Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Institutional infrastructure and economic performance: Levels versus catching up and frontier shifts

We analyze the relationship between institutional infrastructure (capturing political stability, quality of government and social infrastructure) and overall country productivity for a sample of 57 (OECD and non-OECD) countries. Specifically, we compare empirical results for alternative productivity measures: output per worker and total factor productivity (TFP); in addition, we consider both levels and changes, where we decompose TFP changes into efficiency changes and technical changes. This gives us insight into the different channels through which the institutional infrastructure impacts on overall productivity performance: the 'accumulation' of production factors versus the 'accommodation' of production factors, and the 'shifting' of the world productivity frontier versus the 'catching up' with this frontier. In line with the existing literature, our results suggest a substantial accumulation effect: good institutions enhance capital accumulation. In addition, we find significant evidence in favor of an accommodation effect (in terms of both levels and changes), which elicits institutional quality as a 'lubricant' of the economic system: good institutions facilitate complex transactions, specialization and flexibility while reducing transaction costs. Interestingly, we find that good institutions enhance technical change as well as efficiency change. Conveniently, the decomposition of TFP change also allows us to interpret the convergence issue, for which largely inconclusive evidence is obtained on the basis of a combined TFP measure. Our findings reveal that efficiency change is associated with convergence, i.e., countries with lower initial productivity realize higher productivity growth through catching up. By contrast, technical change corresponds to divergence, i.e., countries with higher initial productivity succeed in higher productivity growth through shifts of the technological frontier. One possible rationalization is that greater experience with technological innovation (i.e., a closer situation to the world technology frontier) benefits the implementation of new products and processes (i.e., the cost of additional innovations falls).
Sensory Processing and the Rubber Hand Illusion—An Evoked Potentials Study

The rubber hand illusion (RHI) paradigm—in which illusory bodily ownership is induced by synchronous tactile stimulation of a participant's (hidden) hand and a (visible) surrogate—allows one to investigate how the brain resolves conflicting multisensory evidence during perceptual inference. To identify the functional anatomy of the RHI, we used multichannel EEG, acquired under three conditions of tactile stimulation. Evoked potentials were averaged from EEG signals registered to the timing of brushstrokes to the participant's hand. The participant's hand was stroked either in the absence of an artificial hand (REAL) or synchronously with an artificial hand, which either lay in an anatomically plausible (CONGRUENT) or impossible (INCONGRUENT) position. The illusion was reliably elicited in the CONGRUENT condition. For right-hand stimulation, significant differences between conditions emerged at the sensor level around 55 msec after the brushstroke at left frontal and right parietal electrodes. Response amplitudes were smaller for illusory (CONGRUENT) compared with nonillusory (INCONGRUENT and REAL) conditions in the contralateral perirolandic region (pre- and postcentral gyri), superior and inferior parietal lobule, whereas veridical perception of the artificial hand (INCONGRUENT) amplified responses at a scalp region overlying the contralateral postcentral gyrus and inferior parietal lobule compared with the remaining two conditions. Left-hand stimulation produced similar contralateral patterns. These results are consistent with predictive coding models of multisensory integration and may reflect the attenuation of somatosensory precision that is required to resolve perceptual hypotheses about conflicting multisensory input.
3D non-rigid registration for MPU implicit surfaces

Implicit surface representation is well suited for surface reconstruction from a large amount of 3D noisy data points with non-uniform sampling density. Previous 3D non-rigid model registration methods can only be applied to the mesh or volume representations, but not directly to implicit surfaces. To our best knowledge, the previous 3D registration methods for implicit surfaces can only handle rigid transformation and they must keep the data points on the surface. In this paper, we propose a new 3D non-rigid registration algorithm to register two multi-level partition of unity (MPU) implicit surfaces with a variational formulation. The 3D non-rigid transformation between two implicit surfaces is a continuous deformation function, which is determined via an energy minimization procedure. Under the octree structure in the MPU surface, each leaf cell is transformed by an individual affine transformation associated with an energy that is related to the distance between two general quadrics. The proposed algorithm can directly register between two 3D implicit surfaces without sampling on the two signed distance functions or polygonalizing implicit surfaces, which makes our algorithm efficient in both computation and memory requirement. Experimental results on 3D human organ and sculpture models demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
The consistency of the BIC Markov order estimator

We show that the BIC (Bayesian information criterion) estimator of the order of a Markov chain (with finite alphabet) gives the correct order, eventually almost surely as the sample size goes to /spl infin/, thereby strengthening earlier consistency results that assumed an apriori bound on the order. A key tool is a strong typicality result for Markov sample paths. We also show that the Bayesian or MDL estimator, of which the BIC estimator is regarded as an approximation, fails to be consistent for the uniformly distributed i.i. d. process.
Evaluation of MAP image reconstruction with positron range modeling for 3D PET

Positron range effect is one of the fundamental factors limiting the spatial resolution of PET images. In statistical image reconstruction methods, positron range effects can be incorporated into the system model. The resolution recovery by modeling positron range results in an inevitable increase of image noise. We compare the resolution and noise properties of the images reconstructed with or without positron range modeling in this paper. Simulation results show that positron range modeling can lead to improved resolution vs. noise trade-off
Packaged software development teams: what makes them different?

