Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Monetary Policy, Redistribution, and Risk Premia

We study the transmission of monetary policy through risk premia in a heterogeneous agent New Keynesian environment. Heterogeneity in households' marginal propensity to take risk (MPR) summarizes differences in portfolio choice on the margin. An unexpected reduction in the nominal interest rate redistributes to households with high MPRs, lowering risk premia and amplifying the stimulus to the real economy. Quantitatively, this mechanism rationalizes the role of news about future excess returns in driving the stock market response to monetary policy shocks and amplifies their real effects by 1.3–1.4 times.
Check before You Change: Preventing Correlated Failures in Service Updates

The reliability of cloud services can be signiﬁcantly under-mined by correlated failures due to shared service dependencies, even when the services are already replicated across machines. State-of-the-art failure prevention systems can proactively audit a service before its deployment to detect risks for correlated failures, but their auditing speeds are too slow for frequent service updates. This paper presents CloudCa-nary, a system that can perform real-time audits on service updates to identify the root causes of correlated failure risks, and generate improvement plans with increased reliability. CloudCanary achieves this with two primitives, S NAP A UDIT and D EP B OOSTER . S NAP A UDIT leverages two insights to achieve high accuracy and efﬁciency: a) service updates typically affect only a small part of the service stack, allowing the majority of previous auditing results to be reused; and b) structural reliability auditing tasks can be reduced to a Boolean satisﬁability problem, which can then be solved ef-ﬁciently using modern SAT solvers. D EP B OOSTER , on the other hand, can generate improvement plans efﬁciently by reducing the required reasoning load, using novel techniques such as model counting. We demonstrate in our experiments that CloudCanary can perform audits over large deployments 200 × faster than state-of-the-art systems, and that it consistently generates high-quality improvement plans within minutes. Moreover, CloudCanary can yield valuable insights over real-world traces collected from production environments.
Comparison of Some Motion Detection Methods in cases of Single and Multiple Moving Objects

Motion detection tells us whether there is a change in position of an object with respect to its surroundings or vice versa. It is applied to various domestic and commercial applications starting from simple motion detectors to high speed video surveillance systems. In this paper, results obtained from some simple motion detection algorithms, which use methods like image subtraction and edge detection, have been compared. The software used for this purpose was MATLAB 7.6. 0 (R2008a). It has been observed that while image subtraction is sufficient to detect motion in a video stream, combining it with edge detection in different sequences yields different results in different scenarios.
Blunsdon, Chloe (2017)The Influence of Anxiety Level, Eye-Movement and Type of Information on an Eyewitness’ Memory of a Crime. Manchester

Eyewitness testimony is widely used as evidence in court (Weber and Brewer, 2008) However, many factors that influence a witness’ memory of a crime means that the credibility is questionable, which can have huge repercussions on the conviction of criminals (Albright, 2017). Examples of those factors include a person’s level of anxiety (Easterbrook, 1959) and eye movement (van den Hout and Engelhard, 2012) at the crime scene. This study aims to look at level of anxiety, eye movement and the type of information and their influence on eyewitness memory, by investigating the number of correctly answered central and peripheral questions in high and low anxiety level groups, and horizontal, vertical and none eye movement groups. The study used an opportunity sample of 30 people between the ages of 18 – 50. Two mixed ANOVA’s revealed a non-significant interaction between the level of anxiety and the correctly answered central and peripheral questions relating to the crime. Subsequently, there was a nonsignificant interaction between the type of eye movement and the correctly answered central and peripheral questions. The findings are discussed with relation to future research.
Comprehensive measures succeeded in improving early detection of leprosy cases in post-elimination era: Experience from Shandong province, China

Background A few new leprosy cases still can be seen in Shandong province after elimination. In post-elimination era, government commitments dwindled and active case-finding activities were seldom done. Most of the cases were detected by passive modes and advanced cases with longer delay and visible disability were common. Materials and methods Comprehensive measures including health promotion, personnel training, reward-offering, symptom surveillance and a powerful referral center were implemented in the past decade. The diagnosis of leprosy was mainly based on three cardinal clinical signs. Two-group classification system developed by the WHO was used and cases were classified into multibacillary (MB) type or paucibacillary (PB) type. Cases detected during period 2007–2017 were analyzed and associated factors of grade 2 disability (G2D) were explored. Results 231 new leprosy cases detected during 2007–2017 were analyzed. The mean age at diagnosis is 51.7±16.0 years and the number of males, peasants, illiterates, MB cases, G2D cases and immigrants were 130(56.3%), 221(95.7%), 73(31.6%), 184(79.7%), 92(39.8%) and 40(17.3%) respectively. 181(78.4%) cases were reported by skin clinics and 152 (65.8%) cases came from formerly high endemic counties/districts. The annual number of new cases showed a decreasing trend, from 42 cases in 2008 to 13 cases in 2017. 92 (39.8%) cases presented with G2D at diagnosis. The annual proportion of new cases with G2D declined from 50% in 2008 to 23% in 2017. PB type (OR = 2.76, 95% CI, 1.43–5.32), >12 months of patient delay (OR = 2.40, 95% CI, 1.38–4.19), >24 months of total delay (OR = 4.35, 95% CI, 2.33–8.11), detected by non skin-clinic (OR = 3.21, 95% CI, 1.68–6.14), known infectious source (OR = 1.77, 95% CI, 1.01–3.12) were associated with G2D. Conclusion A few scattered cases still can be seen in post-elimination era and some kind of leprosy control program is still necessary. Government commitments including adequate financial security and strong policy support are vital. Comprehensive case-finding measures including health promotion, personnel training, reward-offering, with an emphasis on former high or middle endemic areas, are necessary to improve early presentation of suspected cases and to increase suspicion and encourage participation of all relevant medical staff. Symptom surveillance based on a powerful transfer center may play an important role in the early detection of new cases in post-elimination era.
Gender diversity and sustainability responsiveness: evidence from Nigerian fixed money deposit banks

