Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development Policies and Income Inequality in Selected Developing Regions, 1980–2010

The paper discusses the income inequality changes which have taken place in a few representative developing regions during the last 30 years. While inequality rose in the majority of the countries of these regions in the 1980s and 1990s, the last decade was characterized by a bifurcation of inequality trends. This divergence offers the possibility to contrast the experience of virtuous regions (Latin America and parts of East and South-East Asia) and non-virtuous regions (the European economies in transition and China) so as to draw useful lessons. Since the global economic conditions affecting inequality in these countries were not too dissimilar and since no major variations in endogenous factors were evident across the regions analysed, the difference in inequality trends between virtuous and non-virtuous regions was most likely due to institutional factors and public policies. An econometric test confirms that the reduction of inequality is possible even under open economy conditions if a given set of appropriate macroeconomic, labour, fiscal and social policies is adopted by governments.
A Greedy Algorithm for Matrix Recovery with Subspace Prior Information

Matrix recovery is the problem of recovering a low-rank matrix from a few linear measurements. Recently, this problem has gained a lot of attention as it is employed in many applications such as Netflix prize problem, seismic data interpolation and collaborative filtering. In these applications, one might access to additional prior information about the column and row spaces of the matrix. These extra information can potentially enhance the matrix recovery performance. In this paper, we propose an efficient greedy algorithm that exploits prior information in the recovery procedure. The performance of the proposed algorithm is measured in terms of the rank restricted isometry property (R-RIP). Our proposed algorithm with prior subspace information converges under a more milder condition on the R-RIP in compared with the case that we do not use prior information. Additionally, our algorithm performs much better than nuclear norm minimization in terms of both computational complexity and success rate.
Quantifying the thermal Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effect and excess millimetre emission in quasar environments

In this paper, we probe the hot, post-shock gas component of quasar-driven winds through the thermal Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (tSZ) effect. Combining data sets from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, the Herschel Space Observatory, and the Very Large Array, we measure average spectral energy distributions of 109 829 optically selected, radio quiet quasars from 1.4 to 3000 GHz in six redshift bins between 0.3 < z < 3.5. We model the emission components in the radio and far-infrared, plus a spectral distortion from the tSZ effect. At z > 1.91, we measure the tSZ effect at 3. 8σ significance with an amplitude corresponding to a total thermal energy of 3.1 × 1060 erg. If this energy is due to virialized gas, then our measurement implies quasar host halo masses are ∼6 × 1012 h−1 M⊙. Alternatively, if the host dark matter halo masses are ∼2 × 1012 h−1 M⊙ as some measurements suggest, then we measure a >90 per cent excess in the thermal energy over that expected due to virialization. If the measured SZ effect is primarily due to hot bubbles from quasar-driven winds, we find that $(5^{+1.2}_{-1.3}$) per cent of the quasar bolometric luminosity couples to the intergalactic medium over a fiducial quasar lifetime of 100 Myr. An additional source of tSZ may be correlated structure, and further work is required to separate the contributions. At z ≤ 1.91, we detect emission at 95 and 148 GHz that is in excess of thermal dust and optically thin synchrotron emission. We investigate potential sources of this excess emission, finding that CO line emission and an additional optically thick synchrotron component are the most viable candidates.
KNEEL: Knee Anatomical Landmark Localization Using Hourglass Networks

This paper addresses the challenge of localization of anatomical landmarks in knee X-ray images at different stages of osteoarthritis (OA). Landmark localization can be viewed as regression problem, where the landmark position is directly predicted by using the region of interest or even full-size images leading to large memory footprint, especially in case of high resolution medical images. In this work, we propose an efficient deep neural networks framework with an hourglass architecture utilizing a soft-argmax layer to directly predict normalized coordinates of the landmark points. We provide an extensive evaluation of different regularization techniques and various loss functions to understand their influence on the localization performance. Furthermore, we introduce the concept of transfer learning from low-budget annotations, and experimentally demonstrate that such approach is improving the accuracy of landmark localization. Compared to the prior methods, we validate our model on two datasets that are independent from the train data and assess the performance of the method for different stages of OA severity. The proposed approach demonstrates better generalization performance compared to the current state-of-the-art.
THE CAPRELLIDEA (MALACOSTRACA: AMPHIPODA) FROM MIRS BAY, HONG KONG, WITH THE DESCRIPTION OF A NEW GENUS AND TWO NEW SPECIES

