Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Applying the gravity approach to sector trade: Who bears the trade costs?

Thanks to its empirical success, the gravity approach is widely used to explain trade patterns between countries. In this article we question the simple application of this approach to product/sector-level trade on two grounds. First, we demonstrate that the traditional Armington version of gravity must be altered to properly account for the fact that sector expenditures are not strictly equal to sector productions because some trade costs are incurred outside the sector of interest. Secondly, we show empirically that collecting/using good data on sector-level trade and expenditure is extremely crucial for the quality of econometric estimations. Above all one should strictly adhere to the requirements of the theoretical frameworks in order to obtain unbiased and accurate estimates of the different parameters.
Sensing mine, yours, theirs, and ours: interpersonal ubiquitous interactions

To effectively leverage human sensorimotor abilities, this paper urges going beyond the traditional five senses. When users share physical space or location with other people, a crucial but neglected modality is arguably the sense of ownership. If, how, and what someone can see, touch, hear, feel, and taste is normally strongly influenced by their perceptions as to who something belongs to. This is illustrated by presenting preliminary results from an ongoing design space review of wearable computing experimentation concerned with encouraging interpersonal interactions between co-located people. Drawing upon urbanism theory helps show how different variations of territorial blending can articulate tactics for increasing sociality through interactive garments. These insights are offered to aid understanding of the design space for developers directly concerned with influencing co-located interactions through interactive apparel, and to address wider challenges of designing socially acceptable ubiquitous interaction.
North Atlantic Seasonal Hurricane Prediction

Statistically-based seasonal hurricane outlooks for the North Atlantic were initiated by Colorado State University (CSU) in 1984, and have been issued every year since that time by CSU. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center and the UK-based Tropical Storm Risk (TSR) have the next longest records (1998-present) of continuous outlooks. This chapter describes how these three forecasts have evolved with time, and documents the approaches, the environmental fields, and the lead times which underpin the models’ operation. Some of the environmental parameters used in early seasonal outlooks are no longer employed, but new predictive fields have been found which appear to be more important for seasonal hurricane prediction. An assessment is made of the deterministic skill of the seasonal hurricane outlooks issued in real-time by CSU, NOAA, and TSR between 2003 and 2014. All methods show moderate-to-good skill for early August outlooks (prior to the most active portion of the hurricane season), low-to-moderate skill for outlooks issued in early June, and lesser skill for outlooks issued in early April. Overall, the TSR model has the most skillful predictions of Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE), while NOAA has the best named storm predictions issued in early August.
An evaluation of a managed clinical network for personality disorder: breaking new ground or top dressing?

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES This article describes an evaluation of an innovative managed clinical network in the UK. The purpose of the network was to establish a better-coordinated service for those with personality disorder. The network was evaluated with regard to the extent it met its stated and implied outcomes; the process whereby it was established and operated; and the views of the various stakeholders involved. Managed clinical networks are briefly reviewed. METHODS Methods to gather evaluation data included documentary analysis, the use of specially devised tools to assess partnership, staff development needs and record keeping, and interviews. RESULTS While the network had achieved its objectives to establish new operational structures and communication networks and staff showed a high level of commitment, it was unclear whether the network had maintained or improved the clinical service. Record keeping for assessment and clinical intervention was at an early stage and there was a need for more systematic use of assessment instruments and data management systems. The creation of a new category of staff - the Network coordinator - raised problems of delivery and staff development. CONCLUSIONS On the basis of this evaluation and at this stage of one network's development it is concluded that the benefits of a managed clinical network remain theoretical rather than proven.
Big Data : An Emerging Trend In Future

The amount of data in world is growing day by day. Data is growing because of use of internet, smart phone and social network. Big data is a collection of data sets which is very large in size as well as complex. Generally size of the data is Petabyte and Exabyte.Traditional database systems is not able to capture,store and analyze this large amount of data. As the internet is growing, amount of big data continue to grow. Big data analytics provide new ways for businesses and government to analyze unstructured data. Now a days, Big data is one of the most talked topic in IT industry. It is going to play important role in future. Big data changes the way that data is managed and used. Some of the applications are in areas such as healthcare, traffic management,banking,retail, education and so on. Organizations are becoming more flexible and more open.New types of data will give new challenges as well. This paper highlights important concepts of big data. Keywords— Big data, Hadoop, HDFS, Map Reduce, NoSQL
Assessing binary classifiers using only positive and unlabeled data

Assessing the performance of a learned model is a crucial part of machine learning. However, in some domains only positive and unlabeled examples are available, which prohibits the use of most standard evaluation metrics. We propose an approach to estimate any metric based on contingency tables, including ROC and PR curves, using only positive and unlabeled data. Estimating these performance metrics is essentially reduced to estimating the fraction of (latent) positives in the unlabeled set, assuming known positives are a random sample of all positives. We provide theoretical bounds on the quality of our estimates, illustrate the importance of estimating the fraction of positives in the unlabeled set and demonstrate empirically that we are able to reliably estimate ROC and PR curves on real data.
Association of pneumococcal conjugate vaccination with rates of ventilation tube insertion in Denmark: population-based register study

