Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Indirect Tax Incidence in Madagascar: Estimations Using the Input-Output Table

This study evaluates the incidence of Madagascar's principal indirect taxes. It proposes an improved method for doing so, building on earlier work by Younger et al. That earlier work has evaluated tax incidence purely based on the distribution of final consumption by households. Using detailed consumption profiles from the EPM 1993/94, it is possible to impute the incidence of taxes paid by commodity and by income group. The innovation offered in this paper is to recognize that indirect taxes also raise producer input costs, which further upward pressure on producer prices. To capture this second source of tax impact on prices, this paper incorporates the 1995 Input-Output table for Madagascar in order to evaluate the price consequences of modified rates of taxation on intermediate production inputs.
A game theoretic approach to modeling intrusion detection in mobile ad hoc networks

Nodes in a mobile ad hoc network need to come up with counter measures against malicious activity. This is more true for the ad hoc environment where there is a total lack of centralized or third party authentication and security architectures. This paper presents a game-theoretic method to analyze intrusion detection in mobile ad hoc networks. We use game theory to model the interactions between the nodes of an ad hoc network. We view the interaction between an attacker and an individual node as a two player noncooperative game, and construct models for such a game.
Completeness and Herbrand theorems for nominal logic

Abstract Nominal logic is a variant of first-order logic in which abstract syntax with names and binding is formalized in terms of two basic operations: name-swapping andfreshness. It relies on two important principles: equivariance (validity is preserved by name-swapping), and fresh name generation (“new” or fresh names can always be chosen). It is inspired by a particular class of models for abstract syntax trees involving names and binding, drawing on ideas from Fraenkel-Mostowski set theory: finite-support models in which each value can depend on only finitely many names. Although nominal logic is sound with respect to such models, it is not complete. In this paper we review nominal logic and show why finite-support models are insufficient both in theory and practice. We then identify (up to isomorphism) the class of models with respect to which nominal logic is complete: ideal-supported models in which the supports of values are elements of a proper ideal on the set of names. We also investigate an appropriate generalization of Herbrand models to nominal logic. After adjusting the syntax of nominal logic to include constants denoting names, we generalize universal theories to nominal-universal theories and prove that each such theory has an Herbrand model.
A 90-nm Low-Power FPGA for Battery-Powered Applications

Programmable logic devices such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are useful for a wide range of applications. However, FPGAs are not commonly used in battery-powered applications because they consume more power than application-specified integrated circuits and lack power management features. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of Pika, a low-power FPGA core targeting battery-powered applications. Our design is based on a commercial low-cost FPGA and achieves substantial power savings through a series of power optimizations. The resulting architecture is compatible with existing commercial design tools. The implementation is done in a 90-nm triple-oxide CMOS process. Compared to the baseline design, Pika consumes 46% less active power and 99% less standby power. Furthermore, it retains circuit and configuration state during standby mode and wakes up from standby mode in approximately 100 ns
Do personal resources influence health-related quality of life for people receiving hemodialysis treatment in Latin America?

We used the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Survey and Chronic Illness Resources Survey to determine the personal resources that influence health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of 128 individuals receiving treatment for end-stage renal disease in Antofagasta, Chile. The results showed that personal and community resources protect against disability and physical deterioration among individuals receiving hemodialysis. Further, these resources had a direct influence on HRQOL, especially in relation to the burden of the disease and for those who are not in paid employment. Our findings show the importance of the availability and use of measures required for the community to improve HRQOL, and to protect the physical health of people undergoing hemodialysis.
Examination of data normalization procedures for expressing peak VO2 data.

Peak O2 uptake (VO2) has traditionally been compared among individuals differing in body composition by dividing measured values (1/min) by fat-free mass (FFM) (i.e., ratio method). However, the ability of the ratio method to mathematically remove the confounding influence of FFM from peak VO2 has recently been questioned. Therefore, we compared the effectiveness of the ratio method vs. regression modeling to normalize peak VO2 in a large cohort of males and females for differences in FFM. Regression modeling adjusts peak VO2 according to the relationship derived from the regression of peak VO2 on FFM. Results showed that peak VO2 was 60% higher in males (3.53 +/- 1.01/min) than in females (2.22 +/- 0.6 l/min; P < 0.01). With the ratio method (i.e., peak VO2/FFM), peak VO2 was 15% higher in males (54.6 +/- 12 ml.kg FFM-1.min-1) than in females (47.4 +/- 11 ml.kg FFM-1.min-1; P < 0.01). In contrast, when a regression-based approach was employed to normalize values, no significant difference in adjusted peak VO2 was observed between males and females (3.04 +/- 0.9 vs. 3.01 +/- 1.0 l/min). In conclusion, dividing peak VO2 by FFM can produce spurious results, because this approach does not take into account the nonzero intercept. Therefore, a regression-based approach should be used to normalize peak VO2.
Effect of a microbial phytase on growth performance, plasma parameters and apparent ileal amino acid digestibility in Youxian Sheldrake fed a low-phosphorus corn-soybean diet

