Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Method for Estimating the Relationship Between Phone Use and Wealth

We present a novel methodology for exploring the relationship between wealth and mobile phone use in developing countries. Using data from Rwanda, we show how the methodology can be used to predict the wealth of an individual using only information from that individual’s call records. The approach uses mixed methods and three distinct sources of data: anonymous call records obtained from the phone company; large household Living Standards and Measurement Surveys conducted by the government; and a short phone survey administered by the first author. The results presented in this paper are preliminary and intended primarily to encourage discussion and feedback. We therefore pay particular attention to the limitations of the current approach, and to possible improvements and directions for future work.
Working Paper 76 - Are Exports the Engine of Economic Growth? An Application of Cointegration and Causality Analysis for Egypt, 1977 - 2003

The paper examines the export-led growth (ELG) paradigm for Egypt, using historical data from 1977 to 2003. During this period, Egypt changed its economic philosophy from central planning and government intervention to one based on a free market economy. The paper employs a variety of analytical tools, including cointegration analysis, Granger causality tests, and unit root tests, coupled with vector auto regression (VAR) and impulse response function (IRF) analyses. The paper sets three hypotheses for testing the ELG paradigm for Egypt, (i) whether GDP, exports and imports are cointegrated, (ii) whether exports Granger cause growth, (iii) whether exports Granger cause investment. The paper fails to reject the first two hypotheses, while it fails to accept that exports Granger cause investment. In addition to the analysis of the 1977-2003 period, the paper looks briefly also at the impact of the economic reform undertaken in 1991, and weather the ELG hypothesis still holds during the 1991-2003 sub-period.
Mathematical modelling of heating uniformity for in-shell walnuts subjected to radio frequency treatments with intermittent stirrings

Non-uniform heating caused by the different orientations and locations of in-shell walnuts may be a major problem in developing a large-scale radio frequency (RF) treatment for postharvest phytosanitary and quarantine regulations in international trade. A mathematical model was developed based on normal distributions of walnut temperatures against frequency to study the influence of the number of RF units and intermittent stirrings on heating uniformity. The model was validated by experiments with a good accuracy. It was determined by experiments that the rise in standard deviation of walnut temperatures at any time during RF heating increased linearly with the rise in mean temperature. The ratio, defined as uniformity index, depends upon the design of a RF unit, and has a significant influence on the number of stirrings needed to achieve the desired insect mortality. For a uniformity index value of 0.165, a minimum of two stirrings was needed to meet the different desired temperature distributions for insect controls, such as the lowest temperature of 48 ◦C and mean temperature of 67 ◦C for a 99.9968% mortality or the lowest temperature of 50 ◦C and mean temperature of 64 ◦C for a 99.9% mortality. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Heat Transfer and Reconnection Diffusion in Turbulent Magnetized Plasmas

It is well known that magnetic fields constrain motions of charged particles, impeding the diffusion of charged particles perpendicular to magnetic field direction. This modification of transport processes is of vital importance for a wide variety of astrophysical processes including cosmic ray transport, transfer of heavy elements in the interstellar medium, star formation etc. Dealing with these processes one should keep in mind that in realistic astrophysical conditions magnetized fluids are turbulent. In this review we single out a single transport process, namely, heat transfer and consider how it occurs in the presence of the magnetized turbulence. We show that the ability of magnetic field lines to constantly change topology and connectivity is at the heart of the correct description of the 3D magnetic field stochasticity in turbulent fluids. This ability is ensured by fast magnetic reconnection in turbulent fluids and puts forward the concept of reconnection diffusion at the core of the physical picture of heat transfer in astrophysical plasmas. Appealing to reconnection diffusion we describe the ability of plasma to diffuse between different magnetized eddies explaining the advection of the heat by turbulence. Adopting the structure of magnetic field that follows from the modern understanding of MHD turbulence, we also discuss thermal conductivity that arises as electrons stream along stochastic magnetic field lines. We compare the effective heat transport that arise from the two processes and conclude that in many astrophysically-motivated cased eddy advection of heat dominates. Finally, we discuss the concepts of sub and superdiffusion and show that the subdiffusion requires rather restrictive settings. At the same time, accelerated diffusion or superdiffusion of heat is possible on the scales less than the injection scale of the turbulence.
Proposal Estimating Probability Distributions and their Properties

