Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Food for Thought : Evaluating the Impact of India ’ s Mid-Day Meal Program on Educational Attainment

Given the correlation between educational attainment and economic growth, policies that both effectively and efficiently decrease the financial barriers to primary school education in developing countries are of extreme interest to government and non-government organizations alike. In 1995, the Government of India implemented a school-feeding program to incentivize children to attend primary school through the provision of a subsidized mid-day meal. This paper evaluates the Mid-Day Meal Program by estimating the impact of receipt of the program on primary school enrollment. A propensity score matching method is used, and the dataset is from India’s 2004 Socio-Economic Survey. Results indicate that the school feeding program was extremely successful in raising enrollment rates, particularly among children from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds. This evidence reaffirms the positive impact of government transfer programs on educational outcomes, and suggests hopeful results for the implementation of similar programs in other regions. * Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Professor Frederico Finan for contributing his time and invaluable advice throughout the research process. I would also like to thank Professor Roger Craine for his guidance during the beginning stages, as well as Harrison Decker for his assistance in acquiring data. Finally, I wish to acknowledge the statistical office that provided the underlying data making this research possible: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, India.
Wish: Amplifying Creative Ability with Expert Crowds

We present Wish, a system that uses expert members of an online crowd to amplify a user’s ability to carry out complex creative tasks. When presented with an incomplete or rough draft of creative content (for example, writing, programming, or art), Wish finds and recruits an expert to suggest a possible realization of the user’s vision. Wish contributes a new approach to crowdsourcing complex work. Rather than combining pools of unskilled workers to producing complex output, Wish uses the crowd to identify and recruit a pool of experts, then assigns a single high-quality expert to carry out the task. This approach retains the benefits of using a crowd — scalability, speed, correctness, and responsiveness — while simplifying the process of crowdsourcing complex work. We demonstrate Wish in the context of three prototype tools. Draft enables users to consult a crowd of authors for suggestions on writing. Hack lets developers convert pseudocode into working code by pulling results on demand from a crowd of programmers. Sketch lets individuals convert rough sketches into fully-refined art by consulting artists. We illustrate how novice creators can use Wish to amplify their ability, how expert designers can use Wish to explore design spaces and improve the speed of creation, and how new users can use Wish to gain feedback from experts.
Sales Productivity and Employee Engagement : Evidence from Upselling in the Car Rental Industry ∗

This research investigates whether or not employee engagement has an impact on upselling effectiveness in the car rental service industry, where upselling is a key performance metric for customer development. Our empirical strategy employs a series of simple empirical tests based on measures of engagement constructed using various sub-groups of employees and questions. The main results demonstrate that engagement by employees who actually interact with customers and focus about customer-centric issues have a markedly larger effect on sales productivity via upselling, as compared with the alternative engagement measures. Furthermore, we show that employee engagement has a greater impact on upselling effectiveness among transactions made by business and weekend users.
A stochastic geometry analysis of cooperative wireless networks powered by energy harvesting

A large wireless network with energy harvesting transmitters is considered, where a group of K transmitters form a cluster to cooperatively serve a desired user. Using stochastic geometry, simple closed-form expressions are derived to characterize the outage performance as a function of important parameters such as the energy harvesting rate, buffer size and cluster size for a given cluster geometry. The developed framework also allows the K in-cluster transmitters to have different energy harvesting capabilities. A comparison with simulation results reveals that the derived expressions closely model the signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio distribution at the receiver, particularly in the low-outage regime. Lastly, the developed framework is used to investigate the impact of different parameters such as cluster and buffer size on outage performance.
Exercise of Market Power on Ramp Rate in Wind-Integrated Power Systems

With an increasing penetration of wind power, there is likely to be an increasing need for fast-ramping generating units. These generators ensure that no load is lost if supply drops due to the uncertainties in wind power generation. However, it is observed in practice that, in a presence of network constraints, fast-ramping generating units are prone to act strategically and exercise market power by withholding their ramp rates. In this paper we model this gaming behavior on ramp rates. We assume a market operator who collects bids in form of marginal costs, quantities, and ramp rates. He runs a ramp-constrained economic dispatch given the generators' bids, forecasted demand, and contingencies. Following the game-theoretic concepts, we set up a multi-level optimization problem. The lower-level problem is the ramp-constrained economic dispatch and the higher-level represents the profit maximization problems solved by strategic generators. The whole problem is formulated as an equilibrium problem with equilibrium constraints (EPEC). The outcome of the EPEC problem is a set of Nash equilibria. To tackle the multiple Nash equilibria problem, the concept of the extremal-Nash equilibria is defined and formulated. We model the concept of extremal-Nash equilibria as a single-stage mixed-integer linear programming problem (MILP) and demonstrate the application of this mathematical framework on an illustrative case and on a more realistic case study with tractable results.
The cognitive effects of hepatitis C in the presence and absence of a history of substance use disorder

