Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tax Policy, Inflation and Unemployment in Nigeria (1970 – 2008)

This study is concerned with the use of tax policy in the management of a real-world economy, the Nigerian Economy. It examines the attempts by successive Nigerian governments to use taxation to influence macroeconomic aggregates, especially inflation and unemployment, and covers the period 1970 to 2008. It is largely a secondary data study, focussing on the extent to which these variables responded to changes in government’s tax measures. Data on these variables for the thirty-nine year period were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method was used for the estimations. The analysis shows that the historical trends in inflation and unemployment showed no significant response to tax policy between the period 1970 and 2008. Periods of lower taxes recorded lower inflation rate in some years and higher inflation rates in some years. Unemployment rates increased steadily in some years whether taxes were raised or lowered. Government in some years lowered taxes amidst high inflation rates in the economy. Taxes have a negative effect on the inflation rate in line with the theory, but with insignificant coefficient. In the case of unemployment rate, the regression results show a negative relationship between tax policy and unemployment, but with insignificant coefficient, which is contrary to the theory. The analysis shows that tax policy was not effective in controlling inflation, and tackling unemployment problems in the economy during the period of study largely because of inconsistency in the use of tax measures. It is recommended that government apply tax measures much more carefully than was observed over the period studied. Keywords: Tax Policy, Inflation, Unemployment, Economic Management and Nigeria.
Low cost ECC schemes for improving the reliability of DRAM+PRAMMAIN memory systems

Hybrid memory, where the DRAM acts as a buffer to the PRAM, is a promising configuration for main memory systems. It has the advantages of fast access time, high storage density and very low standby power. However, it also has reliability issues that need to be addressed. This paper focuses on low cost Error Control Coding (ECC)-based schemes for improving the reliability of hybrid memory. We propose three candidate systems that all guarantee block failure rate of 10-8 but differ in whether the DRAM and/or PRAM data get coded and the strength of the corresponding ECC code. The candidate systems are evaluated with respect to lifetime, Instruction Per Cycle (IPC) and energy. We show that (1) at lower Data Storage Time (DST), the proposed system which has different ECC schemes for DRAM and PRAM has the longest lifetime and one of the highest IPC; (2) at higher DST, stronger ECC codes are necessary for all the systems and longer lifetime can be achieved at the cost of decrease in IPC.
Towards robust ego-centric hand gesture analysis for robot control

Wearable device with an ego-centric camera would be the next generation device for human-computer interaction such as robot control. Hand gesture is a natural way of ego-centric human-computer interaction. In this paper, we present an ego-centric multi-stage hand gesture analysis pipeline for robot control which works robustly in the unconstrained environment with varying luminance. In particular, we first propose an adaptive color and contour based hand segmentation method to segment hand region from the ego-centric viewpoint. We then propose a convex U-shaped curve detection algorithm to precisely detect positions of fingertips. And parallelly, we utilize the convolutional neural networks to recognize hand gestures. Based on these techniques, we combine most information of hand to control the robot and develop a hand gesture analysis system on an iPhone and a robot arm platform to validate its effectiveness. Experimental result demonstrates that our method works perfectly on controlling the robot arm by hand gesture in real time.
On the Robustness of Symmetry Tests for Stock Returns

In this paper, by using a generalized asymmetry measure with the heteroskedasticity autocorrelation consistent estimation method and a long-run variance eliminating method, we propose two generalized symmetry tests in the presence of unknown distributions and serial dependence. The proposed tests encompass existing skewness tests, and generate new symmetry tests that are robust to both the heavy-tails and the serial dependence of stock returns. We also utilize the concept of an augmented distribution to establish an asymmetric distribution family that encompasses Pearson's type-IV distribution, and we use this distribution family and the score test principle to discuss the choice of asymmetry measures for testing symmetry. In this study, we also compare our tests with existing tests using a Monte Carlo simulation and an empirical example, and show that the robust tests outperform existing tests for checking the symmetry of stock returns.
A DOA Estimation Method in TD-SCDMA System

The direction of arriving (DOA) estimation algorithms used in TD-SCDMA system to realize DOA detection would result in a large number of mathematical operations. Meanwhile, the number of DOA detection would be restricted by the number of array elements of a smart antenna. To solve this problem, a new method for DOA detection based on the orthogonal mid-amble sequence would be presented in this paper, which can be employed in system with beam-forming by the method of amplitude weighting of base-band signal (AWB). The directional transmitting of smart antenna can be achieved by this method without any method of conventional frequency spectrum search or DOA estimation algorithms. The parameters of DOA for mobile station could be detected by the new method, which could be used in a system with directional transmitting directly. The working principle of this new DOA estimation method would be introduced in this paper as well as its proving.
Voriconazole therapeutic drug monitoring in patients with invasive mycoses improves efficacy and safety outcomes.

