Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Importance sampling type estimators based on approximate marginal Markov chain Monte Carlo

We consider importance sampling (IS) type weighted estimators based on Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) targeting an approximate marginal of the target distribution. In the context of Bayesian latent variable models, the MCMC typically operates on the hyperparameters, and the subsequent weighting may be based on IS or sequential Monte Carlo (SMC), but allows for multilevel techniques as well. The IS approach provides a natural alternative to delayed acceptance (DA) pseudo‐marginal/particle MCMC, and has many advantages over DA, including a straightforward parallelization and additional flexibility in MCMC implementation. We detail minimal conditions which ensure strong consistency of the suggested estimators, and provide central limit theorems with expressions for asymptotic variances. We demonstrate how our method can make use of SMC in the state space models context, using Laplace approximations and time‐discretized diffusions. Our experimental results are promising and show that the IS‐type approach can provide substantial gains relative to an analogous DA scheme, and is often competitive even without parallelization.
What is the consistency between the diagnoses of endoscopists and pathologists concerning gastroduodenal mucosa ?

Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy is a technique used for direct visualization of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum (1). Gastroenterologists who perform gastrointestinal endoscopies make a provisional diagnosis after the procedure and then perform a biopsy to evaluate the patient histopathologically. Several studies have focused on evaluating the concordance between endoscopic and histopathological diagnoses, but they have generally been focused on specific subjects, for example the endoscopic and histopathological evaluation of gastritis, etc. (2-4). Some studies have shown a consistent relationship between the endoscopic and histopathological diagnoses, while others have suggested that the relationship is of no consequence (5,6). To date, there has been no general comparison between the endoscopic and histopathological diagnoses in adults. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate retrospectively the consistency of the diagnoses by endoscopists and pathologists, to determine whether the endoscopic diagnosis is adequate, and to compare the endoscopic and pathological diagnoses of Helicobacter pylori (Hp). MATERIALS AND METHODS
Technical Efficiency of Maize Production in the Centre Region of Cameroon: A Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)

Increasing agricultural productivity and efficiency in production continues to be the cornerstone of most farming systems. Most policy makers rely on such studies as it offers the pathway to agricultural growth and economic development. This research is aimed to evaluate the technical efficiency of maize farmers in the Lekie division of the Centre region of Cameroon. We employ the two staged DEA technique where we computed the technical efficiency (TE) of the various farms in the first stage based on both the constant returns to scale and the variable returns to scale. In the second stage, we used the censored dependent Tobit model to capture the determinants of technical efficiency. Mean TE indices of 0.67 and 0.95 are gotten for farmers at the constant returns to scale and variable returns to scale respectively. This indicates that there still exist potentials to increase the TE of farms in the research area. The study also recorded a scale efficiency of 0.70. Regressing the various efficiency indices on household and farm characteristics, we found educational level, counselling services, participation in a peasant organization, acreage cultivated and age of household head to significantly increase TE. Marital status and credits rather had an inverse effect on TE. From the findings, policy implication should inclusively rest on building the educational capacity of the farmers be it through on-farm demonstrations, seminars, trainings or grouping of the farmers into clubs and associations. Keywords: Efficiency, Productivity, data envelopment analysis, maize, Cameroon.
Calculation of stress in electrodeposits from the curvature of a plated strip

Formulas are derived for the calculation of stress in electrodeposits from the curvature developed in a plated strip. All the formulas are ·derived from the fundamentals of the theory of elasticity and the relationships among the various formulas are showll. Simplified formulas are derived and their limits of applicability demonstrated. Correction factors for a number of variables and specific formulas for diffeJ'ent experimental p rocedures are
Triggered star formation at the borders of the H II region Sh 2-217

Context. This paper is part of our ongoing study of star formation at the borders of Galactic H II regions. In this paper, we report our observations and analysis of Sharpless 217 (Sh 2-217). Aims. We study the stars and gas in and around H II regions to see if the various physical parameters derived from the data (such as column densities, masses, sizes, and timescales) are consistent with the predictions of a simple model of the collect-and-collapse mechanism. This should indicate whether stars forming in molecular gas at the borders of the H II regions could have been triggered by the expansion of the ionized gas. Methods. We observed the emission of various molecules and transitions towards Sh 2-217, and obtained both near-infrared photometry in the H and K bands, and near-infrared images in [Fe II] and H-2 narrow-band filters of the stars in a molecular condensation at the edge of the H II region, where an UC H II region is also located. For the atomic and ionized hydrogen gas, we used literature data. Results. Several molecular condensations are found on the borders of Sh 2-217 and both behind and in front of the ionized emission. We find signs of star formation (an UC H II region, outflows, and water masers). The masses of the larger molecular condensations, derived from (CO)-C-13-data, are greater than or similar to 330-1100 M-circle dot, while smaller clumps or cores within them have up to several tens of solar masses. The morphology of the atomic and molecular gas associated with Sh 2-217, especially the condensations of molecular gas on its border, and the presence of star forming activity within them, is strongly indicative of it being the result of star formation triggered by the expansion of the ionized region, following the collect-and-collapse scenario. Application of a simple model illustrates that the present radii of both Sh 2-217 and the UC H II region, the masses of the condensations, and the timescales needed to sweep up these amounts of gas and allow massive stars to form in them, are consistent with the model predictions. Conclusions. We show that it is highly plausible that the expansion of Sh 2-217 has swept-up the ambient interstellar medium, and that it has taken about 4 Myr to reach its present radius. About 1 Myr ago, the most massive gas condensation became unstable and produced a cluster of stars. The most massive of these stars gave rise to the UC H II region, which took about 0.5 Myr to reach its present size.
A derivative security approach to setting Crop Revenue Coverage insurance premiums.

