Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Better Betas

The authors introduce the data-driven Goldberg, Papanicolaou, and Shkolnik (GPS) adjustment for estimated betas, which leads to material improvements in the accuracy of weights and risk forecasts of minimum variance portfolios. Like the widely used Blume 2/3 rule and Vasicek adjustment developed in the 1970s, the GPS adjustment for estimated betas shrinks raw beta estimates toward one. Unlike its antecedents, the GPS adjustment operates on the dominant factor of a sample covariance matrix, and this adjustment adapts dynamically to varying levels of beta dispersion. The authors illustrate the power of the GPS adjustment in a simulation that is calibrated to calm and stressed market regimes. TOPICS: Factor-based models, portfolio construction, risk management, simulations Key Findings • Betas play a central role in determining optimized portfolios, and principal component analysis (PCA) is an effective tool to estimate betas. • More accurate PCA betas can be achieved with the Goldberg, Papanicolaou, and Shkolnik (GPS) adjustment, which is analogous to standard beta shrinkage adjustments applied to betas obtained from time-series regression. • Substantial improvements to the accuracy of minimum variance portfolio weights and risk forecasts may be realized when applying the GPS adjustment, which leads to better betas in any market regime.
Enhancement of GABA A Receptor-Mediated Inhibitory Postsynaptic Currents Induced by “Partial Oxygen-Glucose Deprivation”

: Oxygen/glucose deprivation (OGD) has been widely used as an in vitro model of focal ischemia, where the blood flow is severely reduced and neurons rapidly die. However, adjacent to the focal region is ‘penumbra’, where residual blood flow remains oxygen and glucose supplies are at low levels. To model this pathological genesis, we developed a partial OGD (pOGD) protocol in a rat brain slice. This model met two requirements: oxygen was partially deprived and glucose was reduced in the perfusion buffer. Therefore we investigated the effect of pOGD on gama-aminobutyric acid (GABA A ) receptor-mediated inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) in CA1 neurons of a hippocampal slice through whole-cell patch-clamp technique. We found that the amplitude and decay time of IPSCs were increased immediately during pOGD treatment. And the enhancement of IPSCs amplitude resulted from an increase of the synaptic conductance without a significant change in the reversal potential of chloride. These results suggested that the nervous system could increase inhibitory neurotransmission to offset excitation by homeostasis mechanisms during the partial oxygen and glucose attack.
Optimization of ridge parameters in multivariate generalized ridge regression by plug-in methods

Generalized ridge (GR) regression for a univariate linear model was proposed simultaneously with ridge regression by Hoerl and Kennard (1970). In this paper, we deal with a GR regression for a multivariate linear model, referred to as a multivariate GR (MGR) regression. From the viewpoint of reducing the mean square error (MSE) of a predicted value, many authors have proposed GR estimators consisting of ridge parameters optimized by non-iterative methods. By expanding their optimizations of ridge parameters to the multiple response case, we derive MGR estimators with ridge parameters optimized by the plug-in method. We analytically compare obtained MGR estimators with existing MGR estimators, and numerical studies are also given for illustration. AMS 2000 subject classifications: Primary 62J07; Secondary 62F07.
Subtleties: Some Challenges in Achieving Second Language Fluency using Computer-Aided Translation Tools in Education

At every level of education, from early years to postgraduate, students can arrive in the UK (or US) classroom with little or no English language ability. It is impossible for teachers to have knowledge of every first language that students bring into the classroom and thus they may rely on a computeraided translation tool so that their students can have access to the English needed in all subjects across the curriculum. At the same time students need to move from basic English skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing towards the subtleties of academic English which they must achieve in order to reach the UK government’s required standards in English at every level of assessment. Using her extensive knowledge of the challenges that students learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) and their teachers face in the classroom situation and the English needed in assessments, the author will examine possible benefits of computer-aided translation tools such as Google Translate and Talking Pen and outline some of the problems and drawbacks with such tools that create barriers to acquiring full academic fluency and thus pose challenges to future translation tool developers. Keywords—language learning; machine translation; computeraided translation tools; education; English as an Additional
Systematics and biogeography of the widespread Neotropical gekkonid genus Thecadactylus (Squamata), with the description of a new cryptic species

