Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SPARSE PCA FOR HIGH-DIMENSIONAL DATA”

In this supplement, we give an estimator of the intrinsic part in Σ using A-SPCA, asymptotic results for A-SPCA under a milder assumption than (A-ii), comparisons between TSPCA and RSPCA, examples of the strongly spiked eigenstructures, asymptotic properties of the conventional PCA, an R-code for A-SPCA and proofs of the theoretical results in the main work together with additional theoretical results and the proofs. The equation numbers and the mathematical symbols used in the supplement are the same as those which are made reference to in the main document.
Ekoist: Journal of Econometrics and Statistics

Regardless of the level of development, the sources of economic growth, which is one of the main objectives of all countries, are divided into two as direct and indirect sources. It is stated that indirect resources such as human capital and institutions affect the growth as well as direct resources such as labor, physical capital and natural resources. In this study, human capital and institutions that have an impact on how economic growth in Turkey’s case was examined empirically. For this purpose, ARDL bounds test was performed by using the data of 1960-2014 period. In this study, the schooling rate is used as an indicator of human capital and the index of political freedoms is used as an indicator of institutions. In other words, It can be said; human capital positively affects economic growth in Turkey when political freedoms are good. In this context, policies to improve the quality of human capital and institutions in Turkey should be identified and put into practice in a structured way.
Local content requirements in auction schemes for renewable energy: Enabler of local industrial development in developing countries?

Given the increasing cost-competiveness of renewable energy (RE) technologies, competitive auction schemes have increasingly been adopted in recent years across various developed and developing countries. Local content requirements (LCRs) are frequently used as part of RE auction schemes to promote local industrial development. In this paper, we present a review of the literature on the effectiveness of LCRs in fostering local industrial development across various developing countries, focusing on South Africa, Brazil, India and China. Specifically, the paper analyses the effectiveness of LCRs in promoting the establishment of local manufacturing facilities of onshore wind turbine and solar PV components in these countries. Further, the paper provides a review of the main determining factors stressed in the literature to account for variation in the effectiveness of LCRs. We find that the literature generally ascribes importance to the role of LCRs in stimulating local component production in developing countries. However, previous research on the effectiveness of LCRs in establishing local component manufacturing differs across the technologies and the countries analysed. The variation in the effectiveness of LCR can be explained by a framework that combines the following four determining factors: (i) market size and stability; (ii) policy design and coherence; (iii) the restrictiveness of the LCRs; and (iv) the domestic industrial base. The paper highlights a lack of systematic approaches and rigor in existing research, thus proposing the development of a common framework and a set of indicators to assess the efficiency of LCRs.
Preliminary draft DIFFERENTIAL ACCESS TO CAPITAL FROM FINANCIAL INSTIUTIONS BY MINORITY ENTREPRENEURS

This paper examines if Minority small business borrowers have equal access to loans from financial institutions than similar White borrowers. Using matching methods, we find that AfricanAmerican borrowers are rejected at a higher rate (17-22% higher) than similar risk White-owned firms. There is therefore a causal impact of discrimination for African-American borrowers. No such differential effect is found for Hispanic borrowers. Lumping both races together can give misleading results. We also find that unobservable variables are unlikely to change the discriminatory effect. _____________________________________________________________________________ Rutgers Business School; dpalia@rci.rutgers. edu. I thank Alberto Abadie, Bernie Black, Ivan Brick, Jack Coffee, Ron Gilson, Justin McCrary, and Daniela Osterrider for helpful comments and discussions, Oliver Zhang and Yuna Heo for research assistance, and the Thomas A. Renyi Chair in Banking for partial financial support. All errors remain my responsibility.
Test for Zero Mean of Errors In An ARMA-GGARCH Model After Using A Median Inference

Test for Zero Mean of Errors In An ARMA-GGARCH Model After Using A Median Inference Abstract: The stylized fact of heavy tails makes median inferences appealing in ﬁtting an ARMA model with heteroscedastic errors to ﬁnancial returns. To ensure that the model still concerns the conditional mean, we test for a zero mean of the errors using a random weighted bootstrap method for quantifying estimation uncertainty. The proposed test is robust against heteroscedasticity and heavy tails as we do not infer the heteroscedasticity and need fewer ﬁnite moments. Simulations conﬁrm the good ﬁnite sample performance in terms of size and power. Empirical applications caution the model interpretation after using a median inference.
An atlas of ECMWF analyses (1980-1987). Part 1: First moment quantities

This document is an atlas of the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) initialized analyses for 1980 to 1987. Various first moment quantities are presented for monthly, seasonal, and annual averages on a global cylindrical projection, as well as, cross section maps of zonal averages. Global maps of winds, temperature, stream function, and velocity potential are presented at 850 and 200 mb. In addition, global maps of the 300 mb height field (total and eddy), the 500 mb vertical velocity, the 850 mb moisture field, and sea level pressure are presented. The average seasonal cycle and anomalies during the 8 year period are presented for selected quantities.
Understanding Urban Sustainability and Quality of Life: A System Dynamics Approach

