Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Grammar efficiency in the Development of Flexible Parts-of-Speech Systems

Abstract SMIT (2007) discusses the possibility that Hengeveld’s parts-of-speech systems of types 1-4, when viewed diachronically, represent stages of a dynamic development with intermediate types as transition stages. In the present paper, grammar efficiency is calculated for each stage of this development. The results are analogous to those observed in other syntactic changes. This confirms the plausibility of the suggested diachronic development
Multi-level Governance and Administrative Capacity in Europe's Regional Policy: A Case Study on the LEADER Initiative in the Mezzogiorno Region of Puglia. March 2012

Today's European Union counts 27 Member States and presents high levels of infra-state and between-regions disparities. Already in 1988, reigning Commission's President Jacques Delors proposed a new Reform of Regional Policy which had as its main objectives “economic and social cohesion” and the reduction of “disparities between the level of development of the various regions” (Article 158 of the EU Treaty). Also, the Reform supported a series of innovations in the delegation of power between higher and lower level authorities, thus building a new system of governance. This thesis encompasses the major changes in governance and administrative capacity introduced by the 1988 Reform. Also, it investigates these changes in a case study of a Southern Italian agency implementing the LEADER initiative. The LEADER initiative has a local rural character and represents only a small portion of the overall funds deployed for Regional Policy. Yet, it incorporates all the main features of the European policy's innovations of the last 20 years. However, It is hard to provide a long-term assessment of outcomes of Regional Policies and it is hard to define strict cause-effect relations between interventions and outputs. In the final part of this study, it will be shown that sub-level authorities have not yet adapted their administrative capacity in an effective way capable of generating sustainable economic development.
An Investigation into the Effectiveness of the Adopted Strategies through Dynamic Assessment and Their Comparison with Reference to Washback Effect

Abstract. In the current climate of testing practices, language assessment is expected to serve the purposes of testing and teaching alike. This ambition is most pronounced in Dynamic Assessment (DA), which consists in using a number of strategies during assessment, ranging from simple hints and prompts to detailed explanations. The present study aimed to specify, besides the effectiveness of the strategies, whether they affect learning equally and which one has the most positive effect on learning comparing others. To this end, using a pre-experimental research design, and applying a test–teach–retest paradigm, consistent with the interventionist approach to DA, intervention (teaching strategies) was performed in six phases in a group of 30 elementary students, who were randomly selected, to specify the effectiveness of the strategies. In the seventh session, employing a true-experimental design, 15 students received detailed score reporting as one of the strategies supposed to have positive washback effect while the other 15 students were provided with other strategies (simple hints and different prompts). The analysis of t-tests indicated that all learners made score gains in posttests in all phases, however, the experimental group, who received detailed description of the test, benefited significantly compared to the control group, who received other strategies. As the strategies used during dynamic assessment and consequences of detailed score reporting can be beneficial for both testers and learners, this type of assessment and the given strategy is recommended. This study further discusses the significance of the findings in the context of testing and learning.
FAULTS DETECTION AND ISOLATION FOR DESCRIPTOR SYSTEMS WITH H ∞ OPTIMIZATION OF EXOGENOUS DISTURBANCES EFFECTS

Taking into account some previous results on faults detection and isolation (FDI) problem for continuous linear descriptor systems subject to faults and exogenous disturbances, an idea to extend the acceptable performance index to less strong assumptions involving exogenous disturbances is presented. This idea is based on a LMI characterization which allows to minimize the H∞ norm associated to transfer matrix from exogenous disturbances to estimated faults. Furthermore, as in previous results, some fundamental conditions for existence of two observer structures, one used to residual generation, and another used for faults reconstruction/isolation are established. These conditions, presented on two phases, are focused respectively on two Sylvester equations. If desired, some conditions for numerical conditioning optimization can be added. An eigenstructure assignment algorithm to design the desired FDI system is presented. Keywords— Descriptor Systems, Fault Detection and Isolation (FDI), Disturbance effects minimization, Observers, Sylvester equation.
Age and Time to Pregnancy for the First Child among Couples in Japan

