Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Three essays on migration, remittances and human capital formation

This dissertation investigates three topics related to migration and human capital formation in developing countries. The first essay attempts to determine the conditions under which exposure to international migration can have a positive effect on economic growth. Numerical simulations show that the lower the contribution of private investment in education to human capital accumulation in the source countries, the higher the likelihood that exposure to international migration negatively impacts economic growth if migration is sufficiently high. The level of efficient government expenditure on education is higher for an economy with migration than for an economy without migration only if migration has a positive effect on growth. The second essay analyzes the determinants of remittances using household data from Ecuador. It provides empirical evidence as follows: remittances and household migration size are non-monotonically related, remittances are altruistically motivated, the size of remittances decreases with time after migration and the Ecuadorian migrants who moved to the U.S. are more likely to remit and to remit more than those who moved to other countries. The third essay of this dissertation combines data from the 2002 National Population Census and the distribution of the number of victims and human rights violations across 22 departments to examine how the worst period of the civil war in Guatemala, between 1979 and 1984, affected human capital accumulation. The identification strategy exploits variation in the war's intensity across departments and which cohorts were of school age during the war. It finds a strong negative impact of the civil war on female education. The 2002 data reveal that the worst period of the war appears to have intensified both regional and gender disparities.
Empirical Study on the Relationship between Foreign Direct Investment and Independent Innovation Capacity of China Equipment Manufacturing

Since the 1990s, with the policy of open and reform implement by Chinese government and join in World Trade Organization (WTO), China has a great development in manufacturing and technology. Equipment manufacturing industry has a very important position and characteristics in country’s defense strength and economic development. The foreign direct investment (FDI) of Multinational Company (MNC) brings great impact and competition pressure on Chinese equipment manufacturing enterprises. This paper attempts to use empirical method to validate the relationship between FDI and the independent innovation capacity of Chinese equipment manufacturing. It is found that the high capacity of independent innovation the more FDI of MNC, but impact of FDI on innovation capacity is not obviously. Chinese enterprises may gain international scientific and technological resources and facilitate independent innovation.
Spatial Variations in Early Marine Growth and Condition of Thermally Marked Juvenile Pink and Chum Salmon in the Coastal Waters of the Gulf of Alaska

We examined spatial variations in early marine growth and condition factor of juvenile Prince William Sound hatchery pink (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) and Southeast Alaska hatchery chum (0. ketal salmon collected in the coastal waters of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) during JulyAugust 1996. Mean lengths and weights of juvenile Prince William Sound hatchery pink salmon and Southeast Alaska hatchery chum salmon increased as fish migrated westward along the coast; the smallest individuals were found at Cape Spencer and Cape Puget which are near the exit corridors for juvenile chum salmon leaving inside waters of Southeast Alaska and juvenile pink salmon leaving inside waters of Prince William Sound. Condition factor was Significantly lower for hatchery origin chum and pink salmon caught at Cape Spencer and Cape Puget, respectively, than at the next transect located further along the migratory pathway for these salmon.
Knee Extension Range of Motion at 4 Weeks Is Related to Knee Extension Loss at 12 Weeks After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Background: The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is commonly torn, and surgical reconstruction is often required to allow a patient to return to their prior level of activity. Avoiding range of motion (ROM) loss is a common goal, but little research has been done to identify when ROM loss becomes detrimental to a patient’s future function. Purpose: To determine whether there is a relationship between early knee side-to-side extension difference after ACL reconstruction and knee side-to-side extension difference at 12 weeks. The hypothesis was that early (within the first 8 weeks) knee side-to-side extension difference will be predictive of knee side-to-side extension difference seen at 12 weeks. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Knee side-to-side extension difference measures were taken on 74 patients undergoing ACL reconstruction rehabilitation at the initial visit and 4, 8, and 12 weeks postoperatively. Visual analog scores (VAS) and International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) scores were also recorded at these time frames. Results: There was a strong relationship between knee extension ROM at 4 and 12 weeks (r = 0.639, P < .001) and 8 and 12 weeks (r = 0.742, P < .001). When the variables of knee extension ROM at initial visit and 4 and 8 weeks were entered into a regression analysis, the predictor variable explained 61% (R2 = 0.611) of variance for knee extension ROM at 12 weeks, with 4 weeks (R2 = 0.259) explaining the majority of this variance. Conclusion: This study found that a patient’s knee extension at 4 weeks was strongly correlated with knee extension at 12 weeks. Clinical Relevance: This information may be useful for clinicians treating athletic patients who are anxious for return to sport by providing them an initial goal to work toward in hopes of ensuring successful rehabilitation of their knee.
In vivo determination of muscle-derived stem cells in the rat corpus cavernosum

