Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Limited Information Estimation and Testing of Discretized Multivariate Normal Structural Models

We consider the estimation of multivariate normal structural models that have been discretized according to a set of thresholds. A popular estimation procedure for this restricted multinomial model consists in the following three stage estimator: First, estimate by maximum likelihood the thresholds for each variable separately from the univariate marginals of the contingency table. Then, estimate by maximum likelihood each of the polychoric correlations separately from the bivariate marginals of the contingency table given the estimated thresholds. Finally, if restrictions are imposed on the thresholds and polychoric correlations, estimate the underlying parameters from the estimated thresholds and polychoric correlations by a weighted least squares procedure. An unresolved issue is how to perform goodness of fit tests in this context. We show that the first, second and third stage estimates can be expressed asymptotically as a linear function of the bivariate marginal proportions. Using this result, we propose limited information tests of discretized multivariate normality, as well as of the overall restrictions imposed by the model.
Middle and Late Pleistocene climate and continentality inferred from ice wedges at Batagay megaslump in the Northern Hemisphere’s most continental region, Yana Highlands, interior Yakutia

Abstract. Ice wedges in the Yana Highlands of interior Yakutia – the most continental region of the Northern Hemisphere – were investigated to elucidate the winter climate and continentality during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. The Batagay megaslump exposes ice wedges and composite wedges that were sampled from three cryostratigraphic units: the lower sand unit of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 age, the upper Ice Complex (Yedoma) and the upper sand unit (both MIS3 to MIS2). A terrace of the nearby Adycha River provides a Late Holocene (MIS1) ice wedge that serves as a modern endmember for analysis. Stable-isotope values of ice wedges in the MIS3 upper Yedoma Ice Complex at Batagay are more depleted (mean δ18O about −35 ‰) than those from 17 other ice-wedge sites across coastal and central Yakutia. This observation points to lower winter temperatures and, therefore, higher continentality in the Yana Highlands during MIS3. Likewise, more depleted isotope values compared to other sites in Yakutia are found in Holocene wedge ice (mean δ18O about −29 ‰). Ice-wedge isotopic signatures of the MIS6 lower sand unit (mean δ18O about −33 ‰) and of the MIS3-2 upper sand unit (mean δ18O from about −33 to −30 ‰) are less distinctive regionally and preserve traces of fast formation in rapidly accumulating sand sheets and of post-depositional fractionation.
Contrasting Effects of Metal Contaminations and Soil Liming on Cations Exchange Capacity and Global DNA Methylation in Betula papyrifera Populations from a Mining Region

The Greater Sudbury Region in Northern Ontario (Canada) has been one of the most contaminated regions in the world. Soil liming with dolomitic limestone applications has decreased significantly the level of soil acidity resulting in forest regeneration. This reclamation process does not affect the level of soil metal contamination but results in metals availability decrement. The coping mechanisms of birch (Betula papyrifera) to soil metal contamination have been recently characterized. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of soil liming and metal contamination on Cations Exchange Capacity (CEC) and whole DNA methylation in B. papyrifera. Cytosine and adenine methylations were measured using tandem Mass Spectrometry (MS/MS) coupled with LC (LC-MS/MS). The present study confirms that liming increases significantly soil pH even over 30 years after dolomitic applications. There was a decrease of cations exchange capacity and cytosine methylation in metal-contaminated sites compared to uncontaminated sites. CEC was significantly higher (p≤0.05) in limed and reference distal sites compared to unlimed areas. No significant difference in cytosine methylation level was observed between metal-contaminated limed and unlimed areas. This suggests that metal contamination mostly nickel and copper, the main elements found in higher concentrations in contaminated sites might be associated with cytosine methylation.
Chapter 3: Habitat use and vertical organization of a wet evergreen forest bird community across a disturbance gradient

