Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Redistributive Impact of Taxation in Rural China, 1995-2002: an Empirical Study Using the 1995-2002 CASS CHIP Surveys

This paper evaluates the redistributive impacts of rural taxation in China, using the CASS CHIP survey 1995-2002. The main findings can be summarized as follows.First, the major policy target of rural taxation reform--reducing the average rate of taxes and levies--was accomplished between 1995 and 2002, with favorable redistributive results. When the aggregate scene is observed, the disequalizing redistributive impact of taxation declined between 1995 and 2002. Second, despite these positive results from the aggregate perspective, the favorable impact of the reform was severely limited because overall rural taxation remained disequalizing after the reform and regressivity in taxation itself, measured by the Kakwani index and the income elasticity of taxation, increased between 1995 and 2002. The favorable change in the redistributive impact between these years did not occur as a result of a decrease in the degree of regressivity of the tax itself, but because the average rate of taxation and before-tax income inequality declined. Moreover, when the regional picture is observed, the overall redistributive impact of taxation worsened in several provinces following the reform.
Variability in GRBs - A Clue

We show that external shocks cannot produce a variable GRB, unless they are produced by an extremely narrow jets (angular opening of < ~10^{-4}) or if only a small fraction of the shell emits the radiation and the process is very inefficient. Internal shocks can produce the observed complex temporal structure provided that the source itself is variable. In this case, the observed temporal structure reflects the activity of the ``inner engine'' that drives the bursts. This sets direct constraints on it.
Evaluating Case-Based Reasoning Knowledge Discovery in Fraud Detection

The volume of banking transaction has increased considerably in the recent years with advancement in nancial transactions payment methods. Consequently, the number of fraud cases has also increased, causing billion of dollar losses each year worldwide, although from Literature, there has been substantial work in the domain of fraud detection by both the industry and academia's. Despite the substantial work, there are few researches in applying case-based reasoning (CBR) approach in the context of detecting Financial Fraud. In this paper we aim at evaluating the performance of CBR in Identifying fraudulent patterns among nancial transaction by comparing it with logistic regression (LR) and neural network (NN) which are often used in many related work. To evaluate our approach simulated data, based on a sample of real anonymous transaction provided by a bank was used and the result shows that LR outperformed NN and CBR model, with a steady increase in precision, sensitivity and speci city as the percentage ratio for the training and test data were varied. This was due to the linearity, fuzziness and presence of uncertainty in the sampling dataset. Therefore, we can reach a conclusion that part of the possible reasons why there are few research in applying CBR to the context of detecting nancial fraud patterns may be due to incomplete information, fuzziness and uncertainty in the available data sets used for experimentation.
Synaptic sampling: A connection between PSP variability and uncertainty explains neurophysiological observations

When an action potential is transmitted to a postsynaptic neuron, a small change in the postsynaptic neuron's membrane potential occurs. These small changes, known as a postsynaptic potentials (PSPs), are highly variable, and current models assume that this variability is corrupting noise. In contrast, we show that this variability could have an important computational role: representing a synapse's uncertainty about the optimal synaptic weight (i.e. the best possible setting for the synaptic weight). We show that this link between uncertainty and variability, that we call synaptic sampling, leads to more accurate estimates of the uncertainty in task relevant quantities, leading to more effective decision making. Synaptic sampling makes four predictions, all of which have some experimental support. First the more variable a synapse is, the more it should change during LTP protocols. Second, variability should increase as the presynpatic firing rate falls. Third, PSP variance should be proportional to PSP mean. Fourth, variability should increase with distance from the cell soma. We provide support for the first two predictions by reanalysing existing datasets, and we find preexisting data in support of the last two predictions.
The Role of the Exchange Rate in Economic Growth: A Euro-Zone Perspective

In this paper we consider a range of topics which connect exchange rates to the economic growth process. In particular, we first of all outline the basic properties of exchange rates when they are flexible. One key feature of flexible exchange rates is that they are highly volatile and such volatility may affect growth through the channels of trade and investment.
ffi cient Adaptive-Deniable-Concurrent Non-malleable Commitment Scheme

