Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identifying Monetary Policy Shocks: A Natural Language Approach *

This paper proposes a novel method for the identiﬁcation of monetary policy shocks. By applying natural language processing techniques to documents that staff economists at the Federal Reserve prepare for FOMC meetings, we capture the information set of the committee at the time of policy decisions. We verify econometrically that the language contains valuable information beyond what is incorporated in the staff’s numerical forecasts. Using machine learning techniques, we then predict changes in the target interest rate conditional on the committee’s information set and obtain a measure of monetary policy shocks as the residual. We ﬁnd that the dynamic responses of macro variables to our identiﬁed shocks are consistent with the theoretical consensus. A real-time application of our method interprets the 2022 rate hikes as almost entirely systematic.
CONTINGENT TRADE AGREEMENTS

How can trade motivate environmental conservation? I develop a model that combines trade-specific investments (e.g., deforestation) with environmental externalities. Traditional trade agreements raise investments and thus deforestation. Nevertheless, a contingent trade agreement (CTA), where default tariffs can vary with changes in the production capacity (e.g., forest cover), can be designed so as to motivate conservation. The model permits many products, countries, and collaborators. A simple calibration suggests that growth and liberalization can cause Brazil’s agricultural area to expand by 27%, but this expansion can be avoided if the EU and the US offer a CTA.
The Impact of Patriarchy on the Education of Mother-learners: A Phenomenological Study of Three Rural Schools in Namibia

This article investigates some of the constraining factors experienced by 16 school-going mothers in the Okalongo circuit, Namibia. This was a qualitative phenomenological study, conducted through in-depth individual interviews, focus group discussions, and reflective journals with 16 school-going mothers between the ages of 17 and 20, purposively selected from three different public rural schools. This qualitative, phenomenological study analyses, through feminist and intersectionality theory, the lived experiences of these young mothers as they encounter the traditional, patriarchal attitudes and practices of the Ovambadja community because these girls fell pregnant before their formal, cultural initiation. The article documents, through the voices of the young women themselves, the numerous constraints they experienced and overcame in their determination to complete their schooling. The findings show that, aside from the deeply held destructive patriarchal beliefs that significantly constrain and harm the mother-learners, the Namibian Learners Pregnancy Policy, which is intended to protect and ensure pregnant learners and mother-learners complete their schooling, is not being properly or effectively implemented. The study recommends an increase in efforts at the national level in Namibia to raise awareness among members of parliament, school administrators and principals, and all policymakers to develop better monitoring systems that will improve policy implementation in schools.
Financial Dollarization: E cient Intranational Risk Sharing or Prescription for Disaster?

A large literature focuses on the implications of the dollar for international risk sharing. In contrast, we find evidence that most of the risk sharing associated with the dollar is intranational rather than international. It is sometimes suggested that the insurance benefits of the dollar are undone by an increased risk of financial fragility. We display empirical evidence that this concern is over-stated. We develop a simple model formalizing our findings about the insurance role of the dollar, which is consistent with the key cross-country facts on interest rate di erentials, deposit dollarization and exchange rate depreciations in recessions. The opinions given here are our own and do not reflect the views of the Central Bank of Armenia. We appreciate the comments of Andrew Atkeson, Sena Coskun, Martin Eichenbaum, Ay e mrohoro lu, Luigi Iovino, Douglas Laxton, Karen Lewis and Emekcan Yucel, and we are particular grateful for guidance and feedback from Paul Castillo. We thank Lusine Torosyan for outstanding research assistance. We are also grateful to audiences at the 2018 International Monetary Fund conference hosted by the Central Bank of Armenia, “25 Years of Stability and Future Challenges”, the “13th Macro-Finance Society Conference” at Northwestern in 2018, the 2019 Cusco, Peru conference, “Exchange Rates, Monetary Policy and Frictions,” the 2019 Ischia conference, “Frontiers in Macroeconomic Research”, the 2019 Chicago Fed “Conference in Memory of Alejandro Justiniano”, the 2019 Minneapolis Fed Conference “Celebrating 50 years of partnership between the University of Minnesota and the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis”, the 2020 Econometric Society World Congress, the 2020 Summer Meetings of the European Economic Association, the 2020 Econometric Society World Congress meetings, the 2020 Economica Centenary Conference, the 2021 meetings of the Canadian Economic Association, the 2021 Econometric Society Winter Meetings, the 2021 ifo Dresden Workshop on Macroeconomics and International Finance, the 2021 Winter Meetings of the American Economic Association, the 2022 NBER conference on ‘Emerging and Frontier Markets’, in Cartagena, Colombia and the 2022 CEPR conference on ‘Emerging Markets Back in the Spotlight: Risks and Policy Options’, Johannesburg, South Africa. Dalgic gratefully acknowledges funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) through CRC TR 224 (Project C02). Northwestern University, University of Mannheim and Central Bank of Armenia
The Inclusion of Polysemes in Non-native English Textbooks: A Corpus-based Study

