Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fiscal Policy in the European Monetary Union

A country entering the EMU surrenders its monetary policy, and its debt becomes denominated in terms of a currency over which it has no direct control. A country's promise to uphold the fiscal limits in the Maastricht Treaty and the Stability and Growth Pact is implicitly a promise not to allow its fiscal stance to deteriorate to a position in which it places pressure on the central bank to forgo its price level target to finance fiscal deficits. Violation of these limits has raised questions about potential fiscal encroachment on the monetary authority's freedom to determine the price level. We specify a simple model of fiscal policy in which the fiscal authority faces an upper bound on the size of its primary surplus. Policy is determined by a fiscal rule, specified as an error correction model, in which the primary surplus responds to debt and a target variable. We show that for the monetary authority to have the freedom to control price, the primary surplus must respond strongly enough to lagged debt. Using panel techniques that allow for unit roots and for heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence across countries, we estimate the coefficients of the error correction model for the primary surplus in a panel of ten EMU countries over the period 1970-2006. The group mean estimate for the coefficient on lagged debt is consistent with the hypothesis that the monetary authority can control the price level in the EMU, independent of fiscal influence.
Design patterns for integration between enterprise application with any business process management systems

Most of existing Business process management (BPM) technologies have their own graphical user interfaces (GUIs), whereas users in different organizations who involved in business processes are more likely to work with a different set of GUIs. Consequently, developers have to build the specific set of GUIs in enterprise application which is appropriate for each business process, and they use BPM API to create communication between the enterprise application and BPM. However, different BPM vendors have different APIs integrated into the system. When developers need to change BPM vendor for corresponding to existing resources and devices of a new customer, the developers have to rewrite codes to interact with such new API every time. Thus a framework that is easy to plug into further enterprise application for connecting to any BPM systems and reusable is necessary. Design patterns idea is applied in object oriented design principle in order to provide an efficient way in creating more reusable software. In this paper, a new framework for enterprise application is created by applying three types of design pattern which are Bridge pattern, Decorator pattern and Factory pattern. This framework aims to be reusability, flexibility and maintainability in order to easily support BPM vendor changing.
SAFETY ISSUES CONCERNING NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS: THE ROLE OF CFD

In Nuclear Reactor Safety, several issues concerning power plants deals with multidimensional fluid flow phenomena relevant to CFD applications. The objective of this paper was to analyze these issues and the contribution of CFD. Starting from some examples, in vessel mixing, PTS, containment hydrogen distribution, the limitations that usual codes are presenting and the expected benefits from the use of CFD codes have been derived. In order to be acceptable for nuclear reactor safety, numerical predictions should follow some requirements. Among those requirements, code validation a crucial one. It has been analysed within the more general experimental and analytical approach that the transposition question is demanding. The package of experiments required for assessment has been discussed. Different categories have been defined and role of each category has been discussed. Optimisation of the strategy for code development and code assessment has been proposed in order to answer to the key NRS transposition question.
Dissociation of Cohesin from Chromosome Arms and Loss of Arm Cohesion during Early Mitosis Depends on Phosphorylation of SA2

