Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combating the Resource Curse: An Alternative Solution to Managing Mineral Wealth

Countless studies document the correlation between abundant mineral resources and a series of negative economic and political outcomes, including poor economic performance, unbalanced growth, weakly institutionalized states, and authoritarian regimes across the developing world. The disappointing experience of mineral-rich countries has generated a large body of scholarship aimed at explaining this empirical correlation and a list of prescriptions for combating the resource curse. The most popular solutions emphasize macroeconomic policies, economic diversification, natural resource funds, transparency and accountability, and direct distribution to the general population. The success of these solutions has been limited because they either presuppose strong state institutions, which are widely absent in the developing world, or assume state ownership over mineral wealth and thus the need for external actors to constrain the state. At the same time, domestic private ownership is rarely proposed and often maligned. Yet, in some countries, it would serve as a more viable way to avoid the resource curse by fostering institutions that more effectively constrain state leaders, encouraging them to invest in institution building, and enabling them to respond more successfully to commodity booms and busts.Erika Weinthal is associate professor of environmental policy in the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University (weinthal@duke.edu). Pauline Jones Luong is associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Brown University (pauline_luong@brown.edu). This article is part of a long-term joint project; the authors are rotating authorship on the articles they publish, sharing equal responsibility for the content and analysis herein. They gratefully acknowledge comments and suggestions from Richard Auty, Anna Grzymala-Busse, Victoria Murillo, Richard Snyder, the Colloquium on Comparative Research at Brown University, and three anonymous reviewers.
THE CAPIO ACTIVE UPPER BODY EXOSKELETON AND ITS APPLICATION FOR TELEOPERATION

In this paper the active dual-arm upper body exoskeleton Capio, its application for the teleoperation of a complex humanoid robot, as well as its use in a virtual environment are presented. The Capio exoskeleton is a humanmachine interface that tracks the operator’s movements and transfers them to a target system. Multiple contact points at back and arms to the user enable a precise motion measurement and allow a specific force feedback. The combination of the kinematic configuration with 20 active serial elastic joints controlled by a rigid body dynamics algorithm provides mechanical transparency. The possibility to move the torso enhances the exoskeleton workspace. The Capio system is designed portable and lightweight with an easy dressing procedure.
Computational Sensitivity Analysis for the Aerodynamic Design of Supersonic and Hypersonic Air Vehicles

Abstract : The conceptual design of hypersonic air vehicles relies on computational methods to produce estimates of aerodynamic, structural, thermal protection, and propulsion design requirements. Solving the design optimization problem presented by these competing requirements using traditional low-fidelity vehicle models and flow simulations is inadequate because these models represent the underlying physics of the combined disciplines poorly. In order to assess the potential of using physically-accurate flow simulation tools and high-resolution geometry modeling tools in the conceptual design stage, the sensitivity of a hypersonic air vehicle's lift-to-drag ratio to geometric variations was calculated using a computational framework developed for this project. The framework is unique in its integration of modern design tools such as parametric vehicle geometry models, Eulerian flow simulations with automated volumetric mesh generation and refinement, Kriging response surface generation, and global sensitivity analysis. The sensitivity of a hypersonic vehicle's lift-to-drag ratio to changes in two planform parameters was completed and demonstrated the capabilities of the framework to perform global sensitivity analyses. When the design space was extended to nine geometric parameters, the initial application of the framework failed and the results of the global sensitivity analysis were inconclusive. The global sensitivity analysis failed due to the sparse sampling of the design space, the large range of each design parameter, the large interaction effects between design variables caused by the non-linearities of hypersonic flow, and the interpolation imposed by the Kriging response surface in a case with greater design parameter interactions than were expected.
Geochemical evidences for the sources of the Cr ( VI ) contamination in groundwater in central Euboea and Assopos-Thiva basins , Greece : Natural versus anthropogenic origin