Despite the large number of studies conducted on polysemy, they mostly compare the different methods and techniques to learn a language and establish the extent to which particular sense relations facilitate the learning of second language vocabulary. To our best knowledge, no research has been conducted to determine whether or not polysemy is emphasized in non-native English textbooks. The objective of the present research was to determine the degree to which polysemy is incorporated in English textbooks. Thus, the research question guiding the current study is: To what extent is polysemy incorporated in non-native English textbooks? The study is a corpus-based research that used a data set of 500 words, i.e., 250 words from each of the two books, utilizing the Sketch Engine word list tool and concordance. The polysemy of the resulting words in the concordance lines generated was semantically annotated manually using WordNet and English dictionaries. The results indicated that polysemy is barely stressed in the textbooks under investigation. The study’s results have substantial implications for polysemy in particular and second or foreign language teaching in general
Essays in volatility modelling

This thesis mainly concerns some novel developments in volatility modelling. We first derive the diffusion limits of two recently proposed (discrete time) volatility models. Subsequently, we propose a new model that allows for conditional heteroskedasticity in the volatility of asset returns and incorporates current return information into the volatility nowcast and forecast. Our model can capture most stylised facts of asset returns even with Gaussian innovations and is simple to implement. Moreover, we show that our model converges weakly to the GARCH-type diffusion as the length of the discrete time intervals between observations goes to zero. Finally, we generalise our model and propose a new class of volatility models in which we can directly model the time-varying volatility of volatility. We also derive some statistical properties regarding this class of models. Empirical evidence shows that this class of models has better fits as well as more accurate volatility and VaR forecasts than other common GARCH-type models.
Perceptions, Satisfaction, and Barriers to Telemedicine Use: A Community-Based Study From Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Background Telemedicine has expanded significantly, driven by technology and the necessity for accessible healthcare. However, users’ knowledge, attitudes, and perceived barriers determine its application. This study aimed to assess these factors among patients in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Methodology We conducted a cross-sectional study on 403 participants from Ministry of Health centers in Jeddah from February to May 2023. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection, and subsequent analysis was performed using SPSS version 28.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Results Most participants (93.1%) agreed that telehealth services have improved healthcare accessibility and expressed willingness to participate in future telemedicine consultations. However, 73.7% felt potential embarrassment or discomfort due to camera and equipment presence. Remarkably, 76.2% of participants believed telemedicine suits all medical conditions, and 95% recommended its use. Barriers to telemedicine use were identified, including the need to travel to access healthcare services in the absence of telemedicine and the associated inconvenience and cost. The overall satisfaction score was 4.56 ± 0.78, with the highest satisfaction reported for the ability to talk freely over telemedicine (4.64 ± 0.76) and the ease of registration/scheduling (4.63 ± 0.82). Significant differences (p < 0.001) in satisfaction scores were found across various age groups, gender, nationality, employment status, and education level. Patients aged >55 years and those who used telemedicine services for the first time were associated with a significantly increased risk of poor satisfaction (odds ratio (OR) = 8.068, p = 0.011 and OR = 8.919, p = 0.005, respectively). Conclusions The findings suggest high satisfaction and positive attitudes toward telemedicine services in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, despite identifiable barriers such as potential discomfort from camera presence. Patient age and familiarity with telemedicine services significantly influenced satisfaction levels, indicating areas that require attention for the successful implementation and expansion of telemedicine in Saudi Arabia.
Physicochemical Characteristics of a Tropical Seasonal Water Body: Ikoro Stream, Edo State, Nigeria

