Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Introducing the Bank of Canada staff economic projections database

We present a new, publicly available database of real‐time data and forecasts from the Bank of Canada's staff economic projections, which will be updated on an annual basis. We describe the data construct, its variables, coverage, and frequency. We then provide a forecast evaluation for gross domestic product (GDP) growth, consumer price index (CPI) inflation and the policy rate since 1982: We compare the staff's forecasts with those from commonly used time series models estimated with the real‐time data, and with forecasts from other professional forecasters, and provide standard bias tests. Finally, we study changes in predictability of the Canadian economy following the announcement of the inflation‐targeting regime in 1991. Our data set is unprecedented outside the USA, and our evidence is particularly interesting, as it covers over 30 years of staff forecasts, two severe recessions, and different monetary policy regimes.
ESTIMATING THE EFFECTS OF TRAVEL DISTANCE AND COSTS ON EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT (ED) UTILIZATION: LEARNINGS FROM INDIVIDUAL LEVEL DATA

In recent years, Emergency Department (ED) visits have constituted approximately 10% of annual health care spending in the United States (U.S.). Understanding the dynamics of ED visits can help reduce overall spending on health care. This study analyzes the effects of travel distance on ED visits to a southeastern county community hospital in the U.S. between 2011 and 2015. Utilizing a zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) estimation, the study found that travel distance significantly affected both the number and probability of ED visits, ceteris paribus. The ED services are assumed to be “necessities” with very low price elasticity when the medical condition is actually of a life threatening type. If this assumption is true, then distance should have no impact on the probability of visiting ED, ceteris paribus. Our results indicate that distance remains as an important factor even when many different types of medical conditions have been incorporated in the model. This implies that ED visits are not considered as “absolute necessities” by patients. Appropriate level of use of ED is not as rigid as often assumed and ED-seeking behavior can be influenced by organizing alternative service channels in the geographic region. For example, presence of community health workers, free clinics, school clinics, and minute clinics can play important roles in reducing ED visits and associated health care spending and costs. This study provides significant policy implications on how to rationalize access to ED without adversely affecting health outcomes of the population.
Inherent Reflectance Variability of Vegetation

With the inception of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS), remotely sensed images have been captured much closer to the ground, which has meant better resolution and smaller ground sample distances (GSDs). This has provided the precision agriculture community with the ability to analyze individual plants, and in certain cases, individual leaves on those plants. This has also allowed for a dramatic increase in data acquisition for agricultural analysis. Because satellite and manned aircraft remote sensing data collections had larger GSDs, self-shadowing was not seen as an issue for agricultural remote sensing. However, sUAS are able to image these shadows which can cause issues in data analysis. This paper investigates the inherent reflectance variability of vegetation by analyzing six Coneflower plants, as a surrogate for other cash crops, across different variables. These plants were measured under different forecasts (cloudy and sunny), at different times (08:00 a.m., 09:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.), and at different GSDs (2, 4 and 8 cm) using a field portable spectroradiometer (ASD Field Spec). In addition, a leafclip spectrometer was utilized to measure individual leaves on each plant in a controlled lab environment. These spectra were analyzed to determine if there was any significant difference in the health of the various plants measured. Finally, a MicaSense RedEdge-3 multispectral camera was utilized to capture images of the plants every hour to analyze the variability produced by a sensor designed for agricultural remote sensing. The RedEdge-3 was held stationary at 1.5 m above the plants while collecting all images, which produced a GSD of 0.1 cm/pixel. To produce 2, 4, and 8 cm GSD, the MicaSense RedEdge-3 would need to be at an altitude of 30.5 m, 61 m and 122 m respectively. This study did not take background effects into consideration for either the ASD or MicaSense. Results showed that GSD produced a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI, a commonly used metric to determine vegetation health), R 2 values demonstrated a low correlation between time of day and NDVI, and a one-way ANOVA test showed no statistically significant difference in the NDVI computed from the leafclip probe (p-value of 0.018). Ultimately, it was determined that the best condition for measuring vegetation reflectance was on cloudy days near noon. Sunny days produced self-shadowing on the plants which increased the variability of the measured reflectance values (higher standard deviations in all five RedEdge-3 channels), and the shadowing of the plants decreased as time approached noon. This high reflectance variability in the coneflower plants made it difficult to accurately measure the NDVI.
Abstract. Mutation of the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) gene is regarded a novel indicator for the prognosis of patients with glioma. However, the role of the IDH1 gene mutations in carcinogenesis and the mechanisms underlying their function in glioblastoma multiforme