Cohesin is a protein complex that is required to hold sister chromatids together. Cleavage of the Scc1 subunit of cohesin by the protease separase releases the complex from chromosomes and thereby enables the separation of sister chromatids in anaphase. In vertebrate cells, the bulk of cohesin dissociates from chromosome arms already during prophase and prometaphase without cleavage of Scc1. Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) and Aurora-B are required for this dissociation process, and Plk1 can phosphorylate the cohesin subunits Scc1 and SA2 in vitro, consistent with the possibility that cohesin phosphorylation by Plk1 triggers the dissociation of cohesin from chromosome arms. However, this hypothesis has not been tested yet, and in budding yeast it has been found that phosphorylation of Scc1 by the Polo-like kinase Cdc5 enhances the cleavability of cohesin, but does not lead to separase-independent dissociation of cohesin from chromosomes. To address the functional significance of cohesin phosphorylation in human cells, we have searched for phosphorylation sites on all four subunits of cohesin by mass spectrometry. We have identified numerous mitosis-specific sites on Scc1 and SA2, mutated them, and expressed nonphosphorylatable forms of both proteins stably at physiological levels in human cells. The analysis of these cells lines, in conjunction with biochemical experiments in vitro, indicate that Scc1 phosphorylation is dispensable for cohesin dissociation from chromosomes in early mitosis but enhances the cleavability of Scc1 by separase. In contrast, our data reveal that phosphorylation of SA2 is essential for cohesin dissociation during prophase and prometaphase, but is not required for cohesin cleavage by separase. The similarity of the phenotype obtained after expression of nonphosphorylatable SA2 in human cells to that seen after the depletion of Plk1 suggests that SA2 is the critical target of Plk1 in the cohesin dissociation pathway.
Asthenopia in schoolchildren

In dear memory of my mother SUMMARY Asthenopia is a term used to describe different symptoms associated with the use of the eyes, such as pain, blurred vision, diplopia, headaches. Asthenopia is most often reported in association with near vision. Children with asthenopia complain of such symptoms particularly when reading and writing. Asthenopia is often divided into two main categories: refractive including refractive errors and anisometropia, and muscular, comprising strabismus and convergence insufficiency. Asthenopia due to accommodative problems has in the present studies been regarded as muscular asthenopia. In paper I the prevalence of asthenopia, refractive errors and binocular disorders was determined in a representative population of 216 Swedish schoolchildren aged 6 – 15 years. The prevalence of asthenopia was 23.1 %. The prevalence of hypermetropia and myopia changed with age, while astigmatism, convergence ability and strabismus did not. Accommodative insufficiency was more common in the older schoolchildren. Asthenopia was related to uncorrected visual acuity and refractive errors, and to accommodative insufficiency. Paper II described the orthoptic and ophthalmological findings in a group of 120 schoolchildren with asthenopia. The effect of asthenopia treatment was also evaluated. The most frequently occurring findings related to asthenopia were refractive errors, heterophoria and accommodative insufficiency. With appropriate treatment with glasses, prism or orthoptic exercises for 3 – 6 months, 112 out of the 120 children (93%) became asymptomatic. In paper III 49 schoolchildren with asthenopia due to accommodative insufficiency were assessed with the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the grade of asthenopia was correlated with the degree of accommodative deficiency. The aim was to investigate if VAS grading of the asthenopic symptoms could be used as an instrument to indicate the level of improvement of accommodative insufficiency after treatment. A statistically significant reduction of asthenopic symptoms as graded with the VAS scale was observed, and the improvement in accommodation was also significant. However, there was no correlation between VAS values and the accommodation before and after treatment, and VAS values can only give a general impression of the level of accommodative ability in asthenopia (p < 0.001). Paper IV described how accommodative insufficiency influenced reading performance. Twelve children with asthenopia due to accommodative insufficiency were examined. Reading eye movements were recorded before and after treatment of asthenopia, using the IR corneal reflection technique, Orbit Eye trace System. Large variations in reading patterns were found. Despite successful accommodative treatment (p < 0.001), no correlation was …
The iron abundance of the Magellanic Bridge

High-resolution Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet spectra for five B-type stars in the Magellanic Bridge and in the Large (LMC) and Small (SMC) Magellanic Clouds have been analysed to estimate their iron abundances. Those for the Clouds are lower than estimates obtained from late-type stars or the optical lines in B-type stars by approximately 0.5 dex. This may be due to systematic errors possibly arising from non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) effects or from errors in the atomic data, as similar low Fe abundances have previously been reported from the analysis of the ultraviolet spectra of Galactic early-type stars. The iron abundance estimates for all three Bridge targets appear to be significantly lower than those found for the SMC and LMC by approximately −0.5 and −0.8 dex, respectively, and these differential results should not be affected by any systematic errors present in the absolute abundance estimates. These differential iron abundance estimates are consistent with the underabundances for C, N, O, Mg and Si of approximately −1.1 dex relative to our Galaxy previously found in our Bridge targets. The implications of these very low metal abundances for the Magellanic Bridge are discussed in terms of metal deficient material being stripped from the SMC.
BURAU REPRESENTATION AND RANDOM WALKS ON STRING LINKS

