Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diesels in Europe: Analysis of Characteristics, Usage Patterns, Energy Savings and CO 2 Emission Implications

This paper examines trends in characteristics of light-duty vehicle fleets and new diesel cars in the 1990s in five countries in Europe. Diesels now typically comprise between 8 and 15 per cent of car fleets, and more than a quarter in France. On average, diesels consume 5 to 15 per cent less energy per kilometre than petrol cars. As deployed today, diesel cars are associated with very little savings of energy or reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, since a high proportion of fuel saving is lost to increased travel distance. However, recent trends in new diesel car characteristics, combined with recent increases in diesel taxes in some countries, could lead to much greater energy savings in the future. © The London School of Economics and the University of Bath 2002
Implications of voluntary reductions in energy-related emissions for the environment and economic welfare in Malawi : an environmental general equilibrium approach

This study estimates an energy sector model consisting of interfuel substitution model and an aggregate energy and non-energy input demand system that incorporates short-run and longrun structural adjustment parameters. The study finds that all fuels in the energy aggregate are Morishima substitutes and that there are significant sectoral variations in magnitude of the elasticities. This indicates that economic instruments should be considered for energy policy but such policies should take into account not only differences in technology used across sectors but also the systematic distribution of costs when the relative prices of fuels change. Estimates of long-run elasticities for aggregate input demands indicate that energy-capital input ratios adjust faster than labour-capital input ratios. This suggests that investment policy should take into consideration tradeoffs between environmental gains and employment implicit in the production structure of the Malawian economy as both capital and labour demands have dynamic interactions with energy in the long-run with potential significant cumulative impacts on the environment. Using results and gaps noted from the partial equilibrium analysis, the study also evaluated general equilibrium impacts of reducing fossil and biomass fuel use by production activities while investing in more hydroelectricity. The results show that carbon emissions and forest resource depletion due to energy use, respectively, can be reduced by imposing environmental taxes aimed at inducing a shift from biomass and fossil fuels to hydroelectricity. More significantly, there are at least three dividends from inducing a shift in the energy mix in that
Degradation of unassembled Vph1p reveals novel aspects of the yeast ER quality control system

The endoplasmic reticulum quality control (ERQC) system retains and degrades soluble and membrane proteins that misfold or fail to assemble. Vph1p is the 100 kDa membrane subunit of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae V‐ATPase, which together with other subunits, assembles into the V‐ATPase in the ER, requiring the ER resident protein Vma22p. In vma22Δ cells, Vph1p remains an integral membrane protein with wild‐type topology in the ER membrane before undergoing a rapid and concerted degradation requiring neither vacuolar proteases nor transport to the Golgi. Failure to assemble targets Vph1p for degradation in a process involving ubiquitylation, the proteasome and cytosolic but not ER lumenal chaperones. Vph1p appears to possess the traits of a ‘classical’ ERQC substrate, yet novel characteristics are involved in its degradation: (i) UBC genes other than UBC6 and UBC7 are involved and (ii) components of the ERQC system identified to date (Der1p, Hrd1p/Der3p and Hrd3p) are not required. These data suggest that other ERQC components must exist to effect the degradation of Vph1p, perhaps comprising an alternative pathway.
Fast inversion of formation permeability from Stoneley wave logs using a simplified Biot‐Rosenbaum model

This paper describes a fast algorithm for estimating formation permeability from Stoneley wave logs. The procedure uses a simplified Biot-Rosenbaum model formulation. The input to the inversion is the Stoneley-wave spectral amplitudes at each receiver position, the bore-hole fluid properties (velocity and density), the borehole caliper log, the formation density and porosity (from log data), and the compressional and shear velocities for the interval of interest. The model uses the borehole caliper and elastic properties to compute the Stoneley wave excitation (that is, predicted amplitude without permeability effects) as a function of frequency, and the porosity and permeability to compute the fluid flow amplitude reduction. This method also uses a reference depth of known permeability and compares amplitude variations at other depths relative to the reference depth. The permeability value obtained from the inversion represents the best fit over all receivers and all relevant frequencies. A processing example is shown to demonstrate the ability of this technique to extract formation permeability from Stoneley wave logs.
Private Schools and Public School Achievement