Abstract The taxonomic study on the Caprellidea collected from the shallow waters of north-west area of Mirs Bay, Hong Kong revealed the distribution of four species in this area. Of them, Tropicaprella minuta, new genus, new species, and Caprella hirayamai, new species, are described. Tropicaprella, new genus, is close to Heterocaprella Arimoto, 1976, but differs by the absence of the clavate projection on the pereonite 4, the elongate pereopods 3 and 4 and the five-articulate pereopod 5. The closest species to Caprella hirayamai, n. sp. , are Caprella californica Stimpson, 1857, and Caprella scaura Templeton, 1836, but C. hirayamai can be easily distinguished by less elongated pereonite 1, short basis of gnathopod 2 and oval propodus with dorsal setae in gnathopod 2.
HATCHING RHYTHMS OF UCA THAYERI: EVIDENCE FOR PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY

Abstract Fiddler crabs (Uca thayeri) on Florida's east and west coasts show temporally distinct hatching rhythms, correlated with differences in tidal form. Our purpose in this study was to determine whether these differences were fixed or could change in response to variation in the tides. West coast crabs (but not east coast crabs) showed seasonal variation in their hatching rhythms correlated with seasonal variation in the tides. In the spring, they released larvae at night. In the summer, hatching occurred during the day. West coast crabs transferred to Florida's east coast within four weeks released larvae at night in a rhythm similar to resident crabs but different from the spring nocturnal rhythm shown at their home beach. We conclude that this species has a flexible hatching rhythm that changes under natural, as well as under experimental, conditions. Such flexibility may permit the crabs to time larval release optimally over a range of tidal forms. This study and others published recently suggest that “plasticity” may be characteristic of behavioral rhythms shown by many intertidal crabs.
DISTRIBUTION AND TAXONOMY OF THREE SPECIES OF ORCONECTES (DECAPODA: CAMBARIDAE) IN ILLINOIS, U.S.A

Abstract We examined Ohio and Mississippi River specimens of Orconectes that had been identified previously as O. placidus and collected new specimens or examined types of Orconectes luteus, O. placidus, O. forceps, O. medius, and O. rusticus from Illinois and other states. Our analyses revealed the presence of three species of Orconectes in the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, Orconectes luteus, O. placidus, and O. sp. (undescribed), based on chela morphometrics, gonopods, carpal spines, chela denticles, and life colors. All the Mississippi River records of O. placidus were O. luteus, and many of the Ohio River records of O. placidus were O. n. sp. Distinguishing characteristics for all three species, along with an addition to the dichotomous key to Illinois decapods, were included. The ranges of O. luteus, O. placidus, and O. n. sp. in Illinois were amended. Several problems were noted with the syntypes of O. placidus such as erroneous locality, misidentification, and mixing of specimens between localities. The ratio dactylus length/palm mesial margin length, which has been considered a distinguishing characteristic between O. forceps and O. placidus, was invalidated as a useful discriminator for these species, whereas presence or absence of a distomedian carpal spine was reliable. We consider Orconectes luteus and O. n. sp. native inhabitants of Illinois, and the latter species likely occurs in Kentucky portions of the Ohio River as well.
PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THE SPECIES OF AEGLA (ANOMURA: AEGLIDAE) FRESHWATER CRABS FROM CHILE

Abstract Nineteen species and subspecies of freshwater crabs from the anomuran family Aeglidae are represented in Chile, 16 of which are endemic to this country. We sequenced ∼2,600 nucleotides of the 12S, 16S, COI, and COII genes from mitochondrial DNA to estimate phylogenetic relationships among the Chilean aeglids. We sampled 16 putative Chilean species and subspecies and one morphologically unrecognized taxon according to the most recent Aeglidae classification. In addition to the Chilean aeglids, one sample of Aegla riolimayana and two samples of Aegla affinis were collected from Argentina to check previous hypotheses about the origin of the group. Two other anomurans, one galatheid (Munida subrugosa) and one porcellanid (Pachycheles haigae), were sequenced to serve as outgroups in our phylogenetic analysis. Our results show the clear separation of Aegla papudo from the other Aegla species, as has been suggested previously based on morphology. Its basal position in the Aeglidae trees also supports a Pacific origin for the Aeglidae. Our phylogenies provide strong monophyletic support for the currently recognized species, with the exception of Aegla laevis and Aegla cholchol samples, which form nonmonophyletic groups.
REPRODUCTIVE ECOLOGY OF A PROTANDRIC SIMULTANEOUS HERMAPHRODITE, THE SHRIMP LYSMATA WURDEMANNI (DECAPODA: CARIDEA: HIPPOLYTIDAE)