Using a probabilistic interpretation of the Burau representation of the braid group oered by Vaughan Jones, we generalize the Burau representation to a representation of the semigroup of string links. This representation is determined by a linear system, and is dominated by nite type string link invariants. For positive string links, the representation matrix can be interpreted as the transition matrix of a Markov process. For positive non-separable links, we show that all states are persistent.
Molecular Analysis of Echinostome Metacercariae from Their Second Intermediate Host Found in a Localised Geographic Region Reveals Genetic Heterogeneity and Possible Cryptic Speciation

Echinostome metacercariae are the infective stage for humans and animals. The identification of echinostomes has been based until recently on morphology but molecular techniques using sequences of ribosomal RNA and mitochondrial DNA have indicated major clades within the group. In this study we have used the ITS2 region of ribosomal RNA and the ND1 region of mitochondrial DNA to identify metacercariae from snails collected from eight well-separated sites from an area of 4000 km2 in Lamphun Province, Thailand. The derived sequences have been compared to those collected from elsewhere and have been deposited in the nucleotide databases. There were two aims of this study; firstly, to determine the species of echinostome present in an endemic area, and secondly, to assess the intra-specific genetic diversity, as this may be informative with regard to the potential for the development of anthelmintic resistance and with regard to the spread of infection by the definitive hosts. Our results indicate that the most prevalent species are most closely related to E. revolutum, E. trivolvis, E. robustum, E. malayanum and Euparyphium albuferensis. Some sites harbour several species and within a site there could be considerable intra-species genetic diversity. There is no significant geographical structuring within this area. Although the molecular techniques used in this study allowed the assignment of the samples to clades within defined species, however, within these groupings there were significant differences indicating that cryptic speciation may have occurred. The degree of genetic diversity present would suggest the use of targeted regimes designed to minimise the selection of anthelmintic resistance. The apparent lack of geographic structuring is consistent with the transmission of the parasites by the avian hosts.
Finger-count & radial-stroke shortcuts: 2 techniques for augmenting linear menus on multi-touch surfaces

We propose Radial-Stroke and Finger-Count Shortcuts, two techniques aimed at augmenting the menubar on multi-touch surfaces. We designed these multi-finger two-handed interaction techniques in an attempt to overcome the limitations of direct pointing on interactive surfaces, while maintaining compatibility with traditional interaction techniques. While Radial-Stroke Shortcuts exploit the well-known advantages of Radial Strokes, Finger-Count Shortcuts exploit multi-touch by simply counting the number of fingers of each hand in contact with the surface. We report the results of an experimental evaluation of our technique, focusing on expert-mode performance. Finger-Count Shortcuts outperformed Radial-Stroke Shortcuts in terms of both easiness of learning and performance speed.
Proper initialization of Hidden Markov models for industrial applications

Hidden Markov models (HMMs) are widely employed in the field of industrial applications such as machine maintenance. However, how to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of HMM-based approach is still an open question. The traditional HMMs learning method (e.g. the Baum-Welch algorithm) starts from an initial model with pre-defined topology and randomly-chosen parameters, and iteratively updates the model parameters until convergence. Thus, there is the risk of falling into local optima and low convergence speed because of wrongly defined number of hidden states and randomness of initial parameters. In this paper, we proposed a Segmentation and Clustering (SnC) based initialization method for the Baum-Welch algorithm to approximately estimate the number of hidden states and the model parameters for HMMs. The SnC approach was validated on both synthetic and real industrial data.
On large-scale peer-to-peer streaming systems with network coding