The effects of private schools on public elementary and secondary school achievement in Illinois are estimated. The percentage of students in private schools in a school district is treated as an endogenous variable in the achievement equation. Catholic religion is used to identify a two-stage model. It is shown that private schools have no direct effect on public school achievement.
Modal Logics and Topological Semantics for Hybrid Systems

Abstract : This paper introduces the logic of a control action S4F and the logic of a continuous control action S4C on the state space of a dynamical system. The state space is represented by a topological space (X, T) and the control action by a function f from X to X. We present an intended topological semantics and a Kripke semantics, give both a Hilbert style axiomatization and Gentzen style sequent calculus for S4F and S4C, and prove completeness with respect to both semantics a cut elimination for the sequent calculi, and decidability of the logics.
Defining the q-analogue of a matroid

This paper defines the $q$-analogue of a matroid and establishes several properties like duality, restriction and contraction. We discuss possible ways to define a $q$-matroid, and why they are (not) cryptomorphic. Also, we explain the motivation for studying $q$-matroids by showing that a rank metric code gives a $q$-matroid.
Abundance and species richness of snakes along the Middle Rio Grande riparian forest in New Mexico

—To understand the effects of removal of non-native plants and fuels on wildlife in the riparian forest of the Middle Rio Grande in New Mexico, we monitored snakes from 2000 to 2006 using trap arrays of drift fences, pitfalls, and funnel traps. We recorded 158 captures of 13 species of snakes from 12 study sites. We captured more snakes in funnel traps than in pitfalls. The most frequent captures were Common Kingsnakes (Lampropeltis getula), Gopher Snakes (Pituophis catenifer), Plains Black-headed Snakes (Tantilla nigriceps), and Plains Hog-nosed Snakes (Heterodon nasicus). We did not detect an effect of non-native plants and fuels removal on the rate of captures; however, we recommend using other trapping and survey techniques to monitor snakes to better determine the impact of plant removal on the snake community. Compared to historical records, we did not report any new species but we did not capture all snakes previously recorded. Black-necked Gartersnakes (Thamnophis cyrtopsis), which are closely tied to aquatic habitats, were not captured during our study; possibly indicating the loss of off-channel semi-aquatic habitats along the Middle Rio Grande.
Face detection and clustering for video indexing applications

This paper describes a method for automatically detecting human faces in generic video sequences. We employ an iterative algorithm in order to give a confidence measure for the presence or absence of faces within video shots. Skin colour filtering is carried out on a selected number of frames per video shot, followed by the application of shape and size heuristics. Finally, the remaining candidate regions are normalized and projected into an eigenspace, the reconstruction error being the measure of confidence for presence/absence of face. Following this, the confidence score for the entire video shot is calculated. In order to cluster extracted faces into a set of face classes, we employ an incremental procedure using a PCA-based dissimilarity measure in con-junction with spatio-temporal correlation. Experiments were carried out on a representative broadcast news test corpus.
The Interplay Between Student Loans and Credit Cards and Amplification of Consumer Defaul t ∗