Objective This study investigated the effect of microbial phytase supplementation on growth performance, tibia ash, plasma parameters, apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of amino acid (AA) and apparent digestibility of nutrients in Youxian Sheldrakes fed with low-phosphorus (P) corn-soybean diets. Methods A total of 350 Youxian Sheldrakes (7d old) were randomly divided into 5 treatment groups: positive control (PC) group has adequate available P diet (0.42% and 0.38%, starter and grower), negative control (NC) group were deficient in available P (0.32% and 0.28%, starter and grower) and NC diet was supplemented with 3 levels of microbial phytase (500, 750, and 1,000 U/kg). Results Dietary supplementation of phytase in NC diet improved the average daily gain, increased the levels of serum calcium (Ca), tibia Ca and P, AID of AA and apparent digestibility of energy and Ca in starter stage (p<0.05). There was an increased (p<0.001) in the utilization of P from 17.3% to 23.9%. Phytase supplementation (1,000 U/kg) has shown that the AID of His, Thr, Val, indispensable AA, Glu, Pro, and dispensable AA was higher (p<0.05) than that of NC. Moreover, phytase supplementation improved (p<0.05) serum and tibia Ca and P, AID of AA and apparent digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, energy, P and Ca, and reduced (p<0.05) feed to gain ratio (F/G) and the levels of serum alkaline phosphatase in grower stage. Likewise, an increase (p<0.001) in the utilization of P was noticed from 12.6% to 17.2%. Supplement phytase at 750 U/kg improved the AID of His, Thr, Asp, Cys, Pro, and Ser (p<0.05). Conclusion The microbial phytase supplement could improve growth performance, AID of some AA and apparent utilization of other nutrients in Youxian Sheldrakes, and reduce excreta P load to environment.
Fault-tolerant quantum computation

It has recently been realized that use of the properties of quantum mechanics might speed up certain computations dramatically. Interest in quantum computation has since been growing. One of the main difficulties in realizing quantum computation is that decoherence tends to destroy the information in a superposition of states in a quantum computer making long computations impossible. A further difficulty is that inaccuracies in quantum state transformations throughout the computation accumulate, rendering long computations unreliable. However, these obstacles may not be as formidable as originally believed. For any quantum computation with t gates, we show how to build a polynomial size quantum circuit that tolerates O(1/log/sup c/t) amounts of inaccuracy and decoherence per gate, for some constant c; the previous bound was O(1/t). We do this by showing that operations can be performed on quantum data encoded by quantum error-correcting codes without decoding this data.
Constructive heuristics for technology-driven Resource Constrained Scheduling Problem

In this paper, we define a new practical technology-driven Resource Constrained Scheduling Problem (t-RCPSP). We propose three approaches, applying constructive heuristics to tackle effectively the practical application of RCPSP. In the RCPSP formulation, the constraints are defined to design the tasks in the spaces constructed by non- and renewable resources, without violating the precedence relationships and technologies in real world problem that exists in Plastic and Rubber Processing company. The difficulty of t-RCPSP is NP-hard and we proposed three constructive specialized methods: duration based heuristics (DBH), locally optimal resource usage PEC and NEH heuristic adaptation. The paper presents results of computational experiments that show the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.
Deterministic Collision Free Communication Despite Continuous Motion Master of Science Thesis in Computer Systems and Networks

Mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETS) require robust and carefully designed Media Access Control (MAC) solutions to cope with all the inherent problems of wireless communications. Today, quite a lot of solutions, that promise to address these challenges, exist; nevertheless, their practical applicability to a particular situation has not been examined in real world scenarios and hence, many of them have remained on paper and in simulations. We believe it is important to evaluate the performance of the protocol in simulators and real platform. In this study the performance of deterministic collision-free despite continuous motion (DCFA) algorithm has been evaluated in simulators and on a real platform. For the evaluation, the DCFA algorithm has been implemented in tinyos-2.1. 1 using the nesc programming language and a special python script to handle the topology for simulation on TOSSIM simulator; and the C++ programming language for simulation on the OMNET++ and Castalia simulators. For the evaluation of the DCFA algorithm on simulators, we have used TOSSIM, OMNET++ and the Castalia simulators. To evaluate DCFA on a real platform, we have implemented it on Crossbow’s MicaZ platform motes with a CC2420 radio. The performance of the DCFA algorithm has been measured in terms of throughput and success-rate. Since the evaluation of the DCFA algorithm is on mobile nodes, we have considered two mobility models to evaluate the performance of the DCFA algorithm. Two mobility models have been designed in this study in order to challenge the DCFA algorithm and evaluate it. When the nodes move in parallel and reach the boarder of the grid, the first mobility model lets the node move to the next line of the the grid and continue in the opposite direction; the other mobility model lets the node go back to the beginning where it started the mobility and continues in same direction. From the study, we have observed that the DCFA algorithm does not have self stabilisation when unexpected things happen in the network.
Paradoxically Decreased Mean Transit Time in Patients Presenting With Acute Stroke

