Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Kidnaps and Migration: Evidence from Colombia

Using a unique data set from the major Colombian cities collected between 2000-2003 and with information on more than 16,000 households, this paper studies the relationship between the kidnap risk a household faces with its migration decisions. We find evidence that exposure to such risk induces households to react sending some of their members to an international destination but not necessarily to a domestic one. This finding is robust to the inclusion of several household characteristics usual in the migration literature and an alternative measure of kidnap risk. The implication of our findings suggest a possible brain drain" from Colombia. "
Should New Economic Thinking Be Incremental or Paradigmatic?

I welcome the opportunity to respond to this thoughtful article by Herbert Gintis, who was among the first to import modern evolutionary thinking into economics, and who was also one of my first mentors, as I will describe in more detail below. I feel most comfortable calling him Herb and hope that this will not be considered too informal. Herb and I agree that New Economic Thinking (NET) should be based on a combination of evolutionary and complexity theory, but we disagree on how to get there. Herb thinks that the path can be incremental “by trying to build on the success and correct the flaws of standard neoclassical economic theory. ” I think that the change requires more of an “out with the old, in with the new” approach. Following Herb’s example, I’ll begin with a few autobiographical details. As someone trained in general evolutionary theory, I didn’t begin thinking seriously about economic theory until about 10 years ago. When I did, however, I was able to educate myself in a big way as cofounder and president of the Evolution Institute, the first think tank to formulate public policy from an evolutionary perspective. A conference and series of workshops funded by the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) led to a 2013 special issue of the Journal of Economic and Behavior Organization (JEBO) titled “Evolution as a General Theoretical Framework for Economics and Public Policy” (Wilson and Gowdy 2013; Wilson, Gowdy, and Rosser 2013). A conference organized with Germany’s Ernst Strungmann Forum led to a 2016 volume published by MIT Press ESIC 2018
Genetics of Colorectal Tumorigenesis (Possibilities of Testing and Screening Prediction of Hereditary Form of Colorectal Cancer – Lynch Syndrome)

Súhrn Kolorektálny karcinóm je v súčasnosti jedným z najčastejších nádorových ochorení vyskytujúcich sa v rozvinutých krajinách. Pochopenie molekulárnych princípov jeho vzniku patrí opätovne v poslednom čase medzi priority v oblasti onkogenetického výskumu. Kolorektálny karcinóm je zároveň aj vhodným modelom pre štúdium kancerogenézy z dôvodu dobrej dostupnosti prekanceróznych lézií a tiež z dôvodu existencie viacerých jasne popísaných hereditárnych foriem ako familiárna adenomatózna polypóza a Lynchov syndróm. Klasický model kolorektálnej tumorigenézy, popísaný Fearonom a Vogelsteinom, predstavuje tradičnú cestu vývoja kolorektálneho karcinómu zo sekvencie adenómkarcinóm. Tento model bol postavený na dôkladnej analýze mutácií v jednotlivých morfologických štádiách kancerogenézy, ktorých progresívna akumulácia vedie k malígnej transformácii kolonického epitelu. V posledných rokoch bol však prijatý aj alternatívny model vývoja kolorektálneho karcinómu zo seratovaných prekurzorov. Táto cesta vývoja, nazývaná aj seratovaná cesta, priniesla nový pohľad na kolorektálnu tumorigenézu. V súčasnosti sa predpokladajú minimálne tri molekulárne cesty kolorektálnej tumorigenézy: 1. cesta chromozómovej instability reprezentovaná dedičnou formou familiárnej adenomatóznej polypózy; 2. mutátorová cesta s mismach repair fenotypom reprezentovaná dedičnou formou Lynchovho syndrómu, ale aj časťou sporadických kolorektálných karcinomov; a 3. hypermetylačná seratovaná cesta charakterizovaná vysokou frekvenciou hypermetylácie CpG ostrovčekov promótorových oblastí určitých génov (CIMP+).
Mega-electron-volt proton irradiation on supported and suspended graphene: A Raman spectroscopic layer dependent study

