Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE MERLIN LOW-COST ROAD ROUGHNESS MEASURING MACHINE

INTRODUCTION The longitudinal unevenness of a road's surface (normally termed its roughness) is an important measure of road condition and a key factor in determining vehicle operating costs on poor quality surfaces. A number of instruments have therefore been developed for measuring roughness but many of them are expensive, slow in use or require regular calibration. The report describes a simple machine which has been designed especially for use in developing countries. It is called MERLIN-A Machine for Evaluating Roughness using Low-cost Instrumentation. It was designed using a computer simulation of its operation on road profiles measured in the International Road Roughness Experiment in Brazil. The device can be used either for direct measurement or for calibrating other instruments such as the vehicle-mounted Bump Integrator. Merlins are in use in a number of developing countries and can usually be made locally at a current cost of typically 250$ US. PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION The device has two feet and a probe which rest on the road surface along the wheel-track whose roughness is to be measured. The feet are 1.8 metres apart and the probe lies midway between them. The Merlin measures the vertical displacement between the road surface under the probe and the centre point of an imaginary line joining the two points where the road surface is in contact with the two feet. If measurements are taken at successive intervals along a road, then the rougher the surface, the greater the variability of the displacements. By plotting the displacements as a histogram on a chart mounted on the instrument, it is possible to measure their spread and the simulations have shown that this correlates well with road roughness, as measured on standard roughness scales. Figure 2 shows a sketch of the Merlin. For ease of operation, a wheel is used as the front leg, while the rear leg is a rigid metal rod. On one side of the rear leg is a shorter stabilizing leg which prevents the device from falling over when taking a reading. Projecting behind the main rear leg are two handles, so that the device looks in some ways like a very long and slender wheelbarrow. The probe is attached to a moving arm which is weighted so that the probe moves downwards, either until it reaches the road surface or the arm reaches the limit of its traverse. At the other end of the …
Chemoradiotherapy in squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal: a single institution experience

Purpose We reviewed the treatment outcomes and prognostic factors for patients with anal canal carcinoma who were treated with curative intent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) at Severance Hospital from 2005 to 2011. Materials and Methods Data for 38 eligible patients treated during this period were reviewed. All patients were treated with curative intent using radiotherapy (RT) with (n = 35) or without concomitant chemotherapy (n = 3). Among 35 patients who received CRT, most of the chemotherapeutic regimens were either 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) plus mitomycin C (23 patients) or 5-FU plus cisplatin (10 patients). Recurrence-free survival (RFS), colostomy-free survival (CFS), overall survival (OS), and locoregional control (LRC) rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and survival between subgroups were compared using the log-rank test. Cox's proportional hazard model was used for multivariate analysis. Results Over a median follow-up period of 44 months (range, 11 to 96 months), 3-year RFS, CFS, OS, and LRC were 80%, 79%, 85%, and 92%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, tumor size >4 cm was an independent predicting factor for poorer RFS (hazard ratio [HR], 6.35; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.42 to 28.5; p = 0.006) and CFS (HR, 6.25; 95% CI, 1.39-28.0; p = 0.017), while the presence of external iliac lymph node metastasis was an independent prognosticator for poorer OS (HR, 9.32; 95% CI, 1.24 to 70.3; p = 0.030). No treatment-related colostomies or deaths occurred during or after treatment. Conclusion Curative intent CRT resulted in excellent outcomes that were comparable to outcomes in previous randomized trials. No severe treatment-related toxicities were observed.
Inference regarding multiple structural changes in linear models estimated via two stage least squares

In this paper, we extend Bai and Perron’s (1998, Econometrica, p.47-78) framework for multiple break testing to linear models estimated via Two Stage Least Squares (2SLS). Within our framework, the break points are estimated simultaneously with the regression parameters via minimization of the residual sum of squares on the second step of the 2SLS estimation. We establish the consistency of the resulting estimated break point fractions. We show that various F-statistics for structural instability based on the 2SLS estimator have the same limiting distribution as the analogous statistics for OLS considered by Bai and Perron (1998). This allows us to extend Bai and Perron’s (1998) sequential procedure for selecting the number of break points to the 2SLS setting. Our methods also allow for structural instability in the reduced form that has been identified a priori using data-based methods. As an empirical illustration, our methods are used to assess the stability of the New Keynesian Phillips curve.
Japan’s Legal Education Reforms from an American Law Professor’s Perspective

