Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PROBLEMS IN THE STONE AGE OF THAILAND

Thai prehistory is facing both a difficult and exciting moment. Exciting because of the amount of new research and associa ted discoveries, and difficult because of the challenges involved in adjusting the existing framework of data . Recent years have seen a considerable increase in the amount of work on the stone age in Thailand: with the d iscovery of new sites and material the old picture of a rela tively s tatic lithic technology spanning the Pleis tocene and ea rly Holocene must be reviewed . Discoveries elsewhere in Southeast Asia make the need for review all the more urgent.
A Critical Review on Micro-financing of Small Businesses in Kenya

The Small business sector has continued to play an important role in the Kenyan Economy. The sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased from 13.8% in 1993 to over 18% in 1999. The Economic survey of 2012 estimated that the contribution to the GDP of this sector currently stands at over 25%. It is the objective of every small business to grow into large enterprises. This paper seeks to identify the impact of Micro financing on Small Business Enterprises in Kenya. Specifically, this study proposes to establish the impact of Microfinance institutions (MFI’s) on Kenyan Small and Medium Enterprises, to establish the products offered by MFI’s to Kenyan small and medium enterprises and to establish why some customers are dropping off MFI’s. The provision of financial services, especially credit plays an important role in the development of the economy. From the relevant studies done in this area and the accompanying literature review, Micro finance organizations provide financial services to their clients (small scale entrepreneurs), such as savings and credit services to finance their new business startups in order to engage in productive economic activities and thus contribute to the development in low income population. Thus, their growth has been attributed to the availability of micro credit opportunities in the country. It can thus be concluded that micro finance services have a major effect on the growth of Small businesses in Kenya. This concurs with Koech (2011) that the factors affecting growth Small businesses were capital markets, cost, capital access, collateral requirements, information access, capital management and cost of registration. Thus, micro finance services have made it possible for the poor to start small and medium enterprises in Kenya.
Using complexity estimates in aesthetic image classification

In recent years, the search for computational systems that classify images based on aesthetic properties has gained momentum. Such systems have a wide range of potential applications, including image search, organization, acquisition and generation. This work explores the use of complexity estimates to predict the aesthetic merit of photographs. We use a set of image metrics and two different classifiers. Our approach classifies images gathered from a photography web site, attempting to reproduce the evaluation made by a group of users. For this purpose, we use complexity estimate metrics based on the encoding size and compression error of JPEG and fractal compression, which are applied to the original value channel and to the images resulting from applying Sobel and Canny filters to this channel. By employing these estimates, in conjunction with the average and standard deviation of the value channel, i.e., 20 features, a success rate of 74.59% was attained. Using the three most influential features yields a success rate of 71.34%, which is competitive with the best results reported in the literature, 71.44%, using the same dataset.
Long-Lived Heavy Quarks: A Review

We review the theoretical and experimental situation for long-lived heavy quarks, or bound states thereof, arising in simple extensions of the Standard Model. If these particles propagate large distances before their decay, they give rise to specific signatures requiring dedicated analysis methods. In particular, vector-like quarks with negligible couplings to the three known families could have eluded the past experimental searches. While most analyses assume prompt decays at the production vertex, novel heavy quarks might lead to signatures involving displaced vertices, new hadronic bound states, or decays happening outside of the detector acceptance. We perform reinterpretations of existing searches for short- and long-lived particles, and give suggestions on how to extend their reach to long-lived heavy quarks.
Pre / post-surgical investigation of some angiogenic factors related with cancer and obesity

