Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vertical Channel Analysis of the U.S. Milk Market

The objective of the research in this study is to evaluate the pricing and market conduct of milk manufacturers and retailers. Using data from a U.S. Midwestern state, we estimate a random coefficient logit demand model (RCL) to empirically investigate a range of possible scenarios in the milk supply chain. These include vertical leader-follower model with underlying Bertrand-Nash pricing, models allowing for nonlinear pricing contracts, and collusion scenarios at various levels in the supply chain. This study contributes to the literature in the following ways. First, it generalizes the RCL demand model via Box-Cox power transformation. While previous studies rely on ad hoc specified linear indirect utility, this procedure allows data to determine the functional form of utility. Power transformation parameters cannot be obtained analytically with product-level data, given that consumer choices are unobserved. We propose an algorithm to estimate the transformation and consumer heterogeneous taste parameters sequentially. The model is identified using annual variation in consumer demographics along with cross-sectional and time series variation in milk consumption. Finally, the milk choice set is allowed to vary across markets. It should be mentioned that jointly estimating the manufacturing sector, the vertical channel, and the retail sector will more likely yield reliable estimates of structural parameters vis-a-vis studies investigating food supply chain sectors in isolation. Several key results are obtained from the research. First, the estimate of demand “superelasticity”suggests that retailers have incentives to adjust retail markups to enhance their market power. Next, supply selection bias associated with imposing restriction on the demand-side framework is shown to have formidable policy implications. Namely, empirical results from the general demand show that retailers are more powerful than they would appear otherwise. In the face of high concentration and a small presence of Wall-Mart in these markets this seems a plausible scenario.
- 0101 Re-evaluating Hedging Performance

Mixed results have been documented for the performance of hedging strategies using futures. This paper reinvestigates this issue using an extensive set of performance evaluation metrics across seven international markets. We compare the hedging performance of short and long hedgers using traditional variance based approaches together with modern risk management techniques including Value at Risk, Conditional Value at Risk and approaches based on Downside Risk. Our findings indicate that using these metrics to evaluate hedging performance, yields differences in terms of best hedging strategy as compared with the traditional variance measure. We also find significant differences in performance between short and long hedgers. These results are observed both in-sample and out-of-sample.
Asset Markets Contagion During the Global Financial Crisis

This study investigates the contagion effects of the 2007-2009 global financial crisis across multiple asset markets and different regions. It uses daily return data of six asset classes: stocks, bonds, commodities, shipping, foreign exchange and real estate. A robust analysis of financial contagion is provided by estimating and comparing asymmetric conditional correlations among asset markets during stable and turmoil periods. Results provide evidence on the existence of a correlated-information channel as a contagion mechanism among the US stocks, real estate, commodities and emerging Brazilian bond index. The findings also support the decoupling of BRIC equity markets from the crisis, the diversification benefits of shipping and foreign exchange value of the US dollar indices, and the existence of a flight to quality mechanism from risky US assets to German bonds. This evidence has important implications for portfolio diversification strategies and the future work of policymakers.
Effects of salt particle size and sample preparation on results of mixer-efficiency testing

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of using salt with different particle sizes and of using different samplepreparation methods on mixer-efficiency testing (time required to achieve a coefficient of variation (CV) of 10% or less among 10 feed samples). A 3000-lb capacity horizontal ribbon mixer was used to mix batches of feed. Ten samples were collected at eight times during mixing (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.5, 5.5, 8.0, and 10.5 min) after all ingredients were added from pre-determined locations in the mixer. Coefficient of variation was used to measure mixer efficiency by analysis for chloride concentration in each sample with Quantab chloride titrators. In Exp. 1, four 3000-lb batches of feed were prepared, two with 440micron salt and two with 730-micron salt. Samples were analyzed as collected (unground; approximately 700 microns) or were ground with a coffee grinder (ground; approximately 400 microns). A salt particle size × sample preparation × mixing time interaction (P<0.001) was observed, but a CV of 10% or less was never achieved, indicating inadequate mixing. In Exp. 2, all samples were collected from 2000-lb batches of feed made in the 3000-lb-capacity mixer. Four different salt particle sizes (440, 730, 1999, and 3000 micron) were used, and each set of samples collected was also analyzed as unground or ground. A salt particle size × sample preparation × mixing time interaction (P<0.04) was observed. As salt particle size decreased and mixing time increased, there was a decrease in CV. Grinding samples before analysis decreased CV, compared with that of the unground samples, but to a greater extent with coarse salt than with fine salt. The batch mixed with 440-micron salt and the batch mixed with 730-micron salt (ground) reached a CV of less than 10%, indicating a uniform mixture. No other treatments reached a CV of 10% or less. When the mixer was filled to the rated capacity we were unable to achieve an acceptable CV for mixer efficiency; therefore, it is important to test mixers at various fill levels. Our study also showed that it is important to use a fine mixing salt when testing mixers for mixer efficiency.
A tropical speleothem record of glacial inception, the South American Summer Monsoon from 125 to 115 ka

