Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Theory of segmented particle filters

Abstract We study the asymptotic behavior of a new particle filter approach for the estimation of hidden Markov models. In particular, we develop an algorithm where the latent-state sequence is segmented into multiple shorter portions, with an estimation technique based upon a separate particle filter in each portion. The partitioning facilitates the use of parallel processing, which reduces the wall-clock computational time. Based upon this approach, we introduce new estimators of the latent states and likelihood which have similar or better variance properties compared to estimators derived from standard particle filters. We show that the likelihood function estimator is unbiased, and show asymptotic normality of the underlying estimators.
Analysing scale and scope specialization efficiencies of US agricultural and nonagricultural banks using the Fourier flexible functional form

This study presents results of cost estimation and efficiency analyses of various size categories of agricultural and nonagricultural commercial banks using the Fourier Flexible (FF) function model. The traditional cost estimation model is expanded in this study with the inclusion of loan quality and financial risk indexes often ignored in empirical efficiency models. The FF model produced more intuitive scale efficiency results than the standard translog model owing to its greater global approximation capability. Scale efficiency measures provide evidence of increasing returns to scale for small and medium-size banks. Agricultural banks demonstrated a stronger tendency to maximize the potentials of increasing returns to scale as a result of output expansion. The translog cost model, however, remains a reliable tool in scope efficiency analyses that, in this study, produced results suggesting that agricultural banks are more likely to thrive more efficiently under specialized lending operations.
Metagovernance of urban governance networks in Canada: In pursuit of legitimacy and accountability

Abstract This article introduces the concept of “metagovernance” into the Canadian public administration literature. The term captures the relationship and tension between the willingness of the state to engage with civil society representatives in substantive policy planning and decision-making via purpose-focused governance networks, while maintaining some degree of control over their activity consistent with traditional notions of democratic accountability. Examples of fifteen cases of network governance at the local level from all regions in Canada and various policy domains are compared. The article identifies patterns in the management of governance networks by the state and reflects on the implications for network governance and accountability. Sommaire Cet article introduit le concept de la « metagouvernance » dans les documents de l'administration publique canadienne. Le terme reflete la relation et la tension entre la volonte de l'Etat de s'engager avec les representants de la societe civile dans une importante planification et prise de decisions en matiere de politiques par le biais de reseaux de gouvernance axes sur des objectifs, tout en maintenant un certain degre de controle sur leur activite, conforme aux notions traditionnelles d'imputabilite en democratie. On y compare les exemples de quinze cas de gouvernance de reseaux a l'echelle locale de toutes les regions du Canada et dans divers domaines de politique. L'article identifie les tendances dans la gestion des reseaux de gouvernance par l'Etat et examine les implications pour la gouvernance des reseaux et l'imputabilite.
Genome Sequence of a Newly Isolated Nicotine-Degrading Bacterium, Ochrobactrum sp. SJY1

ABSTRACT Ochrobactrum sp. SJY1 uses nicotine as the sources of carbon, nitrogen, and energy. The genome of SJY1 was sequenced in order to provide insights into its mechanism of nicotine degradation. Physiological characteristics and genome analysis indicate that strain SJY1 might have a different nicotine degradation pathway from the pyridine or pyrrolidine pathway.
Sentence-Level Multilingual Multi-modal Embedding for Natural Language Processing

We propose a novel discriminative ranking model that learns embeddings from multilingual and multi-modal data, meaning that our model can take advantage of images and descriptions in multiple languages to improve embedding quality. To that end, we introduce an objective function that uses pairwise ranking adapted to the case of three or more input sources. We compare our model against different baselines, and evaluate the robustness of our embeddings on image–sentence ranking (ISR), semantic textual similarity (STS), and neural machine translation (NMT). We find that the additional multilingual signals lead to improvements on all three tasks, and we highlight that our model can be used to consistently improve the adequacy of translations generated with NMT models when re-ranking n-best lists.
Educating Citizens About Controversial Issues: The Case of Suburban Goose Management

The authors explored how citizens reasoned to decide which management options were most appropriate for addressing concerns about an overpopulation of Canada geese in Rockland County, New York. Data were collected through a set of in-depth, semistructured interviews. The reasons respondents offered in support of management alternatives, and the assumptions they made in their reasoning, were identified during the analysis. Seven types of reasons used by citizens to support different management actions were detected, including who was responsible for a situation, who supported different management options, and what procedures were used to select a management option. Among some respondents, thinking about appropriate management options could be constrained unnecessarily by their skills at logical argument, their beliefs about knowledge, their own and others' choice of language to describe their perceptions, and their perceptions of other people. Based on these results, it would be worthwhile to expand the scope of what is normally addressed in public policy education efforts to address the most common assumptions that influence how people think about controversial resource issues.
Large-scale and high-quality multi-view stereo. (Stéréo multi-vues à grande-échelle et de haute-qualité)