We analyze, theoretically and quantitatively, the interactions between two different forms of unsecured credit and their implications for default behavior of young U.S. households. One type of credit mimics credit cards in the U.S. and the default option resembles a bankruptcy filing under Chapter 7 and the other type of credit mimics student loans in the U.S. and the default option resembles Chapter 13 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. In the credit card market financial intermediary offers a menu of interest rates based on individual default risk. In the student loan market the government sets the interest rate and chooses a wage garnishment to pay for the cost associated with default. We prove the existence of a steady-state equilibrium and characterize the circumstances under which a household defaults on each of these loans depending on household characteristics in both markets. Our model is consistent with the main facts regarding borrowing and default on both forms of unsecured credit for young U.S. households. We demonstrate that the institutional differences between the two markets make borrowers prefer default on student loans rather than on credit card debt. We quantify the effects of increased college debt burdens versus more severe credit card terms on the increase in default rates for student loans in recent years and find that the increase in college debt burden explains only 4% of the increase in the default rate for student loans, whereas worse terms on credit card accounts help fully explain the increase in default rates for student loans. We plan to explore the policy implications of our theory. JEL Codes: D91; I22; G19;
RESTRICTION OF THE CAPACITY TO RESPOND TO TWO ANTIGENS BY SINGLE PRECURSORS OF ANTIBODY-PRODUCING CELLS IN CULTURE

Experiments were designed to determine whether or not precursors of antibody-producing cells are restricted in the number of antigens to which they can respond. An in vitro culture system was used, in which the successful production of hemolysin PFC was dependent on the presence of a large number of heavily irradiated spleen cells which did not themselves give rise to PFC, but which supported the production of PFC by a small number of normal spleen cells. All spleen cells were obtained from unimmunized CBA mice. The cells were mixed with either sheep or chicken erythrocytes, or both, cultured for 4 days and analyzed for hemolysin PFC. By reducing the number of unirradiated spleen cells to limiting dilution it was shown that normal spleen cell suspensions contain approximately three times as many precursors capable of responding to chicken erythrocytes as to sheep erythrocytes. In cultures containing both antigens, the number of precursors responding to one antigen was not affected by the presence of the other antigen. In addition, some cultures were positive for PFC-producing hemolysin against chicken erythrocytes, but not against sheep erythrocytes, and vice versa. This pattern of response was independent of the concentration of antigen in the cultures. Thus, the antigen-sensitive precursors for these non-cross-reacting antigens responded independently of each other, indicating that each precursor was restricted in its capacity to respond to more than one antigen prior to stimulation.
HIV-1 Subtype C Mosaic Gag Expressed by BCG and MVA Elicits Persistent Effector T Cell Responses in a Prime-Boost Regimen in Mice

Over 90% of HIV/AIDS positive individuals in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with highly heterogeneous HIV-1 subtype C (HIV-1C) viruses. One of the best ways to reduce the burden of this disease is the development of an affordable and effective prophylactic vaccine. Mosaic immunogens are computationally designed to overcome the hurdle of HIV diversity by maximizing the expression of potential T cell epitopes. Mycobacterium bovis BCG ΔpanCD auxotroph and modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccines expressing HIV-1C mosaic Gag (GagM) were tested in a prime-boost regimen to demonstrate immunogenicity in a mouse study. The BCG-GagM vaccine was stable and persisted 11.5 weeks post vaccination in BALB/c mice. Priming with BCG-GagM and boosting with MVA-GagM elicited higher Gag-specific IFN-γ ELISPOT responses than the BCG-GagM only and MVA-GagM only homologous vaccination regimens. The heterologous vaccination also generated a more balanced and persistent CD4+ and CD8+ T cell Gag-specific IFN-γ ELISPOT response with a predominant effector memory phenotype. A Th1 bias was induced by the vaccines as determined by the predominant secretion of IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-2. This study shows that a low dose of MVA (104 pfu) can effectively boost a BCG prime expressing the same mosaic immunogen, generating strong, cellular immune responses against Gag in mice. Our data warrants further evaluation in non-human primates. A low dose vaccine would be an advantage in the resource limited countries of sub-Saharan Africa and India (where the predominating virus is HIV-1 subtype C).
Identification of Episomal Human Papillomavirus and Other DNA Viruses in Cytological Anal Samples of HIV-Uninfected Men Who Have Sex with Men