This paper aims to explore the impact of gender diversity on firms’ sustainability responsiveness in ensuring collective drive toward achieving sustainable development goals (agenda) for Nigeria. This study explored female engagement from three major platforms, namely women as directors, management team leaders, and female workforce. The data used to conduct this study were derived from the annual reports of the sampled banks spanning through the period of 2013–2016. However, while data for this study were analyzed using EViews statistical tool, the sustainability reporting data were ascertained using the content analysis method. The outcome of this study depicts that female directors, female workforce, and women in the management team all had an adverse and positive association with sustainability reporting. However, this association was all insignificant. This further buttresses that gender diversity was not the major driving force behind the sustainability reporting of the sampled banks in Nigeria. This is because the sector is highly regulated. Hence, the study recommends that notwithstanding the outcome, in attaining the sustainable development goals (SDGs), there is a need to have more female representation on the strategic position of authority.
Small area estimation of gender-based violence: rape incidence risks in Uttar Pradesh, India

Violence against women is considered an endemic problem in communities and countries around the world, and it has been declared an issue of epidemic proportions by the World Health Organization (WHO). In India, where the patriarchal nature of the country contributes to increasing violence against women, there has been a dramatic increase of this gender-based violence in the past decades. In this paper we focus on analyzing rape incidence risks in the most populous state of India. In particular, small area models including spatial, temporal, and spatio-temporal components are used to estimate rape incidence risks in the districts of Uttar Pradesh during the period 2001-2014. We discover interesting spatio-temporal patterns of rape incidence as well as point out districts with significant high risks.
Mechanisms of ozone induced airway hyperreactivity change over time

Abnormal neural function contributes to the pathogenesis of airway disease. In addition to effects on airway physiology, the nerves produce and release inflammatory mediators, contributing to the recruitment and activation of leukocytes. Activated inflammatory cells, in turn, affect the function of airway nerves, changing the production and release of neurotransmitters. Crosstalk between airway nerves and leukocytes participates both in maintaining chronic inflammation and in causing accentuated neural control of the airways. Introduction Airway inflammation is a characteristic of many airway diseases, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Inflammation results from a number of different stimuli including allergen exposure, viral infection, and environmental pollutants. Inflammatory cells found in asthmatic and antigen, ozone or virus exposed lungs include eosinophils, neutrophils, basophils, mast cells, macrophages, and T lymphocytes. These various cell types contribute to airway remodeling and airway hyperreactivity. Inflammation-induced changes in airway nerves are a major mechanism of airway hyperreactivity [1**]. However, communication between inflammatory cells and airway nerves is a two way street: nerves produce chemotactic factors that recruit
Detecting diagonal activity to quantify harmonic structure preservation with cochlear implant mapping

: Matrix multiplication is widely utilized in signal and image processing. In numerous cases, it may be considered faster than conventional algorithms. Images and sounds may be presented in a multi-dimensional matrix form. An application under study is detecting diagonal activities in matrices to quantify the amount of harmonic structure preservation of musical tones using different algorithms that may be employed in cochlear implant devices. In this paper, a new matrix called ”Omran matrix” has been proposed. When it is post multiplied with another matrix, the first row of the output represents indices of fully active detected diagonals in its upper triangle. A preprocessing matrix manipulation might be mandatory. The results show that the proposed matrix is powerful in this application and illustrated higher grade of harmonic structure preservation of one algorithm used for cochlear implants with respect to other algorithms. Abstract Matrix multiplication is widely utilized in signal and image processing. In numerous cases, it may be considered faster than conventional algorithms. Images and sounds may be presented in a multi-dimensional matrix form. An application under study is detecting diagonal activities in matrices to quantify the amount of harmonic structure preservation of musical tones using different algorithms that may be employed in cochlear implant devices. In this paper, a new matrix called "Omran matrix" has been proposed. When it is post multiplied with another matrix, the first row of the output represents indices of fully active detected diagonals in its upper triangle. A preprocessing matrix manipulation might be mandatory. The results show that the proposed matrix is powerful in this application and illustrated higher grade of harmonic structure preservation of one algorithm used for cochlear implants with respect to other algorithms.
Dynamic Taint Analysis Tools: A Review

