Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Benefits and Costs of a Small Food Waste Tax and Implications for Climate Change Mitigation

Given that life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from wasted food is comparable to that of road transport, managing excessive food demand is essential for achieving climate change mitigation goals. A textbook solution is levying a corrective tax on food waste, but limited evidence exists on the benefits and costs of these taxes. By exploiting plausibly exogenous expansions in a small food waste tax—on average $0.06 per KG—in South Korea, I document three main findings. First, the tax reduces annual food waste by 20% (53KG) and grocery purchases by 5.4% (46KG), worth $172 for an average household, without compromising household nutritional needs. These estimates suggest that the program cost of reducing 1 ton of carbon dioxide is only $13, or even negative when savings on the waste treatment budget is considered. Using the household production model, I then explore abatement strategies and corresponding costs and find that an average household increases their time spent on meal production by 5.5%, or 50 additional hours per year. Finally, the demand elasticity of groceries implies that the price effect explains only 5% of the reduction in grocery purchases. Instead, the tax seems to affect household behavior via non-pecuniary channels, in particular, by raising attention to food waste. The findings indicate that a small tax on food waste can be a powerful climate change mitigation tool by inducing environmentally advantageous changes in household behavior. Click Here for the Latest Version. ∗MIT, Sustainable Urbanization Lab (shoonlee@mit.edu). I am deeply grateful to Ryan Kellogg, Dan Black, Koichiro Ito, and Siqi Zheng for their guidance and mentorship. I also thank Hunt Allcott, Kathy Baylis, Nathan Chan, Tatyana Deryugina, Eyal Frank, Don Fullerton, Matthew Gibson, Tatiana Homonoff, Amir Jina, Namrata Kala, Taeho Kim, Joshua Linn, Juan Palacios, Jacquelyn Pless, Devesh Raval, Nicholas Ryan, Hee Kwon Seo, Anant Sudarshan, Richard Sweeney, Katherine Wagner, Derek Wu, Erez Yoeli, Eric Zou, and seminar participants at the AAEA National Conference, AERE summer conference, APPAM fall conference, IPWSD workshop, MIT, OWSEET workshop, Seoul National University, Sogang University, the University of Chicago, and University of Connecticut for their helpful comments. Sangjin Kim at the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in South Korea graciously offered to help with data acquisition. All errors are mine.
Asymmetry and Gradient Asymmetry Functions: Density‐Based Skewness and Kurtosis

Abstract. Functional measures of skewness and kurtosis, called asymmetry and gradient asymmetry functions, are described for continuous univariate unimodal distributions. They are defined and interpreted directly in terms of the density function and its derivative. Asymmetry is defined by comparing distances from points of equal density to the mode. Gradient asymmetry is defined, in novel fashion, as asymmetry of an appropriate function of the density derivative. Properties and illustrations of asymmetry and gradient asymmetry functions are presented. Estimation of them is considered and illustrated with an example. Scalar summary skewness and kurtosis measures associated with asymmetry and gradient asymmetry functions are discussed.
Chlorophyll and Protein Changes Observed Post Co-Cultivation of Explants with Agrobacterium Tumefaciens in Soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.)

: Although, Agrobacterium -mediated genetic transformation represents a major milestone in agricultural biotechnology for crop improvement against biotic and abiotic stresses. Further insights on the interactions between this bacterium and explants required for in vitro plant regeneration remain scant. This study investigated the changes in chlorophyll content and protein profiles of cotyledonary node explants co-cultivated with A. tumefaciens in soybean. Soybean seeds were germinated on MS medium supplemented with 4.0 mgL -1 6-BA to develop seedlings used for explant preparation and infection with Agrobacterium . The results indicated that 6-BA decelerated germination, inhibiting normal seedling development and resulting in stout seedlings with stunted epicotyls and reduced primary roots without lateral roots. According to these results, Agrobacterium co-cultured explants gave the mean chlorophyll content (mg g -1 ) ranging between 13.2±0.892 to 18.7±1.478 in all cultivars, compared to the controls at 14.2±0.113 to 50.5±18.04. Protein lysates derived from these explants contained a combination of high and low molecular weight proteins, in which expressed predominant protein concentration ranged between 10-100 kDa for control explants and 10-120+ kDa for Agrobacterium infected and co-cultured cotyledonary tissues. This study revealed changes in chlorophyll and protein profile post-co-cultivation of explants with Agrobacterium , thus, providing further insights on the role of this bacterium on explant response for subsequent in vitro genetic transformation in soybean
Classical capillary turbulence on the surface of quantum liquid He-II