Tropical secondary forests make up one-sixth of all primary forests that were clear-cut during the 1990s (Wright 2005), and are most likely to be a dominant feature in tropical landscapes of the future (Wright and Muller-Landau 2006). This expansion of degraded and abandoned lands in deforested landscapes may have important implications for the long-term conservation of tropical forest wildlife (Daily 2001; Lindenmayer and Franklin 2002; Wright and MullerLandau, 2006). The values of areas of native regeneration and secondary growth are poorly understood, and our current knowledge base fails to predict whether these habitats will help conserve tropical forest species in the future (Brook et al., 2006; Gardner et al., 2007). Birds are one of the best known faunal groups in the tropics (e.g. Stotz et al., 1996; Hill and Hamer 2004) and the canopies are the most dominant feature of these landscapes. Yet canopy-based studies of birds are few and scattered, being mainly confined to the neotropics.
The Impact of Perception Training on ELL Spelling: Preventing L1 Phonetic Transfer

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether teaching English unfamiliar phonetic distinctions to Spanish-speaking English Language Learners (ELL) would impact their spelling of the corresponding graphemes. Eleven third graders in a Midwestern inner city school who were Spanish-speakers participated in 20 training sessions. The 20-lesson intervention treatment focused on auditory discrimination, word and sentence identification, and grapheme training of minimal pairs of words containing “d” and “th” (when representing the phoneme /ð/). The treatment consisted of exposing learners to strategically controlled listening exercises that required their active attention to the aural input and its assigned meaning (e.g., the concept of “wordy” versus that of “worthy,”) so they could differentiate between phonemes and learn the associated graphemes “d/th”. Analysis of the pre-post test data showed a significant improvement in students’ ability to spell words with the targeted sounds after 20 lessons. When the targeted sound was in initial position, students improved in all tasks, but minimal improvement was found when the targeted sound was in medial or final position. Recommendations for classroom teachers to incorporate similar interventions are included.
The line-up of leadership

Discusses topics claimed to be indispensable for displaying leadership: the right job for the right person; mandatory aims and optional methods approach; common aims and “dream”; special features of quality; fostering creative ability; and cooperation and completion. Looks at their mutual relationship. Concludes that the separation of planning from execution is a different activity from leadership, and that clarification of the mutual relationship between important elements of leadership is important.
Capital Asset Ratios and Bank Default Probabilities: An International Comparison Based on Accounting Data

This study extends the work of SHELDON (1995) to banks outside of Switzerland. The results confirm the previous finding that capital-to-assets ratios are a poor guide to the soundness of a bank. This finding implies that capital adequacy rules that do not correctly reflect the risks that banks face will not serve their intended purpose of ensuring the soundness and stability of the banks to which they apply.
A randomised controlled trial of a theory-based interactive internet-based smoking cessation intervention ('StopAdvisor'): Study protocol

Background: Internet-based interventions can help smokers to quit compared with brief written materials or no intervention. However, they are not widely used, particularly by more disadvantaged smokers, and there is significant variation in their effectiveness. A new smoking cessation website ('StopAdvisor') has been systematically developed on the basis of PRIME theory, empirical evidence, web-design expertise and user-testing with socio-economically disadvantaged smokers. This paper reports the protocol of a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of StopAdvisor and determine whether it translates across the social spectrum. Methods: The trial has two arms with participants randomised to the offer of the interactive 'StopAdvisor' website (intervention condition) or a non-interactive, static website (control condition). Participants are adults from the UK, who smoke every day and are willing to make a serious quit attempt within a month of enrolment. At least 4260 participants will be recruited with a minimum of 2130 in each of two socio-economic sub-groups. The intervention comprises a structured quit plan and a variety of theory- and evidence-based behaviour change techniques for smoking cessation. Tailored support is offered in the form of a series of tunnelled sessions and a variety of interactive menus for use up to a month before, and then for one month after quitting (http://www. lifeguideonline.org/player/play/stopadvisordemonstration). The control is a static website that presents brief and standard advice on smoking cessation. Assessments are at baseline and 2-, 4- and 7-months post-enrolment. The primary outcome measure will be Russell Standard 6-months sustained abstinence, defined as self-reported continuous abstinence verified by saliva cotinine or anabasine at 7-month follow-up. Secondary outcome measures will include 7-day point-prevalence abstinence at 7-month follow-up, self-reported abstinence at 2- and 4-month follow-ups, satisfaction ratings of the website and quantitative indices of website interaction. All analyses will be by intention to treat and the main analysis will compare the two conditions on the primary outcome measure using a logistic regression model, adjusted for baseline characteristics. The efficacy of the intervention across the social spectrum will be assessed by a logistic regression focusing on the interaction between condition and socio-economic disadvantage. Trial registration: ISRCTN99820519.
Agents Petri Nets: Theory and Application