Vessel formation is a process which starting with embryonic stage and is an ongoing process not only in a healthy state but also in disease states such as cancerogenous. Vessel formation, that is, angiogenesis, is caused by the sprouting of new blood vessels from endothelial precursor cells. Signal, may come from embryonic development, wound healing or the tumor cell (1). In adult organisms, angiogenesis is necessary for many processes such as wound healing, growth, sex hormone releasing and formation of vessel tissue during pregnancy (2,3). Also tissue hypoxia causes sprouting angiogenesis and budding of a new capillary sprout laterally from a preexisting vessel (4,5). Briefly vasculogenesis is de novo formation of blood vessels from endothelial cell procursors (6). The World Health Organization defines obesity as an accumulation of excess fat tissue that causes a risk to health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO 1998) (7), individuals with Body Mass Index (BMI) over 30 evaluates as obese. Overweight and obesity are seriously risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Once considered a problem only in high income countries, overweight and obesity are now dramatically on the rise in lowand middle-income countries, particularly in urban settings. The National Cancer Institute states that there is a strong relationship between elevated BMI in men and an increased risk of colerectal cancer. Obesity is also associated with increased risks of the Abstract
Effect of homogenisation on protein distribution and proteolysis during storage of indirectly heated UHT milk

Dans ce travail on compare les modifications des proteines de lactoserum et des caseines et la proteolyse pendant la conservation (120 jours) a 20 °C, dans du lait non-homogeneise et homogeneise (2 % matiere grasse), chauffe (137 °C, 4 s) dans une installation UHT indirect a l'echelle pilote. L'homogeneisation entrainait l'adsorption des caseines et des proteines de lactoserum a la membrane des globules gras, des changements morphologiques des micelles de caseine et donnait lieu a la formation de petites particules micellaires, difficilement sedimentables par centrifugation. L'homogeneisation occasionnait aussi la denaturation des proteines de lactoserum et ralentissait les reactions enzymatiques dependantes des activites proteinase, glycosidase et phosphatase residuelles. L'homogeneisation du lait avant le traitement UHT a conduit a des teneurs plus faibles en enzymes qui contribuent a la deterioration pendant la conservation, ce qui, associe a un accroissement de la formation de complexes entre la caseine-K et la β-lactoglobuline, peut etre la cause de la moindre degradation proteolytique observee.
Development of a bioenergetics model for humpback chub and evaluation of water temperature changes in the grand Canyon, Colorado River

Abstract The construction of Glen Canyon Dam above the Grand Canyon (Arizona) has reduced the water temperature in the Colorado River and altered the growth rate and feeding patterns of the federally endangered humpback chub Gila cypha. A bioenergetics model for humpback chub was developed and used to examine how warmer water temperatures in the lower Colorado River (achieved through a temperature control device [TCD] at Glen Canyon Dam) might influence their growth rate and food requirements. Parameter values for humpback chub were developed by Monte Carlo filtering and fitting to laboratory growth. Parameter bounds were established from the literature for Gila species, random parameter sets were selected within these bounds, and the growth of modeled humpback chub was compared with criteria from a laboratory growth experiment at 24°C. This method of parameter estimation could be applied to other imperiled fishes where physiological studies are impractical. Final parameter values were corroborated by com.
Technology Diffusion on the International Trade Network

Technological innovations generate knowledge spillovers—non-innovators benefit through the adoption, imitation, and extension of new technologies. International trade facilitates technology diffusion by providing importing countries access to technical knowledge that they can potentially internalize. Previous studies of the effect of trade on technology diffusion typically only consider the impact of direct (bilateral) trade on indirect measures of technology (e.g., total factor productivity). We contend that the analysis of trade's impact on technology diffusion would be more accurately assessed by using direct measures of specific technologies (e.g., intensity levels) and by allowing for the influence of both the direct and indirect effects of trade in the analysis. The latter is accomplished by modeling the international trade system as a weighted network, which quantifies both direct and indirect trade linkages. Combining trade data with data on the adoption of specific technologies, we find that the network effects of trade play a significant role in technology diffusion. In most cases, countries that are better-connected on the trade network have higher technology intensities. Further support for the importance of trade is provided by the finding that for “outdated” technologies, better-connected countries have lower technology intensities because of their adoption of newer, substitute technologies.
ESTIMATES OF THE UNDERGROUND ECONOMY IN MALAYSIA : THE CURRENCY DEMAND APPROACH IN DYNAMIC GENERAL EQUILBRIUM MODEL Eng