Previous studies have reported the highest fecundability (monthly probability of conception) in women aged 20 to their early 30s, and declining fecundability with age. To better understand the age pattern of fecundability in Japanese couples we use time to pregnancy (TTP) to estimate conception probabilities by age. A total of 6,752 women aged 20-44 years residing across Japan completed a questionnaire on TTP, number of months between discontinuing contraception and conception for the first child. The analytic sample was n=1,324 women who had discontinued contraception within 60 months before the survey to conceive their first child. Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to estimate fecundability ratios (FR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) by couple’s age. Compared with women aged 24-26 years, women aged 27 or older showed a significantly lower FR. Advanced age of men was also associated with decreased FR. Cumulative probability of conception at 12 months after discontinuing contraception was highest for women aged 24-26 years, i.e. 80% (95% CI: 75%, 84%), and it was lower for higher ages, e.g. 66% (95% CI: 61%, 71%) at ages 30-32 and 48% (95%CI: 39%, 55%) at ages 36-38. Age effects on fecundability were less pronounced for parous compared to nulliparous women, and nulliparous women tended to be older and more likely to seek fertility assistance. Thus it is not just age effects but other, as yet unclear, factors are also likely to be contributing to low fertility in Japan.
Using Internet on the Way of Scientific Literacy

In recent education reform policies of different countries, scientific literacy was set as the national goal for science education. Understanding how science itself and scientists really work, in other words, understanding the nature of science is necessary to reach the desired scientific literacy level. Students also need to understand the components of nature of science such as scientific inquiry to reach that literacy level. Importance of understanding the nature of science with all components was explained by the prior research studies as follows.
Generating Red-Edge Images at 3 M Spatial Resolution by Fusing Sentinel-2 and Planet Satellite Products

High-resolution satellite images can be used to some extent to mitigate the mixed-pixel problem caused by the lack of intensive production, farmland fragmentation, and the uneven growth of field crops in developing countries. Specifically, red-edge (RE) satellite images can be used in this context to reduce the influence of soil background at early stages as well as saturation due to crop leaf area index (LAI) at later stages. However, the availability of high-resolution RE satellite image products for research and application globally remains limited. This study uses the weight-and-unmixing algorithm as well as the SUPer-REsolution for multi-spectral Multi-resolution Estimation (Wu-SupReME) approach to combine the advantages of Sentinel-2 spectral and Planet spatial resolution and generate a high-resolution RE product. The resultant fused image is highly correlated (R2 > 0.98) with Sentinel-2 image and clearly illustrates the persistent advantages of such products. This fused image was significantly more accurate than the originals when used to predict heterogeneous wheat LAI and therefore clearly illustrated the persistence of Sentinel-2 spectral and Planet spatial advantage, which indirectly proved that the fusion methodology of generating high-resolution red-edge products from Planet and Sentinel-2 images is possible. This study provided method reference for multi-source data fusion and image product for accurate parameter inversion in quantitative remote sensing of vegetation.
A Low Power SRAM Cell with High Read Stability

In this paper, a 9T static random access memory (SRAM) cell design which consumes less dynamic power and has high read stability is proposed. In conventional six transistor (6T) SRAM cell, read stability is very low due to the voltage division between the access and driver transistors during read operation. Existing 9T SRAM cell design increases the read static noise margin (SNM) by twice as compared to conventional 6T SRAM cell by completely isolating the bit-lines during the read operation. But the write operation is performed in this cell, by charging/discharging of large bit line capacitances causing 22.5% increase in dynamic power consumption. In the proposed technique, the SRAM cell utilizes charging/discharging of a single bit-line (BL) during write operation, resulting in reduction of dynamic power consumption by 45% as compared to a conventional 6T SRAM cell while the read SNM is also maintained at twice the read SNM of the conventional 6T SRAM cell. All simulations of the proposed 9T SRAM cellhas been carried out in 0.13 ¹m CMOS technology.
undermatch among high-attaining disadvantaged students ∗