It is known that composable secure commitments, that is, concurrent non-malleable commitments exist in the plain model, based only on standard assumptions such as the existence of claw-free permutations or even one-way functions. Since being based on the plain model, the deniability of them is trivially satisfied, and especially the latter scheme satisfies also adaptivity, hence it is adaptive-deniable-concurrent nonmalleable. However, those schemes cannot be said to be practically efficient. We show a practically efficient (string) adaptive-deniable-concurrent commitment scheme is possible under a global setup model, called the Global CRS-KR model. key words: commitment schemes, adaptivity, deniability, concurrency, non-malleability
Health Services for Children in Denmark, Germany, Austria and Great Britain

This paper compares health services for children in Denmark, Germany, Austria and Great Britain using the following dimensions: (1) coverage, where it is asked under which conditions children are covered by the health care system; (2) access, where the family doctor principle in Denmark and Great Britain is compared with the free choice of doctors in Germany and Austria; (3) organizational structure, which is important for co-ordination and co-operation of service providers and for the possibility of orientating oneself within the health care system; (4) comprehensiveness: level and extent of health services for children; and (5) financing, or how families with children are supported by different principles of financing. The conclusion is that the health insurance systems of Austria and especially Germany take health needs of children into consideration to a lesser extent than the national health systems of Denmark and Great Britain. Due to the closer doctorpatient relationship, the family doctor principle of the national health systems gives children easier access to the health care system, and does a better job of ensuring that parents make use of preventive health measures for their children. On the other hand, the free choice of doctors in the health insurance systems is not considered helpful for building up a close and trusting doctorpatient relationship. Children are especially dependent on good co-operation between different service providers such as general practitioners, paediatricians, child health visitors and school nurses. Co-ordination and co-operation is easier and more targeted at the health of children when services are organized at the local level as in the Danish municipalities and the British districts, while the systems of Germany and Austria are characterized by a more fragmented organizational structure. But even when different health systems regard children differently, the financing principles in all four countries give a clear signal: families shall have no additional costs for securing health care for their children. There is a high financial redistribution from single households to family households in all four health care systems
The Appropriateness of Principal, Teacher and Student Elements to TQM in Learning Environment

ABSTRACT Primarily being applied in the sector of industry, Total Quality Management (TQM) has begun to be used in the sector of education as well. In terms of the application of TQM in the sector of education, the principle, teacher and student triangle is the most significant element that makes the humane dimension. In this study as a case research, the behaviors of the principle, teacher and student in a middle school in Northern Cyprus were observed in order to assess the appropriateness of their behavior to TQM implementation. As a result of study, the principal and the teachers generally assess their own behaviors as ‘good’ whereas they assess the behaviors of the students as ‘bad’. On the other hand, generally the principal was assessed as ‘bad’ and the teacher was assessed as ‘good’ according to the students in terms of TQM.
The Nature Of Boundaries On ‘Area-Class’ Maps

Appropriate generalization methods for geographic data must depend upon the kind of feature being generalized. Most research on cartographic line generalization has concentrated on linear features such as coastlines, rivers and roads; however, methods for the generalization of such linear geographic features may not be appropriate for the generalization of other types of cartographic lines. In this paper, we present a model of another type of cartographic line, namely boundaries between categories or classes which occur over contiguous regions of geographic space. We focus our attention on 'natural' area-class data sets such as soil maps. In the model, such boundary lines are far more similar (mathematically) to elevation contours than they are to coastlines and rivers. Appropriate generalization methods may involve construction of surfaces representing probability of class membership, generalization or smoothing of such surfaces and 'contouring' the probabilities to find boundaries. Pour etre appropriees.
Evaluation of an Anonymity Measure

A key issue in secret voting and many other kinds of private communications is ensuring the anonymity ofindividuals. Researchers in Information Studies have been aiming to estab-Iish metrics of anonymity to enhance the protection of privacy in information and communi-catlon systems. Many related papers, however, i'ocus on so-called connection anonymity･. Little research can be found for metrics of voting privacy, except for the entropy-based approach ot' Endo et at, <2007, 2008). This study illustrates and evaluates an unknown anonymity measure presented by Iwai {2003) in the field of Japanese mathematical sociology. The metric utilizes a combinatorial approach and has some advantageous aspects over the approach ofEndo et al, (2007, 2008) as a metric that measures the degree ofpreventing the identification ofparticular voters, Although, in general, Edman et al. (2007) is recognized as the first study that demonstrated a combinatorjal approach to defining an anonymity measure, the main idea is shared by the earlier research ot' Iwai (20e3). Even now, the mathematical representation forms in the c)lder research seem to be mc)re suitable for rneasuring anonymity m voUng contexts.
Strong-Field Effects in the Rabi Oscillations of the Superconducting Phase Qubit