The nature of indemnities and reliance on futures price averaging during two distinct time intervals throughout the production year imply Crop Revenue Coverage (CRC) insurance behaves like an exotic put option. Treating this type of insurance as a derivative security, an analytical model is developed and an algorithm for solving the model to place a lower bound on insurance premiums is presented. Monte Carlo simulation, taking into account the path-dependent nature of an Asian-type option, is then used to determine lower-bound estimates for insurance premiums on corn gross revenue under specified price and yield distributions.
High resolution modelling of multi- 1 energy domestic demand profiles 2

Increasing interest in low carbon electro-thermal heating technologies, such as electric heat pumps and 18 combined heat and power units, may in the near future significantly change the character of domestic 19 electricity and gas demand profiles. To understand the impact of adoption of such technologies it is necessary 20 to appreciate fully the multi-energy aspects of such technologies, and indeed of any other domestic energy 21 service demands. Such holistic treatment is necessary to fully capture the effects of coincidence in various 22 energy service demands within and across dwellings. To that end this paper introduces and details a high 23 resolution domestic multi-energy model comprised of physically based space heating, domestic hot water 24 (DHW), cooking and electrical appliance models. Given the potential for thermal storage in the heating system 25 and building elements particular attention is given to the space heating model, which includes building, heat 26 emitter, buffer tank and heating unit models, capturing the relevant inter-temporal dependencies, heat 27 transfer rates and system inertia. The power and interest of the presented model is demonstrated through 28 exploration of a selection of various possible applications, including amongst others: effect of input 29 energy/heating technology substitution on consumption profiles of different energy vectors,
Applications of sudden stops of international capital to the Mexican economy

There was nothing in the fundamentals of the Mexican economy that would suggest at the moment the beginning of a crisis of such magnitude. The 1994 crisis was extremely unexpected for households and domestic and foreign firms, because there were good economic indicators so far, together with the financial stability of the previous years. The Mexico of 1994 had a de jure fixed exchange rate regime, but in practice, it was an intermediate peg, not a serious hard peg. Our goal is to try to find out whether things would have been different if there would have been instead either a floating exchange rate regime or a hard peg in Mexico at the time of the crisis of 1994. In our aim at trying to answer this question, we set up a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Model (DSGE) that shared the main stylized characteristics of the Mexican economy of that time. We considered a pure exchange, monetary, small open economy with a DSGE framework in discrete time that obtains from micro-foundations.
Gender and poverty: what we know, don’t know, and need to know for Agenda 2030

Abstract Drawing on historical debates on gender, poverty, and the ‘feminisation of poverty’, this paper reflects on current evidence, methods and analysis of gendered poverty. It focuses on initiatives by UN Women, including the Progress of the World’s Women 2015–16. Our analysis of the data compiled by UN Women raises questions about what might account for the over-representation of women among the poor in official accounts of poverty, and how this is plausibly changing (or not) over time. The paper highlights that analysis of what is measured and how needs to be understood in relation to who is the focus of measurement. The lack of available data which is fit for purpose questions the extent to which gender poverty differences are ‘real’ or statistical. There is a continued reliance on comparing female with male headed households, and we argue the move by UN Women to adopt the notion of Female Only Households reflects available data driving conceptual understandings of women’s poverty, rather than conceptual advances driving the search for better data. Wider UN processes highlight that while sensitivity to differences among women and their subjectivities are paramount in understanding the multiple processes accounting for gender bias in poverty burdens, they are still accorded little priority. To monitor advances in Agenda 2030 will require more and better statistics. Our review suggests that we are still far from having a set of tools able to adequately measure and monitor gendered poverty.
Phytochemical study, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of Brassica rapa L. leaves extract and its silver nanoparticles