Are disadvantaged students more likely to undermatch in higher education? We consider this question using detailed administrative records from schools, universities, and tax authorities in England. We develop two new continuous measures of student-course match quality. First, we compare each student’s position on the age 18 test score distribution with that of their university-course peers, examining whether high-attaining students match to courses with high-attaining peers. Second, we compare each student’s relative test score with the distribution of earnings of past students on their chosen course, examining whether high ability students match to courses with high returns. We find that high-attaining disadvantaged students are more likely to be undermatched than their more advantaged counterparts, particularly based on expected returns. There are indications that undermatched students tend to live in environments which are less conducive to academic success. JEL codes : I22, I23, I28
Quanti fi cation of L-band InSAR coherence over volcanic areas using LiDAR and in situ measurements

a Institut de physique du globe de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Université Paris Diderot, UMR CNRS 7154, Case 7071, 35-39 rue Hélène Brion, 75013 Paris, France b Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière, Laboratoire MATIS, 73 avenue de Paris, 94160 Saint Mandé, France c NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, M/S 300-243, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA d Consulat général de France à Shanghai, Service pour la science et la technologie, Haitong Securities Building, 2F, Suite 201, 689 Guangdong lu, 200001 Shanghai, China e Laboratoire Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution (ESE), CNRS AgroParisTech-UMR 8079, Bâtiment 362, Université de Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
2 Does Cooperation Impact Innovation in Rural , Low-Tech Regions ? 2 . 1

This paper assesses the extent to which cooperation impacts innovation performance of firms in rural regions characterized by a solid economic performance despite a low-technology industrial structure. Particular emphasis is placed on the spatial and functional dimension of cooperation. Generic results for the German region of Lower Bavaria show that firms do not profit primarily from R&D-intensive forms of cooperation, but that other forms of cooperation are more important for regional firms. For policymakers, this implies that an exclusive focus on R&D-based regional innovation policies may be neither appropriate nor sufficient for stimulating innovativeness in this type of region.
Effect of boundary conditions on microdamage initiation in thin-ply composite laminates

The Energy Release Rate (ERR) and the contact zone size for a fiber/matrix interface debond are studied for a thin-ply glass fiber/epoxy laminate. The main objective is to analyze the effect on the debonding process of the presence of a traction free specimen surface or an adjacent material, in the form of a stiffer UD ply or by considering it as part of a thick 90° layer, at different levels of fiber content. To this end, a model of Representative Volume Element (RVE) subjected to different combinations of boundary conditions is proposed. It is found that the constraining effect of the adjacent ply favors at high fiber volume fractions the opening of small debonds (10 − 40°) for the same level of strain. The results agree well and provide a mechanical explanation to previous microscopic observations available in the literature [4].
Value Relevance of Earnings , Book Value , Revenue , and R & D

This paper examines the valuation of the high-tech industries, especially those high-tech loss firms, during the 1990-1999 pre-2000 market melt-down and from 2000 to 2012 after the melt-down. We find evidence, within the high-tech sector, of the anomalous relation between negative earnings and stock prices as reported by earlier research. We also find evidence demonstrating the persistence of the anomalous price-earnings relation after adding book value of equity in the model. Within the high-tech sector, our test results reject the claim that the abnormal price-earnings relation is due to model misspecification (missing value relevant variables) and inclusion of book value into the valuation model eliminates the abnormal relation. Our empirical test results demonstrate that sales revenues and R&D expenses, instead of earnings and book value, are highly value relevant in the valuation of high-tech firms, especially loss-making firms, both before and after year 2000 market crash.
PATTERN ANALYSIS OF KIDNEY DISEASES FOR DETECTION AND CLASSIFICATION USING ULTRASOUND B - MODE IMAGES

