Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Estimated Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Model for Estonia

This paper presents an estimated open economy dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model for Estonia. The model is designed to highlight the main driving forces behind the Estonian business cycle and to understand how euro area economic shocks and its monetary policy affect the small open economy of Estonia. The model described in this paper is a two-area DSGE model incorporating New Keynesian features such as nominal price and wage rigidity, variable capital utilization, investment adjustment costs, as well as other typical features - both for the domestic and euro area part of the model. It is rich in structural shocks such as technology, consumption preference, mark-up, etc. The model is estimated by Bayesian techniques using a quarterly data sample that covers main macroeconomic aggregates of Estonia and the euro area. The ultimate goal of the new model is for it to be used in simulation exercises, policy advice and forecasting at the Bank of Estonia
Spatial HOG based TV logo detection

Most existing TV logo detection methods use temporal correlation of multiple consecutive frames. However, these methods cannot meet the need of real-time system. This paper considers a robust detection method based on single frame. Our TV logo detecting method takes the spatial information of all matching patches as a whole, and presents a new descriptor SHOG (Spatial HOG) to formulate the spatial distribution. It is compact but informative. The proposed geometry voting method achieves fast locating TV logo with geometry verification in the step of detection, which is also competent for the detection of semi-transparent and hollow TV logos. Experiments show that SHOG is robust to occlusion and small deviation of the key points' position and our proposed method outperforms the state-of-art local feature based template matching method for logo detection as performance and speed concerned.
Evaluation of Hepatotoxicity of Valproic acid in albino mice , Histological and Histoistochemical studies

Background: Epilepsy is an abnormal functional state of the central nervous system that is characterized by uncontrolled nerve cell activity and clinicaly by convulsive seizure with or without loss of consciousness. Valproic acid is widely used antiepileptic medication and has sever toxic effect on liver , this study aimed to investigate the histopathological and histochemical changes due to the effects of therapeutic dose (25mg/kg b.w.) of antiepileptic drug (Valproic acid) in albino mice. Material and methods: Forty mice were used, they were divided into four groups, one group serves as control group and the other three groups (A, B and C) administered the drug as follow: Group A received Valproic acid for 15 days, group B received Valproic acid for 30 days and group C, the recovery group (animals were administrated with drugs for 30 days then administration was stopped for another 10 days). The animals were sectioned 24 hours after the last dose, liver was taken for histopathological and histochemical studies. Results: The drug induces toxic effects on liver tissue which showed vacuolar degenerative changes, hypertrophied nucleus with fragmented chromatine, inflammatory cells aggregates and congested vasculature.Conclusion: Valproic acid has sever toxic effects on liver tissue and the toxicity was time related. Sort of recovery was recorded after discontinuation of the drug so its effect was reversible. 1. Introduction Epilepsy affects 5-10 per 1000 of the general population. It is due to sudden, excessive depolarization of some or all cerebral neurons. This may remain localized (focal seizure) or may remain generalized seizure, it may also affects all cortical neurons. Bromide (1857) was the first treatment of epilepsy, but it use now obsolete (Bennett et al., 2003). Valproic acid is a branched –chain carboxylic acid similar in structure to endogenous fatty acid (Bruni and Albright, 1993). It was approved for treatment of epilepsy either as monotherapy or in combination with other anticonvulsant drugs (Beatalden et al., 1979). It is also used in the treatment of a variety of neuropsychiatric illnesses as mania, bipolar affective disorder, migraine, headache, prophylaxis and several anxiety disorders (Owens and Nemeroff, 2003). It elevates the whole brain gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, and inhibits GABA degradation. (DeVane, 2003). Some severe side effect associated with Valproic acid treatment as encephalopathy which can be accompanied by hyperammonemia, (Schmidt, 1984) other side effects as Hepatotoxicity, thrombocytopenia, platelet aggregation and pancreatitis (Kis et al., …
Updates on Antiobesity Effect of Garcinia Origin (−)-HCA

Garcinia is a plant under the family of Clusiaceae that is commonly used as a flavouring agent. Various phytochemicals including flavonoids and organic acid have been identified in this plant. Among all types of organic acids, hydroxycitric acid or more specifically (−)-hydroxycitric acid has been identified as a potential supplement for weight management and as antiobesity agent. Various in vivo studies have contributed to the understanding of the anti-obesity effects of Garcinia/hydroxycitric acid via regulation of serotonin level and glucose uptake. Besides, it also helps to enhance fat oxidation while reducing de novo lipogenesis. However, results from clinical studies showed both negative and positive antiobesity effects of Garcinia/hydroxycitric acid. This review was prepared to summarise the update of chemical constituents, significance of in vivo/clinical anti-obesity effects, and the importance of the current market potential of Garcinia/hydroxycitric acid.
Continuous online extraction of HTTP traces from packet traces