Live peer-to-peer (P2P) streaming has recently received much research attention, with successful commercial systems showing its viability in the Internet. Nevertheless, existing analytical studies of P2P streaming systems have failed to mathematically investigate and understand their critical properties, especially with a large scale and under extreme dynamics such as a flash crowd scenario. Even more importantly, there exists no prior analytical work that focuses on an entirely new way of designing streaming protocols, with the help of network coding. In this paper, we seek to show an in-depth analytical understanding of fundamental properties of P2P streaming systems, with a particular spotlight on the benefits of network coding. We show that, if network coding is used according to certain design principles, provably good performance can be guaranteed, with respect to high playback qualities, short initial buffering delays, resilience to peer dynamics, as well as minimal bandwidth costs on dedicated streaming servers. Our results are obtained with mathematical rigor, but without sacrificing realistic assumptions of system scale, peer dynamics, and upload capacities. For further insights, streaming systems using network coding are compared with traditional pull-based streaming in large-scale simulations, with a focus on fundamentals, rather than protocol details. The scale of our simulations throughout this paper exceeds 200,000 peers at times, which is in sharp contrast with existing empirical studies, typically with a few hundred peers involved.
Short-Term Effects of Pulsed Radiofrequency on Chronic Refractory Cervical Radicular Pain

Objective To evaluate the short-term effectiveness of pulsed radiofrequency on the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) in patients with chronic refractory cervical radicular pain. Method Fifteen patients (13 males, 2 females; mean age, 55.9 years) with chronic radicular pain due to cervical disc herniation or foraminal stenosis refractory to active rehabilitative management, including transforaminal cervical epidural steroid injection and exercise, were selected. All patients received pulsed radiofrequency on the symptomatic cervical dorsal root ganglion and were carefully evaluated for neurologic deficits and side effects. The clinical outcomes were measured using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and a neck disability index (NDI) before treatment, one and three months after treatment. Successful pain relief was defined as a 50% or greater reduction in the VAS score as compared with the pre-treatment score. After three months, we categorized the patients' satisfaction. Results The average VAS for radicular pain was reduced significantly from 5.3 at pretreatment to 2.5 at 3 months post-treatment (p<0.05). Eleven of 15 patients (77.3%) after cervical pulsed RF stimulation reported pain relief of 50% or more at the 3 month follow-up. The average NDI was significantly reduced from 44.0% at pretreatment to 35.8% 3 months post-treatment (p<0.05). At 3 months post-treatment, eleven of fifteen patients (73.3%) were satisfied with their status. No adverse effects were observed. Conclusion The results demonstrate that the application of pulsed radiofrequency on DRG might be an effective short-term intervention for chronic refractory cervical radicular pain. Further studies, including a randomized controlled trial with long-term follow-up, are now needed.
On the connectivity and diameter of small-world networks

We consider two different models of small-world graphs on nodes whose locations are modelled by a stochastic point process. In the first model each node is connected to a fixed number of its nearest neighbours, while in the second model each node is connected to all nodes located within some fixed distance. In both models, nodes are additionally connected via shortcuts to other nodes chosen uniformly at random. We obtain sufficient conditions for connectivity in the first model, and necessary conditions in the second model. Thereby, we show that connectivity is achieved at a smaller value of total degree (nearest neighbours plus shortcuts) in the first model. We also obtain bounds on the diameter of the graph in this model.
Certification of bounds on expressions involving rounded operators

