Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Private Savings Behaviour in Nepal: Longterm Determinants and Short-run Dynamics

With a view to explain the long-run and cyclical behaviour of private savings in Nepal during the period 1974-2005, the study employs an error-correctionframework. The study estimated 0.309 as marginal propensity to save with the corresponding value of 0.365 in the long-run. The estimation results reveal thatreal income, real government savings, real foreign savings, real interest rates, and labour market constraints play important roles in determining private savings in the short and long-run. The findings of the study suggest that there is a need to focus on development policy which increases productive base of the economy in order to increase income growth and reduce unemployment. It is also important to note that the real interest rates have a positive influence on the private savings and can be taken as an important policy variable in Nepal.
Ground-Motion Simulations for the 1980 M 6.9 Irpinia Earthquake (Southern Italy) and Scenario Events

In this paper, we adopt three ground-motion simulation techniques (the stochastic finite-fault simulation code from Motazedian and Atkinson, 2005; the hybrid deterministic-stochastic approach with approximated Green's functions from Pacor et al., 2005; and the broadband hybrid integral-composite technique with full-wavefield Green's functions from Gallovic and Brokesova, 2007), with the aim of investigating the different performances in near-fault strong-motion modeling andpredictionfrompastandfutureevents.Thetestcaseisthe1980M6. 9Irpiniaearth- quake, the strongest event recorded in Italy in the last 30 years. First, we simulate the recorded strong-motion data and validate the model parameters by computing spectral accelerationandpeakamplituderesidualdistributions.Thevalidatedmodelisthenused to investigate the influence of site effects and to compute synthetic ground motions around the fault. Afterward, we simulate the expected ground motions from scenario events on the Irpinia fault, varying the hypocenters, the rupture velocities, and the slip distributions. We compare the median ground motions and related standard deviations from all scenario events with empirical ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs). The synthetic median values are included in the median 1 standard deviation of the considered GMPEs. Synthetic peak ground accelerations show median values smaller and with a faster decay with distance than the empirical ones. The synthetics total stan- dard deviation is of the same order or smaller than the empirical one, and it shows considerable differences from one simulation technique to another. We decomposed the total standard deviation into its between-scenario and within-scenario components. The larger contribution to the total sigma comes from the latter, while the former is found to be smaller and in good agreement with empirical interevent variability. Online Material: Comparison of observed and simulated waveforms and spectra.
Motion planning for high-speed and kinematically reconfigurable mobile robots in rough terrain

Robotic rovers are important scientific tools used to explore and gather data from other planets. However, current rovers are limited in capability due to their conservative control algorithms and kinematic design. This thesis reviews two approaches to help planetary vehicles take full advantage of their abilities. The first is an algorithm to maximize the stability of kinematically reconfigurable rovers moving in rough terrain. This method has been introduced in lagnemma et al [1]. The author's contributions are aid in theory application and simulation and experimental validation. This method is intended for robots with redundant degrees of freedom, i.e. those with a greater number of actuators than the minimum needed for motion. A stability metric that optimizes the vehicle pose based on stability and ground clearance is proposed. The reconfiguration algorithm is verified both in simulation and through experimental testing. Results from field trials at the Arroyo Seco in Altadena, California are presented. The second approach explores an algorithm for off-line, planar motion planning of high-speed vehicles operating in rough terrain. A nine degree of freedom planar vehicle model that accounts for body-wheel interaction is developed. Vehicle failure criteria are discussed. A method for generating maximum and minimum velocity trajectories for a vehicle to traverse a given terrain profile is presented. The algorithm shows that aggressive behaviors such as jumping may safely be used to traverse particularity rough terrain. However, the algorithm also proves not to be practically applicable due to high computational requirements and the need for a priori knowledge of the full terrain profile. Thesis Supervisor: Steven Dubowsky Title: Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Estimating surface energy fluxes using a micro-meteorological model and satellite images

The increasing interest of meteorological, climatic, and hydrological scientific communities in the different components of the surface energy balance, and particularly in the evapotranspiration, has encouraged the development of different micro-meteorological models for estimating surface energy fluxes at a local scale. Recent advances in satellite remote sensing techniques may allow the monitoring of these surface energy fluxes over extensive areas. However, most of the current models require in situ calibration or empirically derived parameters, which limit their operational application at a large scale. The objective of this work is to present a micrometeorological approach that can be operationally used together with satellite images to monitor surface energy fluxes at a regional scale. Firstly, we introduce the framework and details of the proposed micro-meteorological model, which is based on a two-source patch representation of the soil-canopy-atmosphere system. The feasibility of the model is explored at a local scale using data collected over two completely different ecosystems. On the one hand, data collected over a maize (corn) crop in Beltsville, Maryland, USA, during the 2004 summer growing season. On the other hand, data from an experimental campaign carried out in a boreal forest in Finland in 2002. Comparison of the results with ground measurements shows errors between 15 and 60 W m−2 for the retrieval of net radiation, soil heat flux, and sensible and latent heat fluxes in both sites.
Standard Form Contracts

