Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Domestic Politics of the International Dollar Standard: A Statistical Analysis of Support for the Reserve Currency, 2000–2008

Abstract. Why did most central banks continue to purchase dollar reserves during the 2000s even though they suffered mounting financial losses as a result of this policy? This paper argues that domestic political considerations determine whether policy makers accumulate or dump the reserve currency. We hypothesize that central bank independence decreases support for the dollar because independent central banks reduce the political clout of exporters and increase the salience of financial performance. This argument is tested using data on countries' holdings of US Treasury securities between 2000 and 2008. The statistical results indicate that countries with independent central banks were more likely to sell and less likely to purchase US treasuries. Our findings suggest that a complete understanding of the international dollar standard requires greater attention to domestic politics and how political institutions influence the balance of power between competing interest groups. Résumé. Pourquoi est-ce que la plupart des banques centrales ont continué à acheter des réserves de dollars au cours des années 2000, même quand ils souffraient des pertes financières en raison de cette politique? Cet article soutient que des considérations de politiques nationale déterminent si les responsables des politiques décident d'accumuler ou de vider leurs monnaie de réserve. Nous émettons l'hypothèse que l'indépendance de la banque centrale décourage le soutien pour le dollar, car les banques centrales indépendantes réduise la puissance politique des exportateurs et augmente l'importance de la performance financière. Cet argument est testé en utilisant des données sur la quantité de titres du Trésor américain possédée par pays entre 2000 et 2008. Les résultats statistiques démontrent que les pays avec des banques centrales indépendantes étaient plus susceptibles de vendre et moins susceptibles d'acheter des obligations du Trésor américain. Nos résultats suggèrent qu'une compréhension complète de l'étalon dollar international exige une plus grande attention à la politique nationale, et comment les institutions politiques influencent l'équilibre du pouvoir entre les groupes d'intérêts concurrents.
Exploration of Collector Materials in High-Power Microwave Sources

The plasma effects of energetic electron bombardment on component materials severely limit the output pulsed energies of high-power microwave (HPM) sources. This paper proposes a feasible method for choosing materials for beam collectors in HPM devices. First, electron energy deposition in metal materials is theoretically and numerically investigated. Considering the energy threshold resulting in material ablation, the resilience of several metals to intense relativistic electron beam (IREB) bombardment is compared. This resilience is mainly determined by the material density and melting point. Titanium shows good resilience compared with stainless steel, copper, molybdenum, and tungsten. With an incident 780 keV, 9.5-kA IREB, the maximum deposition energy in titanium just slightly exceeds its ablation threshold. Thus, the theoretical results indicate that titanium is a promising material for application in HPM devices. The experimental results validate the theoretical analyses. Compared with the conventional stainless steel collector, the titanium collector has better stability and lifetime. We intend to investigate more materials in future studies.
Comparing the Economic Value of Mountain Biking Estimated Using Revealed and Stated Preference

This research compares non-market valuation techniques by applying a count data travel cost method (TCM) and dichotomous choice contingent valuation method (CVM) to a form of recreation for which it has not been previously applied: mountain biking. Due to mountain biking's increasing popularity these estimates of benefits may be useful in addressing conflicts. One of the most famous mountain biking sites in the US (Moab, Utah) was chosen as the site for which to apply these two models. The benefits that were estimated for trips taken in the spring of 1996 are US$205 and US$235,for the TCM and CVM, respectively.These values are not statistically different using conventional significant levels.
Volatility Dynamics for the S&P500: Evidence from Realized Volatility, Daily Returns and Option Prices

Most recent empirical option valuation studies build on the affine square root (SQR) stochastic volatility model. The SQR model is a convenient choice, because it yields closed-form solutions for option prices. We investigate alternatives to the SQR model, by comparing its empirical performance with that of five different but equally parsimonious stochastic volatility models. We provide empirical evidence from three different sources: realized volatilities, S&P500 returns, and an extensive panel of option data. The three sources of data all point to the same conclusion: the best volatility specification is one with linear rather than square root diffusion for variance. This model captures the stylized facts in realized volatilities, it performs well in fitting various samples of index returns, andit has the lowest option implied volatility mean squared error in and out of sample. The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org. , Oxford University Press.
Full-wave analysis of fin-line by finite difference time domain method

An efficient technique using the fast Fourier transform, sum algorithm in combination with the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is proposed for the full-wave analysis of fin-line. In modelling the fin-line, substrate dielectric is treated as a complex permittivity dielectric. Cut-off wavelength, effective dielectric constant, propagation constant and attenuation constant are presented. And a comparison is made to validate the accuracy and efficiency of this method.
Risks of mortality, myocardial infarction, bleeding, and stroke associated with therapies for age-related macular degeneration.

