Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Essays on Behavioral Tax Policy and Political Violence

Author(s): Huet-Vaughn, Emiliano Raphael | Advisor(s): Saez, Emmanuel | Abstract: This dissertation includes original research in the fields of behavioral public economics and political economy. The first chapter provides evidence from a field experiment testing whether exposure to relative earnings information impacts worker effective labor supply. I exogenously manipulate access to information about relative position in the distribution of worker earnings as well as the shape of the distribution among workers engaged in piece rate, web-based clerical work. There are four main findings. First, those exposed to information about their placement in the earnings distribution provide significantly more labor effort on average than those with no information about peer earnings. Second, labor supply elasticity with respect to net of tax wages, a key sufficient statistic for optimal income tax policy, is unchanged between the two groups. Third, the higher productivity observed among workers exposed to relative earnings information is driven by those workers who experienced an exogenously assigned high relative earnings rank and low average comparison group earnings. Fourth, this later finding is gendered in the sense that women supply more labor regardless of whether they learn they occupy high or low relative standing while men supply significantly more labor only upon learning they occupy high relative standing. A model of worker preferences that incorporates status concerns is shown to reconcile these seemingly disparate findings in contrast to several alternatives considered. These findings suggest that governments can potentially use relative earnings information to grow the tax base - but not to affect optimal labor income tax rates - and that firms can generate significant productivity boosts simply by providing workers with information about the earnings of their peers. The second chapter addresses an entirely different question, namely, the efficacy of violent forms of protest. It takes as its point of departure the acknowledgment that estimating the effect of violent forms of political protest on protest success is complicated by endogeneity and omitted variable bias. To address this problem, I utilize instrumental variables methods to estimate a causal effect of violent protest on the likelihood that protesters win policy concessions. Using daily French protest data and a set of weather and school holiday instruments, I find a significant and negative relationship between property destruction associated with protests and the chance of near-term success in changing policy. The IV estimates are larger than OLS estimates and are robust to a variety of alternative specifications. Such findings are predicted by several posited endogeneity channels, and, they suggest that political violence does not, in fact, pay off.
Development, set-up and first results for a one-channel near-infrared spectroscopy system / Entwicklung, Aufbau und vorläufige Ergebnisse eines Einkanal- Nahinfrarot-Spektroskopie-Systems

Abstract Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a non-invasive optical technique that can be used to assess functional activity in the human brain. This work describes the set-up of a one-channel NIRS system designed for use as an optical brain-computer interface (BCI) and reports on first measurements of deoxyhemoglobin (Hb) and oxyhemoglobin (HbO2) changes during mental arithmetic tasks. We found relatively stable and reproducible hemodynamic responses in a group of 13 healthy subjects. Unexpected observations of a decrease in HbO2 and increase in Hb concentrations measured over the prefrontal cortex were in contrast to the typical hemodynamic responses (increase in HbO2, decrease in Hb) during cortical activation previously reported. Zusammenfassung Die Nahinfrarot-Spektroskopie (NIRS) ist eine nichtinvasive optische Technik, welche die Erfassung funktioneller Aktivitäten im menschlichen Gehirn ermöglicht. Diese Arbeit beschreibt den Aufbau eines Einkanal-NIRS-Systems, konzipiert für eine zukünftige Verwendung als optisches Brain-Computer-Interface. Weiters werden erste Ergebnisse der Konzentrationsänderungen von Oxyhämoglobin (HbO2) und Deoxyhämoglobin (Hb) während mentaler arithmetischer Aufgaben, gemessen an einer Gruppe von 13 gesunden Probanden, vorgestellt. Die Messposition wurde dabei über dem präfrontalen Kortex gewählt. Bei diesen Messungen wurden relativ stabil reproduzierbare hämodynamische Konzentrationsänderungen gefunden. Unerwartet war dabei die Messung einer Erhöhung der Hb- und einer Erniedrigung der HbO2-Konzentration bei Aktivierung, welche einem der Literatur gegenläufigen Verlauf entspricht.
A Health Indicator Extraction and Optimization Framework for Lithium-Ion Battery Degradation Modeling and Prognostics

