Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of global financial crisis on trade elasticities: Evidence from BRIICS countries and Turkey

The effect of the global financial crisis on the international trade patterns of developed countries has been one of the main focuses of recent studies. However, the dependence level of world trade on emerging markets increases every day. Therefore, it is important to study the level of the negative effect of the crisis on emerging economies and the level of their recovery potential. This paper empirically studies the effects of the financial crisis on changes in the trade elasticities of BRIICS (Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa) countries and Turkey. The imperfect substitute model (Goldstein and Khan 1985) for the export and import demand functions is used. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration is applied to test the cointegration relationships between exports and imports and their determinants and in order to estimate the export and import elasticities in the countries under examination. The empirical results provide enough evidence to conclude that changes in the exchange rate did not play significant role in export and import demand functions before the global financial crisis and after. However, foreign and domestic incomes are found highly significant and elastic in export and import demand functions, respectively. It is found as well that the global financial crisis had increasing effect on export and import responsiveness to foreign and domestic incomes respectively, except for Turkey and Brazil in the export demand function and South Africa in the import demand function.
Evidence for Increased T Cell Turnover and Decreased Thymic Output in HIV Infection1

The effects of HIV infection upon the thymus and peripheral T cell turnover have been implicated in the pathogenesis of AIDS. In this study, we investigated whether decreased thymic output, increased T cell proliferation, or both can occur in HIV infection. We measured peripheral blood levels of TCR rearrangement excision circles (TREC) and parameters of cell proliferation, including Ki67 expression and ex vivo bromodeoxyuridine incorporation in 22 individuals with early untreated HIV disease and in 15 HIV-infected individuals undergoing temporary interruption of therapy. We found an inverse association between increased T cell proliferation with rapid viral recrudescence and a decrease in TREC levels. However, during early HIV infection, we found that CD45RO−CD27high (naive) CD4+ T cell proliferation did not increase, despite a loss of TREC within naive CD4+ T cells. A possible explanation for this is that decreased thymic output occurs in HIV-infected humans. This suggests that the loss of TREC during HIV infection can arise from a combination of increased T cell proliferation and decreased thymic output, and that both mechanisms can contribute to the perturbations in T cell homeostasis that underlie the pathogenesis of AIDS.
Post-Privatisation Ownership Structure and Productivity in Russian Industrial Enterprises

This paper investigates the impact of ownership structure on the productivity performance of Russian industrial enterprises. The analysis compares the effects of several types of new private owners - insiders (managers and other employees) and outsiders (individual and institutional investors) - with continued ownership by the state, and it takes into account possible selection effects in the privatisation process that may bias the observed ownership-performance relationship. The results provide some evidence that ownership change in Russia was already having some positive effects, shortly after the conclusion of the voucher privatisation process, but that those effects were strongest in companies with concentrated outside owners. Because the design of the Russian privatisation programme appears to have been biased against such institutional investors, the latter finding only emerges after a careful analysis of the simultaneous determination of ownership and performance through the privatisation process.
Yannis Tsividis' Early Contributions to MOS Filters

In the 1970s, when the bipolar transistor was the undisputed king of analog integrated circuits (ICs), most electrical engineers regarded the MOS transistor as a second-rate device for ICs: it was a good switch, but a mediocre amplifier. As a graduate student at UC Berkeley, under the supervision of Paul Gray, Yannis Tsividis had a very different vision. He saw the MOS transistor as the future star for mixed-signal ICs and was excited to prove to the world he was right. The opening gambit was his thesis work demonstrating the first fully-integrated MOS opamp. This single achievement propelled him to the top of his generation of researchers and earned him a Berkeley PhD degree, a teaching appointment at Columbia University and a consulting position at Bell Laboratories.
Finite-SNR Diversity–Multiplexing Tradeoff With Accurate Performance Analysis for Fully Correlated Rayleigh MIMO Channels

Zheng and Tse were the first to discover the fundamental diversity-multiplexing tradeoff (DMT) that occurs in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. Their research was limited to infinite signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) situations. Later, research was also conducted on finite-SNR situations; however, this research had significant problems with coarse approximation. In this paper, we propose more accurate approximations of the finite-SNR DMT and the outage probability for Rayleigh fading MIMO channels to solve these problems. The proposed formulas provide more general solutions that are applicable not only to uncorrelated and semicorrelated channels but also to fully correlated channels, which have not been considered in the literature. Utilizing the proposed finite-SNR DMT, we further investigate the influence of the deviation of the finite-SNR DMT on system performance. We also derived an accurate SNR offset quantity, which provides a link for transformation of finite-SNR DMT to actual outage probability. Finally, we present computer simulation results for illustration and comparison to confirm the validity of our research work.
A complexity measure for UML component‐based system specification