To date, there have been only few studies that investigated integration of anal Human Papillomavirus (HPV). Most of them were conducted on HIV-infected individuals and mainly analyzed samples from high-grade lesions and invasive cancer. We aimed to investigate HPV physical status in HIV-negative men who have sex with men (MSM) with a detectable anal HPV infection, irrespective of the presence of lesions. We also sought to explore the presence of other circular DNA viruses in the anal region. Study participants were attendees of an STI screening program, which were also screened for anal HPV infection and cytological abnormalities. HPV physical status was assessed using multiply-primed RCA. HPV16-positive samples were also analyzed using E2/E6 multiplex PCR, qRT-PCR and APOT assay. RCA and virus-specific PCR were employed to investigate the presence of other DNA viruses. Anal HPV infection was detected in 76.9% of the 230 MSM enrolled. The anal cytological reports were: 129 NILM, 37 ASC-US and 28 L-SIL (36 samples were inadequate for interpretation). HPV physical status was evaluated in the 109 anal specimens that harbored one or two different HPV genotypes. Integration was observed only in one HPV16-positive sample (0.9%), in which integrate-derived viral transcripts of type B were detected. Integration occurred in chromosome 14 q. In 22 of the 53 (41.5%) mucosal HPV-negative samples, RCA restriction results would seem to indicate the presence of circular DNA viruses. Indeed, cutaneous HPV (4 samples), MCPyV (5 samples) and TTV (4 samples) were detected. In conclusion, anal HPV integration was rarely evidenced in HIV-uninfected MSM with no or mild anal cytological abnormalities, although the integration rate may have been underestimated because of the limitations of the employed assays. Other DNA viruses were detected in the anal samples of these individuals, although the significance of this occurrence needs to be assessed.
Utility of the CORD ECG Database in Evaluating ECG Interpretation by Emergency Medicine Residents

OBJECTIVES: Electrocardiograph (ECG) interpretation is a vital component of Emergency Medicine (EM) resident education, but few studies have formally examined ECG teaching methods used in residency training. Recently, the Council of EM Residency Directors (CORD) developed an Internet database of 395 ECGs that have been extensively peer-reviewed to incorporate all findings and abnormalities. We examined the efficacy of this database in assessing EM residents’ skills in ECG interpretation. METHODS: We used the CORD ECG database to evaluate residents at our academic three-year EM residency. Thirteen residents participated, including four first-year, four second-year, and five third-year residents. Twenty ECGs were selected using 14 search criteria representing a broad range of abnormalities, including infarction, rhythm, and conduction abnormalities. Exams were scored based on all abnormalities and findings listed in the teaching points accompanying each ECG. We assigned points to each abnormal finding based on clinical relevance. RESULTS: Out of a total of 183 points in our clinically weighted scoring system, first-year residents scored an average of 99 points (54.1%) [91–119], second-year residents 111 points (60.4%) [97–126], and third-year residents 130 points (71.0%) [94–150], p = 0.12. Clinically relevant abnormalities, including anterior and inferior myocardial infarctions, were most frequently diagnosed correctly, while posterior infarction was more frequently missed. Rhythm abnormalities including ventricular and supraventricular tachycardias were most frequently diagnosed correctly, while conduction abnormalities including left bundle branch block and atrioventricular (AV) block were more frequently missed. CONCLUSION: The CORD database represents a valuable resource in the assessment and teaching of ECG skills, allowing more precise identification of areas upon which instruction should be further focused or individually tailored. Our experience suggests that more focused teaching of conduction abnormalities and posterior infarctions may be beneficial. The CORD database should be considered for incorporation into an ECG curriculum during residency training.
Multi-objective clustering of tissue samples for cancer diagnosis