Abstract Chemical constituents, antioxidant activities and cytotoxic effects of the 70% aqueous ethanolic extract of Brassica rapa L. (six fractions F1-6) of (BRE) were investigated. Its chromatographic, chemical and spectral analysis detected the existence of a new natural isorhamnetin glycosides namely; isorhamnetin 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl(1→2)-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1→2)-β-D-glucopyranoside (L2) together with fifteen known flavonoid compounds; five of the type kaempferol glycosides, four of quercetin glycosides, three of isorhamnetin glycosides and three aglycones. Silver nanoparticles of the ethanolic extract were also prepared which gave nanoparticles less than 20 nm.The two extracts (ethanolic extract and its nanoparticles) were evaluated for their potential cytotoxicity and as an antioxidant which showed that, the highest antioxidant extract was NBRE followed by BRE. The BRE and its NBRE were evaluated against HELA cells (human Cervical cancer cell line) and M-NFS-60 cells (human Mouse Myelogenous Leukemia carcinoma) with Doxorubicin as standard drug which NBRE gave high activity for both two cell line.
Does sustainability reporting improve corporate behaviour?: Wrong question? Right time?

Abstract This paper takes its starting point from the ICAEW's ‘Sustainability: the role of accountants’ - one of the outputs from the Institute's Information for Better Markets initiative. In particular, an important series of questions arise around the extent to which (if at all) accountants can encourage - and should be encouraging ? the development of substantive social, environmental and sustainability reporting by large organisations and the extent to which such reporting should be governed by financial market principles and exigencies. The relationship(s) between social, environmental and financial performance and reporting are of increasing significance in this context and this significance is reflected in considerable growing interest in the business, accounting and political communities. At the heart of the matter, there is the tantalising suggestion that social responsibility, financial performance and voluntary sustainability reporting may be mutually constitutive and mutually reinforcing. That such a suggestion is, a priori, highly implausible seems to attract less interest. This paper seeks to investigate these matters in some detail by considering. in turn, what is meant by ‘sustainability’. the current state of affairs in ‘sustainability reporting’? and the extent to which social disclosure can be said to be related to the social and/or financial performance of organisations. The analysis suggests that the question set for this paper is mis-specified, that ‘sustainability’? reporting consistently fails to address sustainability and the increasing claims that financial and social performance are mutually determined and determining is probably incorrect and founded upon a tautology. The central theme of the paper is that sustainability is a matter of such concern that it must be treated as at least as important as any other criteria currently facing business, that sustainability reporting needs to be developed in a mandatory context as urgently as possible and that continuing focus upon the tautologies of social responsibility is a particularly foolish and dangerous enterprise.
A new way of understanding the customer, for fibre manufacturers

Purpose – This paper describes the novel approach taken in a collaborative research project that aimed to investigate new ways of understanding the customer, for Derby‐based fibre manufacturer, Tencel Limited. The overall aim of the research described in this paper, was to help identify and establish a significant retail programme with a major UK store group for Tencel limited.Design/methodology/approach – In an iterative process, the target customer for the focus groups was identified, the main aims of the process were discussed, the test garments were identified and the empathic design tools were adapted. The team developed a programme of activities that would capture customer focused information on these critical issues.Findings – Using the Grove techniques helped to make the project transparent and inclusive, and enabled the whole team to be involved in the decision‐making process. Using these techniques have provided Tencel with a non‐scientific way of understanding how their end customer perceives t.
iSphere: A Proximity-based 3D Input Interface

This paper presents a 24 degree of freedom input device for 3D modeling. iSphere uses the proximity information of pulling-out and pressing-in capacitive sensors to manipulate 12 control points of a 3D surface simultaneously . The iSphere dodecahedron is demonstrated manipulating an analog parametric model with high-level modeling concepts like push or pull the 3D surfaces. Our pilot experiment shows that iSphere saved many steps of selecting the control point and going through menus. Experts were used to those extra steps and still found themselves doing them but novices saved significant time for surface shaping tasks. 3D systems are benefited to execute high-level modeling commands, but lacking of fidelity is a great issue of analog input device.
Cyclotron : Juggling data and queries for a data warehouse audience

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Motorised shoe mechanisms to apply chaotic perturbations for gait training

Motorised shoes have been developed to apply chaotic perturbations for gait training. Each shoe comprises four individually controlled actuators, two in the heel and two in the forefoot. Rapid speed of actuator movement has been achieved with the use of a slider-connecting rod-crank mechanism. The mechanism was constructed in a 3D model and checked for component interference using kinematic analysis. Force analysis was undertaken using Euler rotations of each segment in co-ordinate transformation matrices. Component drawings were transferred to a finite element analysis package and factors of safety were applied for a fatigue life of 60,000 steps for each actuator. Latterly that has been extended and one of the pairs of shoes has undertaken 250,000 steps without serious problems. Four pairs of shoes are currently in trials with approximately 100 users. Future work will focus on weight reduction, increased load capacity and extended fatigue life.
Master programme in Economic History Energy Patents , CO 2 Emissions , CO 2 Intensity and Economic Growth : Denmark and the Netherlands , 1976-2007