OBJECTIVE To examine associations between therapies for age-related macular degeneration and risks of all-cause mortality, incident myocardial infarction, bleeding, and incident stroke. METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 146,942 Medicare beneficiaries 65 years or older with a claim for age-related macular degeneration between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2006. On the basis of claims for the initial treatment, we assigned beneficiaries to 1 of 4 groups. The active control group included patients who received photodynamic therapy. The other groups included patients who received intravitreous pegaptanib octasodium, bevacizumab, or ranibizumab. We censored data from patients when they received a therapy different from the initial therapy. The main outcome measures were associations between photodynamic, pegaptanib, bevacizumab, and ranibizumab therapies and the risks of all-cause mortality, incident myocardial infarction, bleeding, and incident stroke. RESULTS After adjustment for baseline characteristics and comorbid conditions, we found significant differences in the rates of mortality and myocardial infarction by treatment group. Specifically, the hazard of mortality was significantly lower with ranibizumab therapy than with photodynamic therapy (hazard ratio, 0.85; 99% confidence interval, 0.75-0.95) or pegaptanib use (0.84; 0.74-0.95), and the hazard of myocardial infarction was significantly lower with ranibizumab use than with photodynamic therapy (0.73; 0.58-0.92). There were no significant differences in the hazard of mortality or myocardial infarction between bevacizumab use and the other therapies. We found no statistically significant relationship between treatment group and bleeding events or stroke. CONCLUSION Bevacizumab and ranibizumab use was not associated with increased risks of mortality, myocardial infarction, bleeding, or stroke compared with photodynamic therapy or pegaptanib use.
Regional Trading Arrangements among SAARC Countries and India's Imports?†

In spite of political skirmishes between two major members of SAARC, economic cooperation among the member states has been under way since the conclusion of the South Asian Preferential Trading Arrangement on 2-4 May 1995 at the 8th SAARC Summit in Delhi. So far, SAARC member countries have concluded three rounds of preferential trading arrangements under the auspices of SAPTA. The basic object of this article is to examine whether SAPTA is successful in increasing India's intra-regional trade. With the help of the gravity model, it shows that the increase in India's imports from the member countries is miniscule, even though India has offered concessions for the largest number of items among all SAARC countries. This study examines the hollowness of SAPTA and suggests suitable measures to make SAPTA more effective. It strongly recommends duty-free trade among the SAARC members under the auspices of SAFTA at an early date.
Informal Learning in Academic Student Organizations: An Exploratory Examination of Student-Faculty Interactions and the Relationship to Leadership.

This exploratory study examined informal learning opportunities that exist within student organizations. The researchers specifically isolated academic organizations and the interactions between students and faculty that may occur in this context. Findings indicate that 81% of participants experienced interactions with faculty within the context of their academic organizations and students who hold leadership positions are more likely to experience interactions with faculty compared to general members. The results suggest that informal learning opportunities do exist and can be identified by using the Informal and Incidental Learning Model (Marsick & Watkins, 2001). By identifying these opportunities leadership educators can design purposeful activities within student organizations to better promote development and growth.
Antibacterial and Sterilizing Effect of Benzylpenicillin in Tuberculosis

ABSTRACT The modern chemotherapy era started with Fleming's discovery of benzylpenicillin. He demonstrated that benzylpenicillin did not kill Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In this study, we found that >64 mg/liter of static benzylpenicillin concentrations killed 1.16 to 1.43 log10 CFU/ml below starting inoculum of extracellular and intracellular M. tuberculosis over 7 days. When we added the β-lactamase inhibitor avibactam, benzylpenicillin maximal kill (Emax) of extracellular log-phase-growth M. tuberculosis was 6.80 ± 0.45 log10 CFU/ml at a 50% effective concentration (EC50) of 15.11 ± 2.31 mg/liter, while for intracellular M. tuberculosis it was 2.42 ± 0.14 log10 CFU/ml at an EC50 of 6.70 ± 0.56 mg/liter. The median penicillin (plus avibactam) MIC against South African clinical M. tuberculosis strains (80% either multidrug or extensively drug resistant) was 2 mg/liter. We mimicked human-like benzylpenicillin and avibactam concentration-time profiles in the hollow-fiber model of tuberculosis (HFS-TB). The percent time above the MIC was linked to effect, with an optimal exposure of ≥65%. At optimal exposure in the HFS-TB, the bactericidal activity in log-phase-growth M. tuberculosis was 1.44 log10 CFU/ml/day, while 3.28 log10 CFU/ml of intracellular M. tuberculosis was killed over 3 weeks. In an 8-week HFS-TB study of nonreplicating persistent M. tuberculosis, penicillin-avibactam alone and the drug combination of isoniazid, rifampin, and pyrazinamide both killed >7.0 log10 CFU/ml. Monte Carlo simulations of 10,000 preterm infants with disseminated disease identified an optimal dose of 10,000 U/kg (of body weight)/h, while for pregnant women or nonpregnant adults with pulmonary tuberculosis the optimal dose was 25,000 U/kg/h, by continuous intravenous infusion. Penicillin-avibactam should be examined for effect in pregnant women and infants with drug-resistant tuberculosis, to replace injectable ototoxic and teratogenic second-line drugs.
How does the management of research impact the disclosure of knowledge? Evidence from scientific publications and patenting behavior

