Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Building Representative Matched Samples With Multi-Valued Treatments in Large Observational Studies

ABSTRACT In this article, we present a new way of matching in observational studies that overcomes three limitations of existing matching approaches. First, it directly balances covariates with multi-valued treatments without explicitly estimating the generalized propensity score. Second, it builds self-weighted matched samples that are representative of a target population by design. Third, it can handle large datasets, with hundreds of thousands of observations, in a couple of minutes. The key insights of this new approach to matching are balancing the treatment groups relative to a target population and positing a linear-sized mixed integer formulation of the matching problem. We formally show that this formulation is more effective than alternative quadratic-sized formulations, as its reduction in size does not affect its strength from the standpoint of its linear programming relaxation. We also show that this formulation can be used for matching with distributional covariate balance in polynomial time under certain assumptions on the covariates and that it can handle large datasets in practice even when the assumptions are not satisfied. This algorithmic characterization is key to handling large datasets. We illustrate this new approach to matching in both a simulation study and an observational study of the impact of an earthquake on educational attainment. With this approach, the results after matching can be visualized with simple and transparent graphical displays: while increasing levels of exposure to the earthquake have a negative impact on school attendance, there is no effect on college admission test scores. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.
Political Motivation and Institutional Capacity: Assessing National Parliaments' Incentives to Participate in the Early Warning System

The Early Warning System gives national parliaments the right to intervene in European Union policy-making. This paper systematically investigates their incentives to submit reasoned opinions on subsidiarity infringements. To do so, it analyses the reactions of 40 parliamentary chambers to 342 draft legislative acts between 1 January 2010 and 31 May 2013 by ReLogit models (King and Zeng 1999a, 1999b). The paper finds that their political motivation rather than their institutional capacity explains cross-chamber and inter-temporal variation. Higher levels of party political contestation over EU integration and the salience of a draft legislative act have a positive effect on the odds of submitting reasoned opinions. Furthermore, economic recession has a negative effect, while chambers under a minority government are more active. However, the paper also finds that sectoral committees play an important role in the review process. The findings are discussed with reference to the role of national parliaments in EU democracy.
Analyzing Temperature and Precipitation Influences on Yield Distributions of Canola and Spring Wheat in Saskatchewan

The IPCC indicates that global mean temperature increases of 28C or more above preindustrial levels negatively affect such crops as wheat. Canadian climate model projections show warmer temperatures and variable rainfall will likely affect Saskatchewan’s canola and spring wheat production. Drier weather will have the greatest impact. The major climate change challenges will be summer water availability, greater drought frequencies, and crop adaptation. This study investigates the impact of precipitation and temperature changes on canola and spring wheat yield distributions using Environment Canada weather data and Statistics Canada crop yield and planted area for 20 crop districts over the 1987–2010 period. The moment-based methods (fulland partial-moment-based approaches) are employed to characterize and estimate asymmetric relationships between climate variables and the higher-order moments of crop yields. A stochastic production function and the focus on crop yield’s elasticity imply choosing the natural logarithm function as the mean function transformation prior to higher-moment function estimation. Results show that average crop yields are positively associated with the growing season degree-days and pregrowing season precipitation, while they are negatively affected by extremely high temperatures in the growing season. The climate measures have asymmetric effects on the higher moments of crop yield distribution along with stronger effects of changing temperatures than precipitation on yield distribution. Higher temperatures tend to decrease wheat yields, confirming earlier Saskatchewan studies. This study finds pregrowing season precipitation and precipitation in the early plant growth stages particularly relevant in providing opportunities to develop new crop varieties and agronomic practices to mitigate climate changes.
MEASURING THE LARGEST ANGULAR SCALE CMB B-MODE POLARIZATION WITH GALACTIC FOREGROUNDS ON A CUT SKY

We consider the effectiveness of foreground cleaning in the recovery of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization sourced by gravitational waves for tensor-to-scalar ratios in the range 0 < r < 0.1 . > Using the planned survey area, frequency bands, and sensitivity of the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS), we simulate maps of Stokes Q and U parameters at 40, 90, 150, and 220 GHz, including realistic models of the CMB, diffuse Galactic thermal dust and synchrotron foregrounds, and Gaussian white noise. We use linear combinations (LCs) of the simulated multifrequency data to obtain maximum likelihood estimates of r, the relative scalar amplitude s, and LC coefficients. We find that for 10,000 simulations of a CLASS-like experiment using only measurements of the reionization peak ( ℓ ≤ 23 ? > ), there is a 95% C.L. upper limit of r < 0.017 ? > in the case of no primordial gravitational waves. For simulations with r = 0.01 , ? > we recover at 68% C.L. r = 0.012 − 0.006 + 0.011 . > The reionization peak corresponds to a fraction of the multipole moments probed by CLASS, and simulations including 30 ≤ ℓ ≤ 100 ? > further improve our upper limits to r < 0.008 ? > at 95% C.L. ( r = 0.010 − 0.004 + 0.004 ? > for primordial gravitational waves with r = 0.01). In addition to decreasing the current upper bound on r by an order of magnitude, these foreground-cleaned low multipole data will achieve a cosmic variance limited measurement of the E-mode polarization’s reionization peak.
Comparing Online and Offline Administration of Multiple Choice Question Assessments to Psychology Undergraduates: Do Assessment Modality or Computer Attitudes Influence Performance?