Maximum releasable capacity and internal resistance are often used as the health indicators (HIs) of a lithium-ion battery for degradation modeling and estimation of remaining useful life (RUL). However, the maximum releasable capacity is usually difficult to estimate in online applications due to complex operating conditions in the field. Moreover, measuring the internal resistance is too expensive to be implemented on-line. In this paper, an HI extraction and optimization framework requiring only the operating parameters of lithium-ion batteries is proposed for battery degradation modeling and RUL estimation. The framework carries out raw HI extraction, transformation, correlation analysis, and verification and evaluation to achieve HI enhancement. In particular, the Box-Cox transformation is adopted to improve the correlation between the extracted HI and the battery's actual degradation state. To estimate the battery's RUL using the enhanced HI, an optimized relevance vector-machine algorithm is utilized, which can be performed in a flexible and agile way. Experimental studies using two different industrial testing data sets illustrate the high efficiency and adaptability of the proposed framework in lithium-ion battery degradation modeling and RUL estimation.
A Unified Framework for the Analysis of Fractional Frequency Reuse Techniques

Fractional frequency reuse (FFR) and soft frequency reuse (SFR) systems are an efficient cellular interference management technique to reduce inter-cell interference in multi-cell OFDMA networks. In this paper, a new and unified analytical framework for performance evaluation for both systems over a composite fading environment is presented. Explicit expressions are obtained for the area spectral efficiency (ASE) with both FFR and SFR, under fully loaded and partially loaded systems for downlink and uplink, and in generalized frequency reuse factor. The presented numerical result provides useful system design guidelines between the two systems. It is demonstrated that SFR outperforms FFR in a partially loaded scenario while the opposite is true for fully loaded system. The mathematical model is then extended to include the analysis of elastic data traffic in FFR system.
Cloning and Expression of 34KDa Protein Gene of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in Escherichia coli

The gene encoding 34kDa protein gene from Mycobacterium paratuberculosis C-2, chromosomal DNA was amplified by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the PCR product was approximately 897bp DNA segment. The PCR product was cloned into pGEM-T vector and the cloning plasmid pGEM-T-34 was constructed successfully. The purified 34kDa protein gene was subcloned into the expression vector pET28a(+), and the prokaryotic expression Plasmid pET28a-34 was constructed. Plasmid containing pET28a-34 was transformed into competence Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The bacterium was induced by isopropyl-&#946;-D- thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) and its lysates were loaded directly onto sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), approximately 37kDa exogenous protein was observed on the SDS-PAGE. The protein was analyzed by using Western-blotting. The results indicated that the protein was of antigenic reactivity of M. paratuberculosis. The results were expected to lay foundation for further studies on the subunit vaccine, DNA vaccine and diagnostic reagents of 34kDa protein gene in their prevention against bovine paratuberculosis.
The conversion of prothrombin to thrombin. IV. The function of the fragment 2 region during activation in the presence of factor V.