This paper examines the effect of control rights over whether to publish or patent research results. University researchers have substantial discretion over disclosure, while management in non-academic organizations often direct researchers to patent their findings. Thus, the effect of control rights can be identified by using the shift from basic to commercializable knowledge because management has a larger incentive to protect the commercializable knowledge. The effect, however, may be confounded by the heterogeneity of research paths and the organizational factors other than the allocation of decision rights. To overcome these issues, this paper exploits multiple discoveries associated with a single human gene as a research path and a discovery of a gene's linkage to a disease that may spark commercially oriented research on that gene. To isolate the effect of decision rights, multiple types of non-academic organizations are also used. Building on this variation of knowledge along research paths, the differences-in-differences estimate shows that non-academic research organizations become less likely to publish and more likely to patent than universities in the advance of commercializable knowledge.
Correlation models for monitoring child growth

Growth measurements of children, such as weight and height, are monitored regularly, particularly in infancy, to assess whether or not a child's growth is normal when compared with a reference population of the same age and sex. Here, after a suitable power transformation to normality of the reference population, we model temporal evolution of the standardized deviation (Z‐score) of the transformed measurement of a normal child from the reference population as a Gaussian process with zero mean and unit variance. This paper concentrates on modelling and fitting the serial correlation structure of the process, with the benefit that monitoring growth at specific ages is not crucial, statistically. Exploratory analysis of various observed correlation matrices has suggested that a particular two‐parameter Markovian form is a good representation of the correlation function in infancy. The main implication for growth monitoring is that we only need to condition on the most recent Z‐score to inform a clinician's judgement about a child's growth based on its current Z‐score. Inferences about the correlation parameters derive from likelihood methods based either on observed Z‐scores or, if raw data are unavailable, on an observed correlation matrix. The Markov model is compared with a previously studied six‐parameter correlation model. Data from major child growth studies in Newcastle and Cambridge are used to illustrate the methods and compare predictions from the two models. We argue that the Markov model serves as a pragmatic choice for growth monitoring in infancy. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
STING: a soft-tissue intervention and neurosurgical guide to access deep brain lesions through curved trajectories

Abstract Current trends in surgical intervention favour a minimally invasive approach, in which complex procedures are performed through very small incisions. Specifically, in neurosurgery there is a need for minimally invasive keyhole access, which conflicts with the lack of manoeuvrability of conventional rigid instruments. In an attempt to address this shortcoming, the current state of progress is reported on a soft-tissue intervention and neurosurgical guide (STING) to access deep brain lesions through curved trajectories. The underlying mechanism of motion, based on the reciprocal movement of interlocked probe segments, is biologically inspired and was designed around the unique features of the ovipositor of certain parasitic wasps. Work to date has focused on probe development, low- and high-level control, and trajectory planning. These aspects are described, together with results on each aspect of the work, including biomimetic microtexturing of the probe surface. Progress is very encouraging and demonstrates that forward motion into soft tissue through a reciprocating mechanism is indeed viable and can be achieved through a suitable combination of microtexturing and microfabrication techniques.
Recommending Answerers for Stack Overflow with LDA Model

Stack Overflow is the largest Community-based Question Answering (CQA) site for software developers. Its popularity is mainly attributed to the timely answers provided by a great number of developers. When having problems in learning and using new technologies, developers resort to Stack Overflow for help. However, it is difficult to recommend questions to the potential answerers due to the huge numbers of questions. In order to improve the accuracy of question recommending, we need to find out the members who are interested in the fields related to the questions and match the ability of developers with the difficulty of questions. To do so, we need to pay close attention to the behavior of developers. This paper presents a model with two prediction approaches, namely, the traditional feature-based approach and LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) based approach. When a new question arrives, this model will use LDA method to label the question and indicate the proper category to which the question belongs according to latent semantic feature and content feature. Then, with the traditional features of the question and the asker information, the model will recommend the appropriate developers to answer this new question.
α,β‐Unsaturated aldehyde pollutant acrolein suppresses cardiomyocyte contractile function: Role of TRPV1 and oxidative stress