The domain of Petri Nets (PN) engineering has been the concern of many researchers. The present paper lies within this context aiming at the definition of a new formalism for the modelling at the multi agents systems (MAS), which is based on agents called Agents Petri Net (APN). That is why, the definitions that treat the internal state of the agent and its behavior are proposed. The suggested mathematical defini- tions help us to model the interactive systems in a rigorous manner and without any ambiguity. It is through simple examples that our approach is proven to be valid.
Rapid PCR based identification of two medically important dermatophyte fungi, Microsporum canis and Trichophyton tonsurans.

PCR-based species specific protocols have been worked out for two important pathogens M. canis and T. tonsurans responsible for dermatophytosis with various clinical ap- pearances. Reactions were designed to use a common reverse primer and 2 specific forward primers and were optimised to be efficient under the same PCR conditions allowing the detec- tion of these two fungi from one reaction volume. The specific PCR reactions were evaluated both on collection strains of other dermatophytes and on clinical samples. In connection with these methods, different DNA extraction techniques were also tested to assist for an efficient PCR based detection.
A general closed form option pricing formula

A new method to retrieve the risk-neutral probability measure from observed option prices is developed and a closed form pricing formula for European options is obtained by employing a modified Gram–Charlier series expansion, known as the Gauss–Hermite expansion. This expansion converges for fat-tailed distributions commonly encountered in the study of financial returns. The expansion coefficients can be calibrated from observed option prices and can also be computed, for example, in models with the probability density function or the characteristic function known in closed form. We investigate the properties of the new option pricing model by calibrating it to both real-world and simulated option prices and find that the resulting implied volatility curves provide an accurate approximation for a wide range of strike prices. Based on an extensive empirical study, we conclude that the new approximation method outperforms other methods both in-sample and out-of-sample.
COLD MOLECULAR GAS ALONG THE COOLING X-RAY FILAMENT IN A1795

We present the results of interferometric observations of the cool core of A1795 at CO(1–0) using the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy. In agreement with previous work, we detect a significant amount of cold molecular gas (3.9 ± 0.4 × 109 M☉) in the central ∼10 kpc. We report the discovery of a substantial clump of cold molecular gas at clustercentric radius of 30 kpc (2.9 ± 0.4 × 109 M☉), coincident in both position and velocity with the warm, ionized filaments. We also place an upper limit on the H2 mass at the outer edge of the star-forming filament, corresponding to a distance of 60 kpc (<0.9 × 109 M☉). We measure a strong gradient in the Hα/H2 ratio as a function of radius, suggesting different ionization mechanisms in the nucleus and filaments of A1795. The total mass of cold molecular gas (∼7 × 109 M☉) is roughly 30% of the classical cooling estimate at the same position, assuming a cooling time of 109 yr. Combining the cold molecular gas mass with the UV-derived star formation rate and the warm, ionized gas mass, the spectroscopically derived X-ray cooling rate is fully accounted for and in good agreement with the cooling byproducts over timescales of ∼109 yr. The overall agreement between the cooling rate of the hot intracluster medium and the mass of the cool gas reservoir suggests that, at least in this system, the cooling flow problem stems from a lack of observable cooling in the more diffuse regions at large radii.
Adjectives, Compounds, and Words

