Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immigration, Wages, and Education: A Labour Market Equilibrium Structural Model

Recent literature analysing wage effects of immigration assumes labour supply is fixed across education-experience cells. This article departs from this assumption estimating a labour market equilibrium dynamic discrete choice model on U.S. micro-data for 1967–2007. Individuals adjust to immigration by changing education, participation, and/or occupation. Adjustments are heterogeneous: 4.2–26.2% of prime-aged native males change their careers; of them, some switch to white-collar careers and increase education by about three years; others reduce labour market attachment and reduce education also by about three years. These adjustments mitigate initial effects on wages and inequality. Natives that are more similar to immigrants are the most affected on impact, but also have a larger margin to adjust and differentiate. Adjustments also produce a self-selection bias in the estimation of wage effects at the lower tail of the distribution, which the model corrects.
Matching techniques for resource discovery in distributed systems using heterogeneous ontology descriptions

In distributed environments like peer-to-peer networks and Grids, where the resources to be shared are provided by many different nodes generally spanned across multiple organizations, dynamic resource discovery is a central problem. In this paper, we propose a semantic approach for the dynamic resource discovery based on ontologies for a semantically rich description of the metadata characterizing the resources to be shared, and on semantic matching techniques for dynamically and flexibly comparing ontological resource descriptions against a target resource request.
The Effects of Increased Labour Market Flexibility in the United Kingdom: Theory and Practice

This paper uses the increase in labour market flexibility in the United Kingdom in recent years to see how well the predictions of a couple of recently developed labour market models can account for data. The two models examined are an 'equilibrium business cycle' model of the labour market and a 'search' model. The models do well in predicting the fall in the level and persistence of the unemployment rate and average hours since about 1985 as well as the step increase in consumption and output that seems to have occured. Conversely, unemployment incidence has fallen and the volatilities of output, consumption, employment and unemployment have all increased in the most recent cycle contrary to the predictions of the models.
A new LDPC-STB coded MC-CDMA systems with SOVA-based decoding and soft-interference cancellation

This paper analyzes several interference cancellation scheme applied to LDPC-STB coded MC-CDMA systems. In these systems, a linear MMSE detector is conventionally used to reduce interference generated by multipath, multiuser, and multiple antennas propagation. To obtain further performance improvements, a more efficient SOVA-based iterative MMSE scheme is considered. This receiver performs soft-interference cancellation for every user based on a combination of the MMSE criterion and the turbo processing principle. It is shown that these block space-time schemes, concatenated with LDPC detectors can potentially provide significant capacity enhancements over the conventional matched filter receiver1.
Characterization and Analysis of Doubly Dispersive MIMO Channels

The characterization, modeling, and simulation of MIMO radio channels is fundamental for the design and evaluation of wireless MIMO systems. While flat-fading (narrowband) MIMO channels are quite well understood, the spatio-temporal-spectral structure of doubly dispersive MIMO channels still poses many problems. In this paper, we view these channels as multivariate WSSUS channels and use tools from (multivariate) spectrum analysis to assess their correlation in space/time/frequency. Our theoretical findings are supported by numerical results involving indoor MIMO measurements.
GHRS and ORFEUS II Observations of the Highly Ionized Interstellar Medium toward ESO 141-055