Recent interest in and use of online assessments across a range of disciplines has raised a number of issues relating to student perceptions and performance when using this medium. The validity of such online tests is a crucial consideration, especially if they are to be used for summative as well as formative assessment. The current study examined higher education students' performance on online assessments which they were required to take as part of an undergraduate psychology course. The marks obtained by students required to take the same multiple choice question (MCQ) assessment online and offline (in pen-and-paper format) were compared, and relationships between performance and computer anxiety and computer engagement measures were explored. The results indicate minimal influence of assessment modality, computer anxiety and computer engagement on MCQ test scores, with only very small and non significant effect sizes being observed overall. No evidence of any significant relationships between gender and age and computer attitudes was observed. To conclude, the results provide promising initial support for the use of online summative assessments in contexts similar to the one used here, allaying some concerns about disadvantaging certain groups of students. However, further research is needed to explore possible performance differences across different contexts, assessment types, and student cohorts.
Particle source and edge transport studies in JET H-mode gas puff modulation experiments

Gas modulation experiments in H-mode plasmas featuring a scan in collisionality to study particle transport and sources at the plasma edge have been carried out on JET [5]. The local electron density response to the gas injection was measured with a high resolution reflectometry [6] along the midplane and with Lithium beam in the scrape off layer (SOL). Modulation amplitudes below 1% (in the core) are reliably measured thus allowing minimal plasma disturbance. The linearity of the electron density response was verified in identical plasmas by having different gas modulation amplitudes. D and D among other radiation lines were measured with wide angle and divertor cameras yielding quantitative information of the propagation of the radiation front. Roughly 50 ms delay is seen between the top radiation and the divertor radiation when injecting gas from the top (see Fig. 1). This together with ongoing dynamic EDGE2d-EIRENE modelling will allow further code validation and provide new insight on the dynamics of the particle source [7], and ultimately, edge transport. The data also show that the Edge Localised Mode (ELM) frequency, here ~50-100 Hz, and ELM sizes are affected by the gas modulation thus complicating transport and particle source analysis. Typically, the ELM size decreases and frequency increases with the gas but the sensitivity varies between plasmas and also feature opposite trends. Finally, gas modulation is seen to influence the 2.45 MeV D-D neutron yield. ASCOT calculations show that this is consistent with the beam-target yield variation due to the modulation of neutral beam (NB) penetration with electron density. The magnitude of the NB particle source modulation, however, appears to be too small to influence the interpretation of the bulk electron density modulation.
Internationally Diversified Portfolios: Welfare Gains and Capital Flows

The models of portfolio balance developed by Markowitz [51 and Tobin [8] explain the real world phenomenon of diversified asset holdings elegantly and properly. The models have been criticized, extended, and empirically tested; by now their basic content has become economic orthodoxy. Strangely, however, the analysis has not yet been applied explicitly to the explanation of long-term asset holdings that include claims denominated in foreign currency. ' The present paper fills this gap and yields some interesting results. First, the international diversification of portfolios is the source of an entirely new kind of world welfare gains from international economic relations, different from both the traditional "gains from trade" and increased productivity flowing from the migration of the factors of production. This specific theoretical proposition is illustrated with some calculations based on empirical data drawing on ex post realized rates of return from investment in 11 major stock markets of the world. Second, the theoretical model shows that international capital movements are a function not only of interest rate differentials but also of rates of growth in total asset holdings in two countries. As a result, capital may flow between countries when interest rate differentials are zero or negative and may not flow when a positive interest differential exists. Third, the analysis has some important policy implications in a growing world where monetary and fiscal policies are mixed to achieve internal and external balance.
Generalizing Representations of Lexical Semantic Relations

English. We propose a new method for unsupervised learning of embeddings for lexical relations in word pairs. The model is trained on predicting the contexts in which a word pair appears together in corpora, then generalized to account for new and unseen word pairs. This allows us to overcome the data sparsity issues inherent in existing relation embedding learning setups without the need to go back to the corpora to collect additional data for new pairs. Italiano. Proponiamo un nuovo metodo per l’apprendimento non supervisionato delle rappresentazioni delle relazioni lessicali fra coppie di parole (word pair embeddings). Il modello viene allenato a prevedere i contesti in cui compare uns coppia di parole, e successivamente viene generalizzato a coppie di parole nuove o non attestate. Questo ci consente di superare i problemi dovuti alla scarsità di dati tipica dei sistemi di apprendimento di rappresentazioni, senza la necessità di tornare ai corpora per raccogliere dati per nuove coppie di parole.
Mass changes in Arctic ice caps and glaciers: implications of regionalizing elevation changes