This thesis studies several theoretical problems in nonparametric statistics and machine learning, mostly in the areas of estimating or generating samples from a probability distribution, estimating a real-valued functional of a probability distribution, or testing a hypothesis about a probability distribution, using IID samples from that distribution. For distribution estimation, we consider a large, novel class of losses, under which high-dimensional nonparametric distribution estimation is more tractable than under the usual L2 loss. These losses have with connections with recent methods such as generative adversarial modelling, helping to explain why these methods appear to perform well at problems that are intractable from traditional perspectives of nonparametric statistics. Our work on density functional estimation focuses on several types of integral functionals, such as information theoretic quantities (entropies, mutual informations, and divergences), measures of smoothness, and measures of (dis)similarity between distributions, which play important roles as subroutines elsewhere in statistics, machine learning, and signal processing. Finally, we propose to study some applications of these density functional estimators to classical hypothesis testing problems such as two-sample (homogeneity) or (conditional) independence testing. A consistent theme is that, although traditional nonparametric density estimation is intractable in high-dimensions, several equally (or more) useful tasks are relatively more tractable, even with similar or weaker assumptions on the distribution.
Ethnobotanical and pharmaceutical evaluation of Capparis spinosa L, validity of local folk and Unani system of medicine

This paper describe ethnobotanical and pharmaceutical importance of Capparis spinosa L, (Capparidaceae) used by many local people since century under the traditional, Ayurvedeic, Chinese and Unani system of medicine. The present endeavour was, therefore, conducted during summer 2010 with the aim to document and prepare detail ethnobotanical inventory and pharmaceutical importance of C. spinosa and also to explore its agro-industrial potentialities for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Information’s about C. spinosa were collected through semi-structured interviews and discussion with the local elderly and experienced people up to age group 60 by using standard protocol. Additionally, all available literature on C. spinosa was reviewed and studied. The results showed that C. spinosa is a multipurpose plant and used for the curing of various human ailments including gastro-intestinal problems, strangury, inflammation, emmenagogue, anemia, liver dysfunction, rheumatism, antispasmodic analgesic; anthelmintic; antihaemorrhoidal; aperient; deobstruent; depurative; diuretic; expectorant; and general body tonic in indigenous, Ayurvedeic, Chinese and Unani system of medicines. The current study also documented that C. spinosa has peculiar aroma and therefore, used in pasta sauces, pizza, fish, meats and salads in many places. The young fruits and tender branch tips are used in pickled and also as a condiment agent. The study also revealed that the tender young shoots including immature small leaves are eaten as a vegetable. Additionally, ash from burned caper roots has been used as a source of salt in indigenous system. The present study concluded that C. spinosa is "Plant of the Millennium, has applications for the development of pharmaceutical and food industries and also possess agro-industrial potentialities. Therefore, sustainable utilization and exploration of C. spinosa is suggested for the socio-economic uplift of the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Key words: Capparis spinosa, pharmaceutical value, economic uses, traditional system of medicine, human ailments.
From Patching Delays to Infection Symptoms: Using Risk Profiles for an Early Discovery of Vulnerabilities Exploited in the Wild