The purpose of present paper is to complement the conventional currency demand approach in the estimates of the size of underground economy by integrating it into a dynamic general equilibrium model. Our analysis demonstrated that it is not the current taxation burden that matters, but rather, it is the fiscal regime that affects both current and future taxation burdens that matters. Whether increasing current tax rates could have induced households to participate in underground activities depends on the path of government expenditure. Higher current tax rates along with a cut in government spending that signal a lower future tax burdens may indeed produce a smaller size of underground economy. On the flip side, lower current tax rates combined with increasing government spending that hint at greater future tax burdens could kick off a rising size of underground economy. We also uncover that the trend of the size of underground economy, after taking the fiscal condition into account, is in line with the existing literature on the role of underground economy as risk-sharing mechanism. After the adjustment for fiscal regime, we find that the size of underground economy in Malaysia, on general, is relatively smaller vis-à-vis the conventional measurement.
EV-SegNet: Semantic Segmentation for Event-Based Cameras

Event cameras, as Dynamic Vision Sensor (DVS), are very promising sensors which have shown several advantages over frame-based cameras. However, most recent works on real applications of these cameras are focused on 3D reconstruction and 6-DOF camera tracking. Deep learning based approaches, which are leading the state-of-the-art in visual recognition tasks, could potentially take advantage of the benefits of DVS, but some adaptations are needed still needed in order to effectively work on these cameras. This work introduces the first baseline for semantic segmentation with this kind of data. We build a semantic segmentation CNN based on state-of-the-art techniques which takes event information as the only input. Besides, we propose a novel representation for DVS data that outperforms previously used event representations for related tasks. Since there is no existing labeled dataset for this task, we propose how to automatically generate approximated semantic segmentation labels for some sequences of the DDD17 dataset, which we publish together with the model, and demonstrate they are valid to train a model for DVS data only. We compare our results on semantic segmentation from DVS data with results using corresponding grayscale images, demonstrating how they are complementary and worth combining.
On the Stock Market Variance-Return or Price Relations: A Tale of Fear and Euphoria

Stock market variance-return or price relations are sometimes negative and sometimes positive. We explain these puzzling findings using a model with two ("bad" and "good") variances. In the model, conditional equity premium depends positively on bad variance and negatively on good variance. Market prices, which correlate negatively with discount rates, decrease with bad variance and increase with good variance. Because market variance is the sum of bad and good variances, its relation to conditional equity premium or market prices can be negative or positive, depending on relative importance of two variances. Our empirical results support model's main implications.
DISCOVERY OF A SECOND TRANSIENT LOW-MASS X-RAY BINARY IN THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER NGC 6440

We have discovered a new transient low-mass X-ray binary, NGC 6440 X-2, with Chandra/ACIS, RXTE/PCA, and Swift/XRT observations of the globular cluster NGC 6440. The discovery outburst (2009 July 28–31) peaked at LX ∼ 1.5 × 1036 erg s−1 and lasted for <4 days above LX = 1035 erg s−1. Four other outbursts (2009 May 29–June 4, August 29–September 1, October 1–3, and October 28–31) have been observed with RXTE/PCA (identifying millisecond pulsations) and Swift/XRT (confirming a positional association with NGC 6440 X-2), with similar peak luminosities and decay times. Optical and infrared imaging did not detect a clear counterpart, with best limits of V>21, B>22 in quiescence from archival Hubble Space Telescope imaging, g′>22 during the August outburst from Gemini-South GMOS imaging, and J ≳ 18.5 and K ≳ 17 during the July outburst from CTIO 4 m ISPI imaging. Archival Chandra X-ray images of the core do not detect the quiescent counterpart (LX < (1–2) × 1031 erg s−1) and place a bolometric luminosity limit of LNS < 6 × 1031 erg s−1 (one of the lowest measured) for a hydrogen atmosphere neutron star. A short Chandra observation 10 days into quiescence found two photons at NGC 6440 X-2's position, suggesting enhanced quiescent emission at LX ∼ 6 × 1031 erg s−1. NGC 6440 X-2 currently shows the shortest recurrence time (∼31 days) of any known X-ray transient, although regular outbursts were not visible in the bulge scans before early 2009. Fast, low-luminosity transients like NGC 6440 X-2 may be easily missed by current X-ray monitoring.
Chemical composition and carbohydrate content of seeds from several lupin species