Taint analysis is the trending approach of analysing software for security purposes. By using the taint analysis technique, tainted tags are added to the data entering from the sensitive sources into the applications, then the propagations of the tainted data are monitored carefully. Taint analysis can be done in two ways including static taint analysis where analysis is conducted without executing the program, and dynamic taint analysis where the tainted data is monitored during the program execution. This paper reviews the taint analysis technique, with a focus on dynamic taint analysis. In addition, some of the existing taint analysis tools and their application areas are reviewed. In the end, the paper summarises the defects associated with each of the tools and presents some of them
Simulation of flows with phase transitions and heat transfer using mesoscopic methods

We use mesoscopic lattice Boltzmann and phase-field methods to simulate the growth of crystals from supercooled melt in the presence of melt convection and the behavior of a pinned droplet under the action of the electric field. In the first problem, the flow influences significantly the shape and the stability of growing patterns, leading to the enhanced development of fingers in the direction opposite to the flow. In the second problem, after the application of the electric field, the droplet begins to elongate in the field direction and the oscillations are produced. These oscillations decay in time due to a viscosity of a fluid. After several oscillations, the droplet acquires its equilibrium shape. The contact angle is essentially reduced compared to the case without an electric field.
Influence of soil conservation practices on soil moisture and maize crop (Zea mays L.) productivity in Centre Benin

Soil quality constitutes a major factor for crops growth. This study aimed at determining the sustainable soil conservation practices that would increase maize growth as well as production and improve the soil moisture. Two experimental sites were chosen: Dan localized on Acrisol and Za- zounme localized on ferralsol. Two cropping seasons were investigated: the long rain seasons of 2018 and 2019. The experimental design was split-plot with four replications. The main factor was tillage with three modalities: no-tillage (NT); ridging parallel to the slope (PR); Isohypse ridging (IR) and the second factor was mulching with four amounts: 0, 3, 5 and 7 t.ha-1. Tillage, mulch amount and their interaction significantly influenced the soil moisture, maize growth and yield over the two investigated cropping seasons at both sites whereby the highest values were obtained under IR for tillage, 7 t.ha-1 (for mulch amount) and IR7M (for the interaction tillage x mulch amount). Overall, IR significantly increased the maize growth speed by 8% at Dan and by 16% at Za-zounme; the maize grain yield by 33% at Dan and by 30% at Za-zounme and the soil water content by 24% at Dan and 20% at Za-zounme, in comparison with No-Tillage. An increasing effect of mulch amount was also observed. As far as mulching is concerned, the highest values (in average of LR2018 and LR2019) of growth speed (3.77 cm.day-1 at Dan and 4.08 cm.day-1 at Za-zounme); grain yield (3003.03 at Dan and 3471.09 kg.ha-1 at Za-zounme) and soil water content (26.89 mm at Dan and 20.44 mm at Za-zounme) were observed. This suggests that isohypse ridging associated with an appropriate amount of organic mulch could be an option to mitigate dry spells and drought and improve local farmers’ income in the area of low rainfall in sub- Sahara Africa. Key words: Crop residues, tillage practices, conservation agriculture, food security, watershed of Zou.
International Mine Water Association Symposium

Environmental hazards originating from abandoned mines are on the increase worldwide, including South Africa. Here, we report the manganese and vanadium uptake by Cynodon dactylon, which was found thriving at abandoned New Union Gold Mine tailings, Limpopo province, South Africa. The Mn and V concentrations were determined with a Thermofischer ICP MS. The total average Mn and V uptake by C. dactylon were 689.45 μg/g and 91.99 μg/g and controls were 426.55 μg/g and 55.56 μg/g respectively. It appears that the Mn and V uptake by C. dactylon was beneficial, since Mn is a micronutrient element that is essential to plant growth and V is an essential element, which mimics phosphorus uptake. C. dactylon, is a suitable phytoremedial agent for exposed acidic mine tailings.
REPARTNERING AMONG SWEDISH MEN AND WOMEN: A case study of emerging patterns in the second demographic transition