Linguists take as given the primacy of the spoken word and the derivative nature of written language. We are aware of absurdities like those mentioned above, but see them as being artifacts of the spelling system and dismiss them as being of marginal relevance to the structure of English. Yet at other times we seem to have great difficulty in discarding the idea that English orthography tells us something important about the language. In this paper1 I should like to discuss one such instance.
Nonlinear optical tuning of a two-dimensional silicon photonic crystal

We use the real (Kerr) and imaginary (two photon absorption) parts of a third order optical nonlinearity to tune the long s1.6 mmd and short wavelength s1.3 mmd band edges of a stop gap in a two-dimensional silicon photonic crystal. From pump-probe reflectivity experiments using 130 fs pulses, we observe that a 2 mm pulse induces optical tuning of the 1.3 mm edge via the Kerr effect whereas a 1.76 mm pulse induces tuning of the 1.6 mm band edge via both Kerr and Drude effects with the latter related to two-photon induced generation of free carriers with a lifetime of ,900 ps.
Pension Fund Sophistication and Investment Policy

This paper assesses the sophistication of pension funds’ investment policies using data on 748 Dutch pension funds during the 1999–2006 period. We develop three indicators of sophistication: gross rounding of investment choices, investments in alternative sophisticated asset classes and ‘home bias’. We find that pension funds’ strategic portfolio choices are often based on coarse and possibly less sophisticated approaches. Most pension funds, particularly the medium-sized and smaller ones, round strategic asset allocations to the nearest multiple of 5%, similar to age heaping in demographic and historical studies. Second, many pension funds invest little or nothing in alternative asset classes besides equities and bonds, resulting in limited asset diversification. Third, medium-sized and smaller pension funds favor regional investments and as such not fully employ the opportunities of international diversification. Finally, we show that pension funds using less sophisticated asset allocation rules tend to opt for investment strategies with a lower risk-return profile.
Heat kernel estimates and intrinsic metric for random walks with general speed measure under degenerate conductances

We establish heat kernel upper bounds for a continuous-time random walk under unbounded conductances satisfying an integrability assumption, where we correct and extend recent results by the authors to a general class of speed measures. The resulting heat kernel estimates are governed by the intrinsic metric induced by the speed measure. We also provide a comparison result of this metric with the usual graph distance, which is optimal in the context of the random conductance model with ergodic conductances.
Bank Vulnerability and Financial Soundness Testing: The Bank Resilience Index

Abstract The paper presents a stochastic method to test the soundness of accounting based solvency of banks, over a five-year period, and to define a proper capital adequacy level inductively, from a very limited subset of balance sheet indicators. A review of the literature about stress testing and capital adequacy is provided first, aimed to give evidence of the existing approaches in use and their critical aspects. Then, starting from a sample of 246 listed banks, a few balance sheet indicators are considered. Having set a critical threshold for each of them, according to the regulatory prescriptions, their effective values are forced according to different confidence levels, and two separate kinds of vulnerabilities are defined for the individual banks. These values allow to build a “bank Resilience index” (bRi), which is a measure of the capability to stay within the threshold limits (in other words, to remain solvent). We conclude that the approach could constitute a new, powerful alternative to test “financial soundness”, inasmuch it can give evidence of which banks are solvent, actually, as a consequence of a temporarily efficient mix of ratios, and which banks show a higher resilience for being truly much stronger. In effect, the bRi candidates itself to be a major health check indicator, suitable for surveillance purposes.
State of mixing, shape factor, number size distribution, and hygroscopic growth of the Saharan anthropogenic and mineral dust aerosol at Tinfou, Morocco

The Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) was conducted in May and June 2006 in Tinfou, Morocco. A H-TDMA system and a H-DMA-APS system were used to obtain hygroscopic properties of mineral dust particles at 85% RH. Dynamic shape factors of 1.11, 1.19 and 1.25 were determined for the volume equivalent diameters 720, 840 and 960 nm, respectively. During a dust event, the hydrophobic number fraction of 250 and 350 nm particles increased significantly from 30 and 65% to 53 and 75%, respectively, indicating that mineral dust particles can be as small as 200 nm in diameter. Lognormal functions for mineral dust number size distributions were obtained from total particle number size distributions and fractions of hydrophobic particles. The geometric mean diameter for Saharan dust particles was 715 nm during the dust event and 570 nm for the Saharan background aerosol. Measurements of hygroscopic growth showed that the Saharan aerosol consists of an anthropogenic fraction (predominantly non natural sulphate and carbonaceous particles) and of mineral dust particles. Hygroscopic growth and hysteresis curve measurements of the ‘more’ hygroscopic particle fraction indicated ammonium sulphate as a main component of the anthropogenic aerosol. Particles larger than 720 nm in diameter were completely hydrophobic meaning that mineral dust particles are not hygroscopic.
Performance Analysis of Multi Clustered Parallel Genetic Algorithm with Gray Value

Problem statement: Encoding is one of the major factors in genetic al gorithms, for a complex problem the optimality for the problem is d etermined. The encoding mechanism is the initial step which forms the chromosome to form the best fi t individuals in the entire population. The proposed method tries to encode the initial populat ion by the binary encoding and by gray encoding. Approach: The problem we had identified for the experiment was a Knapsack p. The chromosomes were generated for the knapsack problem with random and the individuals were clustered into in clusters. In each cluster the parent was selected and the select ed chromosome was gray coded for further genetic operators. Results: By implementing gray encoding mechanism, the experiment result shows the improvement in profit when large population was used. The results were analyzed for the algorithm by implementing it by changes in population size, chan ges in group size and change in mutation rate. Conclusion: The Proposed genetic algorithm reduces the executi on time of the algorithm by reducing one step in the genetic operators to reach the opti mal solution. The best fit individual is produced i n a simple process by applying a mutation reproduction operator to the gray value.
A Novel Design of Antenna for the 3G Mobile Devices

This paper proposes a novel structure of the inverted F antenna based on meandering and folding methods for the monopole antenna placed on FR4 dielectric plate. The proposed antenna has compact size (21 mm × 14 mm × 3.2 mm). Moreover, this antenna still offers enough wide bandwidth (VSWR � 2), which covers 3G bandwidth. Using the simulation program to optimize antenna structure and calculate the antenna parameters in order to verify its applicability for the 3G mobile devices.
Uncertainty management in power system operation

This paper summarizes the prevailing power system operation methods for managing the uncertainty brought by large-scale integration of renewables and active load demand. From the perspective of power system operations, uncertainty management is an important problem. In this paper, the mathe- matical models used for handling uncertainty are discussed, along with the pros and cons as well as future development efforts of four different operation methods. The study concludes that it is difficult to adopt a universal operation theory for mitigating the uncertainty in power system operations. Instead, it is necessary to choose the most feasible operation method that matches the specific operation requirement. a rough approximation of uncertainty that is acceptable. The deviation of uncertainty prediction in the planning stage can be "rescued" in the operation stage. However, the price of uncertainty in the operation stage is higher than in the planning stage. There are a variety of methods and theories on uncer- tainty in power system operation that have emerged requiring continuous study and improvement. In traditional power systems, the uncertainty mainly ex- ists in the electric component outages, such as unit outage, transmission line breakdown, and breaker faults. Based on the highly controllable power generation and accurate load forecast, the system is operated by unit commitment (UC) and economic dispatch (ED) with N-1 contingency (3), which greatly reduce the uncertainty from the outage. Furthermore, to meet the increased uncertainty, traditional systems adopt de- terministic dispatch or worst-case dispatch methods that have been developed by acquiring substantial capacity reserves, but