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Large-scale and high-quality multi-view stereo Hoang Hiep Vu
Predictors of missed appointments for psychiatric consultations in a primary care clinic.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of the study was to determine predictors of missed appointments for psychiatric consultations among patients in a general medical clinic. METHODS The charts of 180 patients consecutively referred for psychiatric consultations at a university-affiliated primary care clinic were reviewed. Ninety patients missed appointments for these consultations. Parametric and nonparametric tests were used to compare patients who missed and did not miss appointments on demographic and clinical variables, as well as measures related to patients' interactions with the clinic and the referring clinician. RESULTS Logistic regression analysis revealed three significant predictors of missed appointments. Patients with mild distress and those with significant resistance to seeing a psychiatrist were more likely to miss appointments, as were those who had to wait longer between the referral and the appointment date. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that shortening the wait for a psychiatric consultation, reserving consultation for more severe cases, and working to reduce patients' resistance to consultation will reduce the number of missed appointments.
The intricate implementation of performance measurement systems: exploring developments in professional-service organizations in the Dutch non-profit sector

Institutional and organizational theory supports the argument that current features of performance measurement systems (PMS) in public organizations are generally unsuitable for the actual nature of these professional organizations. Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies in the health care and higher education sectors in the Netherlands have shown that, despite external pressures, the implementation of such systems is slower than intended and seems to occur outside the primary process of the organization. Two rounds of interviews with quality coordinators in 2003 and 2006 showed that the gap between performance measurement systems and the operational process continued to exist, although its nature had changed. In general, quality coordinators responded pragmatically to the changes imposed upon them, as peer review and collegial trust played a vital part. The empirical findings illustrate that institutional and professional theories supplement each other in a fruitful way. Points for practitioners Policy-makers in the public sector involved with quality care and assurance should be aware that a well-structured performance measurement system (PMS) is no guarantee of smooth implementation. On the contrary, the implementation deserves attention in its own right. The more sophisticated and demanding the design of PMS, the more likely it is that employees find ways to work round such a system and only use it in a superficial or compliant manner. If implementation is not taken seriously into account, this will only lead to a greater gap between reality and rhetoric.
Synchrosqueezing an effective method for analyzing Doppler radar physiological signals

Doppler radar can monitor vital sign wirelessly. Respiratory and heart rate have time-varying behavior. Capturing the rate variability provides crucial physiological information. However, the common time-frequency methods fail to detect key information. We investigate Synchrosqueezing method to extract oscillatory components of the signal with time varying spectrum. Simulation and experimental result shows the potential of the proposed method for analyzing signals with complex time-frequency behavior like physiological signals. Respiration and heart signals and their components are extracted with higher resolution and without any pre-filtering and signal conditioning.
The magic garden explained - the internals of UNIX System V, release 4: an open systems design

When writing can change your life, when writing can enrich you by offering much money, why don't you try it? Are you still very confused of where getting the ideas? Do you still have no idea with what you are going to write? Now, you will need reading. A good writer is a good reader at once. You can define how you write depending on what books to read. This magic garden explained the internals of unix system v release 4 an open systems design can help you to solve the problem. It can be one of the right sources to develop your writing skill.
Synthesis and cleavage processing of oncornavirus proteins during interferon inhibition of virus particle release

The effect of interferon on the rate of synthesis and the cleavage processing of viral proteins in mouse cells, chronically infected with Rauscher murine leukemia virus, has been studied by immunoprecipitation of newly synthesized viral proteins from virus-infected cells pulse-labeled with [35S]methionine. Immuno-precipitated, labeled polypeptides were resolved by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate and then examined by autoradiography. Cleavage processing was studied in the same manner with cells that had been pulse-labeled and then incubated with non-radioactive media for a sufficient time to allow normal cleavage processing to occur. At a concentration that strongly inhibited the release of virus particles, interferon had no effect on the synthesis of proteins carrying antigenic determinants of the major core protein p30 or of the envelope glycoprotein gp69/71. Nor did it affect the post-translational cleavage processing of the precursors to these proteins. Similarly, interferon did not affect labeling or chasing of precursor protein carrying the p15 determinants; labeling of p15 itself could not be studied because it does not contain methionine.
Baseball’s Blue Ribbon Economic Report

