from the PIMS data bank of North American companies we are able to extract data on investment hurdle rates, thus accessing a variable that is rarely observable. The text-book story maintains that firms should invest only if the return exceeds the cost of funds. Several theories however, explain the use of investment hurdle rates that differ from discount rates. We find that hurdle rates are frequently below and also frequently above matched data on discount rates. In a statistical analysis we find that this behaviour can be explained by a combination of agency theory and real options theory. We take this as important evidence that a full explanation of capital investment cannot be accomplished without a consideration of behavioural and strategic influences. JEL codes: G3, L2, L6, E22
Aligning Learning Incentives of Students and Teachers: Results from a Social Experiment in Mexican High Schools

This paper evaluates the impact of three different performance incentive schemes using data from a social experiment that randomized 88 Mexican high schools with over 40,000 students into three treatment groups and a control group. Treatment 1 provides individual incentives for performance on curriculum-based mathematics tests to students only, treatment 2 to teachers only, and treatment 3 gives both individual and group incentives to students, teachers, and school administrators. Program impact estimates reveal the largest average effects for treatment 3, smaller impacts for treatment 1, and no impact for treatment 2.
Near-Optimal Sensor Placements in Gaussian Processes: Theory, Efficient Algorithms and Empirical Studies

When monitoring spatial phenomena, which can often be modeled as Gaussian processes (GPs), choosing sensor locations is a fundamental task. There are several common strategies to address this task, for example, geometry or disk models, placing sensors at the points of highest entropy (variance) in the GP model, and A-, D-, or E-optimal design. In this paper, we tackle the combinatorial optimization problem of maximizing the mutual information between the chosen locations and the locations which are not selected. We prove that the problem of finding the configuration that maximizes mutual information is NP-complete. To address this issue, we describe a polynomial-time approximation that is within (1-1/e) of the optimum by exploiting the submodularity of mutual information. We also show how submodularity can be used to obtain online bounds, and design branch and bound search procedures. We then extend our algorithm to exploit lazy evaluations and local structure in the GP, yielding significant speedups. We also extend our approach to find placements which are robust against node failures and uncertainties in the model. These extensions are again associated with rigorous theoretical approximation guarantees, exploiting the submodularity of the objective function. We demonstrate the advantages of our approach towards optimizing mutual information in a very extensive empirical study on two real-world data sets.
An Extended Experiment with Jeliot 2000

Jeliot 2000 is a program animation system intended for teaching computer science to high school students. This paper describes the design and implementation of Jeliot 2000 and an experiment in its use in a year-long course. The experiment showed that animation provides a vocabulary and a concrete model that can improve the learning of students
The evolution of Reproductive Character Displacement Conflicts with How Sexual Selection Operates within a Species

Abstract Processes that affect the evolution of female preferences or male display traits involved in mating decisions in different geographic areas have the potential to result in within-species divergence. This could occur via reinforcement of mate recognition in species using the same traits for species recognition and sexual selection. Sympatric individuals experience reinforcement of female preferences and male display traits, whereas allopatric individuals do not, creating the potential for divergent sexual selection in sympatric and allopatric populations. Sexual selection operates on the cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) of Drosophila serrata, and reinforcement on the CHCs of populations sympatric with D. birchii. Here, we manipulate sexual selection in D. serrata populations generated by hybridizing natural sympatric and allopatric populations. Under the influence of sexual selection, male CHCs evolved from an intermediate phenotype to resemble an allopatric phenotype, which was driven by female choice. Additionally, female choice resulted in evolution of an allopatric female preference, so that allopatric males were preferred to sympatric males. Allopatric CHCs and preferences represent a sexual selection optimum via female choice. Sympatric populations display suboptimal phenotypes relative to their allopatric conspecifics. The combination of reinforcement and sexual selection can therefore generate divergence in female preferences and male display traits.
Unraveling the Effects of Selection and Demography on Immune Gene Variation in Free-Ranging Plains Zebra (Equus quagga) Populations

Demography, migration and natural selection are predominant processes affecting the distribution of genetic variation among natural populations. Many studies use neutral genetic markers to make inferences about population history. However, the investigation of functional coding loci, which directly reflect fitness, is critical to our understanding of species' ecology and evolution. Immune genes, such as those of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), play an important role in pathogen recognition and provide a potent model system for studying selection. We contrasted diversity patterns of neutral data with MHC loci, ELA-DRA and -DQA, in two southern African plains zebra (Equus quagga) populations: Etosha National Park, Namibia, and Kruger National Park, South Africa. Results from neutrality tests, along with observations of elevated diversity and low differentiation across populations, supported previous genus-level evidence for balancing selection at these loci. Despite being low, MHC divergence across populations was significant and may be attributed to drift effects typical of geographically separated populations experiencing little to no gene flow, or alternatively to shifting allele frequency distributions driven by spatially variable and fluctuating pathogen communities. At the DRA, zebra exhibited geographic differentiation concordant with microsatellites and reduced levels of diversity in Etosha due to highly skewed allele frequencies that could not be explained by demography, suggestive of spatially heterogeneous selection and local adaptation. This study highlights the complexity in which selection affects immune gene diversity and warrants the need for further research on the ecological mechanisms shaping patterns of adaptive variation among natural populations.
Cattaneo Likelihood decision functions