A component‐based system (CBS) is integration centric with a focus on assembling individual components to build a software system. In CBS, component source code information is usually unavailable. Each component also introduces added properties such as constraints associated with its use, interactions with other components and customizability properties. Recent research suggests that most faults are found in only a few system components. A complexity measure at a specification phase can identify these components. However, traditional complexity metrics are not adequate for a CBS as they focus mainly on either lines of code (LOC) or information based on object and class properties. There is therefore a need to develop a new technique for measuring the complexity of a CBS specification (CBSS). This paper describes a structural complexity measure for a CBSS written in Unified Modelling Language (UML) from a system analyst's point of view. A CBSS consists of individual component descriptions characterized by its syntactic, semantic and interaction properties. We identify three factors, interface, constraints and interaction, as primary contributors to the complexity of a CBSS. We also present an application of our technique to a university course registration system. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Credit VAR and risk-bucket capital rules: a reconciliation

* The views expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Board of Governors or its staff. I would like to thank Paul Calem, Darrell Duffie, Jon Faust, David Jones and David Lando for their helpful comments. Please address correspondence to the author at Division of Research and Statistics, Mail Stop 153, Federal Reserve Board, Washington, DC 20551, USA. Phone: (202)452-3705. Fax: (202)452-5295. Email: . Credit VaR and Risk-Bucket Capital Rules: A Reconciliation
Visualizing Change in Clustering Data Over Time

The goal of this project is to connect machine learning, temporal analysis, and visual data mining in the context of Hearthstone to develop a visualization system that accurately clusters raw game data into deck archetypes and displays them allowing viewers to see defining features and how they change over time. This visualization system can be applied to any clustering data that changes over time to find out more about the sample population. Examples of the visualization can be found here: http:// stanford.edu/ ̃lbrion/CS448/finalproject/
Humanoid walk control with feedforward dynamic pattern and feedback sensory reflection

Since a biped humanoid inherently suffers from instability and always risks itself to tipping over, ensuring high stability and reliability of walk is one of the most important goals. This paper proposes a walk control consisting of a feedforward dynamic pattern and a feedback sensory reflex. The dynamic pattern is a rhythmic and periodic motion, which satisfies the constraints of dynamic stability and ground conditions, and is generated assuming that the models of the humanoid and the environment are known. The sensory reflex is a simple, but rapid motion programmed in respect to sensory information. The sensory reflex, we propose in this paper, consists of the body posture control, the actual ZMP (Zero Moment Point) control, and the landing time control. With the dynamic pattern and the sensory reflex, it is possible for the humanoid to walk rhythmically and to adapt itself to environmental uncertainties. The effectiveness of our proposed method was confirmed by walk experiments of an actual 26 DOF humanoid on an unknown rough terrain and in the presence of disturbances.
Multiple bovine papillomavirus infections associated with cutaneous papillomatosis in Brazilian cattle herds.

Cutaneous papillomatosis is a pathological condition commonly found in cattle and is characterized by the presence of benign proliferative tumors caused by bovine papillomavirus (BPV) infection. While multiple infections with human papillomavirus (HPV) are common in healthy and immunodeficient humans, studies with the aim of identifying mixed infections are still sporadic in veterinary medicine. The aim of this study is to describe the occurrence of multiple BPV infections in cattle affected by cutaneous papillomatosis. Fifteen skin warts were collected from at least two diverse anatomical regions of six bovines with papillomatosis belonging to three cattle herds from the Parana state in Brazil. The BPV types present in the skin wart samples were determined by a PCR assay performed with the FAP primer pair for partial L1 gene amplification followed by direct sequencing or by cloning and sequencing of the inserts. Sequence analysis of the obtained amplicons allowed the identification of four characterized BPV types (BPV-1, -2, -6, and -8) and three previously described putative new BPV types (BPV/BR-UEL3, BPV/BR-UEL4, and BPV/BR-UEL5). Double infections were identified in four (A, B, D, and E) of the six animals included in this study. In this work, the strategy adopted to evaluate skin warts from diverse anatomical sites of the same animal allowed the identification of multiple infections with two or three different BPV types. The analysis of four animals belonging to a single cattle herd also showed the presence of six different viral types. These results clearly suggest that both multiple papillomaviral infection and a high viral diversity can be as frequent in cattle as in human beings.
Requirement of glucosylated teichoic acid for adsorption of phage in Bacillus subtilis 168.