The aim of the present in vivo study was to determine the presence of muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) in the corpus cavernosum of rats. Immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were performed to detect the expression of the stem cell markers stem cell antigen-1 (Sca-1), Oct4 and Desmin in Sprague-Dawley rats aged 2, 5 and 20 months. Sca-1 was mainly expressed in the blood vessels and cavernous sinus and staining revealed that Sca-1 was predominantly expressed in the cytoplasm. Desmin was primarily expressed in muscular tissues and staining demonstrated that it was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm, however, Desmin was also partially expressed in the nuclei. A small number of double positive cells, expressing Sca-1 and Desmin, were also detected near the cavernous sinus. It was found that the expression of the markers was negatively correlated with the age of the rats (P<0.05). The results from the RT-PCR demonstrated that the expression levels of Sca-1 and Desmin significantly decreased with age (P<0.05). In addition, the correlation analysis indicated that the expression of Sca-1 and Desmin were negatively correlated with the age of the rats (r=−−0.929; P<0.05). In conclusion, the present study provided evidence for the presence of MDSCs in the rat corpus cavernosum. MDSCs may be a potential therapeutic treatment for organic erectile dysfunction.
Field Area Network in a MV/LV substation: A technical and economical analysis

This paper discusses the use of wired and wireless solutions in a MV/LV substation, as the initial component of the distribution automation network of the low voltage segment of the smart grid. The study also provides a technical and economic analysis. In the technical analysis, a general comparison between wired and wireless solutions is presented, as well as, the reason to select Power Line Communication and ZigBee as good alternatives respectively for wired and wireless communications. The possibility to adopt ZigBee, while complying with performance requirements defined by IEC 61850, is also addressed in the technical analysis. Also, as an important issue for wireless technologies is reliability, the paper presents the results from in laboratory tests to compare the communication performance with and without generated noise. The economic study is performed by comparing the costs of using a wired or a wireless technology, concluding that Power Line Communication and ZigBee technologies present similar cost. Therefore, wireless communications are a good and flexible alternative, permitting rapid installation and configuration.
A digital 120Mb/s MIMO-OFDM baseband processor for high speed wireless LANs

In this paper, we present the implementation results of a digital 120Mb/s MIMO-OFDM wireless LAN (WLAN) baseband processor based on the proposed decoding algorithms. The processor has two MIMO-OFDM modes, space-frequency block coded OFDM (SFBC-OFDM) and space division multiplexed OFDM (SDM-OFDM). From those, it achieves a considerable performance gain as well as supports double data rates compared to the conventional IEEE 802.11a WLANs. In the results of performance evaluation, the processor requires a SNR of 1.8-27 dB for transmission modes at 10 % packet error rate (PER), and the chip is implemented with 4.8M transistors in 3.9/spl times/3.9 mm/sup 2/ using 0.18/spl mu/m CMOS process.
Miiuy Croaker Hepcidin Gene and Comparative Analyses Reveal Evidence for Positive Selection