Objective To examine if the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) in Denmark was associated with a decrease in the rate of ventilation tube (VT) insertions performed by office-based practising ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists. Design Population-based register study based on prospectively collected data. Setting Central Denmark Region. Data on VT insertions performed by any office-based practising ENT specialist in the region were collected from the National Health Service Registry. Participants All children below the age of 2 years with a first-time VT insertion from 2001 through 2011. Main outcome measures Age-stratified and gender-stratified standardised incidence rates of first-time VT insertion, and incidence rate ratio for PCV period 2008–2011 compared with pre-PCV period 2001–2007. Results The annual incidence rate of first-time VT insertion in small children increased steadily from 64/1000 person-years in 2001 to 100/1000 person-years in 2011. The incidence rate ratio was 1.27 (95% CI 1.24 to 1.30) in the PCV period compared with the pre-PCV period. Conclusions The introduction of PCV into the Danish childhood immunisation programme in 2007 was not associated with a subsequent decrease in the rate of VT insertions among children below the age of 2 years. Instead, the rate continued to rise, as before the introduction of PCV. Trial registration number Danish Data Protection Agency: 2007-58-0010.
Pulse-Based Radar Imaging Using a Genetic Optimization Approach for Echo Separation

This paper describes a novel 3-D ultra-wideband (UWB) imaging technique with the aim of detecting, classifying, and imaging water pipes located inside walls. The target under test was chosen in such a way that the echoes of the front side of the wall and of the water pipes overlap making it impossible to distinguish between them in the raw data. Applying a genetic optimization algorithm for modeling the radar response by a superposition of single echoes it was possible to determine the exact round-trip times of several scatterers. Moreover, the algorithm takes into account the pulse distortion caused by varying angles of incidence at the broad beam antenna.
Leveraging endpoint flexibility in data-intensive clusters

Many applications do not constrain the destinations of their network transfers. New opportunities emerge when such transfers contribute a large amount of network bytes. By choosing the endpoints to avoid congested links, completion times of these transfers as well as that of others without similar flexibility can be improved. In this paper, we focus on leveraging the flexibility in replica placement during writes to cluster file systems (CFSes), which account for almost half of all cross-rack traffic in data-intensive clusters. The replicas of a CFS write can be placed in any subset of machines as long as they are in multiple fault domains and ensure a balanced use of storage throughout the cluster. We study CFS interactions with the cluster network, analyze optimizations for replica placement, and propose Sinbad -- a system that identifies imbalance and adapts replica destinations to navigate around congested links. Experiments on EC2 and trace-driven simulations show that block writes complete 1.3X (respectively, 1.58X) faster as the network becomes more balanced. As a collateral benefit, end-to-end completion times of data-intensive jobs improve as well. Sinbad does so with little impact on the long-term storage balance.
Public Participation, Coastal Management and Climate Change Adaptation

Coasts around the world face multiple challenges, not least climate change in the form of sea level rise, and with possible increases in the frequency and severity of storms and floods and ocean acidification. At the same time, increasing population pressures and migration from inland to coastal regions means that coastal populations will necessarily expand into the future, with more people and economic assets exposed and potentially vulnerable to these pressures. Managing climate pressures on the coastal zone will be more than a wicked problem and will require great innovation and some hard decisions. Current management activities take place in multiple contexts, and adaptation can be hard or soft, policy based, or driven by incentives or reform. However, it is the people and sectors with vested interests, values, and lifestyles within the coastal zone that are central to future coastal planning. This chapter investigates the role public participation plays in the context of climate change impacts on the coast. First, we present some of the key scientific predictions for the coast and then outline the core concepts and issues around public participation in coastal contexts. Using examples from across the world, we then explore the relationship between coastal management, climate change and stakeholder involvement. In summary, we reflect that while public participation in coastal climate adaptation plays an important role, this does not mean that all participation is appropriate or needed all of the time, especially given the contested nature of the multiple vested interests in the coastal zone. Instead we argue that public participation processes must be part of ongoing coastal adaptation decision making in two ways: (i) by ensuring that valuable community knowledge and feedback is incorporated within upper level decision making, and (ii) by enabling high level policy makers to communicate management decisions, and necessary trade-offs, in ways that will be accepted and palatable to the various 'publics' involved in coastal regions. When introduced in ways that are appropriate to the scale and nature of the coast and climate impact, and coupled with effective and strong high level decision making, coastal management outcomes will ultimately be enhanced.
Concerted vs. Sequential. Two Activation Patterns of Vast Arrays of Intracellular Ca2+ Channels in Muscle