Objective Computed tomography perfusion (CTP) has become a mainstay in acute stroke management. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of an unreported phenomenon of a paradoxically decreased mean transit time (MTT) in the cerebral area of ischemia. Methods In this retrospective study, patients with an acute anterior circulation ischemic stroke were selected. Computed tomography perfusion diffusion maps of all patients were reviewed by 2 blinded and experienced neuroradiologists. Results A total of 31 patients were included in the study. Eighteen subjects (58%) had a paradoxical MTT perfusion map, whereas only 13 (42%) had an expected CTP profile. No significant associations between the paradoxical MTT perfusion and the size of the infarct, the side of the occlusion, or the age of the patients were observed. However, a trend in collateral circulation status and paradoxical MTT was noted. Conclusions A paradoxical MTT response is a frequent finding in CTP analysis of patients with acute stroke. Its presence is not associated to the location or size of the affected cerebral territory and could be related to the presence of collateral circulation.
Operational Rationality through Compilation of Anytime Algorithms

An important and largely ignored aspect of real-time decision making is the capability of agents to factor the cost of deliberation into the decision making process. I have developed an efficient model that creates this capability. The model uses as basic components {\em anytime algorithms} whose quality of results improves gradually as computation time increases. The main contribution of this work is a {\em compilation} process that extends the property of gradual improvement from the level of single algorithms to the level of complex systems. In standard algorithms, the fixed quality of the output allows for composition to be implemented by a simple call-return mechanism. However, when algorithms have resource allocation as a degree of freedom, there arises the question of how to construct, for example, the optimal composition of two anytime algorithms, one of which feeds its output to the other. This scheduling problem is solved by an off-line compilation process and a run-time monitoring component that together generate a utility maximizing behavior. The crucial meta-level knowledge is kept in the {\em anytime library} in the form of {\em conditional performance profiles}. These profiles characterize the performance of each elementary anytime algorithm as a function of run-time and input quality. The compilation process therefore extends the principles of procedural abstraction and modularity to anytime computation. Its efficiency is significantly improved by using {\em local compilation} that works on a single program structure at a time. Local compilation is proved to yield global optimality for a large set of program structures. Compilation produces {\em contract} algorithms which require the determination of the total run-time when activated. Some real-time domains require {\em interruptible} algorithms whose total run-time is unknown in advance. An important result of this work is a general method by which an interruptible algorithm can be constructed once a contract algorithm is compiled. Finally, the notion of gradual improvement of quality is extended to sensing and plan execution and the application of the model is demonstrated through a simulated robot navigation system. The result is a modular approach for developing real-time agents that act by performing anytime actions and make decisions using anytime computation.
Testing embedded-core based system chips

Advances in semiconductor process and design technology enable the design of complex system chips. Traditional IC design in which every circuit is designed from scratch and reuse is limited to standard-cell libraries, is more and more replaced by a design style based on embedding large reusable modules, the so-called cores. This core-based design poses a series of new challenges, especially in the domains of manufacturing test and design validation and debug. This paper provides an overview of current industrial practices as well as academic research in these areas. We also discuss industry-wide efforts by VSIA and IEEE P1500 and describe the challenges for future research.
Y-Chromosome Differentiation in Northwest Africa

Variation of seven Y-chromosomal DNA polymorphisms, one microsatellite (DYS19), and six biallelic markers (DYS287, DYS271, SRY-2627, SRY-1532, 92R7, and M9), were studied in males from Northwest Africa. To evaluate the degree of differentiation in this region, males from neighboring areas such as the Iberian Peninsula and sub-Saharan Africa were also typed. The results show a large number of paternal lineages of Northwest African origin (over 75%), supporting a long-term population continuity in the area. When the analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) was performed both on the microsatellite and biallelic marker combinations or haplogroups, a large degree of differentiation among areas was revealed. In spite of these geographic differences, some gene flow between areas was detected by the presence of haplogroups with other geographical origins.
Fundamentals of protein interaction network mapping