Hepcidin antimicrobial peptide (HAMP) is a small cysteine-rich peptide and a key molecule of the innate immune system against bacterial infections. Molecular cloning and genomic characterization of HAMP gene in the miiuy croaker (Miichthys miiuy) were reported in this study. The miiuy croaker HAMP was predicted to encode a prepropeptide of 99 amino acids, a tentative RX(K/R)R cleavage motif and eight characteristic cysteine residues were also identified. The gene organization is also similar to corresponding genes in mammals and fish consisting of three exons and two introns. Sequence polymorphism analysis showed that only two different sequences were identified and encoded two proteins in six individuals. As reported for most other species, the expression level was highest in liver and an up-regulation of transcription was seen in spleen, intestine and kidney examined at 24 h after injection of pathogenic bacteria, Vibrio anguillarum, the expression pattern implied that miiuy croaker HAMP is an important component of the first line defense against invading pathogens. In addition, we report on the underlying mechanism that maintains sequences diversity among fish and mammalian species, respectively. A series of site-model tests implemented in the CODEML program revealed that moderate positive Darwinian selection is likely to cause the molecular evolution in the fish HAMP2 genes and it also showed that the fish HAMP1 genes and HAMP2 genes under different selection pressures.
A digital blind watermarking scheme based on quantization index modulation in depth map for 3D video

3D video provides an immersive experience to viewers and is getting more and more popular. The solution to create 3D video from 2D video is low-cost compared with that captures 3D video directly, and the generation of depth map from 2D video is a key in the 2D-3D video conversion systems. Therefore, protection of depth map is vital for 3D video. In this paper, a digital blind watermarking scheme based on Quantization Index Modulation (QIM) algorithm is proposed in which the copyright information is embedded in the DCT coefficients of depth map imperceptibly. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme has good robustness against video attacks such as salt noise, median filtering, wiener filtering, and scaling. In the meanwhile, the stereo video embedded watermarking can accomplish zero distortion in comparison with the original one.
The Process of Value Realization in Asymmetric New Venture Development Alliances: Governing the Transition from Exploration to Exploitation

Based on a case study of three asymmetric new venture development (ANVD) alliances, we examine the governance of transitions from exploration to exploitation. We propose that role deficiencies, technological asymmetry, and the presence of a separate venture unit at established firms constitute important initial conditions influencing value realization in ANVD alliances. We further show that role-specific investments act as more appropriate mechanisms than contractual incentives to govern transitions from exploration to exploitation. Jointly, these findings provide new insights into the impact of structural and relational governance mechanisms on value creation in interfirm relationships.
A movable trigger: Fossil fuel CO2 and the onset of the next glaciation

The initiation of northern hemisphere ice sheets in the last 800 kyr appears to be closely controlled by minima in summer insolation forcing at 65°N. Beginning from an initial typical interglacial pCO2 of 280 ppm, the CLIMBER‐2 model initiates an ice sheet in the Northern Hemisphere when insolation drops 0.7 σ (standard deviation) or 15 W/m2 below the mean. This same value is required to explain the history of climate using an orbitally driven conceptual model based on insolation and ice volume thresholds (Paillard, 1998). When the initial baseline pCO2 is raised in CLIMBER‐2, a deeper minimum in summertime insolation is required to nucleate an ice sheet. Carbon cycle models indicate that ∼25% of CO2 from fossil fuel combustion will remain in the atmosphere for thousands of years, and ∼7% will remain beyond one hundred thousand years (Archer, 2005). We predict that a carbon release from fossil fuels or methane hydrate deposits of 5000 Gton C could prevent glaciation for the next 500,000 years, until after not one but two 400 kyr cycle eccentricity minima. The duration and intensity of the projected interglacial period are longer than have been seen in the last 2.6 million years.
The added value of spaceborne passive microwave soil moisture retrievals for forecasting rainfall‐runoff partitioning