Superfluid helium-4 is a unique liquid for the experimental study of capillary wave turbulence because of its very low viscosity. We have studied the influence of the amplitude and spectral characteristics of an excitation force on the behavior of the turbulence cascade of capillary waves in a 30-cm-diam cylindrical cell. The experimental results can be explained in terms of wave turbulence theory (WTT) when the pump amplitude is relatively high. However, a very interesting phenomenon is observed at moderate harmonic surface excitation amplitudes. The turbulence spectrum deviates from the power law form predicted by WTT at high frequencies; a local maximum develops, which can be interpreted as wave energy accumulation. Our estimates show that a special case of wave turbulence was realized in our experiments, namely, a discrete turbulence in which the discreteness of the cell resonant frequencies has a strong effect on the mechanism of the nonlinear interaction.
A memetic algorithm instantiated with selection sort consistently finds global optima for the error-correcting graph isomorphism

We study several tested cases of the error-correcting graph isomorphism problem. The set Sn of n! permutations on n items is the search space for this optimization problem. We apply MA-sorting. This is a memetic algorithm with domain-independent mutation operators based on classical sorting. Each sorting algorithm works on results to a comparison predicate and defines a path in SI. ,. In MA-sorting the mutation operator is a local-search that evaluates permutations suggested by the sorting algorithm. When such evaluation results in an improvement, the mutation is accepted and the comparison operator of the sorting algorithm evaluates to true. In contrast with previous proposals, our MA-sorting instantiated with selection sort finds optimal solutions for this case study.
Longitudinal profiles of bounded outcome scores as predictors for disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis patients: a joint modeling approach

A variety of statistical approaches have been suggested in the literature for the analysis of bounded outcome scores (BOS). In this paper, we suggest a statistical approach when BOSs are repeatedly measured over time and used as predictors in a regression model. Instead of directly using the BOS as a predictor, we propose to extend the approaches suggested in [16,21,28] to a joint modeling setting. Our approach is illustrated on longitudinal profiles of multiple patients’ reported outcomes to predict the current clinical status of rheumatoid arthritis patients by a disease activities score of 28 joints (DAS28). Both a maximum likelihood as well as a Bayesian approach is developed.
Symmetric and asymmetric solitons in linearly coupled Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in optical lattices

We study spontaneous symmetry breaking in a system of two parallel quasi-one-dimensional traps (cores), equipped with optical lattices (OLs) and filled with a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). The cores are linearly coupled by tunneling (the model may also be interpreted in terms of spatial solitons in parallel planar optical waveguides with a periodic modulation of the refractive index). Analysis of the corresponding system of linearly coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations (GPEs) reveals that spectral band gaps of the single GPE split into subgaps. Symmetry breaking in two-component BEC solitons is studied in cases of the attractive (AA) and repulsive (RR) nonlinearity in both traps; the mixed situation, with repulsion in one trap and attraction in the other (RA), is considered too. In all the cases, stable asymmetric solitons are found, bifurcating from symmetric or antisymmetric ones (and destabilizing them), in the AA and RR systems, respectively. In either case, bistability is predicted, with a nonbifurcating stable branch, either antisymmetric or symmetric, coexisting with asymmetric ones. Solitons destabilized by the bifurcation tend to rearrange themselves into their stable asymmetric counterparts. In addition to the fundamental solitons, branches of twisted (odd) solitons in the AA system, and twisted bound states of fundamental solitons in bothmore » AA and RR systems, are found too. The impact of a phase mismatch, {delta}, between the OLs in the two cores is also studied. It is concluded that {delta}={pi}/2 only mildly deforms the picture, while {delta}={pi} changes it drastically, replacing the symmetry-breaking bifurcations by pseudobifurcations, with the branch of asymmetric solutions asymptotically approaching its symmetric or antisymmetric counterpart (in the AA and RR system, respectively), rather than splitting off from it. Also considered is a related model, for a binary BEC in a single-core trap with the OL, assuming that the two species (representing different spin states of the same atom) are coupled by linear interconversion. In that case, the symmetry-breaking bifurcations in the AA and RR models switch their character, if the interspecies nonlinear interaction becomes stronger than the intraspecies nonlinearity. « less
N-dimensional Hilbert scanning and its application to data compression