The systematics of the widespread neotropical gekkonid genus Thecadactylus is investigated using a combination of morphological, morphometric and mtDNA (cytochrome b) sequence data, forming a total evidence dataset. The analysis tackles the common yet complex problem of a widespread taxon consisting of one or more cryptic species that are difficult to diagnose using morphology alone. The data are analysed using both maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference. Virtually all analyses resolve a well-supported south-western Amazonian clade distinct from the remainder of the recognized T. rapicauda. The south-western Amazonian clade is not only robustly supported, but also exclusive, geographically coherent and sufficiently distinct to warrant specific recognition. The new species is diagnosable on the basis of molecular sequences that are 23.0–26.9% divergent from those of T. rapicauda, and morphological evidence. Bayesian inference analysis robustly resolves meaningful and repeatable patterns of relationship. The biogeography of Thecadactylus is interpreted in the context of its two constituent species, and difficulties of resolving systematic and biogeographical patterns in widespread, cosmopolitan taxa are discussed. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 149, 339–370.
Learning about Oneself: The Effects of Signaling Academic Ability on School Choice

This paper examines the role of perceived academic ability in shaping schooling choices. We design and implement a _eld experiment that provides individualized feedback about own performance in a mock version of the admission test taken to get into high school in the metropolitan area of Mexico City. Providing information about own academic performance substantially reduces both the gap between expected and actual performance and the variance of individual belief distributions. The intervention also reduces the degree of mismatch between students` academic potential and their schooling decisions. In the treatment group, the demand for academic-oriented options becomes responsive to the admission score, with high-scorers choosing more intensively options from the academic track. Guided by a simple career choice model, we examine both the channels and the heterogenous impacts of the intervention and _nd that both the mean and the variance of beliefs about own ability play a role in driving high-school track choices. In particular, ignoring the changes in the dispersion of individual beliefs leads to misleading conclusions regarding the behavioral responses to information provision.
A Peer-Led Pulse-based Nutrition Education Intervention Improved School-Aged Children’s Knowledge, Attitude, Practice (KAP) and Nutritional Status in Southern Ethiopia

Background: Peer-led nutrition education intervention on promoting locally available pulses among school-aged children could be one strategy to overcome child malnutrition in poor communities. Objectives: This study was aimed at assessing the effect of a peer-led pulse nutrition education intervention on knowledge, attitude, practice of pulse consumption and nutritional status among 202 school children. Methods: School based randomized controlled trial was conducted among 202 (101 control and 101 cases). School age children were selected from the two groups using simple random sampling technique. Baseline data were collected from 1 st May to 15 th May, 2016. Six month peer led nutrition intervention was provided for the study subjects. Pre-test, post-test and anthropometric measurements (weight and height) were conducted at baseline and end of the intervention. Statistical tests such as independent two samples t-test were employed. World Health Organization (WHO) Anthrop Plus software version 1.0. 4 was used to calculate anthropometric indices. Results: The mean diet diversity score was significantly (P<0.001) improved from 2.78 (0.96) to 3.60 (1.10) after a six month intervention in the intervention group. The independent two samples t-test showed significant differences (p<0.001) in knowledge, attitude and practice mean scores of school age children about pulse preparation and consumption. There was no significant difference in nutritional status: BAZ (p=0.774) and HAZ (p=0.516) of school age children between the intervention and control groups at baseline. Post-intervention showed significant (p=0.01) differences between intervention and control schools in BAZ mean score of the children which was reflected in significantly (P<0.001) decreased prevalence of thinness Conclusion: The study concluded that peer led education strategy provides an opportunity to reduce malnutrition and its impacts if properly designed, including the use of behavioural change mode.
Using Corpora to Develop Learners' Collocational Competence.

This article investigates the role of direct corpus use in learners’ collocational competence in academic writing. An experiment was conducted between two groups of Chinese postgraduates who had no previous knowledge of corpora. It was embedded in a regular 4-month linguistics course in the students’ programmes, where a corpus-assisted method was used for the experimental group and a traditional, or rule-based, method was used for the control group. The English essays written by these two groups of learners from different time periods (before, immediately after, and two months after the course) were analysed regarding the learners’ collocational use—in particular, verb-preposition collocations. The results reveal that while both groups showed improvements in their academic writing, the students in the experimental group displayed a significant improvement in the use of collocations, including a higher rate of accuracy, or naturalness, and an increased use of academic collocations and fixed phraseological items. It is thus concluded that the knowledge and use of corpora can help students raise their awareness of habitual collocational use and develop their collocational competence. This supports the positive role of direct corpus application in an EFL context.
The Demand for Money in China: Evidence from Half a Century