Gappa is a tool designed to formally verify the correctness of numerical software and hardware. It uses interval arithmetic and forward error analysis to bound mathematical expressions that involve rounded as well as exact operators. It then generates a theorem and its proof for each verified enclosure. This proof can be automatically checked with a proof assistant, such as Coq or HOL Light. It relies on a large companion library of facts that we have developed. This Coq library provides theorems dealing with addition, multiplication, division, and square root, for both fixed- and floating-point arithmetics. Gappa uses multiple-precision dyadic fractions for the endpoints of intervals and performs forward error analysis on rounded operators when necessary. When asked, Gappa reports the best bounds it is able to reach for a given expression in a given context. This feature can be used to identify where the set of facts and automatic techniques implemented in Gappa becomes insufficient. Gappa handles seamlessly additional properties expressed as interval properties or rewriting rules in order to establish more intricate bounds. Recent work showed that Gappa is suited to discharge proof obligations generated for small pieces of software. They may be produced by third-party tools and the first applications of Gappa use proof obligations written by designers or obtained from traces of execution.
Exploring the connection between coronal and footpoint sources in a thin-thick target solar flare model

Context. Hard X-ray emission of coronal sources in solar flares has been observed and studied since its discovery in Yohkoh observations. Several models have been proposed to explain the physical mechanisms causing this emission and the relations between those sources and simultaneously observed footpoint sources. Aims. We investigate and test one of the models (intermediate thin-thick target model) developed on the basis of Yohkoh observations. The model makes precise predictions on the shape of coronal and footpoint spectra and the relations between them, that can be tested with new instruments such as RHESSI. Methods. RHESSI observations of well observed events are studied in imaging and spectroscopy and compared to the predictions from the intermediate thin-thick target model. Results. The results indicate that such a simple model cannot account for the observed relations between the non-thermal spectra of coronal and footpoint sources. Including non-collisional energy loss of the electrons in the flare loop due to an electric field can solve most of the inconsistencies.
The use of topic identification in opinion classification

With the development of the Internet and the increasing amount of opinion-based data, an ordinary person is not able to process them all. Therefore the importance of automated processing of this data grows. Processing of text data is very difficult. The presented approach is designed to help with the classification of posts in which the author describes his opinion. We focused on the possibility of increasing the accuracy of a return by identifying themes in contributions. In our work we achieved the accuracy 65.9 %. The precision was 60.5 % for positive and 79.2 % for negative reviews. On the other side the recall was 87.8 % for positive and 44.8 % for negative reviews.
KH domain protein RCF3 is a tissue-biased regulator of the plant miRNA biogenesis cofactor HYL1

Significance Micro RNAs (miRNAs) are small RNA molecules that regulate gene expression posttranscriptionally in a process known as gene silencing. Fine-tuning the production of miRNAs is essential for correct silencing of their targets, which in turn is important for homeostasis and development. To fine-tune the production of miRNAs, plants deploy a combination of proteins that act as cofactors of the miRNA-processing machinery. Here, we describe REGULATOR OF CBF GENE EXPRESSION 3 (RCF3) as a tissue-specific regulator of miRNA biogenesis in plants. RCF3 interacts with the phosphatases C-TERMINAL DOMAIN PHOSPHATASE-LIKE1 and 2 (CPL1 and CPL2), ultimately affecting the phosphorylation of one of the main DICER-LIKE1 (DCL1) accessory proteins, HYPONASTIC LEAVES1 (HYL1), with a concomitant effect on miRNA production. The biogenesis of microRNAs (miRNAs), which regulate mRNA abundance through posttranscriptional silencing, comprises multiple well-orchestrated processing steps. We have identified the Arabidopsis thaliana K homology (KH) domain protein REGULATOR OF CBF GENE EXPRESSION 3 (RCF3) as a cofactor affecting miRNA biogenesis in specific plant tissues. MiRNA and miRNA-target levels were reduced in apex-enriched samples of rcf3 mutants, but not in other tissues. Mechanistically, RCF3 affects miRNA biogenesis through nuclear interactions with the phosphatases C-TERMINAL DOMAIN PHOSPHATASE-LIKE1 and 2 (CPL1 and CPL2). These interactions are essential to regulate the phosphorylation status, and thus the activity, of the double-stranded RNA binding protein and DICER-LIKE1 (DCL1) cofactor HYPONASTIC LEAVES1 (HYL1).