BACKGROUND Voriconazole is the therapy of choice for aspergillosis and a new treatment option for candidiasis. Liver disease, age, genetic polymorphism of the cytochrome CYP2C19, and comedications influence voriconazole metabolism. Large variations in voriconazole pharmacokinetics may be associated with decreased efficacy or with toxicity. METHODS This study was conducted to assess the utility of measuring voriconazole blood levels with individualized dose adjustments. RESULTS A total of 181 measurements with high-pressure liquid chromatography were performed during 2388 treatment days in 52 patients. A large variability in voriconazole trough blood levels was observed, ranging from <or=1 mg/L (the minimum inhibitory concentration at which, for most fungal pathogens, 90% of isolates are susceptible) in 25% of cases to >5.5 mg/L (a level possibly associated with toxicity) in 31% of cases. Lack of response to therapy was more frequent in patients with voriconazole levels <or=1 mg/L (6 [46%] of 13 patients, including 5 patients with aspergillosis, 4 of whom were treated orally with a median dosage of 6 mg/kg per day) than in those with voriconazole levels >1 mg/L (15 [12%] of 39 patients; P=.02). Blood levels >1 mg/L were reached after increasing the voriconazole dosage, with complete resolution of infection in all 6 cases. Among 16 patients with voriconazole trough blood levels >5.5 mg/L, 5 patients (31%) presented with an encephalopathy, including 4 patients who were treated intravenously with a median voriconazole dosage of 8 mg/kg per day, whereas none of the patients with levels <or=5.5 mg/L presented with neurological toxicity (P=.002). Comedication with omeprazole possibly contributed to voriconazole accumulation in 4 patients. In all cases, discontinuation of therapy resulted in prompt and complete neurological recovery. CONCLUSIONS Voriconazole therapeutic drug monitoring improves the efficacy and safety of therapy in severely ill patients with invasive mycoses.
An evaluation of image overlay projection guidance for liver tumor targeting

The precision at which metastases of the liver can be targeted and ablated has been shown to significantly affect the rate of recurrence. Augmented reality guidance has the potential to remove error pertaining to the display of image guidance away from the direct view of the patient on a nearby monitor. We have proposed a projection overlay system that allows 2D guidance data to be viewed directly on the surface of the liver. The visualisation approach, which incorporates alignment and depth information, was evaluated in a phantom study on porcine liver tissue. An ablation needle was successfully inserted into 98% of 88 targeted virtual tumours in an average time of 21 seconds.
Virtual Handcrafting: Building Virtual Wood Models Using ToolDevice

Most 3-D modeling software are difficult for beginners to learn. The operations are often complicated, and the user is required to have prior mathematical knowledge. Therefore, we developed a simple modeling system using ToolDevice to simplify such operations. ToolDevice consists of a set of interaction devices, which use metaphors of real-life hand tools to help users recognize each device's unique functions. Using TweezersDevice, KnifeDevice, and HammerDevice, we developed a mixed reality (MR) 3-D modeling system that imitates real-life woodworking. In the system, TweezersDevice is used to pick up and move objects, while KnifeDevice and HammerDevice are, respectively, used to cut and join virtual objects represented as wood materials. In this study, we describe the motivation for developing the system, the available interactions, and the procedures for creating 3-D models in the system. We also present the results of a user study in which we compare user performance in our system and a common 3-D modeling software. Finally, we discuss the contributions and limitations of this study and future work.
Statistical Classification Methods in Consumer Credit Scoring: a Review

Credit scoring is the term used to describe formal statistical methods used for classifying applicants for credit into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ risk classes. Such methods have become increasingly important with the dramatic growth in consumer credit in recent years. A wide range of statistical methods has been applied, though the literature available to the public is limited for reasons of commercial confidentiality. Particular problems arising in the credit scoring context are examined and the statistical methods which have been applied are reviewed.
Exploiting multilingual nomenclatures and language-independent text features as an interlingua for cross-lingual text analysis applications

We are proposing a simple, but efficient basic approach for a number of multilingual and cross-lingual language technology applications that are not limited to the usual two or three languages, but that can be applied with relatively little effort to larger sets of languages. The approach consists of using existing multilingual linguistic resources such as thesauri, nomenclatures and gazetteers, as well as exploiting the existence of additional more or less language-independent text items such as dates, currency expressions, numbers, names and cognates. Mapping texts onto the multilingual resources and identifying word token links between texts in different languages are basic ingredients for applications such as cross-lingual document similarity calculation, multilingual clustering and categorisation, cross-lingual document retrieval, and tools to provide cross-lingual information access.
A Probabilistic Model for Optimal Searching of the Deep Web