Abstract. The mass balance of glaciers and ice caps is sensitive to changing climate conditions. The mass changes derived in this study are determined from elevation changes derived measured by the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) for the time period 2003–2009. Four methods, based on interpolation and extrapolation, are used to regionalize these elevation changes to areas without satellite coverage. A constant density assumption is then applied to estimate the mass change by integrating over the entire glaciated region. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the sensitivity of the regional mass balance of Arctic ice caps and glaciers to different regionalization schemes. The sensitivity analysis is based on studying the spread of mass changes and their associated errors, and the suitability of the different regionalization techniques is assessed through cross-validation. The cross-validation results shows comparable accuracies for all regionalization methods, but the inferred mass change in individual regions, such as Svalbard and Iceland, can vary up to 4 Gt a−1, which exceeds the estimated errors by roughly 50% for these regions. This study further finds that this spread in mass balance is connected to the magnitude of the elevation change variability. This indicates that care should be taken when choosing a regionalization method, especially for areas which exhibit large variability in elevation change.
Comparison of Social Skills between Students in Ordinary and Talented Schools

Social skills are considered one of the important factors in the success or failure of every individual in a society. Lack of research in this field along with its considerable significance motivated the present study. The present study presents a comparison of the social skills of students in ordinary schools and talented schools. The required data were collected using a standard questionnaire of students’ social skills assessment. The statistical sample of the present investigation comprised female high school students in the province of Alborz, in which 200 students were selected from eight ordinary schools and 8 exceptional talent schools through cluster sampling. The results showed that the students of talented schools are significantly higher in appropriate social skills and are overconfident, but no significant difference was observed in other components. Teaching the appropriate social skills and providing opportunities and experiences that increase social interactions allows students to practice and apply social strategies and skills in all environments and situations in life. © 2016 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy. org.uk
Effectiveness of Negative Pressure Dressing In Chronic Non Healing Wound

Management of chronic non healing wound is always a challenging problem to the treating surgeon. So many newer modalities are now available and all are under trial . Here we are comparing the effectiveness of vacuum assisted wound closure in management of chronic non healing wound. We found out its more effective in granulation tissue formation and to reduce the bacterial overload and also it considerably reduced the incidence of amputation rate also.
Methods in Agricultural Economics : How Useful

Economics traditionally has been defined as outside the purview of controlled experimentation. These words from a first-year graduate textbook are typical: “Economics is a non-experimental science . , [in economics there is] a lack of controlled experimentation” (Kennedy, p. 7 and p. 1), Economists generally estimate or infer demand and supply on the basis of variations in market prices and quantities sold, This inference is necessary because economists cannot observe directly the relationships that govern demand and supply. Sometimes there are problems with available market data. One problem is confounding by extraneous variables. Econometric control to account for this confounding is limited by what we think those extraneous variables are. Another problem is that records sometimes are not kept for market data of interest, and it often is difficult or expensive to collect the relevant data. Market data just are not much help for many interesting questions. For example, economists’ more sophisticated models have subtle behavioral assumptions for which “natural” markets provide little evidence (either pro or con), Agricultural and resource economists increasingly are asked for in-
Long-Term Changes of Greenhouse Gases in the Ocean and Their Feedback Effects on the Climate

western and eastern sides of the North Pacific (e.g., Watanabe et al. 2003), which were superimposed on decadal oscillation. However, each study was based only on a time series of a local fixed observation point, and/or the composite of different qualitative data sets with large systematic errors. Thus, it is difficult to comprehend quantitatively all the biogeochemical changes throughout the entire polar/ subpolar region, and to clarify the consequent factors causing a biogeochemical impact such as the imbalance of nitrogen and/or carbon in the ocean. The integrative analysis derived from a time series of several fixed observation points is necessary. Here we have focused on several time series data sets covering the North Pacific region, and have tried to integrate them in order to clarify the possibili ty of biogeochemical change such as a shift of biological species. In addition, according to these biogeophysical decadal changes in the North Pacific, it is important to clarify whether the feedback systems to the climate changes work or not. Therefore, we tried to construct a spatiotemporal algorithm of several properties as feedback Long-Term Changes of Greenhouse Gases in the Ocean and Their Feedback Effects on the Climate
Handwritten zip code recognition with multilayer networks