Rabi oscillations have been observed in many superconducting devices, and represent prototypical logic operations for quantum bits (qubits) in a quantum computer. We use a three-level multiphoton analysis to understand the behavior of the superconducting phase qubit (current-biased Josephson junction) at high microwave drive power. Analytical and numerical results for the ac Stark shift, single-photon Rabi frequency, and two-photon Rabi frequency are compared to measurements made on a dc SQUID phase qubit with Nb/AlOx/Nb tunnel junctions. Good agreement is found between theory and experiment.
Dialogue Acts Annotation for NICT Kyoto Tour Dialogue Corpus to Construct Statistical Dialogue Systems

This paper introduces a new corpus of consulting dialogues designed for training a dialogue manager that can handle consulting dialogues through spontaneous interactions from the tagged dialogue corpus. We have collected more than 150 hours of consulting dialogues in the tourist guidance domain. We are developing the corpus that consists of speech, transcripts, speech act (SA) tags, morphological analysis results, dependency analysis results, and semantic content tags. This paper outlines our taxonomy of dialogue act (DA) annotation that can describe two aspects of an utterance: the communicative function (SA), and the semantic content of the utterance. We provide an overview of the Kyoto tour dialogue corpus and a preliminary analysis using the DA tags. We also show a result of a preliminary experiment for SA tagging via Support Vector Machines (SVMs). We introduce the current states of the corpus development In addition, we mention the usage of our corpus for the spoken dialogue system that is being developed.
An Essay on the Inadequacy of APR as a Measure of the Cost of Consumer Credit, and Why Consumer Credit Legislation Should Be Revised

This article maintains annual percentage rate (APR) is not the best measure of loan cost and therefore its central role in consumer credit legislation should end. Legislation in many countries is based on the US Truth-in-Lending Act. The legislation is complex because APR is designated the best measure of cost. Research shows consumers find APR confusing and prefer a simpler measure, the finance charge. Conventional analysis argues APR is the best measure and should retain its key role. In this article, mathematical arguments are deployed to challenge conventional analysis by demonstrating APR is an inadequate and misleading measure of loan cost.
Extracting Semantic Video Objects

We present an accurate and user-interactive semantic video object (SVO) extraction system. Although we also obtain an SVO with an accurate boundary by integrating temporal and spatial information, our way is quite different from others' work. Instead of fusing spatial and temporal segmentations on the first or all the frames of a video sequence, our system adaptively performs spatial and temporal segmentation and fusion when necessary. To achieve this, our system detects the variations between successive frames. We only need to fuse the spatial and temporal segmentation when a large variation occurs. Otherwise, the system tracks the previous SVO's boundary. We find this simple method efficient in both speed and accuracy. Since the temporal segmentation, spatial segmentation, spatio-temporal fusion, and boundary tracking all employ simple algorithms, our system has a low computational complexity.
Meta-Interpreters for Rule-Based Reasoning Under Uncertainty

One of the key challenges in designing expert systems is a credible representationof uncertainty and partial belief. During the past decade, a number ofrule-based belief languages were proposed and implemented in applied systems.Due to their quasi-probabilistic nature, the external validity of theselanguages is an open question. This paper discusses the theory of belief revisionin expert systems through a canonical belief calculus model which isinvariant across different languages. A meta-interpreter for non-categoricalreasoning is then presented. The purposes of this logic model is twofold:first, it provides a clear and concise conceptualization of belief representationand propagation in rule-based systems. Second, it serves as a workingshell which can be instantiated with different belief calculi. This enablesexperiments to investigate the net impact of alternative belief languages onthe external validity of a fixed expert system.
Application of collaborative ant colony algorithm for Railway Optimal Stowage Problem with Category Restriction