Using existing data sets of spaceborne soil moisture retrievals, streamflow and precipitation for 26 basins in the United States Southern Great Plains, a 5‐year analysis is performed to quantify the value of soil moisture retrievals derived from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) X‐band (10.7 GHz) radiometer for forecasting storm event‐scale runoff ratios. The predictive ability of spaceborne soil moisture retrievals is objectively compared to that obtainable using only available rainfall observations and the antecedent precipitation index (API). The assimilation of spaceborne observations into an API soil moisture proxy is demonstrated to add skill to the forecasting of land surface response to precipitation.
The Determinants of Attitudes towards Strategic Default on Mortgages

We use survey data to measure households’ propensity to default on mortgages even if they can afford to pay them (strategic default) when the value of the mortgage exceeds the value of the house. The willingness to default increases in both the absolute and the relative size of the home-equity shortfall. Our evidence suggests that this willingness is affected by both pecuniary and non-pecuniary factors, such as views about fairness and morality. We also find that exposure to other people who strategically defaulted increases the propensity to default strategically because it conveys information about the probability of being sued.
Grayscale Image Segmentation Using Color Space

A novel approach for segmentation of grayscale images, which are color scene originally, is proposed. Many algorithms have been elaborated for a grayscale image segmentation. All those approaches have been discussed in a luminance space, because it has been considered that grayscale images do not have any color information. However, a luminance value has color information as a set of corresponding colors. In this paper, an inverse mapping of luminance values is carried out to CIELAB color space, and the image segmentation for grayscale images is performed based on a distance in the color space. The proposed scheme is applied to a region growing segmentation and the performance is verified.
A niched Pareto genetic algorithm for multiobjective optimization

Many, if not most, optimization problems have multiple objectives. Historically, multiple objectives have been combined ad hoc to form a scalar objective function, usually through a linear combination (weighted sum) of the multiple attributes, or by turning objectives into constraints. The genetic algorithm (GA), however, is readily modified to deal with multiple objectives by incorporating the concept of Pareto domination in its selection operator, and applying a niching pressure to spread its population out along the Pareto optimal tradeoff surface. We introduce the Niched Pareto GA as an algorithm for finding the Pareto optimal set. We demonstrate its ability to find and maintain a diverse "Pareto optimal population" on two artificial problems and an open problem in hydrosystems. <<ETX>>
Robot Evidence Grids.

Abstract : The evidence grid representation was formulated at the CMU Mobile Robot Laboratory in 1983 to turn wide angle range measurements from cheap robot-mounted sonar sensors into detailed spatial maps. It accumulates diffuse evidence about the of a grid of small volumes of nearby space from individual sensor readings into increasingly confident and detailed maps of a robot's surroundings. It worked surprisingly well in the first implementation for sonar navigation in cluttered rooms. In the past decade its use has been extended to range measurements from stereoscopic vision and other sensors, sonar in very difficult specular environments, and other contexts. The most dramatic extension yet, from 2D grid maps with thousands of cells to 3D with millions, is underway. This paper presents the mathematical and probabilistic framework we now use for evidence grids. It gives the history of the grid representation, and its relation to other spatial modeling approaches. It discusses earlier formations and their limitations, and documents several extensions. A list of open issues and research topics is then presented, followed by a literature survey.
Power efficient compressive sensing for continuous monitoring of ECG and PPG in a wearable system

We demonstrate an end-to-end system prototype using Compressive Sensing (CS) to power-efficiently compress continuous bio-signals in a wearable body sensor network (BSN). We use a variant of a Binary Permuted Block Diagonal (P-BPBD) matrix encoder and pad the input signal symmetrically to achieve high compression ratios for ECG and PPG signals. In our approach, the gateway dynamically tunes compression parameters to adapt to changing signal sparsity levels during continuous monitoring and transmits them to the sensor node. We show that the power consumed by our encoder on a 32MHz Intel® Curie™ compute module is much lower than that consumed by a standard Wavelet-based (DWT) encoder. We also show how CS can simultaneously de-noise ECG signals during reconstruction. After evaluating multiple reconstruction algorithms, we demonstrate real-time signal recovery via an implementation of the Alternating Direction algorithm on a 500MHz Intel® Edison board, used as a gateway.
Implementation-Aware Model Analysis: The Case of Buffer-Throughput Tradeoff in Streaming Applications