Analytical data of the water chemistry in central Euboea and the Assopos-Thiva basins, Greece, has revealed high concentrations of Cr(total) and Cr(VI) exceeding, sometimes, the Greek and the EU drinking water maximum acceptable level (50g/L). The case of groundwater contamination in central Euboea related mainly to natural processes (rocks and ores) was compared with that of the neighboring area of Assopos and Thiva basins (areas of Avlida, Thiva, Oropos, Avlona) characterized by widespread industrial activity. The concentrations of Cr(VI) detected in several groundwater samples, ranged from < 2 (below detection limit) to 360μg/L in central Euboea and from < 2 to 185μg/L in Assopos-Thiva basins, Eastern Sterea Hellas, Greece. The ratio of Cr(VI) to Cr(total) ranging from 0,8 to 1 and the excellent correlation (r2= 0.98, p=0.000) between Cr(VI) and Cr(total), indicated that hexavalent chromium is the predominant form of dissolved chromium in groundwater of all areas studied, with a pH near to neutral. The concentrations of other elements in the majority of the analyzed water samples in all areas were below the permissible limits for drinking water. Water samples from Assopos-Thiva basins were characterized by lower Si contents compared to those from central Euboea. Based on Na, Ca, Mg, Si and Cr(VI) content of the water samples, several discrimination diagrams have been proposed for the identification of their origin. According to their Na, Ca, Mg, Si and Cr contents, the water samples from central Euboea could be distinguished to a) those influenced by the sea water, having high Na and B concentrations, b) those with lower Na, an average of Cr(total) equal to 25μg/L and Mg/Si ratio approximately to 2.3 and c) those with very high Cr(total) values, up to 360 μg/L. The hydrochemical differences of the water samples from Euboea, have been attributed to natural processes for the (a) and (b) cases, whilst in the case (c) the chromium contamination in groundwater was probably associated with human activities. In the extended area of Assopos-Thiva basins (areas of Avlida, Thiva, Schimatari, Oropos, Avlona) the groundwater samples on the basis of their concentration in Cr(total) were classified into three groups: Group A with Cr(total) concentrations lower than 2μg/L, Group B with Cr(total) concentrations ranging from 2 to 50μg/L and Group C with Cr(total) concentrations higher than 50μg/L. The plots of Cr versus Mg/Ca, Mg/Na versus Ca/Na, B versus Si/(Si+Na) and Mg/Si versus Ca/Si ratios revealed a significant degree of salinization and a wide variation in the Cr content. The spatial association of wells with Cr < 2μg/L and those with high Cr concentrations in the whole region of the Assopos-Thiva basins and central Euboea may be related with the depth of the aquifers. The highest values of Cr(VI), recorded in shallow (alluvial) aquifers, were probably due to the circulation of water in an oxidizing environment, that has been affected by anthropogenic activities.
A Detail Review of Jamming Attack Mitigation Techniques in Mobile Wireless Networks

: From smart phones to wearable devices to Internet of Things (IoT)-based appliances, the demand for wireless communication keeps increasing. However, wireless communication consumes bandwidth, and the users inherently share a medium; therefore, one’s signal becomes another’s interference when they collide in channel access. To cope with the increased demand in wireless, the recent developments in radio technology facilitate flexible and dynamic access and enable better adaptation to the ongoing traffic for greater spectral efficiency. A survey of various techniques available for preventing jamming attacks in wireless networks have been presented in this paper. This paper also discusses three schemes to prevent selective jamming attacks in wireless networks. A selective jammer can classify transmitted packets in real time by decoding the first few symbols of an ongoing transmission and can jam important messages. Three schemes that transform a selective jammer to a random one by preventing real-time packet classification are presented in this paper these schemes combine cryptographic primitives such as commitment schemes, cryptographic puzzles, and all-or-nothing transformations with physical-layer characteristics. To mitigate these attacks, three schemes that prevent real-time packet classification by combining cryptographic primitives with physical-layer attributes are also presented in this paper.
Adaptation Studies and Proteomic Analysis of Carboxidotrophic Methanogens

Carbon monoxide (CO) is generated by a variety of natural and anthropogenic processes. Nevertheless, CO is only present at trace amounts in the atmosphere, which is partly due to its utilisation by a wide range of diverse prokaryotes, both aerobic and anaerobic. Organisms able to autotrophically grow on CO, i.e. to use CO as carbon and electron source, are designated carboxidotrophs. Anaerobic carboxidotrophs are particularly interesting for biotechnological applications because they can produce added-value compounds, such as hydrogen, methane, fatty-acids and alcohols. CO is one of the main compounds of synthesis gas (or syngas) product resulting from the gasification of carbonaceous sources (e.g. lignocellulosic biomass and wastes). In this way, syngas can be used by carboxidotrophs as a sustainable source for the production of chemicals and/or biofuels. The present work focused on the study of methanogens for the production of methane from CO and CO/H2 mixtures as sole substrate/electron donor. Methanogenic species were tested for their ability to metabolise CO and/or CO/H2 and the mechanisms and requirements for CO tolerance and oxidation were studied. The physiological response of these archaea to the presence of CO was detailed and the previously unreported carboxidotrophic ability for Methanothermobacter marburgensis was demonstrated. Furthermore, proteomic analysis of the CO-metabolizing capability of this organism was performed.
OGLE-2017-BLG-0329L: A Microlensing Binary Characterized with Dramatically Enhanced Precision Using Data from Space-based Observations