Abstract The aim of the study was to determine whether infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is associated with cognitive impairment beyond the effects of prevalent comorbidities and a history of substance use disorder (SUD). Adult veterans were recruited from the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center into three groups: (1) HCV+/SUD+ (n = 39), (2) HCV+/SUD− (n = 24), and (3) HCV−/SUD− (n = 56). SUD+ participants were in remission for ≥90 days, while SUD− participants had no history of SUD. Groups did not significantly differ in terms of rates of psychiatric or medical comorbidities. Procedures included clinical interviews, medical record reviews, and neuropsychological testing. Significant group differences were found in the domains of Verbal Memory, Auditory Attention, Speeded Visual Information Processing, and Reasoning/Mental Flexibility (p ≤ .05). Post hoc comparisons indicated that HCV+/SUD− patients performed significantly worse than HCV−/SUD− controls on tests measuring verbal learning, auditory attention, and reasoning/mental flexibility, but only HCV+/SUD+ patients did worse than HCV−/SUD− controls on tests of speeded visual information processing. Results indicate that chronic HCV is associated with cognitive impairment in the absence of a history of SUD. The most robust deficits appear to be in verbal learning and reasoning/mental flexibility. (JINS, 2009, 15, 69–82.)
Comparison of Wood Composite Properties Using Cantilever-Beam Bending

Wood-based composite panels generally are first tested out-of-plane in the primary panel direction followed by the cross panel direction, but rarely edgewise. While most applications use wood-based composites in the flat-wise orientation and only need the out-of-plane properties, there are construction configurations where edgewise properties are needed for improved design configurations. A square cantilever beam was used to determine the apparent stiffness (EI) and modulus of elasticity (E) differences for 3 wood-based composite panel materials. Specimens were cut along the primary panel direction or machine direction (MD) and perpendicular to the primary direction or cross-machine direction (CD). The square specimens were first non-destructively tested oriented in the normal or out-of-plane position, then rotated 90 degrees to measure edgewise properties. The results for a 20 mm thick medium density fiberboard (MDF) showed that the MD properties were 56% higher than the CD properties. The other two composite materials, 12 mm thick particleboard (PB) and 12 mm thick MDF, were essentially the same in the MD or CD directions. For all the materials, the differences between the out-of-plane and the edgewise loading directions showed higher EI and E between 17 to 61%, respectively. The largest difference was found in the PB composite material properties that were between 42 to 61% higher for the out-of-plane properties. For the 12 and 20 mm thick MDF material, in-plane properties were 27 to 33% and 17 to 23% higher, respectively. The cantilever bending method was able to quickly assess the difference using the same specimen.
Immunoexpression of cell cycle biomarkers in neuroblastoma samples and its correlation with prognostic factors

INTRODUCAO: Sabe-se que os niveis de expressao de moleculas envolvidas na regulacao da apoptose e da proliferacao celular apresentam valor prognostico em pacientes com neuroblastomas. OBJETIVO: Avaliar a imunoexpressao das proteinas Ki67, B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2), phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), caspase-8 e BCL-2 associated protein X (BAX) em neuroblastomas na tentativa de propor novos biomarcadores prognosticos que poderiam auxiliar na melhor discriminacao dos grupos de risco. MATERIAL E METODOS: Amostras de neuroblastoma (n = 23) foram submetidas a tecnica tissue microarray e analisadas com imuno-histoquimica. Os pacientes foram classificados de acordo com os fatores prognosticos clinico-patologicos (idade, localizacao, medula ossea infiltrada ou nao, pouco diferenciado ou em diferenciacao/ganglioneuroblastoma, rico ou pobre em estroma com celulas de Schwann, histologia favoravel ou desfavoravel segundo Shimada, presenca ou nao da amplificacao do MYCN) e com o curso clinico (se em obito ou vivo, com ou sem lesao residual/recidiva). RESULTADOS: Doze casos eram do sexo feminino; nove tinham idade acima de 18 meses; nove apresentavam tumores extra-abdominais; e nove cursavam com histologia desfavoravel. Quinze pacientes foram submetidos a biopsia de medula ossea, sendo quatro com apresentacao de metastase. Nove pacientes evoluiram ao obito. CONCLUSAO: A imunoexpressao do Ki67 foi mais baixa nos casos ricos em estroma (p = 0,018) e elevada nos casos pouco diferenciados (p = 0,013). O PTEN apresentou-se menos positivo em neuroblastomas ricos em estroma (p = 0,024). A caspase-8 foi mais imunopositiva em casos com medula ossea negativa (p = 0,035). Esses biomarcadores poderiam ser utilizados para auxiliar a discriminar grupos de pacientes de pior prognostico.
Identifying sports videos using replay, text, and camera motion features