Discusses the characteristics of packaged software versus information systems (IS) development environments that capture the differences between the teams that develop software in these respective industries. The analysis spans four levels: the industry, the dynamics of software development, the cultural milieu, and the teams themselves. Finds that, relative to IS: the packaged software industry is characterized by intense time pressures, less attention to costs, and different measures of success; the packaged software development environment is characterized by being a “line” rather than “staff” unit, having a greater distance from the actual users/customers, a less mature development process; the packaged software cultural milieu is characterized as individualistic and entrepreneurial; the packaged software team is characterized as less likely to be matrix managed and being smaller, more co‐located, with a greater shared vision.
Credit Constrained Consumers, Inflation Inertia and Instability Under Fixed Exchange Rates

This paper investigates stability in a small open economy under fixed exchange rates when a proportion of consumers are credit constrained, and there exists some degree of inflation inertia. We show that the combination of these two elements may generate significant cyclical behaviour, and that these cycles may become explosive under certain parameterisations. The influence of changes in competitiveness on demand helps generate cyclicality, but in itself does not prevent the possibility of global instability.
Use of Internet Tools for Survey Research

Over the past two decades, organizational researchers have used and assessed the effectiveness of various Internet tools for conducting surveys. The various Internet tools used included email, the Web, and a combination of email and the Web. As with any evolving data collection tool, the use of various Internet tools must be carefully examined. This paper presents an overview of major issues that organizational researchers need to consider when assessing the appropriateness of using Internet tools for survey data collection. Specifically, the following topics are addressed in this paper: confidentiality and security issues, non-respondent follow up, progress indicators, response completeness and quality, response options, response rates, response speed, restricted assess, sample selection, survey method resource savings, technical issues, and Web survey design features.
The potent tumor suppressor miR-497 inhibits cancer phenotypes in nasopharyngeal carcinoma by targeting ANLN and HSPA4L

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignancy with poor prognosis that is endemic to Southeast Asia. We profiled microRNAs (miRNAs) of NPCs using microarrays and confirmed the results by quantitative RT-PCR. The results revealed that seven miRNAs were significantly up-regulated, and six miRNAs were down-regulated, in NPC tissues relative to noncancerous nasopharyngeal epithelia (NNE). Expression of miR-497 was also significantly reduced in the plasma of NPC patients relative to the plasma of noncancerous control patients. The concordant down-regulation of miR-497 in tissues and plasma suggested that miR-497 could be used as a diagnostic biomarker for NPC. Functional analyses of the effect of miR-497 on cancer phenotypes revealed that transfection of miR-497 mimic into NPC cells suppressed cell growth and migration and induced apoptosis. Subcutaneous xenografts of transfected cells in nude mice demonstrated that miR-497 significantly inhibited tumor growth. Two potential targets of miR-497, ANLN (anillin, actin-binding protein) and HSPA4L (heat shock 70 kDa protein 4–like), both of which were overexpressed in NPC tissues, were negatively regulated by miR-497 mimic in NPC cell lines. Silencing of ANLN and HSPA4L suppressed cell proliferation and migration and induced apoptosis in NPC cells. Our findings indicate that miR-497 is a potent tumor suppressor that inhibits cancer phenotypes by targeting ANLN and HSPA4L in NPC.
Parallel architectures for the kNN classifier -- design of soft IP cores and FPGA implementations

We designed a variety of k-nearest-neighbor parallel architectures for FPGAs in the form of parameterizable soft IP cores. We show that they can be used to solve large classification problems with thousands of training vectors, or thousands of vector dimensions using a single FPGA, and achieve very high throughput. They can be used to flexibly synthesize architectures that also cover: 1NN classification (vector quantization), multishot queries (with different k), LOOCV cross-validation, and compare favorably to GPU implementations. To the best of our knowledge this is the first attempt to design flexible IP cores for the popular kNN classifier.
CCD Photometry of the Globular Cluster ω Centauri. I. Metallicity of RR Lyrae Stars from Caby Photometry