Mutation of the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) gene is regarded a novel indicator for the prognosis of patients with glioma. However, the role of the IDH1 gene mutations in carcinogenesis and the mechanisms underlying their function in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) remain unknown. The present study aimed to determine whether the association of RLIP76 with the different IDH1 mutational status could serve as a puta‐ tive biomarker for improving disease prognosis. Quantitative PCR, western blotting and immunohistochemical staining assays were used to investigate the expression levels of RLIP76 in 124 patients with GBM with different IDH1 mutational status. In addition, the association between RLIP76 expression, IDH1 mutational status and clinicopathological characteristics was investigated. The effects of RLIP76 expression and IDH1 mutational status on cell proliferation, cell apoptosis, and cell signaling were examined by Cell Counting Kit‐8, flow cytometry and western blot assays, respectively. The data demonstrated that IDH1 wild‐type (IDH1Wt) patients with low RLIP76 expression exhibited improved overall and progression‐free survival. This effect was not observed in patients with IDH1 mutant (IDH1Mut) GBM. In vitro assays demonstrated that knockdown of IDH1 or overexpression of the IDH1 R132H mutation suppressed cell proliferation and promoted cell apoptosis in U87 glioma cells. Mechanistic studies further indicated that although the IDH1 R132H mutant phenotype exhibited similar antitumor effects on GBM cells as those observed with the IDH1 knockdown, it acted via a different mechanism with regard to the regulation of the apoptosis signaling pathway. IDH1 R132H mutant cells promoted p53‐induced apoptosis, while the IDH1 knockdown inhibited the RLIP76‐dependent apoptotic pathway in glioma cells. The findings of the present study provided insight to the contribution of IDH1 mutation in the development of GBM and indicated that RLIP76 may be considered as a prognostic biomarker of IDH1Wt GBM.
Complementary Filters Shaping Using ℋ∞ Synthesis

For many applications, large bandwidth and dynamic ranges are requiring to use several sensors, whose signals are combined using complementary filters. This paper presents a method for designing these complementary filters using ℋ∞ synthesis that allows to shape the filter norms. This method is shown to be easily applicable for the synthesis of complex complementary filters.
Android Malware Classiﬁcation based on Mobile Security Framework

—In this paper, a machine learning based technique is proposed to classify android applications in three classes based on the conﬁdence level deﬁned as safe, suspicious and highly suspicious. Thirty six features are extracted and selected from Mobile Security Framework based on penetration testing. A set of experiments has been conducted on the scale of 13,850 android applications which includes 8,782 android applications downloaded from apk-dl.com, 3,960 malware and 1,108 benign applications. In order to compare the accuracy of the classiﬁcation model, a ground truth of the conﬁdence level is created by using VirusTotal. The proposed method can detect and classify android applications into three conﬁdence levels with 81.80% accuracy. Experiment for binary classiﬁcation, classify as being malware or benign has yielded 93.63% accuracy.
Successful Treatment of an Urethro-rectal Fistula Using Gracilis Muscle Rotation Flap - Report of a Case

Rectourethral fistula is an uncommon complication of prostatic or rectal surgery and radiotherapy without standard and ideal therapy. We report a serious complication of prostatourethral-rectal fistula induced by laser vaporization of the bladder neck failed to excision and repair the fistula directly. We successfully performed a fistulectomy via a transperineal approach followed by reconstruction with a gracilis muscle flap. The patient has remained asymptomatic with good cosmetic results till now. Our results indicate that this procedure is simple and effective and carries less morbidity than other approaches of treating difficult rectourethral fistula.
Detecting Disaster Damage based on Geotagged Images: A Case Study of Google Street View Images

Wei Zhai is currently a third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Florida (UF). He is also pursuing a dual master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Prior to UF, he was trained as a city planner in his undergraduate and master’s majors in China. Given the background in urban planning, he is interested in developing and applying new approaches to solve urban and transportation problems in practice.
What drives competition on the farmland market? A case study in Brittany (France)

We investigate factors which may drive the number of agents who compete for a specific piece of farmland in the French region of Brittany by fitting count models to data originating from a local committee, the CDOA, which is responsible for guidance in delivering the necessary “authorisations to farm”. Results are analysed in the light of a conceptual framework which provides an explanation why the subset of farmers who actually apply for an authorisation to farm may differ from the whole set of potential applicants. Several results reflect the impact of an informal mediation by local farmer unions, which aims to lower potential conflicts and hence competition.
An Empirical Study on Effectiveness of Marketing Mix Elements on Satisfaction of Tourists