Air pollution is associated with an increased prevalence of heart disease and is known to trigger a proinflammatory response via stimulation of transient receptor potential vanilloid cation channels (TRPV1, also known as the capsaicin receptor). This study was designed to examine the effect of acrolein, an essential α,β‐unsaturated aldehyde pollutant, on myocardial contractile function and the underlying mechanism involved with a focus on TRPV1 and oxidative stress. Cardiomyocyte mechanical and intracellular Ca2+ properties were evaluated using an IonOptix MyoCam® system including peak shortening (PS), maximal velocity of shortening/relengthening (± dL/dt), time‐to‐PS (TPS), time‐to‐90% relengthening (TR90), fura‐2 fluorescence intensity (FFI) and intracellular Ca2+ decay. Changes in apoptosis and TRPV1 were evaluated using Western blot analysis. The degree of oxidative stress was assessed using the ratio between reduced and oxidized glutathione. Results obtained revealed that exposure of cardiomyocytes to acrolein acutely compromised contractile and intracellular Ca2+ properties including depressed PS, ± dL/dt and ΔFFI, as well as prolonged TR90 and intracellular Ca2+ decay. In addition, acrolein exposure upregulated TRPV1 associated with an increase in both apoptosis and oxidative stress. However, the acrolein‐induced cardiomyocyte contractile and intracellular Ca2+ anomalies, as well as apoptosis (as evidenced by Bcl‐2, Bax, FasL, Caspase‐3 and −8), were negated by the reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger glutathione or the TRPV1 antagonist capsazepine. Collectively these data suggest that the α,β‐unsaturated aldehyde pollutant acrolein may play a role in the pathogenesis and sequelae of air pollution‐induced heart disease via a TRPV1‐ and oxidative stress‐dependent mechanism. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 30: 638–647, 2015.
Antenna-by-antenna and joint-over-antenna MIMO signal detection techniques for turbo-coded SC/MMSE frequency domain equalization

This paper investigates iterative frequency domain techniques for the reception of spatially multiplexed single carrier signals transmitted over frequency-selective multiple input multiple output (MIMO) channels. The investigated equalizers are based on the soft-cancellation (SC) and minimum mean square error (MMSE) altering technique for turbo-coded single carrier point-to-point MIMO systems. We consider two different transmit antenna separation techniques in the frequency domain: (1) antenna-by-antenna (AA) and (2) joint over antenna techniques (JA). (1) aims to separate signals in different layers by MMSE filtering antenna-by-antenna, whereas (2) aims to detect the composite signal comprised of the signals transmitted from the multiple antennas. In (2) the composite received signal is decomposed by using the spatial maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) algorithm. We evaluate performances in terms of frame error rate (FER) and throughput in point-to-point MIMO frequency-selective fading channels. Impacts of spatial correlation on performance of the two detectors are also investigated in this paper.
Macroeconomic determinants of outward foreign direct investment

The aim of this paper is to test the hypothesis that the outward foreign direct investment (FDI) position of countries may be considered as a function of country specific characteristics, such as income, exchange rate, technology, human capital and openness of the economy. The model developed identifies the main determinants of outward FDI using time series data for five European Union members and four non‐European Union countries. The model indicates that real gross national product is proved the most important determinant of outward FDI. Developed European countries specialise in human capital intensive FDI, while non‐European Union countries in technology intensive. Overall, the results verify that the outward FDI position of countries is influenced by national characteristics and that the same type of endowments have different significance for different countries.
An Efficient Active LC Snubber for Forward Converters

An efficient active LC snubber for forward converters is proposed in this paper. The proposed active LC snubber can be used to reset transformer and suppress switching surge. Further, by storing surge energy in the proposed active LC snubber and then releasing it to the flyback auxiliary output, the converter can achieve high efficiency. For a forward converter with active LC snubber, 91.02%, the maximum output efficiency can be obtained. Because of the high performance on surge suppression and energy recovery, experimental results show that the output efficiency of this proposed converter is higher than that of active-clamped-based converters. Furthermore, for a synchronous rectification forward converter with this active LC snubber, the maximum output efficiency can be further raised to 94.72%.