We present new measurements of the metallicity of 131 RR Lyrae stars in the globular cluster ω Centauri, using the hk index of the Caby photometric system. The hk method has distinct advantages over ΔS and other techniques in determining the metallicity of RR Lyrae stars and has allowed us to obtain the most complete and homogeneous metallicity data to date for the RR Lyrae stars in this cluster. For RR Lyrae stars in common with the ΔS observations of Butler, Dickens, &Epps and Gratton, Tornambe, &Ortolani, we have found that our metallicities, [Fe/H]hk, deviate systematically from their ΔS metallicity, while our [Fe/H]hk for well-observed, field RRab stars are consistent with previous spectroscopic measurements. We conclude that this is because of the larger errors associated with the previous ΔS observations for this cluster. The MV(RR)-[Fe/H] and period shift–[Fe/H] relations obtained from our new data are consistent with the evolutionary models predicted by Y. -W. Lee, confirming that the luminosity of RR Lyrae stars depends on evolutionary status as well as metallicity. Using the period-amplitude diagram, we have also identified highly evolved RRab stars in the range - 1.9 ≤ [Fe/H] < -1.5, as predicted from the synthetic horizontal-branch models.
Essays in international monetary economics

Chapter 2 of this thesis employs a dynamic general equilibrium with Taylor wage contracts to show that the use of strict inflation targeting as a disinflation policy may result in a slump in production and a considerable increase in macroeconomic volatility. Important determinants of the magnitude of the macroeconomic oscillations in the post-disinflation state of the economy turn out to be the size of the reduction in the inflation rate and the degree of returns to labor in the production function. In the special case of constant returns, the oscillations are large and permanent. Chapter 3 of this thesis extends the above analysis to an open-economy setting demonstrating that the exchange rate can act as a stabilizer by effectively relieving wages from part of the burden of reducing the inflation rate. The more the economy is open, the smaller the magnitude of the macroeconomic oscillations will be after the disinflation policy is applied. The policy is shown to be infeasible for all practical purposes in a closed economy with constant returns to scale when the full nonlinear model is considered. Chapter 4 of this thesis employs a Markov switching framework to allow for an interesting alternative characterization of macroeconomic news effects on the foreign exchange market. The chapter finds strong evidence for the presence of nonlinear regime switching between a high-volatility and a low volatility state driven by monetary policy announcements that come as a surprise to the market. It also uncovers significant market positioning prior to the announcements, indicating a limiting of risk exposure by market participants who are unsure about the precise outcome of the policy decisions. Chapter 5 of this thesis investigates the impact of monetary shocks on the direction and the composition of international capital flows. It identifies monetary policy shocks in a structural VAR via the pure sign restrictions approach. There are two key findings. First, a US monetary easing causes net capital inflows and a worsening of the US trade balance. Second, monetary policy shocks induce a negative conditional correlation between capital flows in bonds and equity securities. Intriguingly, they cause a negative conditional correlation between equity flows and equity returns but a positive conditional correlation between bond flows and bond returns.
Heterogeneous Monetary Transmission Process in the Eurozone: Does Banking Competition Matter?

This paper examines the implications of banking competition for the interest rate channel in the Eurozone over the period 2003–2010. We use an Error Correction Model (ECM) approach to measure the long-run and short-run relationships between money market rates, bank interest rates, and our competition proxy, namely, the Lerner index. We find that competition (i) reduces the bank lending interest rates, (ii) increases the long-term interest pass-through and (iii) speeds up the adjustment towards the long-run equilibrium in the short-run. Therefore, increased competition would improve the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission through the interest rate channel, and from this point of view should be fostered in the Eurozone. Finally even if we observe that other factors related to the recent crisis matter for monetary policy transmission, bank competition remains a key determinant of the pass-through.
Reward Sensitivity Is Associated with Brain Activity during Erotic Stimulus Processing

The behavioral approach system (BAS) from Gray’s reinforcement sensitivity theory is a neurobehavioral system involved in the processing of rewarding stimuli that has been related to dopaminergic brain areas. Gray’s theory hypothesizes that the functioning of reward brain areas is modulated by BAS-related traits. To test this hypothesis, we performed an fMRI study where participants viewed erotic and neutral pictures, and cues that predicted their appearance. Forty-five heterosexual men completed the Sensitivity to Reward scale (from the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire) to measure BAS-related traits. Results showed that Sensitivity to Reward scores correlated positively with brain activity during reactivity to erotic pictures in the left orbitofrontal cortex, left insula, and right ventral striatum. These results demonstrated a relationship between the BAS and reward sensitivity during the processing of erotic stimuli, filling the gap of previous reports that identified the dopaminergic system as a neural substrate for the BAS during the processing of other rewarding stimuli such as money and food.
Improving Real-time Estimates of Output Gaps and Inflation Trends with Multiple-vintage Models