We present Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) and ORFEUS II measurements of Si IV, C IV, N V, and O VI absorption in the interstellar medium of the Galactic disk and halo toward the nucleus of the Seyfert galaxy ESO 141-055. The high-ionization absorption is strong, with line strengths consistent with the spectral signature expected for hot (T ≳ 105 K) collisionally ionized gas in either a "Galactic fountain" or an inhomogeneous medium containing a mixture of conductive interfaces and turbulent mixing layers. The total O VI column density of ≈1015 cm-2 suggests that the scale height of O VI is large (≳3 kpc) in this direction. Models of the C IV velocity distribution along the sight line are consistent with a large scale height for the highly ionized gas. Comparison of the high ion column densities with measurements for other sight lines indicates that the highly ionized gas distribution is patchy. The amount of O VI perpendicular to the Galactic plane varies by at least a factor of ~4 among the complete halo sight lines thus far studied. In addition to the high ion absorption, lines of low-ionization species are also present in the spectra. With the possible exception of Ar I, which may have a lower than expected abundance resulting from partial photoionization of gas along the sight line, the absorption strengths are typical of those expected for the warm, neutral interstellar medium. The sight line intercepts a cold molecular cloud with N(H2) ≈ 1019 cm-2. The cloud has an identifiable counterpart in IRAS 100 μm emission maps of this region of the sky. We detect a Lyα absorber associated with ESO 141-055 at z = 0.03492. This study presents an enticing glimpse into the interstellar and intergalactic absorption patterns that will be observed at high spectral resolution by the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer.
Standards Driven Rural Development: A General Equilibrium Model with Market Imperfections

We develop a general equilibrium households model to analyze the effects of high standards food chains taking seriously into account market imperfections. To measure structural production changes and welfare effects on rural and urban households, our model has two types of agents, five kinds of products and four types of factors. We calibrate the model using dataset from China and do simulations through three ways: increasing world price of high standards food, increasing urban households’ preference for high standards food, and relaxing credit constraints on high standards food production. The simulation results show that how poor households are affected depends on the nature of the shocks leading to the expansion of high standards sector and the market imperfections, and whether the poor can gain through the labor market if they are excluded from high standards farming.
NO-Donating Aspirin and Aspirin Partially Inhibit Age-Related Atherosclerosis but Not Radiation-Induced Atherosclerosis in ApoE Null Mice

Background We previously showed that irradiation to the carotid arteries of ApoE−/− mice accelerated the development of macrophage-rich, inflammatory atherosclerotic lesions, prone to intra-plaque hemorrhage. In this study we investigated the potential of anti-inflammatory and anti-coagulant intervention strategies to inhibit age-related and radiation-induced atherosclerosis. Methodology/Principal Findings ApoE−/− mice were given 0 or 14 Gy to the neck and the carotid arteries and aortic arches were harvested at 4 or 30 weeks after irradiation. Nitric oxide releasing aspirin (NCX 4016, 60 mg/kg/day) or aspirin (ASA, 30 or 300 mg/kg/day) were given continuously in the chow. High dose ASA effectively blocked platelet aggregation, while the low dose ASA or NCX 4016 had no significant effect on platelet aggregation. High dose ASA, but not NCX 4016, inhibited endothelial cell expression of VCAM-1 and thrombomodulin in the carotid arteries at 4 weeks after irradiation; eNOS and ICAM-1 levels were unchanged. After 30 weeks of follow-up, NCX 4016 significantly reduced the total number of lesions and the number of initial macrophage-rich lesions in the carotid arteries of unirradiated mice, but these effects were not seen in the brachiocephalic artery of the aortic arch (BCA). In contrast, high dose ASA lead to a decrease in the number of initial lesions in the BCA, but not in the carotid artery. Both high dose ASA and NCX 4016 reduced the collagen content of advanced lesions and increased the total plaque burden in the BCA of unirradiated mice. At 30 weeks after irradiation, neither NCX 4016 nor ASA significantly influenced the number or distribution of lesions, but high dose ASA lead to formation of collagen-rich “stable” advanced lesions in carotid arteries. The total plaque area of the irradiated BCA was increased after ASA, but the plaque burden was very low compared with the carotid artery. Conclusions/Significance The development and characteristics of radiation-induced atherosclerosis varied between different arteries but could not be circumvented by anti-inflammatory and anti-coagulant therapies. This implicates other underlying mechanistic pathways compared to age-related atherosclerosis.
DIFFERENTIAL PERFORMANCE AMONG LDH‐B GENOTYPES IN RANA LESSONAE TADPOLES