The literature on standard form contracts has increased dramatically in recent years, as lawyers and economists have debated their desirability in both business and consumer settings. The development of novel forms of contracting, such as telephonic and Internet-based contracting, as well as the application of interdisciplinary approaches to legal issues have raised questions concerning the meaning of assent to terms that are presented with little practical opportunity for negotiation. Many of the arguments for or against the enforcement of standard form contracts rely on assumptions concerning the extent to which some buyers can serve as surrogates for others and the presence or absence in standard forms of terms that reflect what would emerge in a competitive environment. Recently, some empirical literature has appeared on these questions as well. Finally, some commentators have suggested additional administrative regulation of contracts to reduce exploitation of those presented with unalterable standard forms. This review of the literature, prepared for the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Law and Economics (2d edition), discusses the current state of the theoretical and empirical literature on these issues.
Iao: The New Adaptive Optics Visible Imaging and Photometric System for AEOS

Abstract : The Iao camera is a totally new camera system that will be replacing the existing visible imager (VisIM) camera. It functions as the science camera, and is capable of collecting uncompensated, as well as adaptive-optics compensated images. Iao offers a number of improvements over the existing system, including higher speed, greater sensitivity, as well as improved flexibility in control of the imaging system. We describe the Iao camera system, the current state of progress, as well as the plans for integration of the new system into AEOS.
Probing domain microstructure in ferroelectric Bi 4 Ti 3 O 12 thin films by optical second harmonic generation

The domain microstructure in an epitaxial thin film of Bi4Ti3O12 on a SrTiO3(001) substrate is studied by second harmonic generation measurements. The input polarization dependence of the second harmonic signal exhibits spatial symmetries that reflect the presence of eight different domain variants present in the film. A theoretical model is presented that explains the observed symmetries and extracts quantitative information on the nonlinear optical coefficients of the material and statistics of domain variants present in the film area being probed. The following ratios of nonlinear coefficients and birefringence was determined: d12/d11=−3.498±0.171, |d26/d12|=0.365±0.010, |d26/d11|=1.273±0.036, and |nb−na|=0.101±0.018 (at 532 nm).
Economic Growth Analyses Under the TRIPS Transitions: Evidence from Selected Cross-Country Samples

Previous research had identified various determinants in view of growth disparities across nations. In this paper some restriction will be made to the determinants variables and resolved instrumental regression technique. Undoubtedly, the role played by foreign direct investment (FDI), stock of human capitals and countries openness are very significant in achieving higher economic growth. However, when the TRIPS agreements effectively enforced within the WTO framework in 1995, changes in multilateral economic activities were found to be obvious. The partial role played by the intellectual property (IP) to attract FDI as an alternatives channel to improved economic competitions had proven to become a strategic policy to achieve better growth. In this paper, two stages of econometric model will be used. All the selected endogenous variables will be estimated in the first-stage and the partial strength of the selected endogenous variables will then be re-estimated into the growth model in the second stage.
Extracting Accident Event Aviso Rules by Soft Computing Techniques in the Healthcare Industry

The hospitalized safety environment of patients is a priority-concerned by the healthcare services for ensuring patient safety and healthcare quality during inpatient admission in hospitals. Particularly, the applications of accident event aviso system (AEAS) and knowledge discovery for identifying accident event aviso category (AEAC) will have assistance to determine potential hazards and reduce medical errors to enhance patient safety and healthcare quality issues in such a complexity healthcare system of hospitals and are vitally important in the healthcare industry. Thus, this work proposes a hybrid procedure to highlight such an interesting issue. The proposed procedure constitutes five components, expert feature-screening approach, the C4.5 algorithm of decision tree, a cumulative probability distribution approach, the LEM2 algorithm of rough sets, and a rule filter technique. An experimental dataset was retrieved from the AEAS of existing hospital databases. The results from implemented experiments indicate that the proposed procedure is capable of effects to remove a redundant attribute, achieve an improved classification performance, offer tools based on the knowledge of aviso system, and provide sufficient information to solving AEAC problems encountered by patients and hospitals, thereby benefiting interested parties.
Majorize–Minimize Adapted Metropolis–Hastings Algorithm