Travel and tourism is the largest service industry in India. It provides heritage, cultural, medical, business and sports tourism. The main objective of this sector is to develop and promote tourism, maintain competitiveness of India as tourist destination and improve and expand existing tourism products to ensure employment generation and economic growth. The aim of study is to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing mix elements on the satisfaction of tourists visiting historical sites of Jaipur. The objectives of study is to assess tourists’ perceptions towards quality tourism services provided at historical sites of Jaipur and to measure tourist satisfaction by examining the impact of Marketing Mix elements on overall tourist satisfaction. The study is exploratory in nature. A systemized and organized study was done to reach the desired objectives of the study. The responses obtained from the respondents i.e. tourists (Domestic and International) visiting Jaipur is analyzed using various statistical techniques. This study is restricted to tourists (Domestic and International) visiting Jaipur. The importance of this study is that it focuses on identifying the various Marketing Mix Elements affecting the overall satisfaction of tourists visiting Jaipur. Simple random sampling technique was used to gather data from the respondents, because of which respondents diverged from every age group, gender, professions, religions, marital status, states and countries etc. but were restricted only to tourists (Domestic and International) visiting Jaipur. The questionnaire was intricately designed to tap the demographic variables including age, education, gender, marital status, and tenure of visit of the respondents. It also gathered information about the factors responsible for development of Tourism.
Competitive Strategies and Performance of Mobile Service Providers in Nairobi, Kenya

The study sought to determine the effect of competitive strategies on performance of mobile service providers in Nairobi, Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to determine the effect of cost leadership, differentiation, and focus strategies on performance of mobile service providing companies and to determine the moderating effect of organization practices, policies and culture on the relationship between competitive strategies and performance of mobile service providers in Nairobi, Kenya. There has been concern on the performance of mobile service providers in Nairobi, Kenya due to widely varying performance of firms in the industry. Further, the impact that these strategies have on the performance of the organizations hasn’t been well established by the available literature. Descriptive research design was used by the study. The population of the study was all the four-mobile service providing firms in Kenya as at December 2017. These firms include Safaricom, Bharti Airtel, Telkom Kenya and Finserve Africa Limited (Equitel). A sample size of 91 managers was studied which included managers in the marketing departments, human resource and finance. Primary data was collected from the respondents using structured questionnaire with both open and close-ended questions. The study used purely primary data that was collected through the questionnaires. Quantitative data was edited, and coded and analysis undertaken using the SPSS. Multiple linear regression analysis and correlation was used to determine the relationship between the study variables. Results of data analysis was presented in tables. The study found out there are three main competitive strategies that have been adopted by the mobile service providers, namely; Cost Leadership, Focus and Differentiation Strategies. The findings of the study were also that though the influence is minimal, the moderating variables such as organizational policies and cultures affect the effectiveness of the strategies. The study further found that, all the competitive strategies combined had a strong positive effect on the overall organization performance of the mobile service providers. In this regard, the study concludes that competitive strategies have the potential of improving how organizations not only compete but also perform. The study recommends that the management in these firms to closely evaluate these strategies to determine their effectiveness. Equally, the study recommends that before undertaking any competitive strategy, the organization should first have a clear understanding the need and motive towards adopting it.
FACTORS RELATED TO ADOPTION OF PRECISION AGRICULTURE TECHNOLOGIES IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL

Brazil plays an important role as a supplier of agricultural products. The adoption of technologies as precision agriculture (PA) is a requirement to increase food production with improving quality and to reduce environmental footprints. Therefore, more detailed information about the dynamics of PA adoption process in Brazil is required. The objective of this study was to investigate the adoption of different PA tools by farmers in Rio Grande do Sul State (southern Brazil) and the factors involved in adoption decision. Here we analyzed the attributes of PA technology using adoption theory, characterize the users and document some of our personal observations in interacting with farmers, service providers, and researchers working on precision agriculture. An online survey was sent to 715 farmers from August to October 2011. The main motivations for adopting precision agriculture were the increase of crop productivity and the reduction of cost production. On the other hand, equipment high price and lack of staff skills/training were the most frequent limitations reported. The gateway to adopted PA by grain-producing farmers in southern Brazil was based on grid soil sampling. Outsourcing services in PA play a key role in diffusion of this technology. Yield map and variable rate seeding are the preferable tools among current adopters in order to expand the use of PA technologies. PA adopters frequently cultivate large areas; have an innovative profile and a high education level. Engagement with PA is 4.3 years on average. Technological factors explained 48% of farmer’s satisfaction with PA technologies. Furthermore, impact of PA did not meet farmer’s expectation at the time of adoption. In this sense, rate of PA adoption should increase as more benefits of this technology are proven.
Magic Plane in Homework of Illusion