This paper describes and analyzes Japan’s reform of legal education. This reform that began in 2004 — a new system of legal education, coupled with changes in the national bar examination and in the national legal training institute for successful exam-takers — was part of a wide-ranging national law reform movement in Japan. As a result, 74 universities across Japan established graduate-level “law schools,” most of which were added to pre-existing undergraduate law departments. The new law schools provide a degree equivalent to an American Juris Doctor (JD) degree. These law degrees became the main prerequisite for taking the national bar exam. The pass rate for the bar exam was supposed to increase from an anemic 3% to about 70%, as part of a national strategy to increase the number of Japanese lawyers. But due to a combination of factors the reform has not worked as planned.
Optimization-based selection of influential agents in a rural Afghan social network

Abstract : This work considers the nonlethal targeting assignment problem in counterinsurgency in Afghanistan, the problem of deciding on the people whom US forces should engage through outreach, negotiations, meetings, and other interactions in order to ultimately win the support of the population in their area of operations. We developed three models: 1) the Afghan COIN social influence model, to represent how attitudes of local leaders are affected by repeated interactions with other local leaders, insurgents, and counterinsurgents, 2) the network generation model, to arrive at a reasonable representation of a Pashtun district-level, opinion leader social network, and 3) the nonlethal targeting model, a nonlinear programming (NLP) optimization formulation that identifies the k US agent assignment strategy producing the greatest arithmetic mean of the expected long-term attitude of the population. We demonstrate in experiments the merits of the optimization model in nonlethal targeting, which performs significantly better than both doctrine-based and random methods of assignment in a large network.
Administrative reforms and accountability relations in the welfare states. Comparing health and labour administration in Norway, Denmark and Germany

3 Foreword . 4 Introduction . 5 Concepts and theoretical approaches . 6 Accountability . 6 Theoretical perspectives . 7 Tasks or policy area matter – political salience, professionalism and standardization . 7 Culture matters – the importance of administrative culture in different countries . 9 Structure matters ‐ The importance of positions and administrative level . 10 Accountability and performance . 11 Reform Context . 14 Norway: . 14 Welfare Administration Reform. 14 Hospital Reform . 15 Denmark: . 15 Welfare . 15 Hospitals . 15 Germany . 16 Welfare administration . 16 Hospital . 17 Data basis . 18 Accountability types – culture, tasks and structure . 19 Accountability and performance . 22 Discussion . 27 Conclusion . 28 References . 29 Appendix: . 34
FPGA Based Cyber Security Protocol for Automated Traffic Monitoring Systems: Proposal and Implementation

There is a rapidly growing interest in the field of unmanned road vehicles across the world. To aid the traffic management of such systems, there is an urgent need to develop appropriate security protocols facilitating car-to-car and car-to-traffic controller systems. Ensuring security requires both confidentiality (will be understandable only to intended recipients) as well as authenticity (message is not tampered during communication), both of which are taken care of in an Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data (AEAD) scheme. In this paper, we propose a new AEAD-based protocol for secure and authenticated transmission of videos to the base station captured by traffic monitoring systems in real time. Our protocol utilizes ACORN v2, a lightweight AEAD primitive. For the secret key to be used in encryption-authentication, we use the concept of Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs). The entire protocol is implemented and evaluated with an FPGA-based prototype, using a 640x480 pixel camera with 30 frames per second. The area required for the proposed protocol is 5% of the total FPGA device (Xilinx Zynq-XC7Z020-1clg484).
Factor Demand with Output Price Uncertainty

The effects of output price uncertainty on a competitive firm's supply and factor demands have recently been explored under the assumption that all decisions are made before the price is observed. Agnar Sandmo has shown that a risk-averse, competitive firm with a nonrandom cost function will produce a smaller output if the price is random than it would if the price were known with certainty to equal its mean. Raveendra Batra and Aman Ullah and I have extended the analysis by considering the effects of output price uncertainty on factor demands. Among other things, Batra and Ullah show that the firm will choose its inputs to minimize the cost of producing whatever level of output is chosen. This result, combined with the Sandmo result that the presence of uncertainty reduces output, implies that the effects of uncertainty on factor demands depend on what effect the decreased output due to uncertainty has on the cost minimizing levels of inputs. Except for the rare case of inferior factors, the presence of uncertainty reduces factor demands. Finally, it is clear from these analyses that if the firm is risk neutral, the uncertainty has no effect on supply and factor demands. In this paper I relax the assumption that all inputs are chosen before the output price is observed. My conclusions show that the results noted above are really rather sensitive to that particular assumption. A simple two-input, one-output model of the firm is employed. One of the inputs, which I call capital, is quasi fixed in the sense that it must be chosen before the output price is observed. The other input, which I call labor, is variable since it is not chosen until the output price is observed. Clearly, this implies that the level of output is not determined until its price is known. Although labor may be a poor name for the variable input in view of the recent discussions of its "quasi-fixed" character, it seems apparent that in many situations there are inputs which can be varied on short notice. By allowing a variable input in this sense we considerably alter the situation facing the firm. If, after observing the output price, it turns out that the firm made a "poor" choice regarding the quasi-fixed factor, it is able to partially "adjust" by choosing an appropriate level of the variable input. This ability to make adjustments for what, ex post, appears to be a poor decision is totally lacking if all inputs must be chosen before the uncertainty is resolved. In Section I the basic model is presented. In Section II the analysis for a risk-neutral firm is carried out, and Section III contains an example. In Section IV the analysis is extended to a risk-averse firm. The final section contains some brief concluding comments.
Brazilian Size Distribution of Income