For an urban area to be sustainable, its resources cannot be depleted faster than they can replenish. If an urban area is to provide a high quality of life (QOL), it must offer and maintain an amenity package that satisfies its resident's preferences. Past studies on these topics all have a common thread: sustainability and QOL both pertain to people's relationship to capital. Capital is something that can accumulate and add value to a person or society. If sustainability and QOL are a function of people's relationship with capital, how they use it, deplete it, replenish it and transform it into something else is important to know. Using the system dynamics method for understanding complex problems, I model the relationship between people and capital and illustrate how capital levels determine migration in and out of an urban area. The most common forms of capital affecting urban systems are economic, natural, human and social capital. Previous models that incorporate two or three of these stocks helped inform the structure of this model. However, no model includes the dynamics of all four forms of capital. I build upon these models to provide a more comprehensive model of society's behavior. By validating the model based on historic examples of urban decline and re-growth, I explain the implications and opportunities for analysis of urban behavior with this systemic approach.
Statistica Sinica Preprint No : SS-2015-0337 . R 1 Title Nonparametric

Semiparametric single-index assumptions are widely used dimension reduction approaches that represent a convenient compromise between the parametric and fully nonparametric models for regressions or conditional laws. In a mean regression setup, the SIM assumption means that the conditional expectation of the response given the vector of covariates is the same as the conditional expectation of the response given a scalar projection of the covariate vector. In a conditional distribution modeling, under the SIM assumption the conditional law of a response given the covariate vector coincides with the conditional law given a linear combination of the covariates. In this paper, a novel kernel-based approach for testing SIM assumptions is introduced. The covariate vector needs not have a density and only the index estimated under the SIM assumption is used in kernel smoothing. Hence the effect of high-dimensional covariates is mitigated while asymptotic normality of the test statistic is obtained. Irrespective of the fixed dimension of the covariate vector, the new test detects local alternatives approaching the null hypothesis slower than n−1/2h−1/4, where h is the bandwidth used to build the test statistic and n is the sample size. A wild bootstrap procedure is proposed for finite sample corrections of the asymptotic critical values. The small sample performance of our test is illustrated through simulations.
Edge- and region-based processes of 2nd-order vision

The human visual system is sensitive to 2nd-order image properties (often called texture properties). Spatial gradients in certain 2nd-order properties are edge-based, in that contours are effortlessly perceived through a rapid segmentation process. Others, however, are region-based, in that they require regional integration in order to be discriminated. The five studies reported in this thesis explore these mechanisms of 2nd-order vision, referred to respectively as segmentation and discrimination. Study one compares the segmentation and discrimination of 2nd-order stimuli and uses flicker-defined-form to demonstrate that the former may be subserved by phase-insensitive mechanisms. In study two, through testing of a neuropsychological patient, it is shown that 2nd-order segmentation is achieved relatively early in the visual system and, contrary to some claims, does not require the region termed human “V4”. Study three demonstrates, through selective adaptation aftereffects, that orientation variance (a 2nd-order regional property) is encoded by a dedicated mechanism tuned broadly to high and low variance and insensitive to low-level pattern information. Furthermore, the finding that the variance-specific aftereffect is limited to a retinotopic (not spatiotopic) reference frame, and that a neuropsychological patient with mid- to high-level visual cortical damage retains some sensitivity to variance, suggests that this regional property may be encoded at an earlier cortical site than previously assumed. Study four examines how cues from different 2nd-order channels are temporally integrated to allow cue-invariant segmentation. Results from testing a patient with bilateral lateral occipital damage and from selective visual field testing in normal observers suggest that this is achieved prior to the level of lateral occipital complex, but at least at the level of V2. The final study demonstrates that objects that are segmented rapidly by 2nd-order channels are processed at a sufficiently high cortical level as to allow object-based attention without those objects ever reaching awareness.
Comparing GPS and prompted recall data records

Global position system (GPS) devices as a substitute for conventional travel diaries have been considered for some time but have only in the past year or so been seriously trialled as replacements. GPS devices cannot record modes of travel, trip purposes, or number of occupants in private vehicles, all of which are important attributes normally acquired in a household travel survey. This missing data is usually deduced using software processes from a combination of the GPS records, other data collected from respondents, and data available in GIS records. The level of accuracy of such software has largely been unchecked in the past. As part of an ongoing GPS-only survey in the Greater Cincinnati region, the consultant team is undertaking a web-based prompted recall survey on a sub-sample of households that participated in the GPS study. In this paper, we compare results from the pilot study between the processing software to the data collected from prompted recall web survey, with respect to identifying trips, mode of travel, purpose of travel, and number of household members present in a privately-owned vehicle. Overall, it was seen that prompted recall surveys are very useful in validating GPS records. These results, when collected from the entire survey will be used to develop refinements to the processing software. (a)
CONGRESS AVENUE REGIONAL ARTERIAL STUDY: LONG TERM IMPROVEMENT SCHEMES AND CAPACITY ANALYSIS