Collaborative ant colony algorithm (ACA) was presented for Railway Optimal Stowage Problem with Category Restriction (ROSPCR). Having distinguished the differences of specific volume between the used loading capacity and the remained, a new ACA is devised. Then improvement concerning the rules of route construction and pheromone updating is adopted on the basis of former algorithm to optimize the loading capacity and volume of vehicles, besides the least number of vehicles needed in various conditions, thus making the algorithm a more practical one. Finally an example is put forward and analyzed, proving that the ACA designed in this paper is feasible and efficient in determining the optimal loading plan with ROSPCR.
Farm Structure And Community Viability In The Northern Great Plains

The way in which the economic base of regional economies influences the viability of the communities that serve them has been a subject of inquiry for several decades. Many previous studies have been static in nature, thereby failing to capture the influence of changes in the base through time. Others, conducted over a period of years, have included only one (or a few) independent variables and have, consequently, provided a very selective view of the relationship. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between the viability of 598 communities distributed among three agricultural economic regions in Saskatchewan over a 30-year period. A total of37 variables describes each community at three points in time during the period studied. A distinct positive association is observed between agricultural diversification, smaller farms, higher population density, and community viability. Conversely, a higher incidence of decline is associated with lack of diversification, larger farms, and lower population density.
Comparing Branch-and-price Algorithms for the Unsplittable Multicommodity Flow Problem

In this paper we address branch-and-price algorithms for the unsplittable multicommodity flow problem. This problem is defined over a capacitated network in which we intend to route a set of commodities, each one with a given origin, destination and demand, at minimal cost, without exceeding the arc capacities. Furthermore, the flow of each commodity must be routed using a single path. Formulating this problem with decision variables representing flows on each arc for each commodity gives rise to a large linear (integer) program with two types of constraints: flow conservation constraints and mutual capacity constraints. Based on the Dantzig-Wolfe principle we obtain two different decompositions (path and knapsack) depending on which type of constraints defines the subproblem. In order to solve the integer problem, we combine column generation and branch-and-bound, developing branching rules that preserve the structure of the subproblem in the branch-and-bound tree for both decompositions. For the path decomposition, we compare the developed branching rule with one previously presented by Barnhart, Hane and Vance (2000). We present preliminary computational results for the two decompositions, with different branching rules, and we compare them with the ones given by a general purpose integer programming solver.
Supervisory uniqueness for operating mode systems

Abstract Multi-model approaches to Discrete-Event-Systems (DES) are ideally suited to implementing operating mode management and inter-mode phase alternation (switching) policy. The resulting major problem involves respecting full system evolution tracking (both plant and specifications) when inter-mode switching is evoked. In other words, after jumping from a mode to another, the newly activated mode must be directed to a state (its starting state) corresponding to the full system evolution state. The aim is therefore to determine the possible starting states of each operating mode. This study develops the underlying notion that, whilst the tracking mechanism is required at plant level, it is extended to supervision level in the sense that specification interpretation remains unchanged in relation to the various starting states. This paper attempts to demonstrate formally, using Supervisory Control Theory (SCT), that there is an unique upervisor for each operating mode by proving that all event sets authorized by the supervisor remain independent of the different starting states.
Domain-Specific Document Retrieval Framework for Near Real-time Social Health Data

Soni, Swapnil. M.S., Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Wright State University, 2015. Domain Specific Document Retrieval Framework on Near Real-time Social Health Data. With the advent of web search and microblogging, the percentage of Online Health Information Seekers (OHIS) using these services to share and seek health information in real-time has increased exponentially. Recently, Twitter has emerged as one of the primary mediums for sharing and seeking of the latest information related to a variety of topics, including health information. Although Twitter is an excellent information source, the identification of useful information from the deluge of tweets is one of the major challenges. Twitter search is limited to keyword-based techniques to retrieve information for a given query and sometimes the results do not contain up-to-date (real-time) information. Moreover, Twitter does not utilize semantics to retrieve results. To address these challenges, we developed a system termed Social Health Signals, by leveraging rich domain knowledge to extract relevant and reliable health information from Twitter in near real-time. We have used semantics based techniques to • retrieve relevant and reliable health information shared on Twitter in real-time, • enable question answering, • to rank results based on relevancy, popularity and reliability, and • to enable efficient browsing of the results, we group the search results into health categories using domain knowledge (semantic categorization) In our approach, we have considered Twitter to search documents based on several unique features, including triple-pattern based mining, near real-time retrieval, and tweet contained URL based search. First, the triple-based pattern (subject, predicate, and object) mining technique extracts triple patterns from microblog messages related to chronic