The chemical composition of mature whole seeds of six cultivars of yellow lupin (Lupinus luteus L.), three cultivars of white lupin (Lupinus albus L.) and two cultivars of narrow-leaved lupin (Lupinus angustifolius L.) was determined with particular attention to the content of a-galactosides and non-starch polysaccharides. a-Galactoside contents significantly differed among lupins, averaging (per kg DM) 105, 85 and 60 g in yellow, white and narrow-leaved lupins, respectively. Stachyose was the dominant a-galactoside; its level in seeds of yellow and white lupins was similar (about 60 g) and significantly higher than in seeds of narrow-leaved lupins (about 33 g). Opposite proportions of the minor a-galactosides, galactopinitol, digalactopinitol and digalactoinositol, were observed. The highest proportion of verbascose was found in the seeds of yellow lupins. Yellow lupins seeds contained significantly less non-starch polysaccharides (321 g) than other lupins (about 400 g). Glucose and galactose constituted the main part of NSP sugar residues (from 31 to 43% and from 31 to 32%, respectively). Considerable differences among species were found in the contents of rhamnose, xylose, galactose and uronic acids.
PriVeto: a fully private two-round veto protocol

In 2006, Hao and Zielinski presented a two-round veto protocol named anonymous veto network (AV-net), which is exceptionally efficient in terms of the number of rounds, computation and bandwidth usage. However, AV-net has two generic issues: (i) a participant who has submitted a veto can find out whether she is the only one who vetoed; (ii) the last participant who submits her input can pre-compute the Boolean-OR result before submission, and may amend her input based on that knowledge. These two issues generally apply to any multi-round veto protocol where participants commit their input in the last round. In this study, the authors propose a novel solution to address both issues within two rounds, which are the best possible round efficiency for a veto protocol. Their new private veto protocol, called PriVeto, has similar system complexities to AV-net, but it binds participants to their inputs in the very first round, eliminating the possibility of runtime changes to any of the inputs. At the end of the protocol, participants are strictly limited to learning nothing more than the output of the Boolean-OR function and their own inputs.
EMOTION SOCIALIZATION AS A MODERATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BEHAVIORAL INHIBTION AND PEER SOCIAL SKILLS by KIMBERLY

by KIMBERLY MARIE DUNBECK Behavioral Inhibition (BI) tendencies during infancy and early childhood have been consistently related to the development of anxiety, particularly social anxiety, later in life (Gladstone et al., 2005). Children high in BI tendencies are also more likely than those lower in BI to have negative peer interactions and poor social skills. The ability of a child to interact appropriately with their peers is associated with the child’s emotional understanding and emotion regulation ability (Calkins, 1994). A child’s understanding of emotional processes is partially based on a child’s emotion socialization which primarily occurs through parent-child interactions surrounding emotional situations. For instance, how parents react to their children’s expression of negative emotion is influential in the child’s understanding of emotion in social contexts (Eisenberg et al., 1999). The current study aimed to better understand how parent’s behaviors may influence the relationship between level of BI and social skills with peers.
Metric and Latticial Medians

This paper presents the -linked- notions of metric and latticial medians and it explains what is the median procedure for the consensus problems, in particular in the case of the aggregation of linear orders. First we consider the medians of a v-tuple of arbitrary or particular binary relations. Then we study in depth the difficult (in fact NP-difficult) problem of finding the median orders of a profile of linear orders. More generally, we consider the medians of v-tuples of elements of a semilattice and we describe the median semilattices, i.e. the semilattices were medians are easily computable.
Presence and diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in soil regularly irrigated with vinasses