To improve the performance of the network and the network pro toc l it is important to characterize the dominant applications [4, 8, 9, 12, 19, 22, 23]. Only by utili zing data about all events initiated by the Web (including TCP and HTTP events) can one hope to understan d the chain of performance problems that current Web users face. Due the the popularity of the Web it is crucial to understand how usage relates to the performance of the network, the servers, and the clients. Su ch comprehensive information is only available via packet monitoring. Unfortunately, extracting HTTP inf ormation from packet sniffer data is non-trivial due to the huge volume of data, the line speed of the monitored links, the need for continuous monitoring, and the need to preserve privacy. These needs translate into requirements for online processing and online extraction of the relevant data, the topic of this paper. The software described in this paper runs on the PacketScope m nitor developed by AT&T Labs[1]. The PacketScope is deployed at several different locations within AT&T WorldNet, a production IP network, and AT&T Labs-Research. One PacketScope monitors T3 b ackbone links, another PacketScope may monitor traffic generated by a large set of modems on a FDDI rin g or traffic on other FDDI rings, another PacketScope monitors traffic between AT&T Labs-Research an d the Internet. First deployed in Spring 1997, the software has run without interruption for weeks at a time collecting and reconstructing detailed logs of millions of Web downloads with less than a worst case of 0.3% p acket loss. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 disc us es the advantages of packet sniffing and Section 3 outlines some of the difficulties of extracting HTT P data from packet traces. The overall software architecture is described in Section 4. Our solution is pres ented in Section 5 and finally Section 6 briefly summarizes some of the lessons learned.
Interaction of sensory responses with spontaneous depolarization in layer 2/3 barrel cortex

The rodent primary somatosensory cortex is spontaneously active in the form of locally synchronous membrane depolarizations (UP states) separated by quiescent hyperpolarized periods (DOWN states) both under anesthesia and during quiet wakefulness. In vivo whole-cell recordings and tetrode unit recordings were combined with voltage-sensitive dye imaging to analyze the relationship of the activity of individual pyramidal neurons in layer 2/3 to the ensemble spatiotemporal dynamics of the spontaneous depolarizations. These were either brief and localized to an area of a barrel column or occurred as propagating waves dependent on local glutamatergic synaptic transmission in layer 2/3. Spontaneous activity inhibited the sensory responses evoked by whisker deflection, accounting almost entirely for the large trial-to-trial variability of sensory-evoked postsynaptic potentials and action potentials. Subthreshold sensory synaptic responses evoked while a cortical area was spontaneously depolarized were smaller, briefer and spatially more confined. Surprisingly, whisker deflections evoked fewer action potentials during the spontaneous depolarizations despite neurons being closer to threshold. The ongoing spontaneous activity thus regulates the amplitude and the time-dependent spread of the sensory response in layer 2/3 barrel cortex.
0 41 11 20 v 2 6 D ec 2 00 4 Po S ( W C 2 0 0 4 ) 0 3 4 Dilatonic , Chiral Cosmic Strings

In this work, we deal with the chiral string model for which th e world-sheet current is null in the framework of a scalar-tensor gravity. Our main goal is to ana lyse the impact of such a current on the gravitational macroscopic effects. For the purpose o f this analysis, we first study the gravitational properties of the spacetime generated by thi s string in the presence of a dilaton field. Then, we carry out an investigation of the mechanism of forma tion and evolution of wakes in this framework, showing the explicit contribution of the chiral ty to this effect.
Creative thinking as orchestrated by semantic processing vs. cognitive control brain networks

Creativity is primarily investigated within the neuroscientific perspective as a unitary construct. While such an approach is beneficial when trying to infer the general picture regarding creativity and brain function, it is insufficient if the objective is to uncover the information processing brain mechanisms by which creativity occurs. As creative thinking emerges through the dynamic interplay between several cognitive processes, assessing the neural correlates of these operations would enable the development and characterization of an information processing framework from which to better understand this complex ability. This article focuses on two aspects of creative cognition that are central to generating original ideas. “Conceptual expansion” refers to the ability to widen one’s conceptual structures to include unusual or novel associations, while “overcoming knowledge constraints” refers to our ability to override the constraining influence imposed by salient or pertinent knowledge when trying to be creative. Neuroimaging and neuropsychological evidence is presented to illustrate how semantic processing and cognitive control networks in the brain differentially modulate these critical facets of creative cognition.
Research article SCREENING OF RICE GENOTYPES FOR THERMOTOLERANCE BY TIR TECHNIQUE