Due to social, political, environmental, and economic factors, solving urban traffic congestion through freeway construction is not likely. Development of a new arterial street class, called regional arterial, or super street, as a means of increasing urban network capacity and reducing congestion, is a feasible alternative. A long term staged improvement program for an arterial street, Congress Avenue, in Austin, Texas is presented. Based upon anticipated future traffic growth along the IH35 corridor, time lines for Congress Avenue improvements are developed. The effectiveness of the arterial in maintaining desirable travel speeds and diverting freeway traffic is evaluated.
Ecoclimate: Variations, Interactions, and Teleconnections

Author(s): Swann, Abigail Lynn Segal | Advisor(s): Fung, Inez Y. | Abstract: Ecosystems are an integral part of climate, interacting with the atmosphere by modifying fluxes of energy, water, momentum, and carbon---processes whose importance varies spatially. This dissertation focuses on the study of ecoclimate -- unraveling the complex interactions between ecosystems and climate using a variety of tools including simple models, global scale carbon-climate models, and direct analysis of site-level data. Using a global climate model we show that transpired water vapor from expanded vegetation in the Arctic contributes greenhouse warming with a magnitude of forcing larger than that from the associated changes in albedo. This mechanism has not been considered in previous studies and here we suggest that it may negate the negative climate feedbacks expected from the surface latent cooling associated with the expansion of deciduous forest.Additionally we find that large-scale expansion of low albedo mid latitude forests in the model has the ability to increase Northern Hemisphere temperatures, moving the thermal equator northward and thus modifying global circulation patterns. We observe a northward shift of the intertropical convergence zone over Africa suggesting that extratropical vegetation may be partly responsible for the maintenance of precipitation over the Sahara inferred from proxy records of vegetation from ~6000 Years Ago. The ability of vegetation to effect remote circulation has implications for the role that plants may play in the current climate as well as in climates of the past and the future.In an analysis of nighttime respiration across the eddy covariance Ameriflux tower network we find a residual signal in respiration resembing seasonal variations in substrate mass after accounting for the effects of temperature and moisture. The prevalence of a mass signal indicates that allowing temperature sensitivity to change over time unphysically attributes variations in mass and moisture to changes in temperature. Using a simple carbon cycle model we show that ecosystems with long turnover times are most sensitive to long period forcing and therefore it will be harder to detect or attribute changes in these systems. This suggests that it may be easier to detect and attribute changes in the Tropics compared to the Boreal forest.
Accuracy and precision of 88Sr/86Sr and 87Sr/86Sr measurements by MC‐ICPMS compromised by high barium concentrations

Barite (BaSO4) is a widely distributed mineral that incorporates strontium (Sr) during formation. Mass‐dependent fractionation of Sr isotopes occurs during abiotic precipitation of barite and formation of barite associated with biological processes (e.g., bacterial sulfide oxidation). Sr isotopes in barite can provide provenance information as well as potentially reconstruct sample formation conditions (e.g., saturation state, temperature, biotic versus abiotic). Incomplete separation of Ba from Sr has complicated measurements of Sr isotopes by MC‐ICPMS. In this study, we tested the effects of Ba in Sr sample solutions and modified extraction chromatography of Sr using Eichrom Sr Spec (Eichrom Technologies LLC, USA) resin to enable rapid, accurate, and precise measurements of 88Sr/86Sr and 87Sr/86Sr ratios from Ba‐rich matrices. Sr isotope ratios of sample solutions doped with Ba were statistically indistinguishable from Ba‐free sample solutions below 1 ppm Ba. Deviations in both 87Sr/86Sr and δ88/86Sr occurred above 1 ppm Ba. An updated extraction chromatography method tested with barite and Ba‐doped seawater produces Sr sample solutions containing 10–100 ppb levels of Ba. The practice of Zr spiking for external mass‐discrimination correction of 88Sr/86Sr ratios was also evaluated, and it was confirmed that variable Zr levels do not have adverse effects on the accuracy and precision of 87Sr/86Sr ratios in the Zr concentration range required to produce accurate δ88/86Sr values.
A Simple Method for Estimating Gaussian Graphical Models