ABSTARCT Ultrasound imaging techniques play a crucial role in emergency diagnostic method. It is widely used due to its non invasive inexpensive availability and non radiation exposure. The main intention of this work is the automatic detection and classification of various diseases such as stone, cyst and cancer masses present in the pelvic region of the kidney. For this research work three main methods are proposed. The first method employs the detection of kidney diseases using Viola Jones incorporated with HOG, Haar, and LBP features. The second method is feature extraction using scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) and Speeded-up Robust Feature (SURF). The final method is the modeling of various kidney diseases using Support Vector Machine (SVM). The overall detection rate of detected kidney diseases using HOG with Adaboost classifier is 96.67%. The performance accuracy for the kidney disease classification using SVM with SIFT feature is 82.5% and SVM with SURF feature is 89.3 %.
Comparison of Two Ginkgo biloba L. Extracts on Oxidative Stress and Inflammation Markers in Human Endothelial Cells

Atherosclerosis is characterized by interaction between immune and vascular endothelial cells which is mediated by adhesion molecules occurring on the surface of the vascular endothelium leading to massive release of proinflammatory mediators. Ginkgo biloba L. (Ginkgoaceae) standardized extracts showing beneficial effects are commonly prepared by solvent extraction, and acetone is used according to the European Pharmacopoeia recommendations; the well-known Ginkgo biloba acetone extract EGb761® is the most clinically investigated. However, in some countries, the allowed amount of solvent is limited to ethanol, thus implying that the usage of a standardized Ginkgo biloba ethanol extract may be preferred in all those cases, such as for food supplements. The present paper investigates if ethanol and acetone extracts, with comparable standardization, may be considered comparable in terms of biological activity, focusing on the radical scavenging and anti-inflammatory activities. Both the extracts showed high inhibition of TNFα-induced VCAM-1 release (41.1-43.9 μg/mL), which was partly due to the NF-κB pathway impairment. Besides ROS decrease, cAMP increase following treatment with ginkgo extracts was addressed and proposed as further molecular mechanism responsible for the inhibition of endothelial E-selectin. No statistical difference was observed between the extracts. The present study demonstrates for the first time that ethanol and acetone extracts show comparable biological activities in human endothelial cell, thus providing new insights into the usage of ethanol extracts in those countries where restrictions in amount of acetone are present.
Overeducation in the labour market: evidence from Brazil

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the prevalence of educational mismatch and its effects on wages in Brazil using a large employer-employee dataset. I find that half of the Brazilian labour market is mismatched, with similar proportions of over- and undereducated. Overeducated (undereducated) workers earn significantly lower (higher) than their co-workers who hold a well-matched job, and the penalty for overeducation is the same as the premium for undereducation. Moreover, the overeducation penalty is about half of the premium for going to university. Further, given the symmetry of the mismatch correcting it yields small effects on aggregate wages.
Reducing Prejudice and Increasing Prosociality

Does Buddhism really promote tolerance? Based on cross-cultural and cross-religious evidence, we hypothesized that Buddhist concepts, possibly differing from Christian concepts, activate not only prosociality but also tolerance. Subliminally priming Buddhist concepts, compared to neutral or Christian concepts, decreased explicit prejudice against ethnic, ideological, and moral outgroups among Western Buddhists who valued universalism (Experiment 1, N = 116). It also increased spontaneous prosociality, and decreased, among low authoritarians or high universalists, implicit religious and ethnic prejudice among Westerners of Christian background (Experiment 2, N = 128) and Taiwanese of Buddhist/Taoist background (Experiment 3, N = 122). Increased compassion and tolerance of contradiction occasionally mediated some of the effects. The general idea that religion promotes (ingroup) prosociality and outgroup prejudice, based on research in monotheistic contexts, lacks cross-cultural sensitivity; Buddhist concepts activate extended prosociality and tolerance of outgroups, at least among those with socio-cognitive and moral openness.
gRoWTH INTERACTIoNS BETWEEN THE BLooM-FoRMINg DINoFLAgELLATES