At any given time there exist a large number of software vulnerabilities in our computing systems, but only a fraction of them are ultimately exploited in the wild. Advanced knowledge of which vulnerabilities are being or likely to be exploited would allow system administrators to prioritize patch deployments, enterprises to assess their security risk more precisely, and security companies to develop intrusion protection for those vulnerabilities. In this paper, we present a novel method based on the notion of community detection for early discovery of vulnerability exploits. Specifically, on one hand, we use symptomatic botnet data (in the form of a set of spam blacklists) to discover a community structure which reveals how similar Internet entities behave in terms of their malicious activities. On the other hand, we analyze the risk behavior of end-hosts through a set of patch deployment measurements that allow us to assess their risk to different vulnerabilities. The latter is then compared to the former to quantify whether the underlying risks are consistent with the observed global symptomatic community structure, which then allows us to statistically determine whether a given vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild. Our results show that by observing up to 10 days’ worth of data, we can successfully detect vulnerability exploitation with a true positive rate of 90% and a false positive rate of 10%. Our detection is shown to be much earlier than the standard discovery time records for most vulnerabilities. Experiments also demonstrate that our community based detection algorithm is robust against strategic adversaries.
Acceleration of individual, decimetre-sized aggregates in the lower coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

We present OSIRIS/NAC observations of decimetre-sized, likely ice-containing aggregates ejected from a confined region on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The images were obtained in January 2016 when the comet was at 2 AU from the Sun out-bound from perihelion. We measure the acceleration of individual aggregates through a two-hour image series. Approximately 50% of the aggregates are accelerated away from the nucleus, and 50% towards it, and likewise towards either horizontal direction. The accelerations are up to one order of magnitude stronger than local gravity, and are most simply explained by the combined effect of gas drag accelerating all aggregates upwards, and the recoil force from asymmetric outgassing, either from rotating aggregates with randomly oriented spin axes and sufficient thermal inertia to shift the temperature maximum away from an aggregate's subsolar region, or from aggregates with variable ice content. At least 10% of the aggregates will escape the gravity field of the nucleus and feed the comet's debris trail, while others may fall back to the surface and contribute to the deposits covering parts of the northern hemisphere. The rocket force plays a crucial role in pushing these aggregates back towards the surface. Our observations show the future back fall material in the process of ejection, and provide the first direct measurement of the acceleration of aggregates in the innermost coma (<2km) of a comet, where gas drag is still significant.
The cranial skeleton of the Early Permian aquatic reptile Mesosaurus tenuidens: implications for relationships and palaeobiology

The cranial osteology of the aquatic reptile Mesosaurus tenuidens is redescribed on the basis of new and previously examined materials from the Lower Permian of both southern Africa and South America. Mesosaurus is distinguished from other mesosaurs in exhibiting an absolutely larger skull and possessing relatively longer marginal teeth. The teeth gradually angle outwards as one progresses anteriorly in the tooth row and become conspicuously procumbent at the tip of the snout. The suggestion that mesosaurs used their conspicuous dental apparatus as a straining device for filter feeding is based upon erroneous reconstruction of a high number of teeth in this mesosaur. Reinterpretation of the morphology and the organization of the marginal teeth of Mesosaurus suggests that they were used to capture individually small, nektonic prey. General morphological aspects of the skull support the idea that Mesosaurus was an aquatic predator and that the skull was well adapted for feeding in an aqueous environment. The anatomical review permits critical reappraisal of several cranial characters that have appeared in recent phylogenetic analyses of early amniotes. Emendation of problematic characters and reanalysis of amniote phylogeny using a slightly modified data matrix from the literature strengthens the hypothesis that mesosaurs form a clade with millerettids, procolophonoids and pareiasaurs within Reptilia. © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2006, 146, 345–368.
A Maximum-Entropy Method to Estimate Discrete Distributions from Samples Ensuring Nonzero Probabilities