Abstract During activation, the prothrombin molecule is divided into a COOH-terminal half which gives rise to thrombin and an NH2-terminal activation fragment half (Fragment 1·2) (Esmon, C. T., Owen, W. G., and Jackson, C. M. (1974) J. Biol. Chem. 249, 606–611). Thrombin-catalyzed proteolysis further divides the activation fragment into 2 parts, Fragment 1 (from the NH2-terminal end) and Fragment 2. The Fragment 1 region of prothrombin has been shown to be responsible for the binding of prothrombin to phospholipid (Gitel, S. N., Owen, W. G., Esmon, C. T., and Jackson, C. M. (1973) Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 70, 1344–1348). It is shown here that the ability of blood clotting Factor V to accelerate thrombin precursor activation is specifically dependent upon the interaction between the Fragment 2 region of the substrate and Factor V. The evidence supporting the conclusion that the Fragment 2 region is required for Factor V function is as follows: Intermediate 2, a thrombin precursor without a Fragment 2 region, is activated more rapidly by activated Factor X and Ca2+ than either prothrombin or Intermediate 1, whereas when Factor V is present, the situation is reversed and the Fragment 2 region containing substrates, i.e. prothrombin or Intermediate 1, are activated more rapidly than Intermediate 2. Addition of either Fragment 2 or Fragment 1·2 to Intermediate 2 results in the rapid activation of Intermediate 2 by Factor V, activated Factor X, and Ca2+, and Intermediate 2 and Fragment 2 associate to form a product of 1:1 stoichiometry which is electrophoretically indistinguishable from Intermediate 1. In contrast to the situation with Fragment 2, Fragment 1 is completely without effect on the Factor V enhancement of Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 plus Fragment 2 activation indicating that Fragment 1 and Fragment 2 are independent in their function in the prothrombin activation process. The course of Intermediate 1 activation by activated Factor X, Factor V, and Ca2+ was investigated by determining the product distributions which can be monitored by sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis as a function of time. The results on the activation pathway obtained from these experiments are consistent with the previously demonstrated prothrombin activation pathway (Esmon, C. T., and Jackson, C. M. (1974) J. Biol. Chem. 249, 7782–7790), i.e. [see PDF for equation] with the added requirement for interaction between Intermediate 2 and Fragment 1·2 or Fragment 2 for Factor V to function.
Austrian business cycle theory

Austrian business cycle theory (ABCT) has focused on the effect of interest rates set below the natural rate, leading to unwarranted attempts by businessmen to make more elaborate roundabout structures than can be completed by the available foregone consumption. This distorting effect is the main theme of the Austrian capital-based theory of the trade cycle. But interest rates pushed below the natural rate can have another serious damaging effect. They can distort the appreciation of risk. Austrian economists have claimed that interest rates include a risk premium in addition to valuing future over present consumption. It follows that interest rates below the natural rate can create an unwarranted bullishness that leads to systemic “appraisal optimism. ” Error prone “marginal entrepreneurs” receive resources which would not have been available to them in ordinary circumstances. This mistaken optimism leads to reductions in precautionary assets or “reserve assets” (to use Ludwig Lachmann’s term), which businesses hold against untoward events. The reduction in precautionary assets helps explain how production is possible above the sustainable production frontier (SPF) for lengthy periods during the boom. The quantity of precautionary assets also explains to what degree businessmen select projects which are risky or time consuming. For any given Robert C. B. Miller (rcbmiller@btinternet.com) is a former Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs. VoL. 15 | N 4 | 432–442 WINTER 2012 The
ACE2: a new target for prevention of diabetic nephropathy?

Abundant, well-accepted evidence demonstrates a complete tissue renin-angiotensin system (RAS) within the kidney that plays many roles in the control of the intrarenal vasculature, as well in the control of glomerular and tubular processes ([1][1]). Substantial clinical and experimental data suggest
Automatic Segmentation of 3-D Brain MR Images by Using Global Tissue Spatial Structure Information

Segmentation of brain tissues from MR images is medically valuable for helping to assess many diseases. In this paper, we propose a three-layer Gaussian mixture model framework (3L-GMM) for fully automatic tissue segmentation of three-dimensional brain MR images by using spatial structure information. It uses separate GMMs to model the intensity information, the spatial structure information, and the intensity-spatial feature vector, respectively. We implement the brain tissues segmentation task by maximizing the a posteriori probability of the 3L-GMM model. Experiments are conducted on the three-dimensional, T1-weighted, simulated and in vivo MR images of the BrainWeb and IBSR data sets. The qualitative and quantitative comparisons with the gold standard demonstrate that the proposed model can achieve performance improvement over the state-of-the-art methods in the literature.
Characterization of gut microbiomes in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) patients: A connection between endogenous alcohol and NASH