Abstract The European pool frog, Rana lessonae, is widely polymorphic for two common alleles (b, e) at the lactate dehydrogenase‐B (LDH‐B) locus. We compared fitness‐related larval life‐history traits among LDH‐B genotypes, which originated from segregation in heterozygous parents, in an artificial pond experiment where tadpoles of R. lessonae from a Swiss population were raised together with tadpoles of the hemiclonal hybrid R. esculenta at two densities. In R. lessonae, LDH‐B e/e homozygotes at each density had a higher proportion of metamorphs among survivors, reached metamorphosis earlier, and were heavier at metamorphosis than b/b homozygotes; b/e heterozygotes had intermediate values. That e/e individuals were superior to b/b in both time to and mass at metamorphosis is surprising because these two life‐history traits are thought to reflect a performance trade‐off; e/e genotypes apparently compensated for shorter time to metamorphosis by a higher growth rate. The two alleles showed the same performance ranking when combined in hybrids with a R. ridibunda allele: When R. esculenta from Swiss populations reared in the same ponds had received the e allele rather than the b allele from their R. lessonae parent, they reached metamorphosis earlier, but did not differ in mass at metamorphosis. The degree of linkage disequilibrium in the source population of the eight R. lessonae used as parents of the R. lessonae tadpoles is unknown, so we cannot exclude the possibility that the performance differences are caused by some anonymous tightly linked gene, rather than the LDH‐B locus, that constitutes the genomically localized target of natural selection. A causal involvement of LDH‐B is plausible, nevertheless, because this enzyme takes part in the central energy‐metabolizing processes and has been reported to underlie fitness differences in other animals; also, differential performance of LDH‐B genotypes has been observed in R. lessonae larvae from another population. The present results suggest strong directional selection for allele e; the sum of available data, including an independent laboratory experiment, suggests that partial environment‐dependent overdominance combined with balancing selection favoring e/e homozygotes under some and b/b homozygotes under other conditions may be partially responsible for the broad maintenance of the LDH‐B polymorphism in R. lessonae.
Punctuation Input on Touchscreen Keyboards : Analyzing Frequency of Use and Costs

Non-alphanumeric symbols are rarely considered in text input research even though some punctuation is more frequent than the least common English letters. In this paper, we first evaluate punctuation frequency in two contrasting sources (Twitter and Google N-Grams). We then present a controlled study to compare existing techniques for ten-finger punctuation input on touchscreens: (1) the status quo, where punctuation symbols are stored on an alternate keyboard layer, and (2) an approach where users draw punctuation symbols atop the Qwerty keyboard itself [3]. Our findings show patterns in punctuation use (e.g., comparing mobile and desktop input), and highlight the cost of mode-switching to enter punctuation marks. Author
Robust three-finger three-parameter caging of convex polygons

This paper studies cages of convex polygonal objects using three point fingers. The fingers are said to cage the object when it is impossible to move the object arbitrarily far from its initial placement without penetrating the fingers. We consider a three-parameter model of the relative position of the fingers, which gives complete generality for three point fingers in the plane. We consider robustness of caging grasps - what variations in the relative position of the fingers is allowed without breaking the cage. Using a simple decomposition of free space around the polygon, we present an algorithm which gives all caging placements of the fingers and a characterization of the robustness of these cages, albeit at the cost of significant computational complexity.
Cluster Visualization in Parallel Coordinates Using Curve Bundles