Abstract The temporal pattern of population abundance, breeding, and recruitment of the marine shrimp Lysmata wurdemanni is described and analyzed. A population inhabiting the rock jetty in Port Aransas, Texas, U.S.A. , was sampled monthly for one year and then bimonthly in a second. Abundances were greatest in the summer, declining during the fall to zero values in early winter, with increases in the late winter and early spring. The disappearance of the population in early winter is attributed to its movement beneath the jetty or to some other location inaccessible to sampling. When the population reappeared in late winter to early spring, it contained a high proportion of larger (older) individuals. The breeding season was seasonal but extended. Most female-phase individuals (FPs) incubated broods of embryos continuously during the warmer months (spring through early fall). Spawning of a new brood occurred soon after hatching of the previous one, as shown by the significant positive correlation between the degree of embryonic development (nearness to hatching) in an FP and the degree of ovarian maturation (nearness to spawning) in its ovotestes. Male-phase individuals (MPs) changing to FPs were found throughout most of the year. Their relative abundance was greatest in late winter to early spring when a group of large MPs, far past minimum FP size, finally changed sex. Recruitment occurred primarily in the spring and summer in both years, although its timing and intensity varied between years. The observed pattern of breeding, recruitment, and population abundances of Lysmata wurdemanni is what might be expected of a primarily tropical species living in an area transitional between the tropical Caribbean and warm temperate Gulf of Mexico biogeographical provinces. The breeding pattern of this shrimp, with an unusual hermaphroditic sexual system, is not strikingly unusual or different from that of gonochoristic shallow-water carideans.
SPECIES STATUS IN QUESTION: A MORPHOMETRIC AND MOLECULAR COMPARISON OF CYRTOGRAPSUS AFFINIS AND C. ALTIMANUS (DECAPODA, BRACHYURA, VARUNIDAE)

Abstract Three species of the varunid crab genus Cyrtograpsus (Brachyura: Grapsoidea) occur in apparent sympatry along temperate coastlines of the southwestern Atlantic. Two of them, C. angulatus Dana, 1851, and C. altimanus Rathbun, 1914, are common in intertidal habitats and are easily separable by their morphology. In contrast, there is very limited knowledge on the ecology and distribution of the third species, C. affinis (Dana, 1851). In the present study, several specimens of C. affinis were collected in the Río de la Plata Estuary between Argentina and Uruguay. The study of these specimens showed that C. affinis tends to be smaller than the other two species of the genus and seems to be restricted to subtidal habitats. However, morphometric comparisons suggest the existence of a continuous gradient rather than discrete differences between specimens of C. affinis and C. altimanus. Morphometric differences were as common among subtidal samples as between subtidal and intertidal samples. Likewise, comparison of mitochondrial DNA sequences (16S rRNA) did not reveal diagnostic differences between the two putative species, suggesting a very close relationship between C. altimanus and C. affinis. Possibly the two forms represent a single species with a high ecological and phenotypic plasticity.
Some statistical parameters for Miscanthus giganteus and Salix viminalis grinding using hammer mills