When constructing discrete (binned) distributions from samples of a data set, applications exist where it is desirable to assure that all bins of the sample distribution have nonzero probability. For example, if the sample distribution is part of a predictive model for which we require returning a response for the entire codomain, or if we use Kullback–Leibler divergence to measure the (dis-)agreement of the sample distribution and the original distribution of the variable, which, in the described case, is inconveniently infinite. Several sample-based distribution estimators exist which assure nonzero bin probability, such as adding one counter to each zero-probability bin of the sample histogram, adding a small probability to the sample pdf, smoothing methods such as Kernel-density smoothing, or Bayesian approaches based on the Dirichlet and Multinomial distribution. Here, we suggest and test an approach based on the Clopper–Pearson method, which makes use of the binominal distribution. Based on the sample distribution, confidence intervals for bin-occupation probability are calculated. The mean of each confidence interval is a strictly positive estimator of the true bin-occupation probability and is convergent with increasing sample size. For small samples, it converges towards a uniform distribution, i.e., the method effectively applies a maximum entropy approach. We apply this nonzero method and four alternative sample-based distribution estimators to a range of typical distributions (uniform, Dirac, normal, multimodal, and irregular) and measure the effect with Kullback–Leibler divergence. While the performance of each method strongly depends on the distribution type it is applied to, on average, and especially for small sample sizes, the nonzero, the simple “add one counter”, and the Bayesian Dirichlet-multinomial model show very similar behavior and perform best. We conclude that, when estimating distributions without an a priori idea of their shape, applying one of these methods is favorable.
Global Overview of Teak Plantations

Although teak has been grown in plantation conditions for one hundred and fifty years, the high value of teak timber due to its appearance and mechanical properties, the strong markets for teak products combined with increased distance to and declining stocks from natural stands have attracted increasing attention to the potential of teak plantations as an investment with an attractive return in the last decade. Such interest is not new; one of the early bodies established as a subsidiary of the FAO Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission in the 1950s was the “Teak sub-commission” with eleven member countries. Its aims, which were similar to those of the present TEAKNET, were to promote international collaboration in the study of all scientific, technical and economic aspects relating to teak and the issues discussed in those days were remarkably similar to those of today.
A SURVEY OF MOLECULAR HYDROGEN IN THE CRAB NEBULA

We have carried out a near-infrared, narrowband imaging survey of the Crab Nebula, in the H2 2.12 μm and Brγ 2.17 μm lines, using the Spartan Infrared camera on the SOAR Telescope. Over a 2. ′8 × 5. ′1 area that encompasses about 2/3 of the full visible extent of the Crab, we detect 55 knots that emit strongly in the H2 line. We catalog the observed properties of these knots. We show that they are in or next to the filaments that are seen in optical-passband emission lines. Comparison to Hubble Space Telescope [S ii] and [O iii] images shows that the H2 knots are strongly associated with compact regions of low-ionization gas. We also find evidence of many additional, fainter H2 features, both discrete knots and long streamers following gas that emits strongly in [S ii]. A pixel-by-pixel analysis shows that about 6% of the Crab's projected surface area has significant H2 emission that correlates with [S ii] emission. We measured radial velocities of the [S ii] λ6716 emission lines from 47 of the cataloged knots and find that most are on the far (receding) side of the nebula. We also detect Brγ emission. It is right at the limit of our survey, and our Brγ filter cuts off part of the expected velocity range. But clearly the Brγ emission has a quite different morphology than the H2 knots, following the long linear filaments that are seen in Hα and in [O iii] optical emission lines.
Are Risk Preferences Stable Across Contexts? Evidence from Insurance Data

Using a unique dataset, we test whether households' deductible choices in auto and home insurance reflect stable risk preferences. Our test relies on a structural model that assumes households are objective expected utility maximizers and claims are generated by household-coverage specific Poisson processes. We find that the hypothesis of stable risk preferences is rejected by the data. Our analysis suggests that many households exhibit greater risk aversion in their home deductible choices than their auto deductible choices. Our results are robust to several alternative modeling assumptions. (JEL D11, D83)
Surgical treatment of lung cancer invading chest wall: a retrospective analysis of 110 patients q