This paper employs real money balances, real GDP, inflation rate, and price level to study money demand in China in three periods of time: pro-reform (1952-1978), post-reform (1979-2003), and the whole period (19522003). We test stationarity of the time series and examine the consistency of the long-run money demand in the emerging economy of China. There is a stable long-run money demand function for China during pro-reform period and post-reform period respectively. However, because of the inconsistent monetary policy and ongoing economic reform, a long-run equilibrium money demand function does not exist in China throughout the halfcentury sample period from 1952 to 2003.
Performance of F 1 pineapple hybrids selected for early fruiting

The performance of five pineapple F 1 hybrids selected for early bearing were evaluated with three standard cultivars. The results showed that two of the hybrids, viz. A25-34 and A54-47, were early maturing and fruit were harvested 2 weeks ahead of the standard cultivar Gandul. The primary difference between early and late genotypes arose from the period for fruit development after
Análise da estacionariedade do sinal de eletromiografia de superfície nas fases do exercício isocinético de extensão do joelho

Isokinetic dynamometry (ID) and surface electromyography (SEMG) are two widely used techniques in the study of muscular strength. However, the effectiveness of both is conditioned to the good understanding of their particularities and limitations. For example, resulting data from ID tests must be considered valid only on the load range phase which is the part of the exercise where the dynamometer imposes resistance against the exercising limb in order to keep it at constant angular velocity. Data from acceleration and deceleration phases are often included in analyses and may result in spurious conclusions. Moreover, significant fluctuations of angular velocity in the beginning of the load range can considerably affect the estimate of biomechanical variables such as torque, speed and angular position. Regarding SEMG signals, they can be considered stationary in the broad sense when acquired under isometric conditions. This assumption cannot be directly applied to the case of dynamic contractions since the frequency content of the signal changes over time in this situation. Some techniques are used to minimize non-stationary effects by setting out a range in which the mechanical changes of muscles are cyclic, i.e. they are repeated periodically. Based on the features of ID and SEMG, this study aimed to find out a dynamic range with suitable stationarity conditions for the study of SEMG signals during cyclical isokinetic knee extension tests. The results showed that SEMG analyses should consider only the portion of the load range where angular velocity is stable, i.e. with no significant fluctuations.
Solar Activity and Svalbard Temperatures

The long temperature series at Svalbard (Longyearbyen) show large variations and a positive trend since its start in 1912. During this period solar activity has increased, as indicated by shorter solar cycles. The temperature at Svalbard is negatively correlated with the length of the solar cycle. The strongest negative correlation is found with lags 10–12 years. The relations between the length of a solar cycle and the mean temperature in the following cycle are used to model Svalbard annual mean temperature and seasonal temperature variations. Residuals from the annual and winter models show no autocorrelations on the 5 per cent level, which indicates that no additional parameters are needed to explain the temperature variations with 95 per cent significance. These models show that 60 per cent of the annual and winter temperature variations are explained by solar activity. For the spring, summer, and fall temperatures autocorrelations in the residuals exist, and additional variables may contribute to the variations. These models can be applied as forecasting models. We predict an annual mean temperature decrease for Svalbard of 3.5±2°C from solar cycle 23 to solar cycle 24 (2009–20) and a decrease in the winter temperature of ≈6°C.
Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments 1. Romance, Magic, Memory, and Perfection 2. The Rise of the Lavish Wedding 3. The Engagement Complex 4. The Rituals of Wedding Shopping 5. The Wedding Weekend 6. From the Cabin to Cancun 7. Hollywood Hosts a Wedding 8. The Lavish Wedding Goes Global 9. Variations on a Theme 10. The Allure of the Lavish Wedding Notes Bibliography Index
14C Dating of Holocene Soils from an Island in Lake Pumoyum Co (Southeastern Tibetan Plateau)

Soil samples from an 85-cm-long continuous section (PY608ES) were collected from an island in Lake Pumoyum Co (southeastern Tibetan Plateau, ∼5020 m asl) in August 2006. To estimate past environmental conditions of Lake Pumoyum Co during the Holocene, we analyzed radiocarbon ages, stable carbon isotope compositions, and total organic carbon/total nitrogen (TOC/TN) atomic ratios of the soil samples. The 14C measurements were performed with the Tandetron accelerator mass spectrometry system at the Center for Chronological Research, Nagoya University. The 14C concentration in the surface layer (101 pMC; 5–10 cm soil depth) was nearly modern. A 14C chronology of the sequence indicated that continuous soil development began on the island in Lake Pumoyum Co at ∼5800 cal BP (at 63 cm soil depth, the top of a gravel layer). These results may reflect a decrease in the lake level in the middle Holocene. The age of the obvious lithologic boundary (∼5800 cal BP) corresponds to the end of Holocene climate optimum.
Scalable RDF compression with MapReduce and HDT