The dimension and the complexity of inference problems have dramatically increased in statistical signal processing. It thus becomes mandatory to design improved proposal schemes in Metropolis-Hastings algorithms, providing large proposal transitions that are accepted with high probability. The proposal density should ideally provide an accurate approximation to the target density with a low computational cost. In this paper, we derive a novel Metropolis-Hastings proposal, inspired from Langevin dynamics, where the drift term is preconditioned by an adaptive matrix constructed through a Majorization-Minimization strategy. We propose several variants of low-complexity curvature metrics applicable to large scale problems. We demonstrate the geometric ergodicity of the resulting chain for the class of super-exponential distributions. The proposed method is shown to exhibit a good performance in two signal recovery examples.
The reaction of bank lending to monetary policy in Brazil

Este artigo avalia o canal de emprestimos bancarios na transmissao da politica monetaria. A analise foca os dados mensais desagregados do balanco patrimonial dos bancos comerciais brasileiros de dezembro de 1994 a dezembro de 2001. Em adicao a taxa basica de juros de curto prazo, este estudo considera tambem os efeitos de um outro instrumento de politica monetaria usado frequentemente no Brasil, representado pelos recolhimentos compulsorios sobre os depositos a vista, de poupanca e a prazo. A partir de tecnicas de analise de dados em painel dinâmico, os resultados dos testes sugerem que o impacto dos compulsorios e relevante e e mais forte sobre os emprestimos dos grandes bancos, conclusao que decorre de recolhimentos compulsorios de carater progressivo, que afetam mais fortemente os bancos com maiores volumes de depositos.
An Methodology for Dimension Parameter transfer to Support Variant Product

In variant design of mass customization, sometimes it’s necessary to modify some dimensions of product modules. This paper introduces a methodology for dimension parameter transfer related to variant design that based on constraint satisfaction priority of part and assembly connection. In order to research parameter transfer path and build the parameter transfer structure, parts and its variant parameters are classified. Parameter association relations between parts are analyzed based on assembly connection in product. Parameter constraint relations also presented for variant design. And, parameter transfer structure and model is put forward. Constraint forms between dimension parameter are listed and described, and then a reconstructed network structure for dimension constraints relations is built in which every edge has only one direction with purpose of making the network simple and easy to solve the constraints. Finally, using Pro-E as a 3D environment and VC++ as a development tool, all methods are applied to a shaft-hub link of speed reducer product, thus verifying the proposed method.
SUBSPACE APPROACH FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE NONLINEAR ACOUSTIC ECHO INTRODUCED BY LOUDSPEAKERS

In this paper, a new nonlinear acoustic echo canceller (AEC) based on the subspace approach is proposed for the application of hands-free telephony when the loudspeaker nonlinearities cannot be neglected. The new AEC decomposes the microphone signal and the estimated echo produced by an FIR adaptive filter into orthogonal subspaces, where both the acoustic echo and the background noise are attenuated according to Wiener filter scheme. Furthermore, the reconstructed signal is synthesized by the components in the signal subspace, resulting in more suppression of the unwanted signals (i.e. noise and echo). Experiments show that, compared to a conventional AEC, the proposed AEC significantly suppresses the nonlinear echo signal caused by the loudspeaker and the background noise in the near-end.
$^{11}B$ NMR spin-lattice relaxation study in $Nd^{3+}$-doped binary alkali borate glasses: A possible method to look at the environment of rare-earth sites in glasses

Rare-earth (RE) doped glasses are widely used for laser and optoelectronic applications and their optical properties depend on the host glass matrix to a large extent. RE doped alkali borate glasses are interesting to observe the effect of network modifiers on the RE environment. In spite of several studies on RE doped glasses, a consensus on the RE environment is still elusive. In this communication we are able to show the effect of the modifier ion on the RE environment in $30R_{2}O-69. 5B_{2}O_{3}-0. 5Nd_{2}O_{3}$ (R=Li, Na, K, Rb and the composition is in mol %) by measuring $^{11}B$ Nuclear Spin Lattice(NSLR) time over a temperature range 100-4.2 K. These measurements allow us to evaluate the crystal field splitting (\Delta) of the two lowest lying multiplets of the ground state $(4I_{9/2})$ of $Nd^{3+}$. We showhere that a systematic variation of \Delta with the type of alkali can be correlated to the findings from optical and EXAFS measurements. Our results suggest that the next nearest neighbour of RE is the modifierion itself. We also show that this method has a potential in probing the Medium Range Order (MRO) in glasses which is otherwise difficult to probe by optical or EXAFS measurements.
The cratering history of asteroid ( 21 )