In both classical and Bayesian approaches, statistical inference is unified and generalized by the corresponding decision theory. This is not the case for the likelihood approach to statistical inference, in spite of the manifest success of the likelihood methods in statistics. The goal of the present work is to fill this gap, by extending the likelihood approach in order to cover decision making as well. The resulting decision functions, called likelihood decision functions, generalize the usual likelihood methods (such as ML estimators and LR tests), in the sense that these methods appear as the likelihood decision functions in particular decision problems. In general, the likelihood decision functions maintain some key properties of the usual likelihood methods, such as equivariance and asymptotic optimality. By unifying and generalizing the likelihood approach to statistical inference, the present work offers a new perspective on statistical methodology and on the connections among likelihood methods. 1. Introduction. Wald (1950) tried to unify statistics in his theory of decision functions. However, many of the most appreciated statistical methods do not fit well in this setting. In particular, the likelihood methods (such as the maximum likelihood estimators and the likelihood ratio tests) are usually suboptimal in corresponding (finite-sample) decision problems. In fact, the post-data nature of likelihood methods is at variance with the pre-data evaluation of decision functions. Since statistical methods based on the likelihood function are extremely successful as regards estimation and testing, it is natural to try extending the likelihood approach to more general decision problems. The topic of the present paper are criteria for basing decisions on the likelihood function alone. The resulting optimal decisions generalize the usual likelihood methods , in the sense that these methods are optimal in corresponding (finite-sample) decision problems. The approach of this paper offers a new perspective on statistical methodology and on the connections among likelihood methods. Surprisingly, only very few authors have studied extensions of the like
Chlorophyll fluorescence retrieval method and its application on detecting the early water stress

Sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence is a new way to monitor the vegetation change and global carbon cycle. Through the model simulated analysis, the pot experiment and the airborne flying experiment, the research on detecting the multi-scale sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence is developed in this dissertation. The main conclusions and innovations are as follows: 1. The maize water control experiments demonstrate that the passive fluorescence can be used to detect the crop water stress, and the analysis of the different responses of the fluorescence and temperature illustrates that the fluorescence is much sensitive to the early water stress. 2. Analyze the effects of temperature, sun zenith angle and fluorescence quantum efficiency on the qualitative fluorescence retrieval, and propose a qualitative fluorescence retrieval method based on the reflectance index. 3. Analyze the effects of airborne fluorescence retrieval, and obtain that sun zenith angle and airborne sensor height are the important factors to affect the sun-induced fluorescence retrieval from the simulated analysis and airborne flying experiment.
PCR‐RFLP markers identify three lineages of the North American and European populations of Phytophthora ramorum

Summary Phytophthora ramorum, the cause of sudden oak death and ramorum blight, has three major clonal lineages and two mating types. Molecular tests currently available for detecting P. ramorum do not distinguish between clonal lineages and mating type is determined by cultural methods on a limited number of samples. In some molecular diagnostic tests, cross-reaction with other closely related species such as P. hibernalis, P. foliorum or P. lateralis can occur. Regions in the mitochondrial gene Cox1 are different among P. ramorum lineages and mitochondrial genotyping of the North American and European populations seems to be sufficient to differentiate between mating types, because the EU1 lineage is mostly A1 and both NA1 and NA2 lineages are A2. In our study, we were able to identify P. ramorum isolates according to lineage using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment-length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) of the Cox1 gene, first by using ApoI to separate P. ramorum from other species and EU1 from North American populations, and then AvaI to distinguish between NA1 and NA2 genotypes. However, P. foliorum had the same restriction profile as P. ramorum NA1 isolates.
Comparison of culture and different PCR assays for detection of Trichomonas vaginalis in self collected vaginal swab specimens