The application of organic waste products, such as vinasses to the soil is a common practice in different countries. Vinasses are a residual liquid generated during various processes such as ethanol production and beverages distillation. However, little is known about how the vinasses affect the content and species distribution of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in soils irrigated with vinasses. The aim of this research was to determine the presence, spore density and taxonomic identification of AMF to assess in vinasses irrigated (VS) and unirrigated soils (CS). Sixteen species were identified in irrigated and unirrigated soils, with a predominance of Acaulospora mellea, A. scrobiculata, Funneliformis geosporum, F. mosseae and Paraglomus occultum. Only Clareidoglomus etunicatum, Septoglomus constrictum, and Racocetra gregaria were found in VS, while A. morrowiae and Scuttelospora reticulate were only found in CS. The AMF abundance, root colonization, richness and biodiversity indices were not affected by vinasses application. It was found that irrigation of soil with vinasses seemed to have only a limited effect on AMF. To our knowledge, this is the first description of the species of AMF present in soil frequently irrigated with vinasse. This study could serve as a base for further investigations into the effect of vinasse on the soil microbial community and crop yields.
The increased body mass index effect on declarative memory

Several lines of evidence suggest that being overweight or obese not only impacts the cardiovascular and respiratory systems but also exert a negative effect on the central nervous system. We examined the relationship between body mass index and cognitive performance in three groups of volunteers: obese (17 women; aged 59.88 ± 4.29; BMI 34.08 ± 2.31), overweight (35 women; aged 59.70 ± 4.68; BMI 27.87± 1.44), and normal body weight group (18 women; aged 64.5 ±4.84; BMI 23.53 ± 1.21). To evaluate the cognitive performance in our subjects we used face/name association test. Our data demonstrate that the increased body mass weight may have a negative effect on some cognitive function such as declarative memory.
New models to estimate costs of US farm programs

In this study, I extended the stochastic model built by Babcock and Paulson (2012) to conduct a one-year cost projection for crop insurance in order to investigate its feasibility of being solely provided by private firms. Based on the 52 yearsâ€™ yield data from 1961 to 2012, the risk consequences from insuring crop yield and revenue against losses are estimated to be far beyond what private insurers could bear on their own. However, reinsurance from the government provides an attractive incentive to insurance firms. Among the six insurance policies researched in this study, the minimum expected net underwriting gains to private firms with government reinsurance in 2013 was $289.9 million, which is about 9.30% of retained premiums. The maximum loss that firms could have borne in 2013 was $4.9 billion. In addition, the impact of a proposal to eliminate premium subsidy for the harvest price option is also estimated. The total savings for taxpayers are estimated to be $1.3 billion, which is about $400 million more than CBOâ€™s estimate in 2013, but only 67% of its estimate in 2015.Based on the three-crop competitive storage model initiated by Lence and Hayes (2002), I also develop a better approach for a multiple-year cost projection by modeling the demand shock as a random walk. This approach is capable of preserving the correlations between national yields and prices, maintaining the relationships among national, county and farm yields, retaining the spatial correlations of yields across crops, and incorporating inter-temporal price correlations as well. More importantly, this approach is capable of simulating price draws with a desired volatility pattern: increasing over time but at a slower rate than square root of time t, as stated in Lence, Hart and Hayes (2009). Preserving these correlations and price-related features are crucial in conducting precise cost estimations and valid policy analysis. My analysis shows that the payments from Price Loss Coverage (PLC) with its time-invariant fixed guarantees would be significantly underestimated if both the price serial correlation and the increasing, concave price volatilities are ignored. For Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO), their guarantees are adjusted to reflect market conditions so the difference in estimated payments is modest. An easy fix for estimating the cost of PLC is to inflate the price volatilities used to generate random prices for budget scoring purposes.