Production of rice--the world's most important crop for ensuring food security and addressing poverty will be defeated as temperatures increase in rice-growing areas with continued climate change. Climate change needs us to look at various alternatives for more drought tolerant and tougher strains and to develop a technique to screen a large number of genotypes for high temperature tolerance. Adapting temperature induction response (TIR) technique 100 rice genotypes were screened for thermotolerance. Significant variation for acquired thermotolerance was observed in 100 rice lines. From the 100 genotypes 30 were exhibits themotolerance to induced high temperature.
Do government payments influence farm size and survival

Using farm-level data from the 1987, 1992, and 1997 Census of Agriculture, this study estimates what effect agricultural payments have had on the likelihood of farm business survival and on farm size. The unique panel data set permits conditioning current farm size on past farm size, which removes much of the individual heterogeneity of farms that could be spuriously correlated with payment levels. Results indicate that between consecutive censuses, past per acre payments have a significant positive effect on farm business survival and a small yet significant influence on the size of continuing farms.
How Constraining are Limits to Arbitrage? Evidence from a Recent Financial Innovation

Limits to arbitrage play a central role in behavioral finance. They are thought to interfere with arbitrage processes so that security prices can deviate from true values for extended periods of time. We describe a recent financial innovation that allows limits to arbitrage to be sidestepped, and overvaluation thereby to be corrected, even in settings characterized by extreme costs of information discovery and severe short-sale constraints. We report evidence of shallow-pocketed "arbitrageurs" expending considerable resources to identify overvalued companies and profitably correcting overpricing. The innovation that allows the arbitrageurs to sidestep limits to arbitrage involves credibly revealing their information to the market, in an effort to induce long investors to sell so that prices fall. This simple but apparently effective way around the limits suggests that limits to arbitrage may not always be as constraining as sometimes assumed.
The great financial crisis in Finland and Sweden: The dynamics of boom, bust and recovery 1985-2000

This paper explores the anatomy of the boom, deep depression and recovery in the Finnish and Swedish economies in the period 1985-2000. These fifteen years are divided into three phases: (1) financial liberalization and the boom and the overheating of 1985-90, (2) the outbreak and spread of the crisis to all sectors of the economy in 1990-92, and (3) the recovery 1993-2000. Each period is analyzed separately.
Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Reform

When the landmark Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education was handed down in 1954, many civil rights advocates believed that the decision finding public school segregation unconstitutional could become the Holy Grail of racial justice. Fifty years later, despite its legal irrelevance and the racially separate and educationally ineffective state of public schooling for most black children, Brown is still viewed by many as the perfect precedent. Derrick Bell here shatters this shining image of one of the Court's most celebrated rulings. He notes that, despite the onerous burdens of segregation, many black schools functioned well and racial bigotry had not rendered blacks a damaged race. Brown's recognition of racial injustice, without more, left racial barriers intact. Given what we now know about the pervasive nature of racism, the Court should have determined-for the first time-to rigorously enforce the "equal" component of the "separate but equal" standard. By striking it down, the Court intended both to improve the Nation's international image during the Cold War and offer blacks recognition that segregation was wrong. Instead, the Brown decision actually enraged and energized its opponents. It stirred confusion and conflict into the always vexing question of race in a society that, despite denials and a frustratingly flexible amnesia, owes much of its growth, development, and success, to the ability of those who dominate the society to use race to both control and exploit most people, black and white. Racial policy, Bell maintains, is made through silent covenants-unspoken convergences of interest and involuntary sacrifices of rights-that ensure that policies conform to priorities set by policy-makers. Blacks and whites are the fortuitous winners or losers in these unspoken agreements. The experience with Brown, Bell urges, should teach us that meaningful progress in the quest for racial justice requires more than the assertion of harms. Strategies must recognize and utilize the interest-convergence factors that strongly influence racial policy decisions. In Silent Covenants, Bell condenses more than four decades of thought and action into a powerful and eye-opening book.
Are Survey-Based Inflation Expections in the Euro Area Informative?