Automated classification of digital video is emerging as an important piece of the puzzle in the design of content management systems for digital libraries. The ability to classify videos into various classes such as sports, news, movies, or documentaries, increases the efficiency of indexing, browsing, and retrieval of video in large databases. In this paper, we discuss the extraction of features that enable identification of sports videos directly from the compressed domain of MPEG video. These features include detecting the presence of action replays, determining the amount of scene text in vide, and calculating various statistics on camera and/or object motion. The features are derived from the macroblock, motion,and bit-rate information that is readily accessible from MPEG video with very minimal decoding, leading to substantial gains in processing speeds. Full-decoding of selective frames is required only for text analysis. A decision tree classifier built using these features is able to identify sports clips with an accuracy of about 93 percent.
In Defense of Universal Values

I found myself beautiful as a free human mind. Mrinal, in Rabindranath Tagore's “Letter from a Wife” It is obvious that the human eye gratifies itself in a way different from the crude, non-human eye; the human ear different from the crude ear, etc. … The sense caught up in crude practical need has only a Restricted sense. For the starving man, it is not the human form of food that exists, but only its abstract being as food; it could just as well be there in its crudest form, and it would be impossible to say wherein this feeding activity differs from that of animals . Marx, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 CHALLENGES TO CROSS-CULTURAL NORMS An international feminism that is going to have any bite quickly gets involved in making normative recommendations that cross boundaries of culture, nation, religion, race, and class. It will therefore need to find descriptive and normative concepts adequate to that task. I shall argue that certain universal norms of human capability should be central for political purposes in thinking about basic political principles that can provide the underpinning for a set of constitutional guarantees in all nations. I shall also argue that these norms are legitimately used in making comparisons across nations, asking how well they are doing relative to one another in promoting human quality of life.
Experiences in coverage testing of a Java middleware

This paper addresses the issues of test coverage analysis of J2EE [22] servers. These middleware are nowadays at the core of the modern information technology's landscape. They provide enterprise applications with several non functional services such as security, persistence, transaction, messaging, etc. In several cases, J2EE servers play a critical role when applied to e-business or banking applications. Therefore, ensuring the quality of such software layers becomes an essential requirement. However, in industrial context, professional middleware software are highly complicated and have a huge size which makes their maintenance and quality management a big challenge for testers and quality managers. The aim of this paper is to present our test and coverage analysis case study with and the JOnAS [23] J2EE server. The challenges of this work result from the size of the test suites and the size of the tested middleware (200,000 lines of code (LOC) for JOnAS)
A High Precision Terahertz Wave Image Reconstruction Algorithm

With the development of terahertz (THz) technology, the applications of this spectrum have become increasingly wide-ranging, in areas such as non-destructive testing, security applications and medical scanning, in which one of the most important methods is imaging. Unlike remote sensing applications, THz imaging features sources of array elements that are almost always supposed to be spherical wave radiators, including single antennae. As such, well-developed methodologies such as Range-Doppler Algorithm (RDA) are not directly applicable in such near-range situations. The Back Projection Algorithm (BPA) can provide products of high precision at the the cost of a high computational burden, while the Range Migration Algorithm (RMA) sacrifices the quality of images for efficiency. The Phase-shift Migration Algorithm (PMA) is a good alternative, the features of which combine both of the classical algorithms mentioned above. In this research, it is used for mechanical scanning, and is extended to array imaging for the first time. In addition, the performances of PMA are studied in detail in contrast to BPA and RMA. It is demonstrated in our simulations and experiments described herein that the algorithm can reconstruct images with high precision.
MUSE: Multi-Represented Similarity Estimation

In modern multimedia databases, objects can be specified by a large variety of feature representations. In this paper, we present a novel technique for multi-represented similarity estimation. We transform the distance between two objects in each representation into so-called similarity and dissimilarity estimates which are used to derive a meaningful similarity score. To determine the parameters for our new similarity measure, we present methods with and without user feedback.
Closed Competition Systems (CCS) in Digital Business Strategies

For many firms, the ability to capture and maintain market share and profitability on the Internet is dependent on a firm’s ability to create and maintain a closed competition system (CCS) – that is, a system of business operation with customers that competitors can neither enter nor emulate very effectively. A CCS can be created through market, technological, or policy means. Sometimes these different sources of competitive advantage substitute for one another, other times they compliment each other. We illustrate the relevance of CCS with case examples from Internet environments. CCSs extend the current integrative strategy perspective. We conclude with a research agenda. Introduction Instant Messaging (“IM”) as an Internet communications technology holds great promise for Internet business applications. IM allows people to engage in simultaneous communication, both in forms of chat and “instant” email, on the Internet. The adoption rate of IM among teenagers has been phenomenal and the plans business has made for this technology promise to be revolutionary (Forbes, 2000). America OnLine (AOL) has tens of millions of registered IM users on its AOL Instant Messaging (“AIM”) and I Seek You (“ICQ”) systems. Microsoft Corporation, AT&T, and many other ISPs also have instant messaging services for their users, but none come close to having the size of the user base that AOL has been able to amass. These other companies desire a unified system where their users can interact with those of AOL. System compatibility with AOL would (1) make the other systems valuable for their users as a communication device to the broader IM community (AIM users), and (2) create more business opportunities for the clients of these other systems as they could now interact with a much larger market. In short, IM system compatibility with AOL would make the operators of these other systems (the Microsofts and AT&Ts) more valuable to their users. 1 Forrester Research reports that 35% of all employees in U.S. companies are already using it. For example, at IBM, 235,000 employees regularly use instant messaging which ties with other office productivity tools. Instant messaging is being incorporated into next generation videoconferencing and mobile computing
A Thai to English Machine Translation System Using Thai LFG Tree Structure as Interlingua