Objectives: DNA amplification techniques have become widely used for the diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections. For the detection of Trichomonas vaginalis, PCR techniques are not yet widely used despite the publication of several assays. The sensitivity and specificity of five independent primer sets were determined on self collected vaginal specimens obtained from female commercial sex workers. Methods: Self collected specimens were obtained from symptomatic and asymptomatic women attending a female sex workers clinic in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Two vaginal specimens were collected, the first one was processed for culture and the second was processed for PCR analysis. PCR techniques for trichomonads were performed, using the primers as reported by Riley (TVA5/TVA6), Kengne (TVK3/TVK7), Madico (BTUB 9/BTUB 2), Shiao (IP1/IP2), and Mayta (TV1/TV2). An EIA amplicon detection method was designed for each of the primer sets. Results: True positive specimens were defined as culture positive and/or two positive PCR results with EIA amplicon detection in any combination. According to this definition a prevalence of 20% was obtained compared to 7% obtained by culture. The PCR primer set TVK3/TVK7 gave the highest sensitivity (89.2%). Poor sensitivities were obtained with the primer sets TV1/TV2 (60.2%) and TVA5/TVA6 (63.9%). PCR showed a sensitivity improvement of 2.4% up to 12% when EIA was used for amplicon detection. Conclusions: Overall, the sensitivities of the different PCR assays resulting from this study were lower than those previously described. These findings could be the result of the nature of the specimen population and suggests a strain variability.
Cohesive zone modeling of 3D delamination in encapsulated silicon devices

Interfacial delamination in encapsulated silicon devices has been a great reliability concern in IC packaging. Experimental testing of a transparent Quad Flat No Leads Package (QFN) was carried out with the goal of studying delamination characteristics and investigating the viability of cohesive zone modeling (CZM) in simulating delamination patterns and trends. To simplify the study, the package was molded without the die. The pattern of initiation and propagation of delamination under thermal loading is the focus of this study. A video camera was focused on the interface between the pad and the encapsulant. When the temperature has reached a critical value, delaminations were seen to initiate and propagate in a certain pattern. The experimental setup was then modeled within the finite element framework with the failure of the interface described through a cohesive-zone surface interaction approach. The cohesive-zone approach is ideal as, unlike other fracture mechanics methods, it does not require prior specification of any initial delamination. It was found that the 3D numerical model was able to capture the experimentally observed delamination pattern satisfactorily.
Sparse basis selection: new results and application to adaptive prediction of video source traffic

Real-time prediction of video source traffic is an important step in many network management tasks such as dynamic bandwidth allocation and end-to-end quality-of-service (QoS) control strategies. In this paper, an adaptive prediction model for MPEG-coded traffic is developed. A novel technology is used, first developed in the signal processing community, called sparse basis selection. It is based on selecting a small subset of inputs (basis) from among a large dictionary of possible inputs. A new sparse basis selection algorithm is developed that is based on efficiently updating the input selection adaptively. When a new measurement is received, the proposed algorithm updates the selected inputs in a recursive manner. Thus, adaptability is not only in the weight adjustment, but also in the dynamic update of the inputs. The algorithm is applied to the problem of single-step-ahead prediction of MPEG-coded video source traffic, and the developed method achieves improved results, as compared to the published results in the literature. The present analysis indicates that the adaptive feature of the developed algorithm seems to add significant overall value.
A comparison between the early and mid-term results of surgical as opposed to percutaneous closure of defects in the oval fossa in children aged less than 6 years

Objectives: To compare surgical as opposed to percutaneous interventional closure of isolated atrial septal defects in the oval fossa in terms of hospital stay, efficacy, and complications, and to study the respective role of the two techniques in current practice. Methods: Between January 1998 and April 2004, 126 out of 1210 patients treated at our institution for closure of an isolated defect in the oval fossa were aged less than 6 years. The mean age of these 126 patients at procedure was 4.2 plus or minus 1 year. The ratio of females to males was 74 to 52. Results: Of the patients, 62% were treated successfully using a percutaneous approach. The groups treated surgically or percutaneously did not differ for age, gender, or indications for treatment. No deaths occurred. The rates of total and major complications were higher in the group undergoing surgical closure, at 34% versus 9%, p less than 0.0001, and 10.5% versus 1%, p equal to 0.01, respectively. Embolisation of the device requiring subsequent surgery occurred in 1% of patients. The stay in hospital was shorter in those closed percutaneously, at 3.2 plus or minus 0.9 days versus 6.8 plus or minus 2.8 days, p equal to 0.0001. During a mean follow-up of 3.4 plus or minus 1.9 years, no major complications occurred in either group, and symptoms improved significantly in both groups. Additional sequels occurred in 2 patients who had major complications subsequent to surgical closure. Conclusions: Even in young children, it is both feasible and safe to close defects in the oval fossa percutaneously. Compared to surgical closure, the transcatheter approach allows a shorter stay in hospital, and has a lower rate of complications. Early and mid-term follow-up has confirmed the safety and efficacy of both techniques.