The polygonal lines traditionally used in parallel coordinates have two substantial limitations. First, they possess only C0 continuity, which causes the “cross-over” problem. Second, for large datasets, the lines become cluttered, obscuring inherent structure in the data. We introduce a model for curve bundles in parallel-coordinates plots to overcome these problems. The C0 polygonal lines are replaced byC1 continuous piecewise Bézier curves to alleviate cross-overs. The B́ ezier curves can then be bundled to visualize data with given cluster structures and hierarchies. The curve bundles are efficient to compute, provide visual separation between data clusters, reduce visual clutter, and present a clearer overview of the dataset. A controlled user study with 14 participants confirmed the effectiveness of curve bundling for parallel-coordinates visualization: 1) compared to polygonal lines, it is equally capable of revealing correlations between neighboring data attributes; 2) its geometric cues are as effective as color coding of polylines in displaying cluster information. Curve bundling thus allows the color perceptual channel to be applied to other data attributes.
Time Series Forecasting Using Independent Component Analysis

The paper presents a method for multivariate time series forecasting using Independent Component Analysis (ICA), as a preprocessing tool. The idea of this approach is to do the forecasting in the space of independent components (sources), and then to transform back the results to the original time series space. The forecasting can be done separately and with a different method for each component, depending on its time structure. The paper gives also a review of the main algorithms for independent component analysis in the case of instantaneous mixture models, using second and high-order statistics. The method has been applied in simulation to an artificial multivariate time series with five components, generated from three sources and a mixing matrix, randomly generated.
Postsynaptic, but not presynaptic, activity controls the early time course of long-term potentiation in the dentate gyrus

The early time course (less than 1 hr) of long-term potentiation (LTP) in the dentate gyrus of the guinea pig hippocampal slice was examined using extracellular recordings from the outer two-thirds of the dendritic layer. LTP was induced by a single brief (2-40 impulses) high- frequency (20-400 Hz) train, or by pairing a single test stimulus with a brief heterosynaptic high-frequency train. The induction of LTP was facilitated by blockade of fast GABAergic postsynaptic inhibition. It was found that, irrespective of induction conditions and the amount of LTP induced, the onset of LTP was characterized by a latency of a few seconds following the induction event, and a rapid 30 sec growth phase. After a 1-2 min period of little or no further growth, LTP decayed but in a highly variable manner, from cases in which more than 60% of the peak value remained 1 hr after the induction to cases in which LTP decayed completely within 10 min. Factors increasing presynaptic activity (frequency or number of afferent stimulations) during the induction event did not affect the relative amount of LTP decay. Repetitive presynaptic activity was found not to be a necessary condition for eliciting long-lasting LTP (greater than 1 hr), as shown by experiments in which a single presynaptic impulse was paired with a brief heterosynaptic train. Factors increasing postsynaptic activity during the induction event, such as increased stimulus intensity, temporal pairing of two weak trains, or reduced postsynaptic inhibition, all reduced the relative amount of LTP decay. Moreover, partial pharmacological blockade of NMDA receptor channels increased the relative amount of decay. In conclusion, the amount of postsynaptic activity and associated NMDA receptor activation during the induction event appeared to be the main factor governing the early stability of LTP in the dentate gyrus.
Application-Specific Traffic Anomaly Detection Using Universal Background Model

This paper presents an application-specific intrusion detection framework in order to address the problem of detecting intrusions in individual applications when their traffic exhibits anomalies. The system is based on the assumption that authorized traffic analyzers have access to a trustworthy binding between network traffic and the source application responsible for it. Given traffic flows generated by individual genuine application, we exploit the GMM-UBM (Gaussian Mixture Model-Universal Background Model) method to build models for genuine applications, and thereby form our detection system. The system was evaluated on a public dataset collected from a real network. Favorable results indicate the success of the framework.
A Study of the Influence of Speech Type on Automatic Language Recognition Performance

Automatic language recognition on spontaneous speech has experienced a rapid development in the last few years. This development has been in part due to the competitive technological Language Recognition Evaluations (LRE) organized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Until now, the need to have clearly defined and consistent evaluations has kept some real-life application issues out of these evaluations. In particular, all past NIST LREs have used exclusively conversational telephone speech (CTS) for development and test. Fortunately this has changed in the current NIST LRE since it includes also broadcast speech. However, for testing only the telephone speech found in broadcast data will be used. In real-life applications, there could be several more types of speech and systems could be forced to use a mix of different types of data for training and development and recognition. In this article, we have defined a test-bed including several types of speech data and have analyzed how a typical language recognition system works using different types of speech, and also a combination of different types of speech, for training and testing.
Noninvasive measurement of the cerebral blood flow response in human lateral geniculate nucleus with arterial spin labeling fMRI