In the field of pattern recognition, the study of the gene expression profiles for different tissue samples over different experimental conditions has became feasible with the arrival of micro-array based technology. In cancer research, classification of tissue samples is necessary for cancer diagnosis, which can be done with the help of micro-array technology. In this article we have presented a multi-objective optimization ( MOO ) based clustering technique utilizing AMOSA ( Archived Multi-Objective Simulated Annealing ) as the underlying optimization strategy for classification of tissue samples from cancer data sets. As objective functions three cluster validity indices namely, XB, PBM, and FCM indices are optimized simultaneously to form more accurate clusters of tissue samples. The presented clustering technique is evaluated for two open source benchmark cancer data sets, which are Brain tumor data set and Adult Malignancy data set. In order to evaluate the quality or goodness of produced clusters two cluster quality measures viz, Adjusted Rand Index ( ARI ) and Classification Accuracy ( %CoA ) are calculated for each data set. Comparative results of the presented clustering algorithm with 10 state-of-the-art existing single-objective, multi-objective based clustering algorithms are shown for two benchmark data sets.
Canonical Timing and Spectral Behavior of LMC X-3 in the Low/Hard State

We present results from three observations with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) of LMC X-3, obtained while the source was in an extended low/hard state. The data reveal a hard X-ray spectrum that is well fit by a pure power law with photon index Γ = 1.69 ± 0.02, with a source luminosity at 50 kpc of (5-16) × 1036 ergs s-1 (2-10 keV). Strong broadband (0.01-100 Hz) time variability is also observed, with fractional rms amplitude 40% ± 4%, plus a quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) peak at 0.46 ± 0.02 Hz with rms amplitude ~14%. This is the first reported observation in which the full canonical low/hard state behavior (pure hard power-law spectrum combined with strong broadband noise and QPO) for LMC X-3 is seen. We reanalyze several archival RXTE observations of LMC X-3, derive consistent spectral and timing parameters, and determine the overall luminosity variation between high/soft and low/hard states. The timing and spectral properties of LMC X-3 during the recurrent low/hard states are quantitatively similar to that typically seen in the Galactic black hole candidates.
On the Validation of Earthquake-Forecasting Models: The Case of Pattern Recognition Algorithms

Earthquake forecasting is one of the geophysical issues with a potentially large social and political impact. Besides the purely scientific interest, the loss of lives and the huge damage caused by seismic events in many regions of the world have led many research groups to work in this field. Until now, however, the results obtained have not been convincing and they often have been a matter of intense debates. In part, these debates are due to the ambiguous definition of key concepts, such as precursor and forecast/prediction , as well as to the lack of a clear strategy to set up and check an earthquake-forecasting model. In this article, we provide insights that might contribute to better formally defining the earthquake-forecasting problem, both in setting up and in testing the validity of the forecasting model. As an illustration, we have applied these insights to forecasting models M8 and CN based on a pattern recognition approach. We found that the forecasting capability of these algorithms is very likely significantly overestimated.
Character-Stroke Detection for Text-Localization and Extraction

In this paper, we present a new approach for analysis of images for text-localization and extraction. Our approach puts very few constraints on the font, size and color of text and is capable of handling both scene text and artificial text well. In this paper, we exploit two well-known features of text: approximately constant stroke width and local contrast, and develop a fast, simple, and effective algorithm to detect character strokes. We also show how these can be used for accurate extraction and motivate some advantages of using this approach for text localization over other color-space segmentation based approaches. We analyze the performance of our stroke detection algorithm on images collected for the robust-reading competitions at ICDAR 2003.
Defining Neighborhood Boundaries: Are Census Tracts Obsolete

Residential neighborhoods are defined as convex geographical areas containing similar populations and roughly homogenous housing markets. Neighborhoods are relevant largely because confidentiality requires spatial aggregation of data collected at the household level. A hedonic model using individual sales transactions and their street addresses is combined with CART (Classification and Regression Trees) to define the optimal number of neighborhoods and to place neighborhood boundaries in one Connecticut town. There are about half the number of CART neighborhoods than there are census tracts. Moreover, the CART boundaries typically run behind the houses rather than down the middle of the street, and they reduce residual variation. The CART model is important to the submarkets literature, which aggregates neighborhoods into larger homogenous markets. Moreover, anisotropic spatial autocorrelation can be modeled with CART neighborhoods.