Abstract. Relatively few marine or terrestrial paleoclimate studies have focused on glacial inception, the transition from an interglacial to a glacial climate state. As a result, neither the timing and structure of glacial inception nor the spatial pattern of glacial inception in different parts of the world is well known. Here we present results of a study of a speleothem from the Peruvian Andes that records changes in the intensity of South American Summer Monsoon (SASM) rainfall over the period from 125 to 115 ka. The results show that late in the last interglacial period, at 123 ka, SASM rainfall decreased, perhaps in response to a decrease in temperature and ice cover in the high northern latitudes and associated changes in atmospheric circulation. Then at 120.8 ka, a rapid increase in SASM rainfall marks the end of the last interglacial. After a more gradual increase between 120 and 117 ka, a second abrupt increase occurs at 117 ka. This pattern of change is mirrored to a remarkable degree by changes in the East Asian Monsoon. It is interpreted to reflect both a long-term gradual response of the monsoons to orbitally driven insolation changes and to rapid changes in Northern Hemisphere ice volume and temperature. Both monsoon systems are close to their full glacial conditions by 117 ka, before any significant decrease in atmospheric CO2.
Studies of AR Drone on Gesture Control

This paper focuses on the recent drone and gesture recognition technology, and we try to apply the gesture recognition technology to a drone platform. Thus, a drone system capable of gesture-controlled navigation is implemented. The major components comprising the system are Parrot AR. Drone (1), Kinect (2) and PC, while LabVIEW (3, 4) is chosen as the programming language and Kinect is utilized as the gesture recognition device. Besides, specific methods are discussed about how to properly design gestures easy for manipulating the AR. Drone, and how to generate the control signals from these gestures. As a result, the response of gesture-based flight control system is accurate and prompt, according to its decent performance in the video (5).
Multiscale analysis of turbulence evolution in the density-stratified intracluster medium

The diffuse hot medium inside clusters of galaxies typically exhibits turbulent motions whose amplitude increases with radius, as revealed by cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. However, its physical origin remains unclear. It could either be due to an excess injection of turbulence at large radii, or faster turbulence dissipation at small radii. We investigate this by studying the time evolution of turbulence in the intracluster medium (ICM) after major mergers, using the Omega500 non-radiative hydrodynamical cosmological simulations. By applying a novel wavelet analysis to study the radial dependence of the ICM turbulence spectrum, we discover that faster turbulence dissipation in the inner high density regions leads to the increasing turbulence amplitude with radius. We also find that the ICM turbulence at all radii decays in two phases after a major merger: an early fast decay phase followed by a slow secular decay phase. The buoyancy effects resulting from the ICM density stratification becomes increasingly important during turbulence decay, as revealed by a decreasing turbulence Froude number $Fr \sim \mathcal{O}(1)$. Our results indicate that the stronger density stratification and smaller eddy turn-over time are the likely causes of the faster turbulence dissipation rate in the inner regions of the cluster.
Towards an Automatic Evaluation of the Prosody of Individuals with Down Syndrome.

Prosodic skills may be powerful to improve the communication of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Yet, the development of technological resources that consider these skills has received little attention. One reason that explains this gap is the difﬁculty of including an automatic assessment of prosody that considers the high number of variables and heterogeneity of such individuals. In this work, we propose an approach to predict prosodic quality that will serve as a baseline for future work. A therapist and an expert in prosody judged the prosodic appropriateness of individuals with Down syndrome’ speech samples collected with a video game. The judgments of the expert were used to train an automatic classiﬁer that predicts the quality by using acoustic information extracted from the corpus. The best results were obtained with an SVM clas-siﬁer, with a classiﬁcation rate of 79.30%. The difﬁculty of the task is evidenced by the high inter-human rater disagreement, justiﬁed by the speakers’ heterogeneity and the evaluation conditions. Although only 10% of the oral productions judged as correct by the referees were classiﬁed as incorrect by the automatic classiﬁer, a speciﬁc analysis with bigger corpora and reference recordings of people with typical development is necessary
Acceleration and heating processes in a collapsing magnetic trap