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a serious liver disease associated with obesity. Characterized by metabolic syndrome, hepatic steatosis, and liver inflammation, NASH is believed to be under the influence of the gut microflora. Here, the composition of gut bacterial communities of NASH, obese, and healthy children was determined by 16S ribosomal RNA pyrosequencing. In addition, peripheral blood ethanol was analyzed to monitor endogenous ethanol production of patients and healthy controls. UniFrac‐based principle coordinates analysis indicated that most of the microbiome samples clustered by disease status. Each group was associated with a unique pattern of enterotypes. Differences were abundant at phylum, family, and genus levels between healthy subjects and obese patients (with or without NASH), and relatively fewer differences were observed between obese and the NASH microbiomes. Among those taxa with greater than 1% representation in any of the disease groups, Proteobacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, and Escherichia were the only phylum, family and genus types exhibiting significant difference between obese and NASH microbiomes. Similar blood‐ethanol concentrations were observed between healthy subjects and obese non‐NASH patients, but NASH patients exhibited significantly elevated blood ethanol levels. Conclusions: The increased abundance of alcohol‐producing bacteria in NASH microbiomes, elevated blood‐ethanol concentration in NASH patients, and the well‐established role of alcohol metabolism in oxidative stress and, consequently, liver inflammation suggest a role for alcohol‐producing microbiota in the pathogenesis of NASH. We postulate that the distinct composition of the gut microbiome among NASH, obese, and healthy controls could offer a target for intervention or a marker for disease. (HEPATOLOGY 2013)
Protrusio acetabuli: Joint loading with severe pincer impingement and its theoretical implications for surgical therapy

Severe pincer impingement (acetabular protrusio) is an established cause of hip pain and osteoarthritis. The proposed underlying pathomechanism is a dynamic pathological contact of the prominent acetabular rim with the femoral head‐neck junction. However, this cannot explain the classically described medial osteoarthritis in these hips. We therefore asked: (1) Does an overload exist in the medial aspect of the protrusio joint? and (2) What is the influence of three contemporary joint‐preserving procedures on load distribution in protrusio hips? In vivo force and motion data for walking and standing to sitting were applied to six 3D finite element models (normal, dysplasia, protrusio, acetabular rim trimming, acetabular reorientation, and combined reorientation/rim trimming). Compared with dysplasia, the protrusio joint resulted in opposite patterns of von Mises stress and contact pressure during walking. In protrusio hips, we found an overload at the medial margin of the lunate surface (54% higher than normal). Isolated rim trimming further increased the medial overload (up to 28% higher than protrusio), whereas acetabular reorientation with/without rim trimming reduced stresses by up to 25%. Our results can be used as an adjunct for surgical decision making in the treatment of acetabular protrusio. © 2014 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 33:106–113, 2015.
Dynamic interactions in terms of senders, hubs, and receivers (SHR) using the singular value decomposition of time series: Theory and brain connectivity applications

Understanding of normal and pathological brain function requires the identification and localization of functional connections between specialized regions. The availability of high time resolution signals of electric neuronal activity at several regions offers information for quantifying the connections in terms of information flow. When the signals cover the whole cortex, the number of connections is very large, making visualization and interpretation very difficult. We introduce here the singular value decomposition of time-lagged multiple signals, which localizes the senders, hubs, and receivers (SHR) of information transmission. Unlike methods that operate on large connectivity matrices, such as correlation thresholding and graph-theoretic analyses, this method operates on the multiple time series directly, providing 3D brain images that assign a score to each location in terms of its sending, relaying, and receiving capacity. The scope of the method is general and encompasses other applications outside the field of brain connectivity.
CARMA1 Is Necessary for Optimal T Cell Responses in a Murine Model of Allergic Asthma