Since the advent of the World Wide Web, efficient searching of information on the web has become a challenge to the Internet technology community. However in earlier days when the net was not such a huge pool of information as it is today, most of the information used to be stored in static HTML pages. Thus searching techniques were primarily centered around web crawling, indexing and ranking of those static pages by the major search engines. With the rapid growth of information content of the web sites, this technique gave way to the more efficient emerging technology of integrating databases to the web. ASP (Active Server Pages) technology by Microsoft and other similar developments in different platforms like PHP for Unix came into being. The scenario now is quite different where HTML pages are dynamically generated and populated with data that is retrieved in response to direct and specific queries on databases of the web sites. This is called dynamic serving. Unfortunately this has led to a major drawback in using static page ranking, the method used by common search engines, since the HTML pages as mentioned above doesn’t exist statically, but are generated only on querying the server databases. Thus they cannot be detected by web crawlers and ranked by any ranking algorithm. These pages invisible to the common search engines constitute the deep web, which is today an immense collection of the most specific, valuable quality searchable data. The paper will discuss on the strategic issues of searching the deep web and finally develop a probabilistic model of a search engine, detecting and ranking the deep web contents optimally.
Identification of cis-regulatory sequences that activate transcription in the suspensor of plant embryos

Little is known about the molecular mechanisms by which the embryo proper and suspensor of plant embryos activate specific gene sets shortly after fertilization. We analyzed the upstream region of the scarlet runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus) G564 gene to understand how genes are activated specifically within the suspensor during early embryo development. Previously, we showed that the G564 upstream region has a block of tandem repeats, which contain a conserved 10-bp motif (GAAAAGC/TGAA), and that deletion of these repeats results in a loss of suspensor transcription. Here, we use gain-of-function (GOF) experiments with transgenic globular-stage tobacco embryos to show that only 1 of the 5 tandem repeats is required to drive suspensor-specific transcription. Fine-scale deletion and scanning mutagenesis experiments with 1 tandem repeat uncovered a 54-bp region that contains all of the sequences required to activate transcription in the suspensor, including the 10-bp motif (GAAAAGCGAA) and a similar 10-bp-like motif (GAAAAACGAA). Site-directed mutagenesis and GOF experiments indicated that both the 10-bp and 10-bp-like motifs are necessary, but not sufficient to activate transcription in the suspensor, and that a sequence (TTGGT) between the 10-bp and the 10-bp-like motifs is also necessary for suspensor transcription. Together, these data identify sequences that are required to activate transcription in the suspensor of a plant embryo after fertilization.
Ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) : An introduction

ACQUITY Ultra Performance LC Systems take advantage of technological strides made in particle chemistry performance, system optimization, detector design, and data processing and control. When taken together, these achievements have created a step-function improvement in chromatographic performance. Defined as UPLC, this new category of analytical separation science retains the practicality and principles of HPLC while increasing the overall interlaced attributes of speed, sensitivity, and resolution.
A Two-Dimension Simplified Subcarrier Allocation for Multiuser MIMO-OFDM Transmission

In this paper, we propose a real-time subcarrier allocation algorithm based on simplification at both antenna dimension and frequency dimension in multiuser MIMO-OFDM downlink transmission. By knowing the channel characteristic of all users, our goal is to reduce computational complexity with the requirement of minimizing the overall transmit power. And the simplification can make the transmission more suitable for real-time environment without obvious performance loss. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithm outperforms none antenna-dimension employed multiuser MIMO-OFDM transmission with significant computational complexity reduction.
Ultrasonic Grain Noise Reduction using Wavelet Processing. An Analysis of Threshold Selection Rules

Several specific signal processing techniques have been proposed to improve the detection capabilities in some ultrasonic NDT applications where the testing signals are buried in grain noise. This type of noise originates from the echoes of multiple scatters (grain boundaries) and presents a spectrum frequency very similar to that of the target echoes. For this reason conventional averaging and/or filtering techniques are not useful for coherent grain noise reduction. On the other hand, wavelet processing offers great flexibility and is a well established technique for removing noise from signals. It is usually based on a thresholding of the coefficients in the transformed wavelet domain, using different threshold selection rules, like Universal, Minimax and SURE, that in general have been proposed for the case of additive white Gaussian noise. In this work, Discrete Wavelet Transform processing is used for de-noising ultrasonic pulse-echo traces. Thresholds for each decomposition level are estimated from its wavelet coefficients. The efficiency in noise reduction is evaluated by means of the signal- to-noise ratio SNR enhancement. Synthetic ultrasonic traces have been generated by inserting a single flaw signal into different grain noise registers, which are obtained from a frequency domain model that includes frequency-dependent material attenuation and scattering. An analysis of the SNR of the processed traces is performed and the efficiency of different threshold selection rules is evaluated. In addition, experimental pulse-echo ultrasonic traces, obtained from a CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) composite block, have been also processed.
Business reporting: how transparency becomes a justification mechanism