Growing “partnership mobility” is characteristic of countries undergoing the “second demographic transition”; yet studies of repartnering are relatively rare. This paper demonstrates that in a relatively gender equal society like Sweden, the repartnering behaviour of women and men is remarkably similar. Coresidential children lower repartnering propensities for both men and women (but are of course a much more rare experience in the life of unpartnered men), as does increasing age, while having been previously married or long duration of previous union makes people more likely to repartner. There is no discernible trend over time in repartnering propensities.
Constant Regret in Online Allocation: On the Sufficiency of a Single Historical Trace

We consider online decision-making problems where resources are allocated dynamically to a stochastic stream of requests, and decisions are made to maximize reward while satisfying a set of constraints. We propose and analyze a simple algorithm that uses only historical data, i.e., traces (sample paths) of the stochastic process. We prove that, in a large family of problems, which includes as special cases online packing and online matching, the algorithm has near-optimal performance with the minimum possible sample-complexity; in particular, it obtains constant regret with as few as one trace. The algorithm is agnostic of the generative model of arrivals; however, the results hold even under time-varying and correlated arrival processes. Finally, even in settings beyond our theoretical guarantees, our framework generates data-friendly algorithms that match and beat the performance of specialized state-of-the-art algorithms in simulations.
Maximizing water use efficiency via different organic mulches and irrigation levels

Increasing the competition on available irrigation water, climate change impacts and environmental issues create the motivation for investigating new methods for increasing water use efficiency studies on all crops. The field experiment was carried out during the two successive autumn seasons of 2011 and 2012 under open field conditions in protected cultivation site, Central Laboratory for Agriculture Climate (CLAC), Agriculture Research Centre, Giza, Egypt. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of different irrigation levels (50, 75 and 100% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc) and organic mulching (bare (control), agricultural residues, compost and vermicompost) on vegetative growth, yield and water use efficiency of iceberg lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). The experimental design was split plot, the irrigation levels located as main plots and cover soil treatments located as sub-plots. Using different irrigation levels and organic mulching significantly affected vegetative growth, nutrients content (N, P and K). Data also revealed that using vermicompost soil cover decreased irrigation requirements of lettuce plants compared to bare soil treatment. Regarding the organic mulch cover, vermicompost recorded the highest values of number of leaves, lettuce head length, lettuce head width, head density, head volume and fresh and dry weight per lettuce plant during the two successive seasons. Increasing water level up to 1.00 (ETc) enhanced yield with different organic mulching treatments. However, regardless of mulching treatments, using 0.50 (ETc) increased water use efficiency compared to using other treatments. Moreover, the number and weight of weeds per square meter were significantly higher under control treatment in comparison with organic mulching treatments, whereas, increasing irrigation level led to increasing the number and weight of weeds.
War Victims and Survivors : The Expanding Vision of Yvonne

Published in 2002, Yvonne Vera's fifth novel, The Stone Virgins, gained the author yet another African region award, the first Macmillan Writer's Prize for Africa. However, recognition of Vera's voice as one of the most exciting to have emerged on the continent in the last decade spreads beyond Africa: the biographical notes to The Stone Virgins state that Vera's works have been translated into German, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish and Norwegian. She also has an American publisher, Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Design and Implementation of an Automatic Sun Tracking Solar Panel without Light Sensors

Solar energy is one of the most commonly used types of renewable energy in areas that experience a lot of sunlight annually. Most solar panels are installed in a stationary position where they receive solar radiations from the sun. But still, there is a lot of solar energy that escapes as the sun rises and sets. Two stepper motors are used for dual axis movements of the panel, as it seeks for points where sunlight energy is highest. One motor tilts the panel through an angle of 45° on the vertical axis and the second motor will rotate the panel through 360° angle at a point on the horizontal axis. The control circuit which is programmed to give a signal to the stepper motors to rotate after a given time so that the solar panel can track the sun, and then give voltage signals to the controller. The messages are compared and the maximum voltage is the point where the panel will be stationed for a particular period of time.
A General Approach to Citation Analysis and an h-Index Based on the Standard Impact Factor Framework

We explain, using a complete publication-citation matrix, the relation between the data needed in the calculation of an h-index and those needed in the calculation of an impact factor. It is shown that there is no need to confine oneself to the standard cases. As an illustration h-indices are calculated based on the publication and citation windows of the classical impact factor.
Intermittent Computing with Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling

We present D 2 VFS, a run-time technique to intelligently regulate supply voltage and accordingly reconﬁgure clock frequency of intermittently-computing devices. These devices rely on energy harvesting to power their operation and on small capacitors as energy buffer. Statically setting their clock frequency fails to achieve energy efﬁciency, as the setting remains oblivious of ﬂuctuations in capacitor voltage and of their impact on a microcontroller operating range. In contrast, D 2 VFS captures these dynamics and places the microcontroller in the most efﬁcient conﬁguration by regulating the microcontroller supply voltage and changing its clock frequency. Our evaluation shows that D 2 VFS markedly increases energy efﬁciency; for example, ultimately enabling a 30-300% reduction of workload completion times.