The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft passed by the main belt asteroid (21) Lutetia on 10th July 2010. With its 100 km size, Lutetia is one of the largest asteroids ever imaged by a spacecraft. During the flyby, the on-board OSIRIS imaging system acquired spectacular images of Lutetia’s northern hemisphere revealing a complex surface scarred by numerous impact craters, reaching the maximum dimension of about 55 km. In this paper, we assess the cratering history of the asteroid. For this purpose, we apply current models describing the formation and evolution of main belt asteroids, that provide the rate and velocity distributions of impactors. These models, coupled with appropriate crater scaling laws, allow us to interpret the observed crater size-frequency distribution (SFD) and constrain the cratering history. Thanks to this approach, we derive the crater retention age of several regions on Lutetia, namely the time lapsed since their formation or global surface reset. We also investigate the influence of various factors – like Lutetia’s bulk structure and crater obliteration – on the observed crater SFDs and the estimated surface ages. From our analysis, it emerges that Lutetia underwent a complex collisional evolution, involving major local resurfacing events till recent times. The difference in crater density between the youngest and oldest recognized units implies a difference in age of more than a factor of 10. The youngest unit (Beatica) has an estimated age of tens to hundreds of Myr, while the oldest one (Achaia) formed during a period when the bombardment of asteroids was more intense than the current one, presumably around 3.6 Gyr ago or older. & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A Fault Diagnosis Method of Power Systems Based on Gray System Theory

To provide some decision-making suggestions for fault diagnosis in power systems, a new model for identifying fault component is constructed by using Gray theory. Firstly, the basic concepts of Gray theory are introduced and explained in detail. And then the recognition algorithm of the power supply interrupted districts and the assignment principle of fault state vectors are depicted according to the working principle of protective relays (PRs) and circuit breakers (CBs). Secondly, based on the concept of the Gray correlation degree, the fault information explanation degree model is constructed and the judging method of malfunction and rejection for PRs and CBs is established. Meanwhile, to achieve the goal of the fault diagnosis, the fault diagnosis procedure that determined which components malfunction is designed for power systems. Finally, some simple experiments have already verified that the proposed method and model are effective and reasonable and the trend of further research is analyzed and summarized.
Characterization of Concentration-Dependent Infrared Spectral Variations of Urea Aqueous Solutions by Principal Component Analysis and Two-Dimensional Correlation Spectroscopy

The association behavior of urea as a function of urea concentration was elucidated by applying principal component analysis (PCA) and two-dimensional (2D) correlation spectroscopy to concentration-dependent FTIR spectra of aqueous urea solutions. The first principal component revealed changes that occurred during the initial increase in urea concentration, which led to the formation of dimers. The second principal component gave information on changes involving the formation of higher aggregates at higher urea concentration. By applying 2D correlation analysis to two sets of FTIR spectra collected above and below 2 M of urea, which were divided on the basis of the PCA, further details on the association process were extracted. Synchronous and asynchronous 2D correlation spectra constructed from the first group of spectra (urea concentration up to 2 M) identified intensity changes due to the formation of ribbon and chain dimers, while the 2D correlation analysis indicated that for urea concentrations abov.
J an 2 01 8 Fano Kaleidoscopes and their generalizations

In this work we introduce Fano Kaleidoscopes, Hesse Kaleidoscopes and their generalizations. These are a particular kind of colored designs for which we will discuss general theory, present some constructions and prove existence results. In particular, using difference methods we show the existence of both a Fano and a Hesse Kaleidoscope on v points when v is a prime or prime power congruent to 1 (mod 6), v 6= 13. In the Fano case this, together with known results on pairwise balanced designs, allows us to prove the existence of Kaleidoscopes of order v for many other values of v; we discuss what the situation is, on the other hand, in the Hesse and general case.
Voltage and Frequency Control of Variable Speed Induction Generator using One Cycle Control Technique

Induction generators are widely used to extract the energy from renewable sources, particularly as a wind power generator either grid connected or isolated operation. The problem associated with stand-alone mode operation is voltage and frequency control. An electronic load controller is used for frequency / voltage control. It uses PI controller to generate the gating signal for the DC chopper. This method has the fault of bad dynamic response and thedistortion of output voltage at zero-crossing. To overcome the defect of PI controller when steady state error is equal to zero, a one cycle control technique suggested and implemented. Simulation of wind driven self-excited induction generator (SEIG) performance is studied and results are discussed.
The Effect of Leadership Behaviours on the Change Process in Healthcare Organisations in Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this empirical study was to explore and determine the influence of leadership behaviors on the organisational change process in healthcare organisations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.METHODS: Primary data were collected from a sample of 272 employees in hospitals in the Al-Qassim region. The study used a self-administered questionnaire to examine the role of leadership behaviors (task-, relations-, and change-oriented leadership behaviors) on the organisational change process in healthcare organisations. Cross-sectional data were analyzed using SPSS.RESULTS: Positive and significant relations were found between leadership behaviors and the organisational change process contributed 54% of the variation in the dependent variable (R2 = 0.54). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this research are highly significant, as they can give managers and organisational leaders a more profound insight into the behaviors and practices required to improve healthcare organisations’ performance during implementation of the change process.