Denmark and the Netherlands had different approaches to deal with the repercussions of the oil crisis of 1973: Denmark focused on the development of renewables, and the Netherlands developed their natural gas sector. The varying approaches create the possibility to measure and generalize the dynamics of energy innovations on CO2 output in small developed countries. This thesis relates the energy patents output of the Danish and the Dutch economy to the absolute and relative CO2 output, through the use of a vector error correction model. The main finding is that for both countries an increase in energy patents has a negative association on the relative CO2 output.
A MEASUREMENT OF THE RATE OF TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE IN GALAXY CLUSTERS FROM THE SDSS-II SUPERNOVA SURVEY

We present measurements of the Type Ia supernova (SN) rate in galaxy clusters based on data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II (SDSS-II) Supernova Survey. The cluster SN Ia rate is determined from 9 SN events in a set of 71 C4 clusters at z ⩽ 0.17 and 27 SN events in 492 maxBCG clusters at 0.1 ⩽ z ⩽ 0.3. We find values for the cluster SN Ia rate of (0.37+0.17+0.01−0.12−0.01) SNur h2 and (0.55+0.13+0.02−0.11−0.01) SNur h2 (SNux = 10−12L−1x☉ yr−1) in C4 and maxBCG clusters, respectively, where the quoted errors are statistical and systematic, respectively. The SN rate for early-type galaxies is found to be (0.31+0.18+0.01−0.12−0.01) SNur h2 and (0.49+0.15+0.02−0.11−0.01) SNur h2 in C4 and maxBCG clusters, respectively. The SN rate for the brightest cluster galaxies (BCG) is found to be (2.04+1.99+0.07−1.11−0.04) SNur h2 and (0.36+0.84+0.01−0.30−0.01) SNur h2 in C4 and maxBCG clusters, respectively. The ratio of the SN Ia rate in cluster early-type galaxies to that of the SN Ia rate in field early-type galaxies is 1.94+1.31+0.043−0.91−0.015 and 3.02+1.31+0.062−1.03−0.048, for C4 and maxBCG clusters, respectively. The SN rate in galaxy clusters as a function of redshift, which probes the late time SN Ia delay distribution, shows only weak dependence on redshift. Combining our current measurements with previous measurements, we fit the cluster SN Ia rate data to a linear function of redshift, and find rL= [(0.49+0.15−0.14)+(0.91+0.85−0.81) × z] SNuB h2. A comparison of the radial distribution of SNe in cluster to field early-type galaxies shows possible evidence for an enhancement of the SN rate in the cores of cluster early-type galaxies. With an observation of at most three hostless, intra-cluster SNe Ia, we estimate the fraction of cluster SNe that are hostless to be (9.4+8.3−5.1)%.
Energy dependant neutron multiplicity in 235 U

Experimental activities at JRC-Geel on prompt-fission-neutron (PFN) emission in response to OECD/NEA nuclear data requests are presented in this report. Specifically, investigations of PFN emission from the reaction U(n,f) in the region of the resolved resonances are presented. The experiment employs a scintillation detector array for neutron detection, while fission fragment properties are determined via the double kinetic energy technique using a position sensitive twin ionization chamber. This setup allows us to study several correlations between properties of neutron and fission fragments simultaneously. Results on PFN correlations with fission fragment properties from the present study differ significantly from earlier studies on this reaction, induced by thermal neutrons.
THE REFINED PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF TRANSITING EXOPLANETARY SYSTEM WASP-11/HAT-P-10

The transiting exoplanetary system WASP-11/HAT-P-10 was observed using the CCD camera at Yunnan Observatories, China from 2008 to 2011, and four new transit light curves were obtained. Combined with published radial velocity measurements, the new transit light curves are analyzed along with available photometric data from the literature using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique, and the refined physical parameters of the system are derived, which are compatible with the results of two discovery groups, respectively. The planet mass is Mp = 0.526 ± 0.019 MJ, which is the same as West et al.'s value, and more accurately, the planet radius Rp = 0.999 is identical to the value of Bakos et al. The new result confirms that the planet orbit is circular. By collecting 19 available mid-transit epochs with higher precision, we make an orbital period analysis for WASP-11b/HAT-P-10b, and derive a new value for its orbital period, P = 3.72247669 days. Through an (O − C) study based on these mid-transit epochs, no obvious transit timing variation signal can be found for this system during 2008–2012.