The two postwar decades have resolved definitively the capacity of developing nations to expand at rates in excess of 2 percent per capita. Yet it has become increasingly apparent that such a yardstick is an inadequate measure of performance. Here I examine another and more neglected dimension of development, the distribution of income. My objectives are fourfold: to describe briefly the procedures used to derive an estimated income distribution for Brazil for 1960;1 to discuss the profile of poverty as it presents itself in a developing country; to indicate the factors operating to produce skewness in the Brazilian distribution; and to assess, in light of these and governmental policy measures in the 1960's, the apparent changes between 1960 and 1970.
Working After State Pension Age: Quantitative Analysis

• Working beyond SPA is only a strong possibility for those working in the run-up to this stage. It is difficult to re-enter the labour market having left it. Moreover, many of those leaving work may be doing so on health grounds, or because they have sufficient resources to live on in retirement. Rates of working for those who do continue to work drop relatively quickly after 60/65. Even if more people can be encouraged to work after this age, on current trends they would not work for many more years. The aim of this research was to further understanding about the factors affecting the labour market participation of older people at, and after, State Pension Age (SPA). The report presents findings based on cross-sectional analyses of the Labour Force Survey and Family Resources Survey and longitudinal analyses of the British Household Panel Survey. The report examines the circumstances under which people work after SPA, the types of jobs they have, and the impact working post-SPA has on the wealth, health and happiness of the working compared with the non-working retired population. In addition, the research examined how far decisions to work after SPA can be viewed in a positive light and the extent to which they are a reluctant, constrained choice.
Differential recognition of a dileucine-based sorting signal by AP-1 and AP-3 reveals a requirement for both BLOC-1 and AP-3 in delivery of OCA2 to melanosomes

OCA2 is used as a model melanosome cargo protein to define primary sequence elements required for acidic dileucine–motif binding to adaptors AP-1 and AP-3. OCA2 must bind to AP-3 for melanosome localization. BLOC-1 is also required and thus can cooperate with either adaptor for cargo delivery to lysosome-related organelles.
Does Convertible Arbitrage Risk Exposure Vary Through Time?

We model the returns of the convertible arbitrage strategy using a non-linear framework. This strategy has generated long periods of positive returns and low volatility, followed by shorter periods of extreme negative returns and high volatility, associated with market upheaval. We specify a smooth transition regression model to assess performance, a class of model particularly suited to this type of strategy as it allows gradual transition between risk regimes. We show that in alternate regimes, the strategy exhibits relatively high (low) exposure to risk factors and alpha is high (low). The evidence reported can account for abnormal returns demonstrated in previous studies.
Globalisation, Domestic Politics and Regionalism: The ASEAN Free Trade Area

Introduction: Ambiguities and Contradictions in AFTA 1. Globalisation and Economic Regionalism 2. The Unfolding of a Regional Economic Cooperation Project: AFTA, 1991-2002 3. Foreign Capital and Open Regionalism: The Growth Imperative 4. Domestic Capital and Developmental Regionalism: Domestic Distributive Concerns Temper the Growth Imperative 5. Renegotiating AFTA Commitments: The Domestic Distributive Imperative Overwhelms 6. Implementation as a Political Process: Taking Care of Growth and Distribution Conclusion: Globalisation, Domestic Politics and Regionalism
Do New Sports Facilities Attract New Businesses?

We examine the impact of new sports facilities on new businesses, an unexplored topic in the literature. We use data from the Dun and Bradstreet MarketPlace files to examine how new sports facilities affect nearby business activity in terms of the number of new businesses and workers. We find no evidence of increased new businesses openings after the opening of new sports facilities in 12 U.S. cities in the 2000s; employment at new businesses near new facilities is larger than at new businesses elsewhere in the metropolitan statistical area; this increase cannot be linked to businesses in any specific industry.
Managing in the context of the new electronic marketplace