In the present paper we present values of some parameters of the grinding process experimentally determined for a hammer mill used for grinding miscanthus stems and willow harvested with specific harvesting machines. The grinding energy according to three tuning parameters was determined: hammer rotor frequency, feeding flow and mill sieve orifice diameter, for two types of hammers (one or twoedge corners). Value sets of energy-feeding flow, energy – rotor rotation frequency, energy – sieve orifice diameter, were analyzed, statistically determining the correlation between them, as well as other statistical parameters, using Excel MS Office (ex.covariance or kurtosis). If grinded biomass is willow, for the link between the energy and sieve orifice diameter the correlation shows a weak relation for one and two edge corner hammers, the two parameters being inversely proportional. Keeping in mind the fact that in the seven out of eight cases the correlation energy sieve orifice diameter presents an inversely proportional dependency, we can accept the hypothesis of reverse proportionality of the two parameters. In the paper, other comments are added regarding values obtained for all statistical parameters analyzed for the two types of grinded biomass.
Effect of Aqueous Extract of Punica granatum Peel on the Oxidative Damage Induced by Lead Intoxication in Rats

The present investigation aimed to evaluate the effect of aqueous extract of local pomegranate peel on the oxidative damage induced by lead intoxication in rats. Forty-eight female Albino rats were divided into four equal groups. Group (1) kept as a control group, while Group (2) was fed on 1000 ppm lead acetate in drinking water. Group (3) received 1000 ppm lead acetate in drinking water plus 1 mL of distilled water containing 43 mg/rat of pomegranate peel aqueous extract via gastric intubation and Group (4) received 1 mL of distilled water containing 43 mg/rat of Pomegranate peel aqueous extract via gastric intubation. All rats were treated with the respective regime daily for five weeks. Administrations of lead acetate for 5 weeks caused significant decrease of total proteins, globulins (α, β & γ), triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine hormone (T4) with significant increase of the urea, creatinine, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, lead residue in liver and lipid peroxidase. Mild degenerative and necrobiotic changes in liver and kidney were detected histopathologically. Administration of pomegranate peel extract revealed minor ameliorative effect on serum proteins, aminotransferases and urea levels. Treating rats with both of lead acetate and Punica granatum peel aqueous extract for 5 weeks revealed focal hepatic necrosis, hypercellularity of renal glomeruli and degeneration in the epithelial cells lining of renal tubules. Administration of aqueous extract of Punica granatum peel for 5 weeks to healthy rats induced congestion of central vein of liver and degeneration in the epithelial cells lining of renal tubules. This study figure out that administration of Punica granatum peel aqueous extract had a mild deleterious effect on healthy rats with a slight improvement on the oxidative damage induced by lead intoxication in rats.
Capra sibirica

Ibex alpium sibiricarum Pallas, 1766:31. Vernacular name, invalid; not binomial (Heptner et al. 1988:774, footnote 161). Capra (Ibex) sibiricus Pallas, 1776:52. Type locality ‘‘Munku-Sardyk range in Eastern Sayan Mountains, west of Lake Baikal,’’ Siberia, Russia. Capra sibirica Meyer, 1794:397. Agreement in gender of Pallas, 1776. Capra pallasii Schinz, 1838:9. Synonym of sibirica. Capra himalayanus Hodgson, 1841:414. Type locality ‘‘Nepal’’ (vide Ellerman and Morrison-Scott 1951:406). Capra sakeen Blyth, in Hodgson, 1842:283. Nomen nudum. Aegoceros skyn Wagner, 1844:491. Type locality ‘‘the mountains of Kashmir and especially in small Tibet. ’’ Ibex sakin Hodgson, 1847:700. Nomen nudum. Capra skyn Severtsov, 1876:334. Preoccupied by Aegoceros skyn Wagner, 1844. Capra dauvergnei Sterndale, 1886:24. Type locality ‘‘probably somewhere to the west of Kashmir’’ (vide Lydekker 1913:150). Capra sakin Blanford, 1891:504. Emendation of C. sakeen Blyth, 1843. Capra sibirica typica Lydekker, 1898:281. Type locality ‘‘Tian Shan. ’’ Capra sibirica sacin Lydekker, 1898:284. Substitute name for Aegoceros skyn Wagner, 1844. Capra sibirica wardi Lydekker, 1900:101. Type locality ‘‘Braldu, Baltistan, in the neighbourhood of the Baltoro Glacier’’ (vide Lydekker, 1913:148). Capra sibirica lydekkeri Rothschild, 1900:277. Type locality ‘‘Katutay district of Irtish Altai’’ (vide Lydekker, 1913:145). Capra altaica Noack, 1902:623. Type locality ‘‘Altai near Irtysh River’’ Russia. Capra fasciata Noack, 1902:623. Type locality ‘‘North-east Altai, or Bia Altai, in the neighbourhood of Lake Telezko’’ (vide Lydekker, 1913:144). Capra alaiana Noack, 1902:624. Type locality ‘‘central Alai range’’ (vide Heptner et al. 1988). Capra sibirica hagenbecki Noack, 1903:384. Type locality ‘‘Kobdo, Gobi . Mongolia’’ (vide Lydekker 1913:145). Capra sibirica lorensi Satunin, 1905:26. Type locality ‘‘320 versts south of Nizhneudinsk (Sayans)’’ (vide Heptner et al. 1988: 775). Capra sibirica typica Lorenz, 1906:95. Type locality ‘‘Tunkin alps, Sayans’’ (vide Heptner et al. 1988:775). Preoccupied by typica Lydekker, 1898. Capra almasyi Lorenz, 1906:89, 98. Type locality ‘‘Tian Shan, including Kulja district’’ (vide Lydekker 1913:146). Capra sibirica transalaiana Lorenz, 1906:90, 103. Type locality ‘‘Saryk-Mogul, southern slope of Trans-Alai Range’’ (vide Heptner et al. 1988:775). Capra sibirica pedri Lorenz, 1906:94. Type locality ‘‘Gilgit’’ (vide Lydekker 1913:151). Ibex sibirica mersbacheri Leisewitz, 1906:654–655. Type locality ‘‘central Tian Shan, inclusive of the Naryn district’’ (vide Lydekker 1913:147; but see Heptner et al. 1988:775). Capra sibirica filippii Camerano, 1911:209. Type locality ‘‘Lahul’’ (vide Lydekker 1913:152). Capra sibirica formozovi Tsalkin, 1949:20. Type locality ‘‘Aleksandrov range, Kyyamattu gorge 26 km southwest of NovoDimitriev station’’ (vide Heptner et al. 1988:775).
Safety and Convergence Analysis of Intersecting Aircraft Flows under Decentralized Collision Avoidance