Hilbert scanning defines a mapping, hn : R yields Un, that maps the unit interval onto the n-dimensional unit hypercube continuously. In the discrete case the mapping can be described in terms of Reflected Binary Gray Codes (RBGC). In order to extend the quantized mapping to arbitrary precision it is necessary to define induction rules. Induction rules are defined in terms of a single canonical sequence and a set of rotations. In general, in an n-dimensional hypercube there are n2n possible orientations of a canonical form. Beyond two dimensions, it is possible to have nontrivially different paths between two possible orientations and it is better to define the induction rule in terms of the end points of the RBGC subsequences. Hilbert coding is used for n- dimensional binary data compression. The effectiveness of this method to data compression is confirmed. Experimental evaluation shows Hilbert- Wyle coding to be consistently better than other standard compression methods.
Three–dimensional integrable lattices in Euclidean spaces: conjugacy and orthogonality

It is shown that the discrete Darboux system, descriptive of conjugate lattices in Euclidean spaces, admits constraints on the (adjoint) eigenfunctions which may be interpreted as discrete orthogonality conditions on the lattices. Thus, it turns out that the elementary quadrilaterals of orthogonal lattices are cyclic. Orthogonal lattices on lines, planes and spheres are discussed and the underlying integrable systems in one, two and three dimensions are derived explicitly. A discrete analogue of Bianchi's Ribaucour transformation is set down and particular orthogonal lattices are given. As a by–product, discrete Dini surfaces are obtained.
Ambipolar diffusion and star formation : formation and contraction of axisymmetric cloud cores. II: Results

The problem of the formation and contraction of fragments (or cores) in magnetically supported parent molecular clouds was formulated in a previous paper. Three dimensionless free parameters appear in the evolution equations: the initial ratio of the free-fall and neutral-ion collision times (in the uniform reference state), v ff,0 the exponent k in the relation between the ion and neutral densities n i ∞n n k , and the initial ratio of the magnetic and thermal pressures, α 0 . The initial central mass-to-flux ratio in units of the critical value for gravitational collapse, α 0 , enters through the initial conditions. We follow both the quasistatic and dynamicphases of contraction and demonstrate that ambipolar diffusion leads to self-initiated protostar formation ( quasistatic meaning motion with negligible acceleration)
Localization method of microrobots using vision system and wavelet transform

This paper addresses the localization problem in mobile robotics and microrobotics, which is necessary to be resolved for closed loop identification and control. An original method is developed which uses the image of a specific pattern and a signal processing method based on wavelet transforms. The pattern is made of two calibrated networks of straight lines perpendicular with respect to each other and which constitutes a reference phase excursion. With an adapted processing technique, a straight line equation is computed for each network characterizing its position as well as its orientation with a high accuracy. The intersection of those two perpendicular lines defines the mobile robot position and heading whose movement is studied. That technique leads to promising results: sub- micrometer accuracy in the position measurement.
Universal simulation of Hamiltonian dynamics for quantum systems with finite-dimensional state spaces