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics of a tropical seasonal water body- Ikoro stream, Edo State, Nigeria using standard methods. The results obtained from the physical and chemical analyses showed that the range of values were: 23oC - 30oC for air temperature, 22oC - 29oC for water temperature, 1.28NTU - 14.48NTU for turbidity, 1mg/l - 10mg/l for total dissolved solid, 4.01 - 6.43 for pH, 2. 3µScm-1 - 21. 7µScm-1 for conductivity, 4.00mg/l - 13.00mg/l for dissolved oxygen, 0.005mg/l - 0.227mg/l for Sulphate, 0.004mg/l - 0.047mg/l for nitrate, 0.05mg/l - 0.15mg/l for phosphate, 0.49mg/l - 2.43mg/l for magnesium, 2.41mg/l - 8.02mg/l for calcium, 0.19mg/l - 8.71mg/l for ammonium, 14.3mg/l - 22.3mg/l for chloride, 1.33mg/l - 2.57mg/l for sodium, 0.76mg/l - 1.46mg/l for potassium, 10.18mg/l - 26.88mg/l for silicate, 18.30mg/l - 42.70mg/l for total alkalinity 2.90mg/l - 9.64mg/l for total hardness. The parameters fluctuated in all three stations throughout the period of study while only turbidity showed a seasonal pattern of increasing trend from dry season to rainy season. The stream had low nutrients level but high ammonium in one of the stations which clearly exceeded the WHO guideline for drinking water.
A Longitudinal Exploration of Sensemaking Strategies in Immersive Space to Think

—Existing research on immersive analytics to support the sensemaking process focuses on single-session sensemaking tasks. However, in the wild, sensemaking can take days or months to complete. In order to understand the full benefits of immersive analytic systems, we need to understand how immersive analytic systems provide flexibility for the dynamic nature of the sensemaking process. In our work, we build upon an existing immersive analytic system – Immersive Space to Think, to evaluate how immersive analytic systems can support longitudinal sensemaking tasks. We conducted a user study with eight participants with three separate analysis sessions each. We found significant differences between analysis strategies between sessions one, two, and three, which suggest that immersive space to think can benefit analysts during multiple stages in the sensemaking process.
Southern Hemisphere Extratropical Gravity Wave Sources and Intermittency Revealed by a Middle-Atmosphere General Circulation Model

AbstractSouthern Hemisphere extratropical gravity wave activity is examined using simulations from a free-running middle-atmosphere general circulation model called Kanto that contains no gravity wave parameterizations. The total absolute gravity wave momentum flux (MF) and its intermittency, diagnosed by the Gini coefficient, are examined during January and July. The MF and intermittency results calculated from the Kanto model agree well with results from satellite limb and superpressure balloon observations. The analysis of the Kanto model simulations indicates the following results. Nonorographic gravity waves are generated in Kanto in the frontal regions of extratropical depressions and around tropopause-level jets. Regions with lower (higher) intermittency in the July midstratosphere become more (less) intermittent by the mesosphere as a result of lower-level wave removal. The gravity wave intermittency is low and nearly homogeneous throughout the SH middle atmosphere during January. This indicates t.
New time-dependent WFC3 UVIS inverse sensitivities

We present new time-dependent WFC3 UVIS1 and UVIS2 inverse sensitivities for the 42 filters covering both detectors. The new values were calculated using photometry collected from 2009 to 2019 for five CALSPEC standards, the white dwarfs GRW+70 5824, GD 153, GD 71, G191B2B, and the G-type star P330E. Using these data, we compute sensitivity changes for each detector and filter and normalize the observed count rates of the standard stars to a reference time in 2009. The new set of inverse sensitivity values use new standard star models and an updated reference spectral energy distribution for Vega. By correcting for sensitivity changes with time, we derive improved detector sensitivity ratios and new encircled energy values for several filters. At the same time we update the inverse sensitivities for the 20 quad filters using the new models for the standard stars and Vega. However, for these filters no time-dependent sensitivity changes are calculated. The new inverse sensitivities provide a photometric internal precision better than 0.5% for wide-, medium-, and narrow-band filters, and 5% for quad filters, a considerable improvement from the latest 2017 calibration. The new time-dependent inverse sensitivities are populated as photometric keywords in the image headers as of October 15, 2020.
The pathogenesis of COVID-19: Hypercoagulation and D-dimer in thrombotic complications