Mass measurements of gravitational microlenses require one to determine the microlens parallax πE, but precise πE measurement, in many cases, is hampered due to the subtlety of the microlens-parallax signal combined with the difficulty of distinguishing the signal from those induced by other higher-order effects. In this work, we present the analysis of the binary-lens event OGLE-2017-BLG-0329, for which πE is measured with a dramatically improved precision using additional data from space-based Spitzer observations. We find that while the parallax model based on the ground-based data cannot be distinguished from a zero-πE model at the 2σ level, the addition of the Spitzer data enables us to identify two classes of solutions, each composed of a pair of solutions according to the well-known ecliptic degeneracy. It is found that the space-based data reduce the measurement uncertainties of the north and east components of the microlens-parallax vector by factors ∼18 and ∼4, respectively. With the measured microlens parallax combined with the angular Einstein radius measured from the resolved caustic crossings, we find that the lens is composed of a binary with component masses of either (M1, M2) ∼ (1.1, 0.8) M⊙ or ∼(0.4, 0.3) M⊙ according to the two solution classes. The first solution is significantly favored but the second cannot be securely ruled out based on the microlensing data alone. However, the degeneracy can be resolved from adaptive optics observations taken ∼10 years after the event.
RISe: Illustrating Georeferenced Data of Seismic Risk and Loss Assessment Studies Using Google Earth

Predicting the consequences of large earthquakes to the built environment is of high importance for disaster control, civil protection and emergency planning. A number of software tools are now available to estimate physical building damage and associated losses in terms of casualties and economic losses. In recent years, SELENA, a seismic risk and loss assessment software which makes use of the capacity spectrum method (CSM), has been developed into a widely applicable tool. Since SELENA functions independently from a Geographic Information System, we developed RISe (Risk Illustrator for Selena), a stand-alone tool that illustrates SELENA files in Google™ Earth. RISe is customized to the SELENA file structure and allows easy conversion of all geographically referenced files such as building inventory data, soil conditions, ground motion values, as well as final risk and loss results. RISe is distributed as public domain open-source software that allows the user to take full advantage of Google™ Earth's features including high-resolution satellite images from nearly every built environment worldwide.
Spatial and seasonal variations of leaf area index (LAI) in subtropicalsecondary forests related to floristic composition and stand characters

Abstract. Leaf area index (LAI) is an important parameter related to carbon, water, and energy exchange between canopy and atmosphere and is widely applied in process models that simulate production and hydrological cycles in forest ecosystems. However, fine-scale spatial heterogeneity of LAI and its controlling factors have yet to be fully understood in Chinese subtropical forests. We used hemispherical photography to measure LAI values in three subtropical forests (Pinus massoniana–Lithocarpus glaber coniferous and evergreen broadleaved mixed forests, Choerospondias axillaris deciduous broadleaved forests, and L. glaber–Cyclobalanopsis glauca evergreen broadleaved forests) from April 2014 to January 2015. Spatial heterogeneity of LAI and its controlling factors were analysed using geostatistical methods and the generalised additive models (GAMs) respectively. Our results showed that LAI values differed greatly in the three forests and their seasonal variations were consistent with plant phenology. LAI values exhibited strong spatial autocorrelation for the three forests measured in January and for the L. glaber–C. glauca forest in April, July, and October. Obvious patch distribution pattern of LAI values occurred in three forests during the non-growing period and this pattern gradually dwindled in the growing season. Stem number, crown coverage, proportion of evergreen conifer species on basal area basis, proportion of deciduous species on basal area basis, and forest types affected the spatial variations in LAI values in January, while stem number and proportion of deciduous species on basal area basis affected the spatial variations in LAI values in July. Floristic composition, spatial heterogeneity, and seasonal variations should be considered for sampling strategy in indirect LAI measurement and application of LAI to simulate functional processes in subtropical forests.
Ray-tracing simulations of liquid-crystal gradient-index lenses for three-dimensional displays

For the first time, to our knowledge, we report ray-tracing simulations of an advanced liquid-crystal gradientindex lens structure for application in switchable two-dimensional/three-dimensional (3D) autostereoscopic displays. We present ray-tracing simulations of the angular-dependent lens action. From the results we conclude that the lens action of the advanced optical design corresponds to the desired performance for small viewing angles. For oblique viewing angles of approximately 30° and higher, the lens action becomes significantly weaker compromising the 3D performance of an autostereoscopic display. The general approach and the advanced ray-optics analysis procedures presented form a useful tool in the search for improvements for high viewing angles and enable a better understanding of the liquid-crystal technology discussed.
Work-related mental health problems increase with rising aggregate unemployment

This paper analyzes the relationship between work-related mental health of the German working population and unemployment on the occupation-region level measured one year before the outcome. Rising unemployment is significantly associated with a higher risk for emotional strain, emotional exhaustion, absenteeism, and presenteeism among employed individuals. Occupation specific unemployment drives this relationship, while the regional dimension is less important. The relationship is driven by individuals with own past unemployment experience.
Nematode associations in the Exe estuary