This paper contributes to the old theme of testing for rationality of inflation expectations in surveys, using two very different surveys in parallel. Focusing on the euro area and using two well-known surveys that include questions on inflation expectations, the Consensus Forecast survey and the European Commission Household survey, a battery of tests is applied to inflation forecasts. Tests are based on a preliminary discussion of the meaning of Rational Expectations in the macro-economic literature, and how this maps into specific econometric tests. Tests used are both standard ones already reported in the literature and less standard ones of potential interest within the framework discussed. Tests focus on in-sample properties of the forecasts, both in static and dynamic settings, and in out-ofsample tests to explore the performance of the forecasts in a simulated out-of-sample setting. As a general conclusion, both surveys are found to contain potentially useful information. Although the Consensus Forecasts survey is the best one in terms of quality of the forecasts, rationality in the European Commission Household survey, once measurement issues are taken into account, cannot be ruled out. JEL Classification: C40, C42, C50, C53, E37
Effects of Physical Layer Models on Wireless Network Simulations by Umut Akyol

OF THE THESIS Effects of Physical Layer Models on Wireless Network Simulations by Umut Akyol Thesis Director: Professor Roy D. Yates In the study of wireless networks, simulation has become the most common tool for evaluation of devices and protocols due to its ease of use. However, the correct level of detail that should be implemented in simulations is not well known by the research community. For example the most common simulators are essentially packet level network protocol simulators which use simple channel models for computational efficiency. In this thesis, we explore the effects of physical layer details on wireless network simulations. In this thesis, we focus on a specific network simulator, ns-2, due to its open source code base and a specific protocol 802.11b, due to the fact that it’s already implemented in ns-2. The ns-2 simulator focuses on the higher layer protocols, while abstracting the details of models at other layers, particularly the interactions with physical layer models. In this thesis, we examine physical layer models for transmitter interference, signal transmission and reception for 802.11b that are relevant to the performance evaluation of higher layer protocols. Starting with an overview of 802.11b’s physical layer and current physical layer ii modeling of ns-2 with the Monarch extensions, we propose and implement enhancements to the physical layer models. We also describe how these changes can be used to model physical layers other than 802.11b. We then quantify the impact of these changes under typical scenarios used for the performance evaluation of wireless networks.
Portfolio optimization for Student t and skewed t returns

It is well-established that equity returns are not Normally distributed, but what should the portfolio manager do about this, and is it worth the effort? It is now feasible to employ better multivariate distribution families that capture heavy tails and skewness in the data; we argue that among the best are the Student t and skewed t distributions. These can be efficiently fitted to data, and show a much better fit to real returns than the Normal distribution. By examining efficient frontiers computed using different distributional assumptions, we show, using for illustration 5 stocks chosen from the Dow index, that the choice of distribution has a significant effect on how much available return can be captured by an optimal portfolio on the efficient frontier. Portfolio optimization requires balancing risk and return; for this purpose one needs to employ some precise concept of “risk”. Already in 1952, Markowitz used the standard deviation (StD) of portfolio return as a risk measure, and, thinking of returns as Normally distributed, described the efficient frontier of fully invested portfolios having minimum risk among those with a specified return. This concept has been extremely valuable in portfolio management because a rational portfolio manager will always choose to invest on this frontier. The construction of an efficient frontier depends on two inputs: a choice of risk measure (such as StD, V aR, or ES, described below), and a probability distribution used to model returns. Using StD (or equivalently, variance) as the risk measure has the drawback that it is generally insensitive to extreme events, and sometimes these are of most interest to the investor. Value at Risk (V aR) better reflects extreme events, but it does not aggregate risk in the sense of being subadditive on portfolios. This is a well-known difficulty addressed by the concept of a “coherent risk measure” in the sense of Artzner, et. al. [1999]. A popular example of a coherent risk measure is expected shortfall (ES), though V aR is still more commonly seen in practice. Perhaps unexpectedly, the choice of risk measure has no effect on the actual efficient frontier when the underlying distribution of returns is Normal – or more generally any “elliptical” distribution. Embrechts, McNeil, and Straumann [2001] show that when returns are elliptically distributed, the minimum risk portfolio for a given return is the same whether the risk measure is standard deviation, V aR, ES, or any other positive, homogeneous, translation-invariant risk measure. This fact suggests that the portfolio manager should pay at least as much attention to the family of probability distributions chosen to model returns as to the choice of which risk measure to use. It is now commonly understood that the multivariate Normal distribution is a poor model of generally acknowledged “stylized facts” of equity returns: • return distributions are fat-tailed and skewed • volatility is time-varying and clustered