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused a new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which is highly contagious and its pathogenesis has not been fully elucidated. In COVID-19, the inflammation and blood coagulation systems are excessively activated. SARS-CoV-2 damages endothelial cells and pneumocytes, which leads to disruption of hemostasis in SARS. Thromboembolism is the main cause of mortality in patients with COVID-19. Clots, including pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT), ranging from minor to fatal complications of the SARS-CoV-2 infection are known. Individuals with pre-existing diseases are more susceptible to the development of blood clots and poor outcomes. High levels of circulating cytokines and D-dimer (DD) are influential biomarkers of poor outcomes in COVID-19. The latter occurs as a result of hyperfibrinolysis and hypercoagulation. Plasmin is a key player in fibrinolysis and is involved in the cleavage of many viral envelope proteins, including SARS-CoV. Due to this function penetration of viruses into the host cell occurs. In addition, plasmin is involved in the pathophysiology of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in SARS and promotes the secretion of cytokines, such as IL-6 and TNF, from activated macrophages. The focus of existing treatment to alleviate fibrinolysis in patients with COVID-19 is the use of systemic fibrinolytic therapy given thrombotic pathology in severe forms of COVID-19 which may lead to death. However, fibrinolytic therapy may be harmful in the advanced stages of COVID-19, when the status of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) changes from suppressed fibrinolysis to its enhancement during the progression of the disease. This narrative review aims to elucidate the pathogenesis of COVID-19, which will further help in precise diagnosis and treatment. Take-home message: The COVID-19 virus disrupts haemostasis and thromboembolism by over activating the inflammation and blood coagulation systems. High levels of cytokines and D-dimer are indicators of pre-existing diseases and blood clots. Systemic fibrinolytic treatment can reduce severe fibrinolysis in COVID-19, which is caused by plasmin. In the late stages of DIC, when fibrinolysis increases, it may be dangerous. To improve therapy and results, understanding COVID-19 pathogenicity is critical. © 2023 by the authors.
PANCREATIC BODY AND TAIL CANCER: IS LAPAROSCOPIC SURGERY AN EFFECTIVE METHOD?

Background: Laparoscopic treatment of pancreas body and tail cancers is still a matter of debate. The aim of this study is to evaluate the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy (LDP) in pancreas cancer patients. Material & Methods: The data of 108 patients who underwent distal pancreatectomy for pancreatic cancer were evaluated. Patients were categorized into two groups by operation method: laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy [LDP; 35 cases] and open distal pancreatectomy [ODP; 73 cases]. Patient characteristics, surgical findings, shortand long-term results were compared. Results: The operation time was significantly shorter in ODP (p<0.001). The blood loss (100 ml [min-max: 50-800]) of the LDP was significantly lower than ODP (200 [min-max: 100-800]) (p<0.001). There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of postoperative complications. The median hospital stay (6 [min-max: 4-32]) was found to be significantly higher in ODP (p=0.024). Oncological findings (tumor size; harvested lymph node; metastatic lymph node; perineural invasion; lymphovascular invasion) of patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma were similar. There was no significant difference in the overall survival rates of the two groups (Log-rank=0.066; p=0.798). Conclusion: Although the preference of LDP in pancreatic cancer patients prolongs the operation time, it reduces hospital stay and blodd loss. Overall complication rates and oncologic outcomes appear to be similar. In conclusion, LDP is a feasible and safe method in pancreatic cancer patients.
The synergy between vacuum and electromagnetic fields in the treatment of striae distensae: retrospective study on 917 patients with clinical and histological case records