What interactions are sufficient to simulate arbitrary quantum dynamics in a composite quantum system? Dodd [Phys. Rev. A 65, 040301(R) (2002)] provided a partial solution to this problem in the form of an efficient algorithm to simulate any desired two-body Hamiltonian evolution using any fixed two-body entangling N-qubit Hamiltonian, and local unitaries. We extend this result to the case where the component systems are qudits, that is, have D dimensions. As a consequence we explain how universal quantum computation can be performed with any fixed two-body entangling N-qudit Hamiltonian, and local unitaries.
Density probability plots

Probability plots are popular and effective tools for the graphical assessment of the goodness–of–fit of a given dataset to a hypothesised probability distribution, F say, with density f. The user can easily see any departures from F that there are, but the interpretation of such departures may not be immediately apparent. (It may take some time to work out their meaning, or else to resort to a set of rules for the interpretation of probability plots.) We investigate whether instant interpretability of these tools can be aided by a simple transformation which transfers visual assessment to the realms of familiar and immediate comparisons between densities. We seek to do so without smoothing, and see how far this allows us to go. The idea is very effective, and rather more so than quantile-quantile plots, for f's that have a single peak when the density g from which the data truly come is also unimodal. The idea is much less appealing, however, when f and g have different modalities from each other.
The International Journal of Biostatistics Targeting the Optimal Design in Randomized Clinical Trials with Binary Outcomes and No Covariate : Simulation Study

We undertake here a comprehensive simulation study of the theoretical properties that we derive in a companion article devoted to the asymptotic study of adaptive group sequential designs in the case of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) with binary treatment, binary outcome and no covariate. By adaptive design, we mean in this setting a RCT design that allows the investigator to dynamically modify its course through data-driven adjustment of the randomization probability based on data accrued so far without negatively impacting on the statistical integrity of the trial. By adaptive group sequential design, we refer to the fact that group sequential testing methods can be equally well applied on top of adaptive designs. The simulation study validates the theory. It notably shows in the estimation framework that the confidence intervals we obtain achieve the desired coverage even for moderate sample sizes. In addition, it shows in the testing framework that type I error control at the prescribed level is guaranteed and that all sampling procedures only suffer from a very slight increase of the type II error. A three-sentence take-home message is “Adaptive designs do learn the targeted optimal design and inference and testing can be carried out under adaptive sampling as they would under the targeted optimal randomization probability iid sampling. In particular, adaptive designs achieve the same efficiency as the fixed oracle design. This is confirmed by a simulation study, at least for moderate or large sample sizes, across a large collection of targeted randomization probabilities. ”
The rate of time's passage

1. Many philosophers say that time has a kind of flow or passage that distinguishes it from space. Future times and events become less future; past ones become more past; persisting things grow older. The world is caught up in a process of purely chronological change. This is the dynamic view of time. A traditional objection to the dynamic view says that if time passes in this way, it must pass at some rate, yet we cannot say what the rate would be. I claim that we can see easily enough what the rate of time's passage would have to be, but there can be no such rate. This objection appears to refute decisively not only the dynamic view, but any tensed theory of time.
Evaluation of urban soundscape by future architects

Urban soundscape design has drawn great attention along with the ever increasing urban noise level. Previous research shows that people with different social and demographic backgrounds may have different sound preferences in urban environment. For example, gender, age, and cultural background have been proved to affect peoples soundscape evaluation. In this research the soundscape evaluation by a group of architectural students was made, investigating how the future architectural/urban designers value the urban soundscape they experience everyday, and how they would like to design urban soundscape. The soundscape evaluation/walk was conducted with 60 students in a number of urban open public spaces in Sheffield, UK. The evaluation was both for the overall soundscape and for individual sounds. Eighteen indices with seven‐point bipolar rating scale were used. Both connotative meanings of urban environment sounds, such as calming–agitating, interesting–boring and like–dislike, and denotative meanings, such .
Average run lengths for cusum control charts applied to residuals

A common approach to building control charts for autocorrelated data is to apply classical SPC to the residuals from a time series model of the process. However, Shewhart charts and even CUSUM charts are less sensitive to small shifts in the process mean when applied to residuals than when applied to independent data. Using an approximate analytical model, we show that the average run length of a CUSUM chart for residuals can be reduced substantially by modifying traditional chart design guidelines to account for the degree of autocorrelation in the data.
Solvable risk-sensitive control problems with output feedback