We study the acceleration processes in a collapsing magnetic trap formed in the cusp structure of the flare model, using a test-particle numerical method. Coulomb collisions and scattering are included. It was found that if the trap collapse is sufficiently fast and the energies of the injected electrons are sufficiently high, thus overcoming the collisional losses, electrons can be accelerated in this secondary acceleration process to very high energies depending on the initial magnetic trap ratio R = Bmax/Binit. The computations, made for R = 10 and R = 100 with isotropically injected 5−28.4 keV electrons and a background plasma density of about ne = 10 10 cm −3 , show that the high-energy electrons are accumulated in the central part of the collapsing magnetic trap where their velocities are nearly perpendicular to the magnetic field. This eff ect gives us an ew possibility to explain the formation of loop-top sources observed in hard X-ray and radio emission. A further interesting aspect is that these electrons later on escape from this collapsing trap because its trap ratio decreases to R → 1. The time evolution of the energy of the trapped electrons and their energy flux at the end points of the trap (footpoints) are computed for cases without and with collisions. The effect of collisions on the energy spectrum of the accelerated electrons is also shown. The X-ray spectra along the collapsing trap are evaluated. Finally, we suggest a test of this model considering radio waves in the decimetric frequency range.
An atomistic-based ( nite deformation membrane for single layer crystalline ( lms

A general methodology to develop hyper-elastic membrane models applicable to crystalline (lms one-atom thick is presented. In this method, an extension of the Born rule based on the exponential map is proposed. The exponential map accounts for the fact that the lattice vectors of the crystal lie along the chords of the curved membrane, and consequently a tangent map like the standard Born rule is inadequate. In order to obtain practical methods, the exponential map is locally approximated. The e5ectiveness of our approach is demonstrated by numerical studies of carbon nanotubes. Deformed con(gurations as well as equilibrium energies of atomistic simulations are compared with those provided by the continuum membrane resulting from this method discretized by (nite elements.
Understanding recent crises in emerging markets

The world economy is going through a difficult and dangerous period. The recent Brazilian currency meltdown is one more in a series of events that includes the Asian crises of 1997-98 and the Mexican crash in 1994, and there is uncertainty about whether other emerging economies will be infected with the Brazilian virus. ; Dealing with crises in emerging economies is, therefore, an urgent matter. However, what to do about these crises is a source of heated debate. According to the author of this article, much of the confusion arises from the fact that accumulated knowledge about crises in emerging markets has proven inadequate for analyzing recent events. As a consequence, economists have developed new theories intended to shed light on current debates. ; In this article the author classifies the new theories into two main positions. The first, the bad policy view, argues that inappropriate government intervention provided incentives for the private sector to borrow too much and to invest in socially unproductive or excessively risky activities. The second category, the financial panic view, argues that the key issue was a maturity mismatch of assets and liabilities in national financial systems. The article compares the two viewpoints and concludes that the financial panic view has a more solid theoretical foundation and is consistent with a wider range of observations than the bad policy view.
Tree root system imaging using Ground Penetrating Radar

Evaluating tree roots systems without compromise their environment with destructive and laborious methods, is of crucial importance for preserving plant resources. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) technology applied to root and forest ecology studies is a key active remote sensing technology, based on the use of electromagnetic waves, providing unique, non-invasive resources to sample root biomass and spatial distribution. This paper reviews the use of GPR techniques, as near surface sensor radar scanning technology using a ground-coupled single-offset antenna configuration, to yield accurate tree roots system information. Based on the analysis of both geometric and general characteristics of underground soil layers, the GPR can be used as a rapid and high-spatial resolution tool for the analysis of roots distribution, morphology, orientation, and the occupied soil volume. Finally, this paper will show the opportunity of applying modern technologies of remote detection of active sensors in terms of application of radar technology to tree root systems.
Benthos distribution modelling and its relevance for marine ecosystem management

Marine benthic ecosystems are difficult to monitor and assess, which is in contrast to modern ecosystem-based management requiring detailed information at all important ecological and anthropogenic impact levels. Ecosystem management needs to ensure a sustainable exploitation of marine resources as well as the protection of sensitive habitats, taking account of potential multiple-use con? icts and impacts over large spatial scales. The urgent need for large-scale spatial data on benthic species and communities resulted in an increasing application of distribution modelling (DM). The use of DM techniques enables to employ full spatial coverage data of environmental variables to predict benthic spatial distribution patterns. Especially, statistical DMs have opened new possibilities for ecosystem management applications, since they are straightforward and the outputs are easy to interpret and communicate. Mechanistic modelling techniques, targeting the fundamental niche of species, and Bayesian belief networks are the most promising to further improve DM performance in the marine realm. There are many actual and potential management applications of DMs in the marine benthic environment, these are (i) early warning systems for species invasion and pest control, (ii) to assess distribution probabilities of species to be protected, (iii) uses in monitoring design and spatial management frameworks (e.g. MPA designations), and (iv) establishing long-term ecosystem management measures (accounting for future climate-driven changes in the ecosystem). It is important to acknowledge also the limitations associated with DM applications in a marine management context as well as considering new areas for future DM developments. The knowledge of explanatory variables, for example, setting the basis for DM, will continue to be further developed: this includes both the abiotic (natural and anthropogenic) and the more pressing biotic (e.g. species interactions) aspects of the ecosystem. While the response variables on the other hand are often focused on species presence and some work undertaken on species abundances, it is equally important to consider, e.g. biological traits or benthic ecosystem functions in DM applications. Tools such as DMs are suitable to forecast the possible effects of climate change on benthic species distribution patterns and hence could help to steer present-day ecosystem management.
Saving and Growth with Habit Formation : A Comment