CARMA1 is a lymphocyte-specific scaffold protein necessary for T cell activation. Deletion of CARMA1 prevents the development of allergic airway inflammation in a mouse model of asthma due to a defect in naive T cell activation. However, it is unknown if CARMA1 is important for effector and memory T cell responses after the initial establishment of inflammation, findings that would be more relevant to asthma therapies targeted to CARMA1. In the current study, we sought to elucidate the role of CARMA1 in T cells that have been previously activated. Using mice in which floxed CARMA1 exons can be selectively deleted in T cells by OX40-driven Cre recombinase (OX40+/CreCARMA1F/F), we report that CD4+ T cells from these mice have impaired T cell reactivation responses and NF-κB signaling in vitro. Furthermore, in an in vivo recall model of allergic airway inflammation that is dependent on memory T cell function, OX40+/CreCARMA1F/F mice have attenuated eosinophilic airway inflammation, T cell activation, and Th2 cytokine production. Using MHC class II tetramers, we demonstrate that the development and maintenance of Ag-specific memory T cells is not affected in OX40+/CreCARMA1F/F mice. In addition, adoptive transfer of Th2-polarized OX40+/CreCARMA1F/F Ag-specific CD4+ T cells into wild-type mice induces markedly less airway inflammation in response to Ag challenge than transfer of wild-type Th2 cells. These data demonstrate a novel role for CARMA1 in effector and memory T cell responses and suggest that therapeutic strategies targeting CARMA1 could help treat chronic inflammatory disorders such as asthma.
Opinion mining considering roman words using Jaccard similarity algorithm based on clustering

Today's E-commerce is totally based upon the opinions of the customers. There are lots of opinions on the internet about any product. Now a day's people are using roman words to express their reviews. The main aim of this paper is to find the polarity of any item. In this paper firstly Roman opinion words are converted into corresponding English opinion words then applied Jaccard Similarity algorithm based on clustering for obtaining the polarity of the item. This paper approaches to the conclusion of the overall polarity of the item efficiently.
Write-aware memory management for hybrid SLC-MLC PCM memory systems

In recent years, phase-change memory (PCM) has generated a great deal of interest because of its byte addressability and non-volatility properties. It is regarded as a good alternative storage medium that can reduce the performance gap between the main memory and the secondary storage in computing systems. To further reduce the bit cost of PCM, the development trend of PCM goes from single-level-cell (SLC) the multi-level-cell (MLC) technology. However, the worse endurance and the intolerable long write latency hinder a MLC PCM from being used as the main memory of computing systems. In this work, we propose a write-aware memory management design to facilitate enabling the use of hybrid PCM as main memory to achieve a better trade-off between the cost and the performance of PCM-based computing systems, where the hybrid PCM is composed of SLC PCM and MLC PCM. In particular, the proposed design can be seamlessly integrated into the inherent memory management of modern operation systems without additional hardware components. The capability of the proposed design was evaluated by a series of experiments, for which it was shown that the proposed design could greatly improve the read and write performance of hybrid PCM memory system up to 30%. At the same time, our proposed idea can significantly extend the lifetime of the investigated hybrid PCM architecture up to 1174 times, compared to existing approaches.
Design and Calibration of an Integration-Free Accelerometer-Based Joint-Angle Sensor

A methodology has been developed for indirect, noncontact, and dynamic sensing of angles for robotic applications. Two accelerometers are placed on the adjacent links close to the joint axis, and their outputs are processed to estimate the joint angle. In the proposed technique, the joint angles are obtained without integrating the accelerometer outputs. To ensure accuracy of accelerometer readings, two calibration procedures for the accelerometers are presented, which can easily be implemented in place. Both these methods solve a nonlinear least squares problem to adjust the offset parameters of the accelerometers. The accelerometer-based angle sensor is particularly suitable for the harsh working environment of heavy-duty manipulators, where conventional contact-type angle sensors cannot be deployed or problems are associated with their use. The performance of the new sensor is studied and compared with the performance of digital resolvers in two applications, involving the position control and dynamic payload measurement of a miniexcavator. The experimental results attest to the efficiency and accuracy of the new angle-sensing mechanism.