To signal cell responses, Ca2+ is released from storage through intracellular Ca2+ channels. Unlike most plasmalemmal channels, these are clustered in quasi-crystalline arrays, which should endow them with unique properties. Two distinct patterns of local activation of Ca2+ release were revealed in images of Ca2+ sparks in permeabilized cells of amphibian muscle. In the presence of sulfate, an anion that enters the SR and precipitates Ca2+, sparks became wider than in the conventional, glutamate-based solution. Some of these were “protoplatykurtic” (had a flat top from early on), suggesting an extensive array of channels that activate simultaneously. Under these conditions the rate of production of signal mass was roughly constant during the rise time of the spark and could be as high as 5 μm3 ms−1, consistent with a release current >50 pA since the beginning of the event. This pattern, called “concerted activation,” was observed also in rat muscle fibers. When sulfate was combined with a reduced cytosolic [Ca2+] (50 nM) these sparks coexisted (and interfered) with a sequential progression of channel opening, probably mediated by Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release (CICR). Sequential propagation, observed only in frogs, may require parajunctional channels, of RyR isoform β, which are absent in the rat. Concerted opening instead appears to be a property of RyR α in the amphibian and the homologous isoform 1 in the mammal.
The Two-Membrane Model of Epithelial Transport: Koefoed-Johnsen and Ussing (1958)

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of one of the most important papers in the field of epithelial transport. In 1958 Valborg Koefoed-Johnsen and Hans Ussing presented the two-membrane model (KJU model) of Na transport by the frog skin ([Koefoed-Johnsen and Ussing, 1958][1]).
Forests of Massachusetts, 2016

This report provides an overview of forest resources in Massachusetts based on an inventory conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Northern Research Station.Estimates are based on field data collected using the FIA annualized sample design. Results are for the measurement years 2011-2016 with comparisons made to 2007-20111(see footnote on bottom of page 2). Forest resource measurements were taken on 535 plots with about 14 percent of the plots measured each year. Growth, mortality, and removals statistics are based on 505 remeasured plots. Estimates are updated and published annually.
Treatment of Acute Venous Thromboembolism With Dabigatran or Warfarin and Pooled Analysis

Background— Dabigatran and warfarin have been compared for the treatment of acute venous thromboembolism (VTE) in a previous trial. We undertook this study to extend those findings. Methods and Results— In a randomized, double-blind, double-dummy trial of 2589 patients with acute VTE treated with low-molecular-weight or unfractionated heparin for 5 to 11 days, we compared dabigatran 150 mg twice daily with warfarin. The primary outcome, recurrent symptomatic, objectively confirmed VTE and related deaths during 6 months of treatment occurred in 30 of the 1279 dabigatran patients (2.3%) compared with 28 of the 1289 warfarin patients (2.2%; hazard ratio, 1.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.64–1.80; absolute risk difference, 0.2%; 95% CI, −1.0 to 1.3; P<0.001 for the prespecified noninferiority margin for both criteria). The safety end point, major bleeding, occurred in 15 patients receiving dabigatran (1.2%) and in 22 receiving warfarin (1.7%; hazard ratio, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.36–1.32). Any bleeding occurred in 200 dabigatran (15.6%) and 285 warfarin (22.1%; hazard ratio, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.56–0.81) patients. Deaths, adverse events, and acute coronary syndromes were similar in both groups. Pooled analysis of this study RE-COVER II and the RE-COVER trial gave hazard ratios for recurrent VTE of 1.09 (95% CI, 0.76–1.57), for major bleeding of 0.73 (95% CI, 0.48–1.11), and for any bleeding of 0.70 (95% CI, 0.61–0.79). Conclusion— Dabigatran has similar effects on VTE recurrence and a lower risk of bleeding compared with warfarin for the treatment of acute VTE. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: www.clinicaltrials. gov. Unique identifiers: NCT00680186 and NCT00291330.
Formative pluripotency: the executive phase in a developmental continuum

ABSTRACT The regulative capability of single cells to give rise to all primary embryonic lineages is termed pluripotency. Observations of fluctuating gene expression and phenotypic heterogeneity in vitro have fostered a conception of pluripotency as an intrinsically metastable and precarious state. However, in the embryo and in defined culture environments the properties of pluripotent cells change in an orderly sequence. Two phases of pluripotency, called naïve and primed, have previously been described. In this Hypothesis article, a third phase, called formative pluripotency, is proposed to exist as part of a developmental continuum between the naïve and primed phases. The formative phase is hypothesised to be enabling for the execution of pluripotency, entailing remodelling of transcriptional, epigenetic, signalling and metabolic networks to constitute multi-lineage competence and responsiveness to specification cues. Summary: This Hypothesis article poses that a third state of pluripotency, called formative pluripotency, exists between the naïve and primed states, and is enabling for the execution of pluripotency.
Expression of nuclear notch3 in pancreatic adenocarcinomas is associated with adverse clinical features, and correlates with the expression of STAT3 and phosphorylated Akt