INTRODUCTION The problems involved in the identification of freeliving marine nematodes have stood in the way of ecologists for some time. Although considerable advances are now being made on the continent (particularly in Kiel Bay and the Mediterranean) and in North America, our lack of knowledge of the British species is still lamentable. In order to rectify this state of affairs to some extent, a study of the distribution of nematodes in the Exe estuary was planned to cover as wide a spectrum of physical and chemical conditions as possible, ranging from fine muds with a low interstitial salinity at the head of the estuary to coarse sands with a high salinity at the mouth. It is hoped that the characterization of the fauna of various habitats in the estuary will form a basis for further ecological studies in other areas. Not surprisingly, a large proportion of the species found were new British records, and some new to science. The fourteen species of this latter group discussed in this paper are described elsewhere (Warwick, 1970).
MORPH-II : Feature Vector Documentation

• The “Partial (Even)” data set contains 1,000 mugshots selected from the full data set according to very strict rules and is intended mainly for age estimation tasks. The subjects range in age from 21 to 45, with exactly 40 subjects in each age category (thus the term “even” in the name of the data set). Of these 40 subjects in each age group, exactly 30 are male and 10 are female, giving rise to a 3:1 gender ratio. Additionally, half of the males in each age group are black, and the same goes for the females, so there is a precise 1:1 ratio of black to white individuals. No subject is represented more than once in this data set, so it should not be used for face recognition tasks.
Sparse initial data identification for parabolic PDE and its finite element approximations

We address the problem of inverse source identification for parabolic equations from the optimal control viewpoint employing measures of minimal norm as initial data. We adopt the point of view of approximate controllability so that the target is not required to be achieved exactly but only in an approximate sense. We prove an approximate inversion result and derive a characterization of the optimal initial measures by means of duality and the minimization of a suitable quadratic functional on the solutions of the adjoint system. We prove the sparsity of the optimal initial measures showing that they are supported in sets of null Lebesgue measure. As a consequence, approximate controllability can be achieved efficiently by means of controls that are activated in a finite number of pointwise locations. Moreover, we discuss the finite element numerical approximation of the control problem providing a convergence result of the corresponding optimal measures and states as the discretization parameters tend to zero.
Dynamic Conditional Correlations and Tail Dependencies : Copula-Based Vertical Price Co-movement Analysis

This study extends the existing application to a generalized autoregressive score (GAS) framework of Creal et al. (2013), which allows the price dependence to exhibit a dynamic feature. We derived the dynamic conditional correlations and time-varying tail dependencies, which enabled us to evaluate market co-adjustments for specific periods under changing and complex circumstances. Empirical application is to the farm-retail price co-movements of the U.S. pork industry, which has undergone substantial changes in the past four decades. The results confirmed the existence of asymmetry between positive and negative extreme (tail) co-movements. Furthermore, results showed that price adjustments were highly linked in the 1970s and 1980s; however, the degree of dependence dwindled in the mid-1980s, reaching historical lows around the hog crisis in 1998/1999, and has remained low since then. One important implication is that consumers have not benefited as much as expected from the increased productivity resulting from technological and organizational improvements because retailers do not pass on the associated cost reductions.
Pattern-Level Programming with Asteroid

John Backus identified value-level (object-level) programming languages as programming languages that combine various values to form other values until the final result values are obtained. Virtually all our classic programming languages today including C, C++, and Java belong into this category. Here we identify pattern-level (term-level) programming languages that combine various patterns to form other patterns until the final result patterns are obtained. New patterns are constructed from existing ones by the application of pattern-to-pattern functions exploiting pattern matching and constructors. First-order logic programming languages such as Prolog, OBJ, and Maude belong into this category. Our insight that pattern-level and value-level programming gives rise to a pattern value duality is used as the foundation of the design of a new programming language called Asteroid. Hallmarks of this new programming language design are the developer’s ability to explicitly control the interpretation or model of expression terms and the notion of ‘patterns as first class citizens’. In addition to a complete implementation of pattern-level programming Asteroid also supports an object-oriented style of programming based on prototypes and also subject to pattern matching.
A NEW FOURIER-TRANSFORM SPECKLE INTERFEROMETRIC METHOD FOR MEASURING LARGE OBJECT DEFORMATION

In this paper we propose a new method to measure large object deformations using speckle interferometry. The principle of the method is that the object is deformed continuously and a large number of frames of the object motion are collected to be analyzed at a later time. The object deformation is then retrieved from the data by Fourier transformation. The method is capable of measuring deformations of over 200 microns that is not possible using conventional electronic speckle pattern interferometry. We discuss the underling principle of the method and results of the experiment. Some nondestructive testing results are also presented in this paper. *Permanent address: Department of Physics and Applied Optics, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 5500 Wabash Avenue, Terre-Haute, IN 47803, USA . C. J is a visiting Humbolt fellow.