A partially observed nonlinear stochastic control with exponential running cost is considered. Explicit solutions for evaluating expectations of exponential functions are found when the control is assumed to be constant. This enables the above problems to be expressed in terms of observable quantities, while the separation principle applies. First, the authors consider the case when the dynamics are linear but the observations are quadratic functions of the signal. Second, the authors consider the case when the dynamics are nonlinear, but the observations are linear functions of the signal. Although in the present paper only control systems with constant controls are considered, the results remain applicable to more general control systems. The results presented here, are helpful in evaluating expectations of exponential functionals, similar to Feynman Kac functionals, when the dynamics are autonomous, nonlinear, and partially observable. <<ETX>>
A Theory Of Turbulent Particle Pair Diffusion: Locality Versus Non-locality

Richardson’s 1926 theory of particle pair diffusion in a field of homogeneous turbulence is based upon the hypothesis of locality in space, and implies that in turbulence with generalised energy spectra E(k) ∼ k−p, for 1 < p 6 3, the turbulent pair diffusivity scales like Dp(∆) ∼ σ ∆ , where σ∆ = √ 〈∆2〉, ∆ = |∆(t)| is the pair separation, and the angled brackets 〈. 〉 denotes the ensemble average over particle pairs.
Normal O stars in dense media generate LINERs

Low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs) are often regarded as low-luminosity extensions of quasar and Seyfert phenomena that may be powered by accretion onto a massive black hole. New calculations are presented that show that the general characteristics of LINERs can be generated via photoionization by relatively hot yet normal main-sequence O stars (∼O5 or earlier). The calculation results show improved agreement with observed LINER properties if the irradiated plasma is relatively dense and characterized by solar abundances modified by normal grain depletion
Signal‐Detection Analysis of Equalization and Cancellation Model

An analysis of the equalization and cancellation model from a signal‐detection standpoint is presented. At low frequencies, say 250 cps, one can neglect the time‐error parameter because any slight phase error is small as compared with the period of a sinusoid and all the error in the binaural mechanism can be treated as small‐amplitude error. Using this assumption, it is possible to derive the equations presented in the text. Three main conclusions can be drawn from this analysis. (1) The signal‐detection analysis generates the same equations as Durlach's signal‐to‐noise‐ratio approach, except for a multiplicative factor that reflects the accuracy of the monaural energy measurement. (2) The parameter associated with the amplitude error, because of the multiplicative factor, is different from Durlach's by a factor of 5. (3) The new analysis predicts that shortening the signal duration or decreasing the noise bandwidth will increase the size of the masking‐level difference. Both effects have been observed.
Ab initio calculation of the electronic and vibrational properties of metal‐organic molecules based on cyclic C6 intercalated with some group VIII transition metals

The vibrational and electronic properties of a new class of organometallic sandwich molecules, (C6)nMen‐1, based on stacks of cyclic C6 intercalated with Fe and Ru have been studied using first principles density functional techniques (DFT). Spectral properties as well as the HOMO‐LUMO gap energy in molecules containing up to eight C6 layers have been calculated. The HOMO‐LUMO energy gap in these molecules is < 1 eV and decreases significantly in longer molecules. It is shown that infinite chains should have excellent metallic properties. These molecules are promising for nanoelectronic applications, due to their predicted high stability, conductivity, and magnetic properties.
Diffraction of surface acoustic waves on the zigzag domain wall in a Gd2(MoO4)3 crystal

This letter reports a scanning electron microscopy investigation of surface acoustic wave diffraction on the zigzag domain wall in a Gd2(MoO4)3 crystal. The zigzag domain wall with ∼80 μm period was formed in a Gd2(MoO4)3 crystal by applying the external mechanical stress. It is shown that the surface acoustic wave diffracts on the zigzag domain wall in a ferroelastic Gd2(MoO4)3 crystal.