Reactivation of the Notch signalling pathway occurs in a range of human malignancies. Previous research suggests that Notch3 is expressed in pancreatic adenocarcinomas, but neither cellular location nor association with clinical parameters has been described. The relationship between Notch3, clinical endpoints, and other proteins with potential to interact with Notch was therefore examined.
RALDH-independent generation of retinoic acid during vertebrate embryogenesis by CYP1B1

Several independent lines of evidence have revealed an instructive role for retinoic acid (RA) signalling in the establishment of normal pattern and cellular specification of the vertebrate embryo. Molecular analyses have previously identified the major RA-synthesising (RALDH1-3) and RA-degrading (CYP26A-C1) enzymes as well as other components involved in RA processing (e.g. CRABP). Although the majority of the early effects of RA can be attributed to the activity of RALDH2, many other effects are suggestive of the presence of an as yet unidentified RA source. Here we describe the identification, expression, biochemistry and functional analysis of CYP1B1, a member of the cytochrome p450 family of mono-oxygenases, and provide evidence that it contributes to RA synthesis during embryonic patterning. We present in vitro biochemical data demonstrating that this enzyme can generate both all-trans-retinal (t-RAL) and all-trans-retinoic acid (t-RA) from the precursor all-trans-retinol (t-ROH), but unlike the CYP26s, CYP1B1 cannot degrade t-RA. In particular, we focussed on the capacity of CYP1B1 to regulate the molecular mechanisms associated with dorsoventral patterning of the neural tube and acquisition of motor neuron progenitor domain identity. Concordant with its sites of expression and biochemistry, data are presented demonstrating that CYP1B1 is capable of eliciting responses that are consistent with the production of RA. Taken together, we propose that these data provide strong support for CYP1B1 being one of the RALDH-independent components by which embryos direct RA-mediated patterning.
Recherches sur les variations de populations de mirides (capsides) en Côte d'Ivoire

Des 1960, une enquete a ete decidee qui permettra de fixer les dates optimales de traitement region par region. Le Lindane convient bien dans la lutte anticapsides. Les fluctuations de population ont ete etudiees dans les differentes zones productrices. Cette etude fait ressortir 3 types de fluctuations. Les conditions de multiplication des mirides sont favorables dans les zones de pluviometrie moyenne. Il y a donc une pullulation de mirides de juillet-aout ou sept. a dec. - janv. ou fevrier. Il faut pulveriser en decembre 300 g de lindane/ha, faire les 1ers traitements en juil. -aout, en dec. supprimer les rejets. Pour determiner les dates de traitement, on doit aussi tenir compte des travaux culturaux, des recoltes, de l'etalement du travail des appareils. Les traitements doivent couvrir une grande superficie
The approximate rank of a matrix and its algorithmic applications: approximate rank

We study the ε-rank of a real matrix A, defined for any ε > 0 as the minimum rank over matrices that approximate every entry of A to within an additive ε. This parameter is connected to other notions of approximate rank and is motivated by problems from various topics including communication complexity, combinatorial optimization, game theory, computational geometry and learning theory. Here we give bounds on the ε-rank and use them for algorithmic applications. Our main algorithmic results are (a) polynomial-time additive approximation schemes for Nash equilibria for 2-player games when the payoff matrices are positive semidefinite or have logarithmic rank and (b) an additive PTAS for the densest subgraph problem for similar classes of weighted graphs. We use combinatorial, geometric and spectral techniques; our main new tool is an algorithm for efficiently covering a convex body with translates of another convex body.
DBS4video: dynamic luminance backlight scaling based on multi-histogram frame characterization for video streaming application

Almost every modern portable handheld device is equipped with a coloured LCD display. The backlight of the LCD accounts for a significant percentage of the total energy consumption. Substantial energy savings can be achieved by dynamically adapting backlight intensity levels on such low-power portable devices. In this paper, we present the DBS4video framework which allows dynamic scaling of the backlight with a negligible impact on QoS for video streaming applications. DBS4video exploits in a smart and efficient way the hardware image processing unit integrated in almost every new multimedia application processor to implement a hardware assisted image compensation. The proposed approach overcomes CPU-intensive techniques by saving system power without requiring either a dedicated display technology or hardware modification. We introduce also a new image processing kernel based on multiple histograms collection for a single frame. We provide a real implementation of the proposed framework on a Freescale application development board based on the i.MX31 processor. We carried out a full characterization of the overall system power consumption versus QoS.