This paper contributes to the discussion of the present status and future scenarios of business reporting by conducting a thorough review and analysis of state-of-the-art of the authoritative business reporting literature and also a set of specifically formulated models for voluntary reporting. By analyzing the chosen business reporting models with respect to 14 generally acknowledged themes, the paper contributes to the understanding of the myriad of arguments that are mobilized in the debate on the future of corporate reporting. Based on a qualitative content analysis of nine purposively selected business reporting models, the analysis illuminates and characterizes the argumentation for supplementary reporting. The paper posits some interesting points in connection with the motives for improving corporate reporting practices. A dichotomy between reliability through normalization and relevance through linking disclosure to value creation is emphasized. As transparency is in the eye of the beholder, the process of developing corporate reporting practices must be concerned with reaching a common understanding and agreement between producers and consumers of such disclosures. Transparency is perceived as both a key objective and outcome of comprehensive business reporting. However, the concept of transparency seems to be an empty concept merely constituting a justification mechanism for actual behaviour, i.e. that disclosure instead is driven by the signalling value for the individual company of disclosing a piece of voluntary information.
APPLYING QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT IN OBJECT-ORIENTED SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

System analysts use numerous techniques to carry out phases of object-oriented systems analysis. Given the many tasks associated with systems analysis, a number of problems may arise throughout a project’s lifecycle related to honoring a customer’s needs and producing quality deliverables. In this paper, we propose a practical means for applying quality function deployment (QFD) in the object-oriented systems analysis domain to aid in preserving the customer’s voice throughout phases of systems analysis. Additionally, we set forth practical ways to leverage use of QFD in expediting logical model building and improving verification and validation of systems analysis deliverables.
RATE REGIONS FOR MULTIPOINT-TO-POINT-TRANSMISSION OVER CHANNELS WITH INTERSYMBOL INTERFERENCE

Transmission of several scattered users to a central base station over frequency-selective channels (multiple access problem) is considered. Multicarrier transmission and frequencydivision multiplexing in disjoint bands are assessed with regard to the achievable rate regions. The application of power loading in these schemes aiming at a maximization of the rate regions is discussed. Performance is compared to the rate region obtained by iterative multiuser waterfilling which aims at maximum sum capacity of the channel. Furthermore, outage and ergodic rate regions are presented. It is shown, that multicarrier transmission depending on the employed power loading strategy can achieve rate regions very close to the actual capacity region of the channel.
Nato 3 plays an integral role in dorsoventral patterning of the spinal cord by segregating floor plate / p 3 fates via Nkx 2 . 2 suppression and Foxa 2 maintenance

During embryogenesis, the dorsal roof plate and the ventral floor plate (FP) act as organizing centers to pattern the developing neural tube. Organizer-secreted morphogens provide signals that are interpreted via the graded expression of transcription factors. These factors establish a combinatorial code, which subsequently determines the fate of neuronal progenitors along the dorsoventral axis. To further separate the fates and promote distinct identities of the neural progenitors, mutual repression takes place among transcription factors expressed in progenitors situated along the dorsoventral axis. The molecular mechanisms acting in the developing spinal cord and underlying the segregation of the progenitor pool containing cells with a mixed FP/p3 fate into separate FP cells and V3 neurons are not fully understood. Using in vivo ectopic expression in chick, we found that Nato3 induces ectopic Foxa2-positive cells and indirectly downregulates Nkx2.2 expression. To examine the role of Nato3 in the FP, Foxa2-Nato3 signaling was blocked in Nato3 null mice and to a greater extent in Nato3 null/Foxa2 heterozygous bigenic mutants. Complementary to the findings obtained by gain of function in chick, the loss of function in mouse indicated that the segregation of the FP/p3 population into its derivatives was interrupted. Together, the data suggest that Nato3 is a novel determinant factor regulating the segregation of the FP and p3 identities, which is an essential step for establishing a definitive FP fate in the embryonic spinal cord.
Conceptual design and simulation of an automotive body shop assembly line

In most industrial organization, simulation based analysis is recognized as an essential tool for designing manufacturing systems. Improving the assembly line design process and analyzing performance at early stage of a project is still a major challenge. The objective is to support decision process on strategical choices regarding the future system configuration. Indeed, early design decisions typically lack formal preliminary analysis for making good decisions based on incomplete or unreliable information.
Workers' Applications to Social Insurance Programs When Earnings and Eligibility Are Uncertain

A worker's decision whether to apply for public transfers may depend not only on his expected level of forgone labor earnings but also on his degree of uncertainty about such earnings. This article provides theory and evidence about the effects of earnings and eligibility uncertainty on participation decisions. The application rate to the Social Security Disability Insurance program is estimated to be about 15% higher than it would be in the absence of earnings risk. As an application to tax policy, optimal marginal wage tax rates may be higher than indicated in previous analyses involving wage uncertainty.