Studying protein interaction networks of all proteins in an organism (“interactomes”) remains one of the major challenges in modern biomedicine. Such information is crucial to understanding cellular pathways and developing effective therapies for the treatment of human diseases. Over the past two decades, diverse biochemical, genetic, and cell biological methods have been developed to map interactomes. In this review, we highlight basic principles of interactome mapping. Specifically, we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of individual assays, how to select a method appropriate for the problem being studied, and provide general guidelines for carrying out the necessary follow‐up analyses. In addition, we discuss computational methods to predict, map, and visualize interactomes, and provide a summary of some of the most important interactome resources. We hope that this review serves as both a useful overview of the field and a guide to help more scientists actively employ these powerful approaches in their research.
Voltage Stability and Reactive Power Sharing in Inverter-Based Microgrids With Consensus-Based Distributed Voltage Control

We propose a consensus-based distributed voltage control (DVC) that solves the problem of reactive power sharing in autonomous inverter-based microgrids with dominantly inductive power lines and arbitrary electrical topology. Opposed to other control strategies available thus far, the control presented here does guarantee a desired reactive power distribution in steady state while only requiring distributed communication among inverters, i.e., no central computing nor communication unit is needed. For inductive impedance loads and under the assumption of small phase angle differences between the output voltages of the inverters, we prove that the choice of the control parameters uniquely determines the corresponding equilibrium point of the closed-loop voltage and reactive power dynamics. In addition, for the case of uniform time constants of the power measurement filters, a necessary and sufficient condition for local exponential stability of that equilibrium point is given. The compatibility of the DVC with the usual frequency droop control for inverters is shown and the performance of the proposed DVC is compared with the usual voltage droop control via simulation of a microgrid based on the Conseil International des Grands Réseaux Electriques (CIGRE) benchmark medium voltage distribution network.
The Cluster-Weighted Framework and the Multilevel Models

Density estimation through function fitting which allows us to estimate densities outside measured points, however does not handle satisfactorily many kinds of situations. First, it is usually hard to express local structure with a global functional form. Another problem comes from the kind of functions that we need to represent. Consider points distributed on a low-dimensional manifold embedded in a high-dimensional space. Transverse to the manifold the distribution is quite narrow, something that is extremely difficult to approximate with trigonometric or polynomial basis functions. These considerations suggests that density estimation should be done using local functions. Kernel density estimation (Silverman, 1986) does this by placing some kind of smooth local distribution, such as a Gaussian on each data point. A better approach is to find interesting places to put a small number of local functions that can model larger neighborhoods. This can be done by mixture models (McLachlan and Basford, 1988), which are closely related to splitting up a data set by clustering and are examples of unsupervised learning. In D dimensions a mixture model can be written by factoring the density over over multivariate Gaussian:
Multimodal sensory contributions to hippocampal spatiotemporal selectivity

The hippocampal cognitive map is thought to be driven primarily by distal visual cues and self-motion cues, although other sensory cues have also been demonstrated to influence place cells. Performing controlled experiments exploring the precise role played by different sensory modalities in determining spatial representation in the hippocampus is challenging due to need to control non-specific stimuli such as scent cues and acoustic reflections.To overcome these challenges we have developed an immersive virtual reality system for rats, in which any spatial information in these non-specific sensory cues are eliminated. The system combines full field of view visual stimuli with spatially accurate auditory stimuli to enable a variety of complex spatial tasks. To eliminate much of the subjectivity in identifiying single units in extracellular recording, an improved automated spike sorting method was developed based on existing gaussian mixture approaches.These tools were then applied to determine whether visual cues alone are sufficient for standard place cell activity in the CA1 region of the hippocampus. Single unit activity was recorded both in virtual reality, where only visual cues and non-vestibular self-motion cues provided spatial information, and in the real world using a linear track experimental paradigm.iiPlace cells displayed robust spatial selectivity in virtual reality, but only 20% of putative pyramidal cells were active in virtual reality, compared with 45% in the real world task. Distal visual and nonvestibular self-motion cues are thus sufficient to provide spatial selectivity, but vestibular and other sensory cues present int he real world are necessary to fully activate the place cell population. While bidirectional cells preferentially encode absolute position in the real world, they exhibited a distance coding scheme in virtual reality, suggesting that other sensory cues such as scent marks are necessary for a robust bidirectional position code.The frequency of hippocampal theta oscillations was reduced in virtual reality, and its speed dependence abolished. Despite this, phase precession of place fields was essentially identical in the two environments. These results constrain mechanisms governing both hip- pocampal theta oscillations and the temporal code. Taken together, these results reveal cooperative and competitive interactions between sensory modalities for control over hip- pocampal spatiotemporal selectivity and theta rhythm.