Electronic marketplaces (EMs) are virtual marketplaces where buyers and suppliers meet to exchange information about prices and product and service offerings, and to negotiate and carry out business transactions. They are at the centre of the current growth in Internet electronic commerce, both in business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) markets, although the value of B2B electronic commerce is proportionately five times B2C and is expected to exceed ten times its value by 2003. In this paper, we trace the evolution of EMs, from their initial beginnings as computer-tocomputer links between corporate trading partners, to their current forms as multi-vendor Webbased catalogs and ordering systems that service B2B customers. We also describe in detail B2B electronic marketplaces, including sell-side, buy-side, and intermediary-supported multi-vendor catalog systems that link customers and suppliers. We discuss the role of management in guiding firms through this difficult transition period, including choices that depend on the
Evaluation of candidate endophenotypes for schizophrenia

Objective: The presence of metabolic abnormalities is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. There are limited data on the prevalence of the metabolic abnormalities in disorders other than schizophrenia in which antipsychotic medication is part of routine treatment. Methods: Sixty consecutive patients with bipolar disorder at our university psychiatric hospital and affiliate services were entered in an extensive prospective metabolic study including an oral glucose tolerance test. The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was assessed based on the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Protocol criteria (ATP III), the adapted ATP-III criteria using a fasting glucose threshold of 100mg/dl, and the recently proposed criteria from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). Results: The analysis of 60 patients showed a prevalence of the metabolic syndrome of 16.7% (ATP-III), 18.3% (adapted ATP-III) and 30.0% (IDF), respectively. 6.7% of the patients met criteria for diabetes and 23.3% for prediabetic abnormalities. Conclusion: The metabolic syndrome and glucose abnormalities are highly prevalent among patients with bipolar disorder. They represent an important risk for cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. Assessment of the presence and monitoring of metabolic abnormalities and its associated risks should be part of the clinical management of patients with bipolar disorder.
Towards Generating Real-life Datasets for Network Intrusion Detection

With exponential growth in the number of computer applications and the sizes of networks, the potential damage that can be caused by attacks launched over the Internet keeps increasing dramatically. A number of network intrusion detection methods have been developed with respective strengths and weaknesses. The majority of network intrusion detection research and development is still based on simulated datasets due to non-availability of real datasets. A simulated dataset cannot represent a real network intrusion scenario. It is important to generate real and timely datasets to ensure accurate and consistent evaluation of detection methods. In this paper, we propose a systematic approach to generate unbiased full-feature real-life network intrusion datasets to compensate for the crucial shortcomings of existing datasets. We establish the importance of an intrusion dataset in the development and validation process of detection mechanisms, identify a set of requirements for effective dataset generation, and discuss several attack scenarios and their incorporation in generating datasets. We also establish the effectiveness of the generated dataset in the context of several existing datasets.
Paralympic masculinities : media and self-representation of athletes at the 2008 Paralympic Summer Games

This study uses content analysis of newspaper articles and athlete biographical/autobiographical sources to examine the constructions of masculinity of male and female athletes at the 2008 Paralympic Summer Games in Beijing, China. Based on the socially constructed tension between disability and masculinity and the connections between sport and masculinity, this study sought examples that support or challenge the portrayal of Paralympic athletes in hegemonic masculine terms. This study finds that in the majority of cases, both sets of data sources reflects and/or reinforces the association between sport and hegemonic masculinity. This public display of masculinity indicates the athletes’ attempt to attain mainstream acceptance and legitimacy as “real” athletes as much as it does a rejection of a collective disability identity. The few instances of rejection and reformulation of masculinity come from examples in which the realities of living with impairments are insurmountable barriers to attaining hegemonic masculinity. Paralympic Masculinities iii
Evaluation of the Growth Process of Infants Conceived by Assisted Reproductive Techniques at Royan Institute from Birth to 9 Months

Objective Due to recent scientific progress in assisted reproductive techniques (ART), infertile couples can now become fertile. Thus, a number of infants in our country are the results of these costly interventions. This study has been undertaken to evaluate the physical growth process of different methods of ART infants by standard growth charts from birth until nine months of age. Methods This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of 333 infants conceived through ART [intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF)] at Royan Institute. A sequential, non-random sampling method in a period of 22 months was used. Their growth was assessed by measuring infants’ weight, height and head circumference, and physical examination. The growth patterns were calculated by recording the values in standard growth charts. The final analysis was done with SPSS version 16 and by using Chi-square test. Findings In comparison with growth charts, the weights of one-third of the infants were less than two standard deviations (SD) at birth and one-fourth had head circumference less than three SD at birth. Low birth weight (LBW) infants were six times more than infants of normal population. From birth to six months of age, growth abnormalities were seen in a substantial number of infants. However, at nine months of age, there was no significant difference observed between infants conceived by different methods of ART (IVF and ICSI). Conclusion Multiple births are the most important confounding factor impacting the growth process of ART infants. Multiple pregnancies can lead to low birth weight, height and head circumference, and growth abnormalities up to six months of age. This abnormality improves by increasing age of the infants.