Safety is an essential requirement for air traffic management and control systems. Aircraft are not allowed to get closer to each other than a specified safety distance, to avoid any conflicts and collisions between aircraft. Forecast analysis predicts a tremendous increase in the number of flights. Subsequently, automated tools are needed to help air traffic controllers resolve air born conflicts. In this dissertation, we consider the problem of conflict resolution of aircraft flows with the assumption that aircraft are flowing through a fixed specified control volume at a constant speed. In this regard, several centralized and decentralized resolution rules have been proposed for path planning and conflict avoidance. For the case of two intersecting flows, we introduce the concept of conflict touches, and a collaborative decentralized conflict resolution rule is then proposed and analyzed for two intersecting flows. The proposed rule is also able to resolved airborn conflicts that resulted from resolving another conflict via the domino effect. We study the safety conditions under the proposed conflict resolution and collision avoidance rule. Then, we use Lyapunov analysis to analytically prove the convergence of conflict resolution dynamics under the proposed rule. The analysis show that, under the proposed conflict resolution rule, the system of intersecting aircraft flows is guaranteed to converge to safe, conflict free, trajectories within a bounded time. Simulations are provided to verify the analytically derived conclusions and study the convergence of the conflict resolution dynamics at different encounter angles. Simulation results show that lateral deviations taken by aircraft in each flow, to resolve conflicts, are bounded, and aircraft converged to safe and conflict free trajectories, within a finite time. The proposed rule is powerful when the pilots of the collaborating aircraft, resolving a potential conflict, are either humans or robots. However, when a human pilot is collaborating with a robot pilot for the first time, the robot control should optimize its control criteria to collaborate well with the human. Basically, the robot must adapt its output as it learns from the human. We study the situation of the Human-in-the-Loop, assuming that human will follow lateral maneuvers for conflict resolution. We model the human as an optimal controller that minimizes the risk of collision. Based on that model, we use differential game analysis to get an accurate estimate for the human control criteria. We propose a new algorithm, based on least square minimization, to estimate the Kalman gain of the human's model, and therefore accurately estimate his optimal control criteria. Simulations of this learned rule show that robot pilot can successfully learn from the human pilot actions, and both can cooperate successfully to resolve any conflicts between their aircraft.