33 Thalassas, 30(2) · June 2014 ABSTRACT Growth interactions between Prorocentrum donghaiense and Karenia mikimotoi, which are major harmful algal blooms (HABs) species in the East China Sea (ECS), were investigated by using bi-algal cultures under different temperatures. When the culture temperature was 16 °C, the growth of P. donghaiense and K. mikimotoi in bi-algal cultures had influence or no influence on each other when the cell density ratio (P. donghaiense : K. mikimotoi) was 2:1 or 1:1, P. donghaiense was not affected by K. mikimotoi and K. mikimotoi was affected by P. donghaiense when the cell density ratio was 1:2 and just the opposite result when the cell density ratio was 1:4. When the culture temperature was 20 °C, the growth of K. mikimotoi was suppressed by P. donghaiense in bi-algal cultures under the case that the initial density ratios were 2:1 and 1:1, two microalgae had no influence on each other when the cell density ratio was 1:2 and the growth of P. donghaiense was suppressed by K. mikimotoi when the cell density ratio was 1:4. When the culture temperature was 24 °C, the growth of P. donghaiense was suppressed by K. mikimotoi under all initial density ratios and P. donghaiense cannot survive in bi-algal cultures when the initial cell density ratio was 1:4, the growth of K. mikimotoi was not suppressed by P. donghaiense under the case that the initial density ratios were 1:1, 1:2 and 1:4. When the culture temperature was 28 °C, the growth of P. donghaiense and K. mikimotoi had no influence on each other when the cell density ratios were 2:1 and 1:1, P. donghaiense cannot survive in bi-algal cultures when the initial cell density ratios were 1:2 and 1:4. In a word, P. donghaiense has a survivial strategy that is superior to that of K. mikimotoi in bi-algal cultures at low temperature (16 °C and 20 °C), K. mikimotoi has a survivial strategy that is superior to that of P. donghaiense in bi-algal cultures at higher temperature (24 °C and 28 °C) and K. mikimotoi became dominant when the initial cell density ratio was 1:4 under four temperatures. The results showed that the culture temperature and the initial cell density play key roles in the growth interactions between P. donghaiense and K. mikimotoi.
Analysis of Syntactic Complexity and L2 Proficiency in Efl Writing

The present study examines differences in syntactic complexity in English writing among advanced and upper intermediate undergraduates by means of quantitative measures of syntactic complexity. Participants were 200 Spanish undergraduates enrolled in a Degree in English Studies. A total of 101 students had an intermediate level (B1 level according to the CEFR) and 99 had an upper intermediate level (B2 level according to the CEFR). Essays were evaluated by quantitative measures gauging different aspects of L2 complexity. Results indicate that the complexity measures chosen can capture significant differences in writing proficiency when comparing different proficiency levels. The scores on the general quality of the writings and on all syntactic complexity measures increased from B1 to B2 and for all complexity measures the increase was statistically significant.
The Value Relevance of Fair Value Financial Assets During and After the 2008 Financial Crisis : Evidence from the Banking Industry

Statement of Financial Accounting Standard 157 defines a hierarchy of three levels for reporting the fair of financial assets. In this paper we examine value relevance of the three levels of fair value assets and of nonfair value assets during the financial crisis of 2008-2009 and compare the results to the value relevance during the normal economic period of 2012-2013. Using quarterly data from the banking industry we find that, first, although both fair value disclosure and non-fair value disclosure provide investors with decision-related information, the value relevance of fair value assets is slightly greater than value relevance of non-fair value assets, and this difference is larger during recession period. Second, the value relevance of Level 3 financial assets, which are computed using the greatest amount of management discretion, is lower than the value relevance of Level 1 and Level 2 financial assets, and lower than the value relevance of non-financial assets. This result is true in the recession period and the normal economic period. Finally, corporate governance appears to have a positive impact on bank stock prices, and fair value disclosure is more useful for firms with weak corporate governance.