— Machine Translation (MT) between the Thai and English languages has been a challenging research topic in natural language processing. Most research has been done on English to Thai machine translation, but not the other way around. This paper presents a Thai to English Machine Translation System that translates a Thai sentence into interlingua of a Thai LFG tree using LFG grammar and a bottom up parser. The Thai LFG tree is then transformed into the corresponding English LFG tree by pattern matching and node transformation. Finally, an equivalent English sentence is created using structural information prescribed by the English LFG tree. Based on results of experiments designed to evaluate the performance of the proposed system, it can be stated that the system has been proven to be effective in providing a useful translation from Thai to English.
Endocytosis of E-cadherin regulated by Rac and Cdc42 small G proteins through IQGAP1 and actin filaments

E-cadherin is a key cell–cell adhesion molecule at adherens junctions (AJs) and undergoes endocytosis when AJs are disrupted by the action of extracellular signals. To elucidate the mechanism of this endocytosis, we developed here a new cell-free assay system for this reaction using the AJ-enriched fraction from rat liver. We found here that non-trans-interacting, but not trans-interacting, E-cadherin underwent endocytosis in a clathrin-dependent manner. The endocytosis of trans-interacting E-cadherin was inhibited by Rac and Cdc42 small G proteins, which were activated by trans-interacting E-cadherin or trans-interacting nectins, which are known to induce the formation of AJs in cooperation with E-cadherin. This inhibition was mediated by reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton by Rac and Cdc42 through IQGAP1, an actin filament-binding protein and a downstream target of Rac and Cdc42. These results indicate the important role of the Rac/Cdc42-IQGAP1 system in the dynamic organization and maintenance of the E-cadherin–based AJs.
Mild traumatic brain injury after traffic collisions: a population-based inception cohort study.

OBJECTIVE To study the incidence and claim closure of traffic-related mild traumatic brain injury and the effect of insurance factors. DESIGN Population-based, cohort study of mild traumatic brain injury caused by traffic collisions in Saskatchewan, Canada, between July 1, 1994 and December 31, 1995. On January 1, 1995 the insurance law changed from tort to no fault. SUBJECTS 657 adults, 18 years or older, who hit their head and indicated loss of consciousness or uncertain loss of consciousness and were not hospitalized for more than 2 days. METHODS Subjects entered the cohort on the injury date and exited on the day the insurance claim closed, or on November 1, 1997, when remaining open claims were censored. All 657 subjects answered a baseline questionnaire, and 479 who did not reopen their claim were included in the follow-up. The relationship between claim closure and health was studied in 225 (47%) of these claimants. RESULTS The 6-month incidence dropped from 36/100,000 to 27/100,000 after the insurance change. The median time-to-claim closure dropped from 408 days to 233 days. Prolonged claim closure was associated with both injury and insurance-related factors. Claim closure occurred faster when claimants' health improved. CONCLUSIONS Mild traumatic brain injury incidence and claim closure is affected by both health and insurance-related factors.
Modelling studies to estimate the prevalence of foot-and-mouth disease carriers after reactive vaccination

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious and economically significant viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals. Vaccination can be used to help restrict the spread of the infection, but evidence must be provided to show that the infection has been eradicated in order to regain the FMD-free status. While serological tests have been developed, which can identify animals that have been infected regardless of vaccination status, it is vital to know the probable prevalence of herds with FMD carriers and the within-herd prevalence of those carriers in order to design efficient post-epidemic surveillance strategies that establish freedom from disease. Here, we present the results of a study to model the expected prevalence of carriers after application of emergency vaccination and the impact of this on the sensitivity of test systems for their detection. Results showed that the expected prevalence of carrier-containing herds after reactive vaccination is likely to be very low, approximately 0.2%, and there will only be a small number of carriers, most likely one, in the positive herds. Therefore, sensitivity for carrier detection can be optimized by adopting an individual-based testing regime in which all animals in all vaccinated herds are tested and positive animals rather than herds are culled.