Models of computation abstract away a number of implementation details in favor of well-defined semantics. While this has unquestionable benefits, we argue that analysis of models solely based on operational semantics (implementation-oblivious analysis) is unfit to drive implementation design space exploration. Specifically, we study the tradeoff between buffer size and streaming throughput in applications modeled as synchronous data flow (SDF) graphs. We demonstrate the inherent inaccuracy of implementation-oblivious approach, which only considers SDF operational semantic. We propose a rigorous transformation, which equips the state of the art buffer-throughput tradeoff analysis technique with implementation awareness. Extensive empirical evaluation show that our approach results in significantly more accurate estimates in streaming throughput at the model level, while running two orders of magnitude faster than cycle-accurate simulation of implementations.
Aggregation of N-terminal huntingtin is dependent on the length of its glutamine repeats.

Huntington's disease (HD) is caused by expansion of a glutamine repeat in huntingtin. Mutant huntingtin contains 36-55 repeats in adult HD patients and >60 repeats in juvenile HD patients. An N-terminal fragment of mutant huntingtin forms aggregates in neuronal nuclei in the brains of transgenic mice and HD patients. Aggregation of expanded polyglutamine is thought to be a common pathological mechanism in HD and other glutamine repeat diseases. It is not clear how the length of the repeats is correlated with formation of protein aggregates. By expressing a series of huntingtin constructs encoding various glutamine repeats (23-150 units) in cultured cells we observed N-terminal fragments of huntingtin (amino acids 1-67 and 1-212), but not full-length huntingtins, with glutamine repeats >/=66 units formed protein aggregates. Huntingtin aggregation was not induced when the repeat was </=49 units and was markedly promoted by very long repeats >/=120 units. This study suggests that various N-terminal fragments of mutant huntingtin can form aggregates and that aggregation is prompted by lengthening the glutamine repeat.
Not just dissimilar, but opposite: An algorithm for measuring similarity and oppositeness between words

Many Natural Language Processing applications are underpinned by word comparison algorithms. Often, such comparison algorithms have been designed to determine how related given words are or how similar they are. In some applications, however, it may be important to distinguish between simply not being similar and oppositeness. In this paper we present work in progress on an algorithm that accounts for the similarity or oppositeness of given words. We evaluate this algorithm against ‘gold-standard’ datasets for evaluating similarity and antonymy and discuss some of the issues with these datasets for evaluating algorithms such as ours. We show that our algorithm, using knowledge from WordNet only, is able to achieve precision scores upwards of 84% on the GRE Most Contrasting Word antonymy task, while outperforming state of the art algorithms over the recent SimLex-999 similarity dataset.
Hematocrit levels as cardiovascular risk among taxi drivers in Bangkok, Thailand

In Thailand, taxi drivers employed in the informal sector often experience hazardous working conditions. Previous studies revealed that elevated Hematocrit (HCT) is a predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. This study assessed factors associated with HCT in taxi drivers to predict their occupational CVD risk factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 298 male taxi drivers who joined a health check-up campaign in Bangkok, Thailand. HCT and body mass index were retrieved from participant health check-up files. Self-administered questionnaires assessed demographics, driving mileage, working hours, and lifestyle. Statistical associations were analyzed using stepwise linear regression. Our results showed that obesity (p=0.007), daily alcohol drinking (p=0.003), and current or past smoking (p=0.016) were associated with higher HCT levels. While working hours were not directly associated with HCT levels in the current study, the effect on overworking is statistically arguable because most participants worked substantially longer hours. Our findings suggest that taxi drivers’ CVD risk may be increased by their unhealthy work styles. Initiatives to improve general working conditions for taxi drivers should take into account health promotion and CVD prevention. The policy of providing periodic health check-ups is important to make workers in the informal sector aware of their health status.