To date, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) have primarily focused on measures of the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal. Arterial spin labeling (ASL) is an MRI method that can provide direct measures of functional cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes. Because CBF is a well‐defined physiological quantity that contributes to BOLD contrast, CBF measures can be used to improve the quantitative interpretation of fMRI studies. However, due in part to the low intrinsic signal‐to‐noise ratio of the ASL method, measures of functional CBF changes in the LGN are challenging and have not previously been reported. In this study, we demonstrate the feasibility of using ASL fMRI to measure the CBF response of the LGN to visual stimulation on a 3 T MRI system. The use of background suppression and physiological noise reduction techniques allowed reliable detection of LGN activation in all five subjects studied. The measured percent CBF response during activation ranged from 40 to 100%, assuming no interaction between the left and right LGN. Hum Brain Mapp 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
“ME – YOU”: SOCIAL PEDAGOGUE’S HELP FOR SOCIAL RISK CHILDREN IN TERMS OF INTERRELATIONSHIP

Social pedagogue’s help for social risk children is a relevant part of education and of our society as well in Lithuania and in the world in general. The purpose of article is to describe social pedagogue’s help for social risk children through interrelationship perspective. Every relationship between social pedagogue and social risk child has different story. But the results presented in this article show all interrelationships between these two persons have the same idea – the respectful trust or trust-based respect is necessary. Only such relationships can create conditions for the provision of professional and effective help for social risk children both in short-term and long-term perspective. Interrelationship “me – you” between school social pedagogue and social risk children is looked through the ideas of A. Lingis and M. Buber. The research is based on the phenomenological narrative perspective.
Collaborating with Neural Network-based Artificial Intelligence Agents

CABot is a novel project to build neuro-cognitive agents. One aim of the CABot project is to develop agents that collaborate with a human user to carry out tasks in a 3D environment by means of a natural language conversation. As the agent is based on human neural and cognitive models, users may expect human-like collaborative skills from CABot. We believe that: (a) generations of CABot agents may be artificially intelligent but may nevertheless lack the full range of human-like collaborative abilities; and (b) even with humanlevel collaborative abilities, collaboration between AI and human (and AI and AI) will be no less challenging than collaboration between human and human. Many of these challenges were foreseen with respect to earlier forms of AI. CSCW and HCI are likely to inform the solutions to these challenges as AIs become widespread in collaborative settings.
Private Cloud in Educational Institutions: An Implementation using UEC

Cloud Computing, the emerging technology, delivers IT capabilities as services-on-demand using internet. Though the Cloud technology possesses lot many benefits, it suffer several challenges which hinders the adoption of public cloud by many organizations. Since the consumer has to depend on the cloud provider’s infrastructure that is not completely controlled internally by the consumer, the management of the data and services shall not be fully trustworthy. To ensure the security of the data it is better to go for a Private cloud rather than Public cloud where the data is managed internally. The organizations that have already invested in their own infrastructure are looking at setting up private clouds within their organizational boundaries to procure the benefits of cloud computing technologies. This paper tries to address the challenges towards Public Cloud and possible alternative, that is a “Private Cloud”. This paper also emphasis the advantages of moving to Private Cloud and describes how to set up Private Cloud in an Educational Institution. Educational institutions such as Schools, Colleges, Universities are in need of availing the cloud features with proper security. Private Cloud solutions will increase better resource utilization, minimize risks, and improve data security. This paper also describes how to access a database server stored in the cloud node to benefit the end users within the Institution.