Usually, when talking about games in education, subjects like gamification, game based learning or serious games come to life. Serious games are based on actions in order to develop expressions and skills to operate in real life situations, as well as build knowledge about sundry topics. Whereas gamification, by definition, is the use of game elements in a context not directly associated to games, searching for engagement of the participants. This paper addresses an educational game called Magic Plane whose development methodology followed a backward path way of a traditional gamification model. The archetype design was developed as a regular action game fashion, but after its first prototype it changes into a game to fit educational purposes incorporating some important pedagogical aspects. The project team responsible includes computing technical courses teachers and students, in addition to educators of languages, mathematics, chemistry and geography knowledge areas, subject-matters of the game. The main purpose of the final game is to serve as a playful way to call students attention to some school ́s subjects apart from serving as a learning complement.
GUIDELINE FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF NAUSEA AND VOMITING IN PREGNANCY AND HYPEREMESIS GRAVIDARUM

These are the recommendations of a multidisciplinary working party convened by the Society of Obstetric Medicine of Australia and New Zealand. They reflect current medical literature and the clinical experience of members of the working party. The accompanying Executive Summary and Treatment Algorithms (1 and 2) summarise the key recommendations. These should be read in conjunction with this complete guideline which also includes a Patient Information Leaflet and a template for an Individual Patient Management Plan. The authors declare there are no conflicts of interest. This guideline has been endorsed by the following organisations:
A Survey of Applications that use Graph-based Educational Data Mining

Graph-based Educational Data Mining can be used to analyze educational scenarios that are best represented by complex networks. To manipulate these networks, several algorithms have been proposed and are implemented in tools that facilitate the development of practical applications. This article presents a survey of applications in the educational domain implemented using graph-based data mining, and published from 2000 to 2019. 30 papers were selected. Information extracted from these papers include the research questions they proposed to answer, the adopted graph representation, and the data mining algorithms and tools used. Non-statistical methods were used to evaluate and interpret the findings. The results highlight the domains and types of problems where graph-based education data mining is being used and the graphs/networks used to represent these contexts, as well as the dominant data mining approaches being adopted to extract information from these structures. Resumo. A Mineração de Dados Educacionais baseada em grafos pode ser usada para analisar cenários educacionais que podem ser melhor representados por redes complexas. Para manipular essas redes, vários algoritmos foram propostos e implementados em ferramentas que facilitam o desenvolvimento de aplicações práticas. Este artigo apresenta um levantamento de aplicações no domı́nio educacional que implementaram mineração de dados baseados em grafos, e foram publicados entre 2000 e 2019. Ao total 30 artigos foram selecionados. As informações extraı́das desses trabalhos incluem as questões de pesquisa que eles propuseram responder, a representação gráfica adotada e os algoritmos e ferramentas de mineração de dados usados. Métodos não estatı́sticos foram utilizados para avaliar e interpretar os achados. Os resultados destacam os domı́nios e tipos de problemas em que a mineração de dados baseada em grafos está sendo usada e os gráficos / redes usados para representar esses contextos, bem como as abordagens de mineração de dados dominantes adotadas para extrair informações dessas estruturas.
Helicopter Drops of Money under Secular Stagnation: From Ponzi to Pigou

What are the e¤ects of helicopter drops of money under secular stagnation? This paper shows that, if the government cannot sustain a Ponzi debt scheme under full employment, then helicopter drops of money cannot transfer real wealth to households under secular stagnation. In that case, despite being in a permanent liquidity trap, a one-o¤ helicopter drop triggers an upward jump in the price level, without any real e¤ect on the economy. Conversely, if a Ponzi scheme can be sustained, then the helicopter drop can stimulate aggregate demand by raising household wealth. If the stagnation real interest rate is larger than the economic growth rate, the economy converges to full employment and a sustainable Ponzi scheme and, otherwise, it gradually reverts back to stagnation. Finally, continuous helicopter drops of money under stagnation must induce the economy to reach a full employment steady state, with or without a Ponzi scheme. Keywords: Helicopter drops of money, Liquidity trap, Ponzi scheme, Secular stagnation JEL Classi cation: E12, E31, E63, H63
Upstream Capital Flows, Intangible Investment, and Allocative Efficiency

The recent decades have witnessed upstream financial flows and the surge of intangible capital in advanced economies, while the growth rate of intangible capital differs across countries. This paper explores a theoretical mechanism linking financial flows with the heterogeneous growth rate of intangible capital. In a model where only tangible capital serves as collateral for external funding, financial inflows have opposite short-run and long-run impacts on the within-firm, intangible-tangible investment ratio and the productivity. In particular, the elasticity of domestic investment is a key factor determining whether and how far financial inflows stimulate intangible investment and lead to productivity gains. Thus, country-specific market frictions and regulatory requirements that reduce the elasticity of domestic investment may help explain the heterogeneous growth rate of intangible capital in the recent era of financial globalization.