: The penalized likelihood estimator is the state-of-the-art method for estimating a Gaussian graphical model, because it delivers a symmetric graph and is eﬃcient to compute, owing to the graphical lasso implementation. However, the estimator requires a stringent irrepresentability condition in order to achieve consistent recovery of the underlying graph. Another popular method, neighborhood selection, does not oﬀer a symmetric solution by itself, and also requires a set of irrepresentability conditions for exact recovery. In this paper, we propose a new method, called the simple graph maker, for estimating an underlying graph. The simple graph maker produces a symmetric estimator by using a simple (cid:96) 1 -penalized quadratic problem, which is easily computed by coordinate descent. Furthermore, it is shown to recover the underlying graph with overwhelming probability, without assuming additional structure conditions on the variables. The rates of convergence under various matrix norms are also established. The new method is shown to exhibit excellent performance on simulated and real data.
Paleostress transition by fault-striation analysis in the northern and central Ryukyu arc, southwest Japan

The Ryukyu arc is an active arc-trench system, associate with active intracontinental back-arc basin (Okinawa Trough). Rifting of the Okinawa Trough has occurred since Miocene. The Ryukyu arc is expected to undergo complex geological history. Paleostress fields of the central and northern Ryukyu island are estimated from fault analysis by use of the Multi-inverse method (Yamaji, 2000) and Ginkgo method (Yamaji, 2003a). The stress transition since middle Miocene is found by measurement of the fault-slip data in the northern and central Ryukyu arc. The fault-striation analysis leads the following tectonic evolution in the central and northern Ryukyu arc. In middle Miocene, E-W extension occurred in the northern Ryukyu arc, which may be related to the opening of the Japan Sea. The compressional stress field occurred in late Miocene to early Pliocene (5-8 Ma), which was simultaneous with the formation of the Taiwan-Shinji Fold Belt. Subsequently E-W extension occurred in Pliocene, which was related to the opening the Okinawa Trough. Around at 2 Ma, complex stress regime occurred in the Ryukyu arc. In this time, opening of the Okinawa Trough resumed and the deposition of the Ryukyu group started. In northern Ryukyu arc, strike-slip stress regime has occurred from 2 Ma ago. NE-SW extension, arc-parallel extension is the latest stress regime in the central and northern Ryukyu arc. Arc parallel extension is observed in the whole Ryukyu arc. On the other hand, before the deposition of the Ryukyu group, stress regime of the southern Ryukyu arc is different from the central and northern Ryukyu arc.
Accounting for Land Use Adaptation to Climate Change Impacts on US Agriculture

According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) fifth assessment report (2013), climate change is predicted to increase temperatures, and alter precipitation and water supply patterns. Warming is likely to increase the productivity of crops relative to livestock in cool places but reduce crop productivity in relatively hot locations. Thus, adaptation strategies are likely necessary (Rose and McCarl 2008). Many strategies have cobenefits, however, in fact investments in agricultural adaptation represent a cost-effective mitigation strategy (Lobell et al., 2013).
D.C. Resistivity Soundings on Devon Island, N.W.T., Canada

Ice thickness and resistivity of an Arctic glacier have been systematically investigated by the geoelectrical method. Further measurements were carried out on the ice cap. Favourable conditions for soundings were encountered, since the ice masses proved to be generally homogeneous, and there was a sufficient difference between the resistivities of ice and bedrock, while the surface layer differed only very little from the ice mass. A higher resistivity was found for bedrock than for the ice.
Meditation in Modern Buddhism: Renunciation and Change in Thai Monastic Life

1. Meditation and monasticism: making the ascetic self in Thailand 2. Sectarianism, centralization and the propagation of meditation 3. The monastic community: duty and structure 4. Meditation as ethical imperative 5. Language and meditation 6. Monastic duty, mindfulness and cognitive space 7. Money, mae chee and reciprocity 8. Hierarchy, gender and mindfulness 9. Monasticization and the ascetic interiority of non-self Appendix. Ordination transcript for an eight-precept nun (mae chee) Bibliography Index.
OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS OF SEA-LEVEL PRESSURE AND SURFACE TEMPERATURE, DEW POINT, AND WIND,

Abstract : The successive-approximation technique (SAT) was developed for the objective analysis of sea-level pressure and surface temperature, dew point, and wind over the eastern United States. SAT anal yses are demonstrated to be at least comparable to subjective analyses. Continuity within a series of objective analyses is good, and the agreement among the independently analyzed fields of pressure, temperature, and wind is excellent. Developmental tests using the airways observation network showed that the best analysis is produced by using large influence radii, a smoothing oper ator, and a grid mesh of approximately 50 mi. The effect of using large influence radii and smoothing in SAT is to approximate curvilinear interpolation between observations. We interpret this to mean that such curvilinear interpolation is the best method of specifying the analysis field between data points. A typical analysis for the eastern U.S. requires 2 or 3 min on an IBM 7090 electronic computer. An altertive analysis procedure, which performs curvilinear interpolation directly, is suggested as a possible method for reducing the machine time required for an analysis. (Author)