The usage of RDF to expose semantic data has increased dramatically over the recent years. Nowadays, RDF datasets are so big and interconnected their management have significant scalability problems. HDT is a compact representation of RDF data aiming to minimize space consumption while providing retrieval features. Nonetheless, HDT generation from RDF traditional formats is expensive in terms of resources and processing time. This work introduces the usage of MapReduce, a framework for distributed processing of large data quantities, to serialize huge RDF into HDT, and analyzes the improvements in both time and resources against the prior mono-node processes.
EVIDENCE-BASED AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL POLICY MAKING : METHODOLOGICAL AND EMPIRICAL CHALLENGES OF POLICY EVALUATION " Ancona , February 17-18 , 2011 The impact of pillar I support on farm choices : conceptual and methodological challenges

In the near future the CAP will continue to be structured around two pillars. In the first pillar the main instrument for producers’ support is the decoupled Single Farm Payment. In this paper we review the methodological framework for analysing decoupled payments in models of agricultural production. Market and technological uncertainty, credit constraints, farm household choices involving extra-agricultural decisions, policy uncertainty and long-run impact of decoupling on investment and land values are the relevant issues that should be pursued by methodological and empirical analysis. Future research should refine the analysis of decoupled payments, mainly trying to provide results that can be useful for policy simulation, to bridge the gap between analysis at the individual level and sector policy models.
COMPOSITION OF VOLATILE OILS AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF WATER EXTRACTS OF LEAVES OF Ziziphus jujuba MILL. FROM CENTRAL IRAN

This study is designed to investigate the volatile oils composition of the leaves of Ziziphus jujuba Mill from Qom province, central region of Iran, in two phenology stages: flowering and fruiting and examine antioxidant activity of its water extract. Gas Chromatography (GC) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis indicated that Phytol (16.63%), (E)-2-Hexenal (11.26%) and Eugenol (9.58%) were the major constituents of the obtained volatile oil in the flowering period and (E)-2-Hexenal (37.05%) and n-Octane (7.44%) were of the fruiting period. The number of identified compounds in the volatile oil from the flowering season was 19 while the number in the fruiting season was 24. In addition, the antioxidant activity of water extracts of Z. jujuba leaves in two phenology stages were evaluated via 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging test and beta-carotene bleaching method. Also total phenolic compounds were estimated. The results show there is no significant differences in antioxidant properties of leaves’ water extract in the two phenology stages, but total phenolic compounds content of leaf extract of this plant is dependent on the phenology stage that the leaf is from.
Ubiquitous music : concepts and metaphors

Ubiquitous Music is a new area of research that encompasses ubiquitous computing, mobile and networked music, eco-composition and cooperative composition. This article examines both the metaphors for interaction and the musical activities that can be supported by ubiquitous music systems. Music making is characterized as an activity involving pragmatic-epistemic actions constrained by natural and social affordances. Music composition – a predominantly epistemic activity – results from the interactions between the musician’s personal environment and the ecological niche where the activity takes place. Thus, the interaction metaphors encompass agents, tools, environment, and activities, providing a conceptual and methodological framework for musical and computational developments in ubiquitous music research. An example of a ubiquitous music work is included: Green Canopy, On the Road.
Extracting the significant descriptors by 2D QSAR and docking efficiency of NRTI drugs: A Molecular Modeling Approach

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is the most devastating pandemic in recent history of the mankind. It takes a heavy toll of life and is a major deterrent to the economic development of many countries. Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase is an important target for chemotherapeutic agents against this devastating disease. Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTI) are known to be the best drugs as it causes chain termination hindering further viral protein synthesis. Rational design of NRTIs has become one of the most important activities in the pharmaceutical industry. Keeping in mind the fast viral mutation and increasing demand of improving the drug combination for HAART therapy, there is an urge for new drug synthesis of the same series. To get an insight about the right structural features needed to develop the NRTIs, 2D-QSAR and docking studies were carried out. CODESSA was used for QSAR study while SYBYL (FlexX) and GOLD were used to carry out the docking studies. 30 molecules were considered in the study. Among them, they were divided into training (21) and test set (9). The best QSAR model is obtained with an r2 value of 0.9516 and q2 value of 0.8544 with seven descriptors. This study will give a deep insight to understand the major role played by the descriptors of NRTI drugs and their binding efficiency in ligand drug interaction.