1Phlebology and Aesthetic Surgery, University of Siena, Italy; 2International School of Aesthetic Medicine of the Fatebenefratelli Foundation, Rome, Italy; 3Master in Aesthetic Medicine, Universities of Verona and ChietiPescara, Italy; 4Dermatologic Clinic, University of Pisa, Italy 5Aesthetic Medicine and Surgery, Benitez Aesthetic Clinic, Puerto Banús, Marbella, Spain; 6Department of Human Sciences, University Guglielmo Marconi, Roma, Italy; 7Knowledge and Management in Physiological Aging Medicine Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain; 8Aesthetic Medicine, Medicina Estetica Greco, Borgetto, Palermo, Italy; 9Aesthetic Medicine, MagMedica, Imperia, Italy; 10Aesthetic Medicine, Gruppo SEM, Scafati, Salerno, Italy; 11Aesthetic Medicine, La Cura Medical SPA, Campobasso, Italy; 12Master in Aesthetic Medicine, University of Palermo, Italy; 13Dermatology, Nisantasi Clinic, Istanbul, Turkey; 14Aesthetic Medicine and Surgery, Urban Medical Beauty, Rome, Italy; 15Aesthetic Medicine and Surgery, Studio Medico Venditti, Rivoli, Torino, Italy; 16Dermatology, London Skin and Hair Clinic, London, United Kingdom; 17Aesthetic Medicine, Polyclinic Prolife med, Castel di Lama, Ascoli Piceno, Italy
WOzBot : A Wizard of Oz Based Method for Chatbot Response Improvement

With the exponential surge in the use and popularity of Artificial Intelligence, Conversational Agents also known as Chatbots are becoming prevalent as they are being used across innumer-able domains and applications.Today chatbots and virtual assistant systems like Siri, Alexa, Google Assistants are becoming an intrinsic part of human lives and becoming more human alike. However, with the adoption of conversational bots in various domains, developing highly efficient and engaging bots from scratch remains difficult and demands extensive supervision from human developers. This could be due to a variety of factors, such a scarcity of domain specific training data as collecting the data of sufficient quantity and quality can take a lot of time and cost, a lack of domain knowledge to efficiently respond to user queries/questions, or undefined scope of the agents. This work proposes a system based on the Conversation-Driven Design concept for iteratively developing conversational agents (Chatbots). This essentially gives a conversational agent the ability to learn and adapt from actual user conversations. The proposed system’s architecture modifies the traditional Wizard of Oz (WOz) technique in order to incrementally capture the domain-specific chatbot corpus while also improving the conversational agent’s responses based on input from a domain expert user acting as a Wizard. The experimental results and evaluation presented in this work corroborates the idea that the proposed system can be used efficiently to iteratively evolve conversational agents in closed domain applications to make them more engaging, intuitive, and human-like.
TAILCHECK: A Lightweight Heap Overflow Detection Mechanism with Page Protection and Tagged Pointers

A heap overflow vulnerability occurs when a program written in an unmanaged language such as C or C ++ accesses a memory location beyond an object allocation boundary. Malicious users may exploit this vulnerability to corrupt an adjacent object in memory, creating an entry point for a security attack. Despite decades of research, unfortunately, it still remains challenging to detect heap overflow vulnerabilities in real-world programs at a low cost. We present T AIL C HECK , a new lightweight heap overflow detection scheme that leverages page protection and pointer tagging. When an object is created, T AIL C HECK allocates an additional page-protected shadow object, called a TailObject, placing the distance from the object to its TailObject as a tag stored in the unused high-order bits of the object pointer. For every access to the original object, T AIL C HECK performs an additional memory access to the TailObject, whose address is computed using the tag. Heap overflows are detected as page faults when an access occurs beyond the TailOb-ject. We evaluated T AIL C HECK with four server applications (apache, nginx, memcached, redis) and the SPEC CPU2017 and SPEC CPU2006 benchmarks, successfully finding heap overflows in SPEC CPU2017 gcc. T AIL C HECK experiences 4% and 3% run-time overhead for the average and tail (99%) latencies for server applications; and only 33% and 29% run-time overhead for SPEC CPU2017 and SPEC CPU2006, respectively, less than the state-of-the-art solution.