cell wall of Bacillus subtilis 168 is composed of two heteropolymers, teichoic peptidoglycan.1 peptide muramic peptidoglycan. Materials and phage strains: Bacillus subtilis, strains 168, 168/29,6 and H, later reclassified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens,7 were used. Mutants of B. subtilis 168 resistant to phage were obtained spontaneously and by treatment of the parental strain with ultra-violet light8 or with nitrosoguanidine.9 Clones were selected which failed to adsorb phage and did not liberate phage after repeated subculture. A mutant of B. subtilis 168 resistant to SP02, Mu8u5u5 (SPO)/SPO2 here designated as 70, was provided by Dr. Loubelle Boyce. Indicator strains were:
Information-energy equivalence in qigong: reviewing Dossey and Schwartz's "Therapeutic Intent/Healing Bibliography of Research" in light of Pang Ming's Three Levels Theory of Matter

The paper “Therapeutic Intent/Healing Bibliography of Research”[1], together with relevant studies involving the effects of external qi healing found on the PubMed database from January 2000 to July 2012, were reviewed from the point of view of therapeutic intent mechanism and healing intent specificity. From an oriental medicine perspective, therapeutic intent is a form of external qi healing. Research into therapeutic intent has met significant resistance, primarily because there is no obvious theoretical model to account for these phenomena. By applying the Three Levels Theory of Matter as proposed by Zhineng Qigong founder, Pang Ming, this article points the way to such a possible mechanism
Flexible algorithm for frequency tone detection

This paper discusses a specific technique for frequency tone detection. Based on a modified DFT series equation, the algorithm provides to enlarge a portion of spectrum of the acquired signal. It starts from an arbitrary point and length, and then individuates the fine peak position. After the theory description, the implemented algorithm is described. Finally, the results confirm the performances of the proposed method.
Core Concept: Resting-state connectivity

The default mode network, shown here in resting-state fMRI scans (Upper), includes the posterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, and the medial prefrontal cortex. (Lower) Diffusion tensor imaging, an MRI technique that highlights the brain’s white matter, reveals nerve fibers connecting these brain regions (posterior cingulate cortex in red; medial prefrontal cortex in yellow; hippocampus in green and pink). Adapted from ref. 5, with permission from Oxford University Press.
Experimental Demonstration of Highly Resilient Wavelength-Switched Optical Networks With a Multivendor Interoperable GMPLS Control Plane

The backbone infrastructure for providing carrier-class services, such as a wavelength-switched optical network (WSON), usually involves equipment from multiple vendors. For intelligent path control in the WSON, it is highly desirable to introduce a unified generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS) control plane, which is beneficial for reducing the operational cost and facilitating the dynamic service recovery. However, the interoperability issue of GMPLS-enabled WSON among multiple vendors has not been investigated to date, preventing its wide deployment in an actual operational scenario. Accordingly, in this paper, we experimentally present a highly resilient WSON with a multivendor interoperable GMPLS control plane. We successfully verify the interworking of the GMPLS control plane and wavelength-switching equipment from multiple vendors, and experimentally present dynamic wavelength path control and dynamic lightpath recovery from single-link failures that occur at different times and multiple link failures that occur simultaneously on a multivendor WSON testbed with both control and data planes. To the best of our knowledge, the interoperability trial of GMPLS-controlled WSON is a world first.
Frequency Estimation of Distorted and Noisy Signals in Power Systems by FFT-Based Approach

This paper focuses on the accurate frequency estimation of power signals corrupted by a stationary white noise. The noneven item interpolation FFT based on the triangular self-convolution window is described. A simple analytical expression for the variance of noise contribution on the frequency estimation is derived, which shows the variances of frequency estimation are proportional to the energy of the adopted window. Based on the proposed method, the noise level of the measurement channel can be estimated, and optimal parameters (e.g., sampling frequency and window length) of the interpolation FFT algorithm that minimize the variances of frequency estimation can thus be determined. The application in a power quality analyzer verified the usefulness of the proposed method.
Video-text extraction and recognition

The detection and recognition of text from video is an important issue in automated content-based indexing of visual information in video archives. In this paper, we present a comprehensive system for extracting and recognizing artificial text from unconstrained, general-purpose videos. Exploiting the temporal feature of videos, an edge-detection-based text segmentation method is applied only on selective frames for extracting text from a video scene. Subsequently, a combination of techniques including multiple frame integration, gray-scale filtering, entropy-based thresholding and line adjacency graphs is used to enhance the detected text areas. Finally, character recognition is accomplished by using the character side profiles. Results obtained from experiments on uncompressed MPEG-1 video clips demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed system.
External Stresses on Tensile and Compressive Contact Etching Stop Layer SOI MOSFETs