Carroll, Overland, and Weil (2000) showed that habits can explain why increases in expected future income growth induce consumers to raise their saving rate. The habit formation mechanism they studied follows Ryder and Heal (1973) in assuming that habits are defined in terms of consumption levels. I show that if habits are defined as the present value of past felicity, rather than as the present value of past consumption, the relation between growth and saving is weakened. The reason is that diminishing returns in the felicity of consumption weakens the relation between consumption growth and habit growth. If habits are defined as past felicity, rather than as past consumption, increases in the growth rate of consumption induce smaller increases in the growth rate of habits, and therefore weakens the effect of habit formation on saving.
Mindful Environments Workshop in the scope of AISB ’ 07 From Language to Thought : Inferring Opinions And Beliefs From Verbal Behavior

1 Department of Informatics, University of Bari Via Orabona 4 70126 Bari, Italy email: {derosis, novielli}@di.uniba. it Abstract. In this contribution, we describe our ongoing work in the direction of studying how negative or positive opinions may be recognized from language and how beliefs may be dynamically inferred from expressions of opinion. We begin by considering the language processing methods which have been applied to 'sentiment analysis' to show the results they produced and their limits, and then reflect on how beliefs may be inferred gradually, in conditions of uncertainty and by carefully considering various forms of context.
The interaction between nitrogen and phosphorous is a strong predictor of intra-plant variation in nitrogen isotope composition in a desert species

Abstract. Understanding intra-plant variations in δ15N is essential for fully utilizing the potential of δ15N as an integrator of the terrestrial nitrogen (N) cycle and as an indicator of the relative limitation of N and phosphorous (P) on plant growth. Studying such variations can also yield insights into N metabolism by plant as a whole or by specific organs. However, few researchers have systematically evaluated intra-plant variations in δ15N and their relationships with organ nutrient contents. We excavated whole plant architectures of Nitraria tangutorum Bobrov, a C3 species of vital regional ecological importance, in two deserts in northwestern China. We systematically and simultaneously measured N isotope ratios and N and P contents of different parts of the excavated plants. We found that intra-plant variations in δ15N of N. tangutorum were positively correlated with corresponding organ N and P contents. However, it was the N × P interaction, not N and P individually or their linear combination, that was the strongest predictor of intra-plant δ15N. Additionally, we showed that root δ15N increased with depth into soil, a pattern similar to profiles of soil δ15N reported by previous studies in different ecosystems. We hypothesized that the strong positive intra-plant δ15N–N and P relationships are caused by three processes acting in conjunction: (1) N and P content-driven fractionating exchanges of ammonia between leaves and the atmosphere (volatilization) during photorespiration, (2) resorption and remobilization of N and P from senescing leaves, and (3) mixture of the re-translocated foliar N and P with existing pools in stems and roots. To test our hypothesis, future studies should investigate plant N volatilization and associated isotope fractionation and intra-plant variations in δ15N in different species across ecosystems and climates.
An Effective Implementation of Noise Cancellation for Audio Enhancement using Adaptive Filtering Algorithm

With innovation in technology there are many active noise cancellation systems. Researchers try to modify the performance of the system by different noise cancellation techniques. One of the techniques for noise cancellation is the adaptive filtering technique. An adaptive filter is one whose characteristics can be modified automatically to achieve an objective. This paper deals with noise cancellation for speech signals using Least Mean Square (LMS) algorithm for the adaptation of the filter coefficients. The main aim of noise cancellation is to obtain a noise free signal by estimating the noise signal and subtracting it from the primary input. The simplicity of the algorithm provides better potential of incorporating existing performance enhancing techniques. The system is implemented in Verilog design and the simulation results obtained by the Xilinx synthesis tool are noted down and analyzed. The simulation results show analysis on the basis of the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), the Mean Square error (MSE) and the learning curve. The experimental results show an improvement in the performance of the proposed method.