Real-time estimates of output gaps and inflation trends differ from the values that are obtained using data available long after the event. Part of the problem is that the data on which the real-time estimates are based is subsequently revised. We show that vector-autoregressive models of data vintages provide forecasts of post-revision values of future observations and of already-released observations capable of improving real-time output gap and inflation trend estimates. Our findings indicate that annual revisions to output and inflation data are in part predictable based on their past vintages.
Effects of Rapid Ascent to High Altitude on Vascular Tone

Background: Acute changes in endothelial function and sympathetic activation with hypoxia are considered to be the important features of the acute syndromes of high altitude. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects on vascular tone as a determinant of acute mountain sickness (AMS) after rapid ascent to high altitude. Method: Heart rate (HR), arterial blood pressure (BP), oxygen saturation (SpO2) and vascular tone, quantified by the reflection index (RI) obtained using photoplethysmography (PPG) technique, were studied over 3 days in 47 unacclimatized healthy subjects ascending from 495 to 3,658m. AMS occurrence was evaluated by the Lake Louise score system. Results: At 3,658m, two age groups demonstrated a significant decrease of SpO2 and a significant increase of HR in day 1 and showed gradual partial recovery in day 2 and day 3. We observed a mild increase in both SBP and DBP, and the increase was a little greater in the elderly and in subjects who developed AMS in both groups. RI fell during the first day in both age groups and got back towards normal in the following days. However subjects with AMS in both age groups showed a blunted and delayed response in RI to acute high-altitude exposure. Conclusions: The hypoxia driven effects on RI associated with AMS could in part be explained by a short-term imbalance between local endothelial derived vasodilatation and sympathetically mediated vasoconstriction. The specific feature of RI may provide an important mechanistic insight into the differential effects of functional adaptation to high-altitude hypoxia or capacity to adapt.
Constraints on statistical computations at 10 months of age : The use of phonological features

Constraints on statistical computations at 10 months of age: the use of phonological features. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. This document is the postprint version of the journal article. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it. Abstract Recently, several studies have argued that infants capitalize on the statistical properties of natural languages to acquire the linguistic structure of their native language, but the kinds of constraints which apply to statistical computations remain largely unknown. Here we explored French-learning infants' perceptual preference for labial-coronal (LC) words over coronal-labial words (CL) words (e.g., preferring bat over tab), to determine whether this phonotactic preference is based on the acquisition of the statistical properties of the input based on a single phonological feature (i.e., place of articulation), multiple features (i.e., place and manner of articulation), or individual consonant pairs. Results from four experiments revealed that infants had a labial-coronal bias for nasal sequences (Exp. 1) and for all plosive sequences (Exp. 2 & 4) but a coronal-labial bias for all fricative sequences (Exp. 3 & 4), independently of the frequencies of individual consonant pairs. These results establish for the first time that constellations of multiple phonological features, defining broad consonant classes, constrain the early acquisition of phonotactic regularities of the native language.
Does Speculative Activity Have Real Effects

We examine how opening financial markets for trade in real and "extraneous" risks can affect productive decisions. Agents have heterogeneous beliefs over these risks and trade in financial markets. We find that speculation, especially in "extraneous" risks uncorrelated with productivity can significantly affect productive decisions. Speculation can either decrease or increase real investment and asset prices, even in the presence of adjustment costs or irreversibility in capital investments. Since housing construction is a largely irreversible investment, our model can help to explain a boom and bust in housing construction and asset prices resulting from speculative activity in the financial markets.
On the Biological and Genetic Diversity in Neospora caninum

Neospora caninum is a parasite regarded a major cause of foetal loss in cattle. A key requirement to an understanding of the epidemiology and pathogenicity of N. caninum is knowledge of the biological characteristics of the species and the genetic diversity within it. Due to the broad intermediate host range of the species, worldwide geographical distribution and its capacity for sexual reproduction, significant biological and genetic differences might be expected to exist. N. caninum has now been isolated from a variety of different host species including dogs and cattle. Although isolates of this parasite show only minor differences in ultrastructure, considerable differences have been reported in pathogenicity using mainly mouse models. At the DNA level, marked levels of polymorphism between isolates were detected in mini- and microsatellites found in the genome of N. caninum. Knowledge of what drives the biological differences that have been observed between the various isolates at the molecular level is crucial in aiding our understanding of the epidemiology of this parasite and, in turn, the development of efficacious strategies, such as live vaccines, for controlling its impact. The purpose of this review is to document and discuss for the first time, the nature of the diversity found within the species Neospora caninum.