In July 2000, Major League Baseball published a report claiming a recent marked decline in competitive balance. The alleged cause is growing disparities in team revenues and payrolls driven ultimately by market size. Consequently, sweeping changes in the game’s economic structure are necessary, mainly composed of new labor market restrictions. The report, however, fails to present evidence of a decline in competitive balance or of a significant link between market size and winning. The present study seeks to provide the missing analysis. Although competitive balance might have declined in the American League (AL), it improved in the National League (NL). The difference is important, as both leagues are subject to the same governance structure—that is, the AL decline is likely due to idiosyncratic causes. Also, there is (at most) a weak relation between winning and market size that has not worsened in recent years.
Making sense of entrepreneurial opportunities

This thesis explores how entrepreneurial actors make sense of the entrepreneurial process as they transition from idea to enterprise. To explore this process, the thesis analyses the sensemaking and sensegiving processes experienced by prospective student entrepreneurs in a university incubator. Through addressing the following research question: “How do early-stage entrepreneurial actors make sense of the entrepreneurial process as they transition from having an idea to deciding to exploit it? ”, this study explains how entrepreneurial actors transition from idea conceptualization to entrepreneurial opportunity exploitation and delineates their transition paths. Using an interpretive multiple-case research design (Yin, 2009; Eisenhardt, 1989), the sensemaking and sensegiving processes involved in the transition from idea conceptualization to opportunity exploitation is investigated by following ten early-stage entrepreneurial actors in the process of shaping and developing opportunity ideas into entrepreneurial opportunities. Methods of analysis include case studies of each venture idea, field observations, direct interviews, construction of time-lines and inductive development of theory through a combination of the sensemaking framework and stages of the entrepreneurial process. In this thesis, two important theoretical contributions are made; first, the sensemaking perspective is established as a theoretical approach for understanding how the entrepreneurial process unfolds over time and second, new insight is offered concerning the ‘black box’ that exists between idea conceptualization and opportunity exploitation. This is demonstrated through the identification and explanation of the mechanisms that enable entrepreneurial actors to make sense of opportunities as they transition from idea to exploitation. There are also practical contributions for academic managers charged with improving entrepreneurship education and those involved with the commercialization of research generated within a university setting.
Obesity and the Role of Food Marketing: A Policy Analysis of Issues and Remedies

The Centers for Disease Control has declared obesity a public health epidemic: More than 30% of U.S. adults are obese, and obesity now equals smoking as the leading preventable cause of disease and death. The authors explore policy issues associated with the accelerated growth of obesity in the U.S. population, particularly policy related to the debated influence of food marketing practices on obesity. The authors discuss possible market failures that influence consumer food choices and address the role of existing informational and regulatory policies in moderating the alleged threat of food marketing practices to public health. They consider various types of policy remedies that have been proposed as ways to reduce societal obesity costs, and they offer an agenda for further research to address knowledge gaps that represent barriers to effective public policy decisions.
Insulin resistance predicts endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular risk in HIV-infected persons on long-term highly active antiretroviral therapy

Objective:Cardiovascular disease risk among persons with HIV is likely multifactorial, thus testing a variety of available noninvasive vascular ultrasound and other surrogate tests may yield differing results. To address this issue, we assessed multiple metabolic and clinical predictors of endothelial function and carotid intima–media thickness in HIV-infected subjects and compared results with HIV-negative controls. Design:Prospective, cross-sectional study of 50 HIV-infected, healthy adults on stable highly active antiretroviral therapy matched to 50 HIV-negative controls by age, sex, race, and body mass index. Methods:Flow-mediated vasodilation of the brachial artery, carotid intima–media thickness, dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (HIV-infected subjects), and fasting insulin, lipids, and oral glucose tolerance tests were performed. Results were compared between HIV-infected and control groups. Results:Fifty percent of subjects were African–American with 34% women. Among HIV-infected, mean CD4 cell count was 547 cells/μl; 90% had HIV RNA less than 50 copies/ml. There were no significant differences between HIV-infected and control subjects with regard to brachial artery flow-mediated vasodilation or carotid intima–media thickness. In multivariate analyses of the HIV cohort, independent predictors of endothelial dysfunction (lower flow-mediated vasodilation) were increasing insulin resistance, greater alcohol consumption, and higher baseline brachial artery diameter (P < 0.05); predictors of increased carotid intima–media thickness were hypertension, higher trunk/limb fat ratio, and insulin resistance (P < 0.05). Conclusion:In this HIV cohort on modern highly active antiretroviral therapy with well controlled HIV, there were no significant differences with regard to preclinical markers of cardiovascular disease. Insulin resistance was a strong predictor of impaired brachial artery flow-mediated vasodilation and increased carotid intima–media thickness, and may be an important cardiovascular disease risk factor in the HIV population.
The Return Of"Patrimonial Capitalism": Review of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century

Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the 21st century" may be one of the most important recent economics books. It jointly treats theory of growth, functional distribution of income, and interpersonal income inequality. It envisages a future of relatively slow growth with the rising share of capital incomes, and widening income inequality. This tendency could be checked only by worldwide taxation of capital.
Patterns of pulsatile luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone secretion in prepubertal (midchildhood) boys and girls and patients with idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (Kallmann's syndrome): a study using an ultrasensitive time-resolved immunofluorometric assay.

To study the ontogeny of spontaneous pulsatile LH and FSH secretion before the onset of puberty, plasma LH and FSH were measured by an ultrasensitive time-resolved immunoflurometric assay in 16 boys and 6 girls, aged 6.5 +/- 0.2 yr (+/- SEM; range, 4.4-8.0) with short stature. Eight male patients with idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (Kallmann's syndrome), aged 24.1 +/- 3.4 yr, were also investigated. Blood samples were withdrawn at 10- to 20-min intervals for 12 h from 2000-0800 h. Pituitary responsiveness was assessed by a standard iv LHRH challenge test. LH and/or FSH pulses were detectable in all but two prepubertal subjects. In boys, low amplitude LH (0.16 +/- 0.06 U/L) and FSH (0.19 +/- 0.03 U/L) pulses were detectable at mean frequencies of 2.19 +/- 0.37 and 2.13 +/- 0.46 pulses/12 h, respectively. In girls, low amplitude LH (0.29 +/- 0.18 U/L) pulses, but higher (P less than 0.05 compared to boys) amplitude FSH (1.62 +/- 1.05 U/L) pulses were observed at frequencies of 1.71 +/- 0.56 and 1.67 +/- 0.53 pulses/12 h, respectively. Mean FSH in prepubertal girls (1.95 +/- 0.88 U/L) was significantly (P less than 0.05) higher than that in boys (0.46 +/- 0.07 U/L), but mean LH was not different at 0.17 +/- 0.07 and 0.10 +/- 0.03 U/L, respectively. Patients with Kallmann's syndrome had mean LH and FSH levels indistinguishable from those of prepubertal boys. Nocturnal augmentation of pulsatile LH or FSH secretion was observed in 74% of children (71% in girls and 75% in boys), but in none of the eight patients with Kallmann's syndrome. A close temporal association was observed between sleep onset and the appearance of nocturnal pulsatile gonadotropin secretion. The FSH response to exogenous LHRH in prepubertal girls was significantly greater than that in patients with Kallmann's syndrome and prepubertal boys, but LH responses were not different. Our results show that pulsatile LH and FSH secretion occurs in the majority of boys and girls in midchildhood, with a robust association with nocturnal sleep onset. Between the ages of 4-8 yr, these low amplitude and low frequency pulses are unable to activate gonadal function. The regulation of FSH secretion in prepubertal girls appears to be different from that in prepubertal boys. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Model construction on prefix hijacking attack

There have been many incidents of IP prefix hijacking by BGP protocol in the Internet. The AS that hijacks a prefix can blackhole and intercept all the hijacked traffic and thus, cause a denial-of-service attack or a man-in-the-middle attack against the prefix owner. The relation on prefix hijacking and the Internet structure is presented in this paper. Two impaction parameters, affected ASes set Nc and affected paths factor μ, are analyzed for typical prefix hijacking events in different layers.
The Great Recession and the Distribution of Household Income

The ‘Great Recession’ was the worst macroeconomic downturn since the 1930s in most OECD countries. In many economies, subsequent recovery has been sluggish, and has sometimes turned into a new recession. The paper in vestigates the effects of the Great Recession on the distribution of household incomes. It shows that the changes between 2007 and 2009 in household incomes in total and on avera ge, in income inequality, and in poverty rates, were modest in most of the countries studied , in spite of the depth of the recession in most countries. This outcome is remarkably differen t from the far more dramatic experience of the Great Depression, although not so different from some recent recessions such as the Nordic crisis of the early 1990s. During the GR, th e household sector was protected from the impact of the downturn by both automatic stabiliser s and additional support of governments through the tax and benefit system. The post-2009 d istributional impacts of the GR are likely to have been considerably larger however, with grea ter differences across countries emerging.