A n-/p-SOI MOSFET capped with a standard 380 Å tensile contact etching stop layer (CESL) and a 700 Å compressive CESL and with SOI thicknesses of 500/700/900 Å were measured in this paper. Additionally, external uniaxial compressive stresses with both longitudinal and transverse directions up to 45.7 MPa were applied on the devices sitting on cut silicon bars. Temperature-induced threshold voltage shifts and input-referred voltage noise showed bigger depletion zones and higher noise in the device with compressive CESL. The measurement suggests that both SOI thickness and CESL type are critical for mobility enhancement or degradation of devices. The capped compressive CESL for n-/p-SOI MOSFETs demonstrated higher piezoresistive coefficient compared with tensile CESL under external uniaxial compressive stresses for both longitudinal and transverse configurations.
ULTIPLICATIVE LSTM FOR SEQUENCE MODELLING

We introduce multiplicative LSTM (mLSTM), a novel recurrent neural network architecture for sequence modelling that combines the long short-term memory (LSTM) and multiplicative recurrent neural network architectures. mLSTM is characterised by its ability to have different recurrent transition functions for each possible input, which we argue makes it more expressive for autoregressive density estimation. We demonstrate empirically that mLSTM outperforms standard LSTM and its deep variants for a range of character level modelling tasks, and that this improvement increases with the complexity of the task. This model achieves a test error of 1.19 bits/character on the last 4 million characters of the Hutter prize dataset when combined with dynamic evaluation.
Estimation of failure probabilities in the presence of competing risks: new representations of old estimators.

A topic that has received attention in both the statistical and medical literature is the estimation of the probability of failure for endpoints that are subject to competing risks. Despite this, it is not uncommon to see the complement of the Kaplan-Meier estimate used in this setting and interpreted as the probability of failure. If one desires an estimate that can be interpreted in this way, however, the cumulative incidence estimate is the appropriate tool to use in such situations. We believe the more commonly seen representations of the Kaplan-Meier estimate and the cumulative incidence estimate do not lend themselves to easy explanation and understanding of this interpretation. We present, therefore, a representation of each estimate in a manner not ordinarily seen, each representation utilizing the concept of censored observations being 'redistributed to the right. ' We feel these allow a more intuitive understanding of each estimate and therefore an appreciation of why the Kaplan-Meier method is inappropriate for estimation purposes in the presence of competing risks, while the cumulative incidence estimate is appropriate.
Hydroelectric Power Production in Costa Rica and the Threat of Environmental Disaster Through CAFTA

CAFTA’s ratiacation threatens Costa Rica’s environmental integrity by permitting foreign investors virtual free reign to destroy its precious waterways through environmentally unsound methods of hydroelectric power production. While CAFTA contains provisions that appear to protect the environments of the Central American signatory states, it also contains provisions similar to NAFTA’s Chapter 11, which foreign investors have used to weaken environmental laws by suing those states that have dared to enforce them. This Note explores existing environmental laws in Costa Rica governing hydroelectric power production, including its privatization. It also discusses and compares NAFTA’s Chapter 11 to CAFTA’s Chapter 10 in order to illustrate the threat to Costa Rica’s waterways through private hydroelectric power production. This Note then argues that, in order to preserve its waterways, Costa Rica must not ratify CAFTA. Alternately, it argues that if Costa Rica does ratify CAFTA, the state should consider adopting both preventative and remedial measures
Structural Feature Modeling of High-Resolution Remote Sensing Images Using Directional Spatial Correlation

In the classification of high-resolution remote sensing images, spatial correlations between pixel values are important spatial information. Traditional methods of measuring spatial correlation are inadequate for the extraction of spatial information about the shape and structure of object classes. In this letter, we propose a novel method using directional spatial correlation (DSC) to model and extract spatial information in neighborhoods of pixels. Two sets of descriptors DSC_I and DSC_C are defined to describe spatial structural features. The effectiveness of the proposed method was tested by image classification on two data sets. Results show that the DSC-based approach can drastically improve the classification, and it is found by comparison that it has better performance than some existing methods.
Motion invariant imaging by means of focal sweep

In this paper we evaluate a so-called “sweeping focus camera” of which the camera blur is insensitive to the actual distance to the objects and to the direction and magnitude of the velocities within a scene. This can be achieved by either moving the sensor linearly along the optical axis of the main lens or changing the focal length of the main lens while the shutter is open. A consistently sharp image can then be obtained by the application of a fixed inverse filter kernel, thus preventing the need for depth and motion estimation. Moreover, high frequencies are better preserved during the acquisition, such that the results achieved by inverse filtering are superior to those achievable with conventional shutter/sensor operations.