Objective : To retrospectively assess the results of surgical treatment in a consecutive series of 110 patients with Stage IIb and IIIa non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) invading chest wall. Methods : A series of 110 patients underwent surgery for Stage IIb and IIIa NSCLC with involvement of chest wall. There were 101 male and 9 female patients, mean age was 61.4 (range 32–74), 52 (47.3%) of them complaining for chest pain. Surgical procedures were pneumonectomy in seven patients (6.4%), lobectomy in 73 (66.4%), bi-lobectomy in six (5.4%) and wedge resection in 24 (21.8%). In 63 patients (57.3%) an extrapleural resection was performed while in the other 47 (42.7%) an ‘en bloc’ resection of tumor with chest wall was required. In 22 patients (76.3%) repair was achieved by muscle ﬂap while in 8 (26.7%) a prosthesis was required. Five-year survival was computed using the Kaplan–Meier method; P values correspond to the log-rank test. Results : There were neither intraoperative nor postoperative deaths. Postoperative staging revealed 83 T3N0M0, 17 T3N1M0 and 10 T3N2M0. Mean postoperative hospital stay was 17.7 days (range 5–40). For N0 patients 5 year survival was 47% (39/83) and no signiﬁcant difference was noted when extrapleural and ‘en bloc’ resection groups were compared ( P (cid:136) 0 : 08). In N1/N2 patients no survival was observed (0/27) and comparison between surgical procedures was not statistically signiﬁcant ( P (cid:136) 0 : 41). Moreover when N0 patients were compared with N1 patients the difference in survival was signiﬁcant for both extrapleural ( P (cid:136) 0 : 02) and ‘en bloc’ ( P (cid:136) 0 : 04) groups. No difference was noted when the two surgical procedures were compared independently form N status ( P (cid:136) 0 : 94). Within the group of patients undergone ‘en bloc’ resection survival was signiﬁcantly better for N0 patients as in the group of extrapleural resection. Conclusion : Surgical treatment of Stage IIb and IIIa NSCLC invading chest wall by extrapleural or ‘en bloc’ resection is widely adopted and justiﬁed by the good results in terms of morbidity and relief of pain. Survival is always depending on the N status. q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Records of species of the hippolytid genus Lebbeus White, 1847 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea) from hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean, with descriptions of three new species

Five species of the hippolytid shrimp genus Lebbeus White, 1847 are reported from various deep-water hydrothermal ventsites in the Pacific Ocean: L. laurentae Wicksten, 2010 from the East Pacific Rise 13°N; L. wera Ahyong, 2009 from theBrothers Seamount, Kermadec Ridge, New Zealand; L. pacmanus sp. nov. from the Manus Basin, Bismarck Sea; L. shinkaiae sp. nov. from the Okinawa Trough, Japan; and L. thermophilus sp. nov. from the Manus and Lau basins, south-western Pacific. Lebbeus laurentae is fully redescribed because the original and subsequent descriptions are not totallydetailed. Differentiating characters among the three new species and close allies are discussed. Previous records of Lebbeus species from hydrothermal vents are reviewed.
Contribution Neighborhood Poverty and Injection Cessation in a Sample of Injection Drug Users

Neighborhood socioeconomic environment may be a determinant of injection drug use cessation. The authors used data from a prospective cohort study of Baltimore City, Maryland, injection drug users assessed between 1990 and 2006. The study examined the relation between living in a poorer neighborhood and the probability of injection cessation among active injectors, independent of individual characteristics and while respecting the temporality of potential confounders, exposure, and outcome. Participants’ residences were geocoded, and the crude, adjusted, and inverse probability of exposure weighted associations between neighborhood poverty and injection drug use cessation were estimated. Weighted models showed a strong association between neighborhood poverty and injection drug use cessation; living in a neighborhood with fewer than 10%, compared with more than 30%, of residents in poverty was associated with a 44% increased odds of not injecting in the prior 6 months (odds ratio 1⁄4 1.44, 95% confidence interval: 1.14, 1.82). Results show that neighborhood environment may be an important determinant of drug injection behavior independent of individual-level characteristics.