An application of back-propagation networks to handwritten zip code recognition is presented. Minimal preprocessing of the data is required, but the architecture of the network is highly constrained and specifically designed for the task. The input of the network consists of size-normalized images of isolated digits. The performance on zip code digits provided by the US Postal Service is 92% recognition, 1% substitution, and 7% rejects. Structured neural networks can be viewed as statistical methods with structure which bridge the gap between purely statistical and purely structural methods. <<ETX>>
Selenium Toxicity in the Early Life Stages of African Catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell)

Embryos of four stages of development and the newly hatched larvae of Clarias gariepinus (Burchell) were exposed to sublethal concentrations of selenium (0.5 - 10 µg/ml) to establish the toxic levels at different stages. Embryo mortality was negligible at all selenium concentrations. Following hatching, mortality among the larvae sharply increased at concentration of 3 µg/ml or greater irrespective of the embryonic at the time of exposure stage. For most treatment over 90% of the larvae died within 10 days of hatching. The mortality rate for larvae exposed to selenium after hatching was slightly less.
A Study on Fish Marketing System in Swarighat, Dhaka, Bangladesh

The study was conducted at fish marketing system in Swarighat, Dhaka, attempts to study of existing marketing system, economic features of marketing activities and inefficiencies. This paper attempts to identify infrastructure facilities, present market structure, nature of costs, profit margins and the factor influence the marketing system. In Swarighat, almost all fish traded internally move through the privet sector where a large number of people are dealing with fish distribution and marketing system. The market chain from producers to retailers goes onward through a number of intermediaries: traders, broker, aratdar, wholesalers, mahajans, and dadondars. On the basis of a sample of 20 traders from the market, the usual amount of the daily turnover of fish in this market is between Tk 2.5 and 3 million and the volume varies relying on the variation in catches during peak or off-season. Virtually most of the fish (Near about 60%) is locally supplied, near about 40% brings in from all over the country including Cox's Bazar, Teknaf, Chittagong, Mohangang, Chandpur, Barisal, Kuliarchar, Jessor and Satkhira, Khulna, Bicrompur, Mymensingh. The marine fish supply and freshwater fish supply amount is near about 20% and 80% respectively. It is estimated that near about 15% of fish supplied in markets is Indian major carps, 10% exotic carps, 5% other carps, 25% hilsa, 10% catfish, 5% snake-heads, 3%live-fish, 5% small indigenous fish, 7% prawn and shrimp, 5% tilapia and 10% others including small chingri and marine fishes. Market structure, species quality, size and weight have an influence on the price of fish and it was obtained from the survey that the price of fish increases per kilogram with size and species wise. A great amount of profit is made by all traders in the market in a successful manner. (Nature and Science 2010;8(12):96-103) (ISSN: 1545-0740).
Evaluation of the effects of underlying surface change on catchment hydrological response using the HEC-HMS model

Abstract. Due to rapid population growth, China, and urbanization, the Dongwan catchment, with a drainage area of 2856 km 2 and located in Henan Province, has been subjected to considerable land-use changes since the 1990s. Distributed or semi-distributed models have been widely used in catchment hydrological modeling, along with the rapid development of computer and GIS technologies. The objective of this study is to assess the impact of underlying surface change on catchment hydrological response using the Hydrologic Engineering Center's Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS), which is a distributed hydrological model. Specifically, 21 flood events were selected for calibrating and validating the model parameters. The satisfactory results show that the HEC-HMS model can be used to simulate the rainfall–runoff response in the Dongwan catchment. In light of the analyses of simulation results, it is shown that the flood peaks and runoff yields after 1990 moderately decrease in comparison with that before 1990 at the same precipitation level. It is also indicated that the underlying surface change leads to the increased flood storage capacity after 1990 in this region.
STUDIES ON LARVICIDAL ACTIVITY OF LEUCAS ASPERA, VITEX NEGUNDO AND EUCALYPTUS AGAINST CULEX QUINQUEFASCIATUS COLLECTED FROM COOVUM RIVER OF CHENNAI, INDIA

Crude leaf extracts of Leucas aspera,Vitex negundo and Eucalyptus were tested for their larvicidal activity against Culex quinquefasciatus. There are four different solvents were used (Petroleum ether, Water, Acetone and Ethyl acetate) for the preparation of crude extracts from the plant leaves. The larval mortality of second and third instar larvae C. quinquefasciatus after 24 hour to 72 hour of treatment were observed separately in control, 125, 250, 500, and 1000 ppm concentrations of the leaf extract. The four different solvent extract of Vitex negundo showed good larvicidal activity. The highest mortality percentage of mosquito larvae was observed in 1% concentration of crude extracts. No mortality was observed in control. ANOVA for mortality percentage of mosquito larvae in different concentration and different solvent shows significant different at 5% level.