Graphene samples with 1, 2, and 4 layers and 1 + 1 folded bi-layers and graphite have been irradiated with 2 MeV protons at fluences ranging from 1 × 1015 to 6 × 1018 ions/cm2. The samples were characterized using visible and UV Raman spectroscopy and Raman microscopy. The ion-induced defects were found to decrease with increasing number of layers. Graphene samples suspended over etched holes in SiO2 have been fabricated and used to investigate the influence of the substrate SiO2 for defect creation in graphene. While Raman vibrational modes at 1460 cm−1 and 1555 cm−1 have been observed in the visible Raman spectra of substantially damaged graphene samples, these modes were absent in the irradiated-suspended monolayer graphene.
Learning Environment Simulators from Sparse Signals by Yonadav Goldwasser Shavit

To allow planning in novel environments that have not been mapped out by hand, we need ways of learning environment models. While conventional work has focused on video prediction as a means for environment learning, this work instead seeks to learn from much sparser signals, like the agent’s reward. In Chapter 1, we establish a taxonomy of environments and the attributes that make them easier or harder to model through learning. In Chapter 2, we review prior work in the field of environment learning. In Chapter 3, we propose a model-learning architecture based purely on reward prediction, and analyze its performance on illustrative problems. Finally, in Chapter 4, we propose and evaluate a model-learning architecture that uses both reward and sparse "features" extracted from the environment. Thesis Supervisor: Leslie P. Kaelbling Title: Professor
Growth performance of juvenile pikeperch , Sander lucioperca ( L . ) fed graded levels of dietary lipids

The aim of the experiment was to determine the effect of graded lipid content in experimental isoprotein feed (6, 10, 14% lipids and 45% protein) on the growth performance of juvenile pikeperch (initial body weight ≈ 210 g) in a recirculation system. No significant effect of the applied feed on the final average body weight was observed. However, average daily weight gain (g/d), SGR index (%/d) and condition coefficient of the fish receiving 10% lipid feed were significantly higher than the corresponding values in the other two groups (6 and 14% lipid, P < 0.05). Feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) a�ained the most advantageous values in this group of fish. The application of the experimental feed had a significant effect on the lipid values in fish bodies and viscera (P < 0.05) although no relationship was detected between the lipid content of the feed and that of the fish muscles. The lipid content was approximately 7.7% in all the experimental groups and the differences between the groups were statistically insignificant (P > 0.05).
Mining Transportation Information from Social Media for Planned and Unplanned Events

The objective of this project is on mining social media data to deduce useful traveler’s information with a special emphasis under events, including both planned events (such as sporting games), and unplanned events (such as traffic accidents). Specifically, the project proposes to develop effective and efficient techniques to collect, extract and mine social media data to support advanced traveler information systems and traffic operators. By mining social media based semantics, especially text semantics, this project aims to achieve the following aims: 1) Forecast transit ridership under large sporting games; 2) Identify causality between abnormal traffic flow pattern and social media data; 2) Detect traffic accident using online social media data and traffic loop-detector data.
A portrait of the extreme solar system object 2012 DR30

DR30 is a recently discovered solar system object on a unique orbit, with a high eccentricity of 0.9867, a perihelion distance of 14.54 AU, and a semi-major axis of 1109 AU, in this respect outscoring the vast majority of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). We performed Herschel/PACS and optical photometry to uncover the size and albedo of 2012 DR30, together with its thermal and surface properties. The body is 185 km in diameter and has a relatively low V-band geometric albedo of 8%. Although the colours of the object indicate that 2012 DR30 is an RI taxonomy class TNO or Centaur, we detected an absorption feature in the Z-band that is uncommon among these bodies. A dynamical analysis of the target's orbit shows that 2012 DR30 moves on a relatively unstable orbit and was most likely only recently placed on its current orbit from the most distant and still highly unexplored regions of the solar system. If categorised on dynamical grounds 2012 DR30 is the largest Damocloid and/or high inclination Centaur observed so far.
Two or Three Things you need to know about AUI Design or Designers

This paper presents an overview of the work on Auditory User Interface (AUI) design at the LG Electronics Corporate Design Center, where the author was responsible for all of the AUI designs from 2005 to 2008. The definition and strategy of AUI design is covered, as well as the role of AUI designers at the global company. Details on process, methodology, and design solutions of four big projects are provided. The paper also discusses how a practitioner’s perspective is related to theoretical framework of auditory display. The review of this practical AUI design aims to inspire other practitioners and researchers on auditory display and sound design, and to facilitate communication in the ICAD community.
Unitarily-invariant linear spaces in C*-algebras

Characterisations and containment results are given for linear subspaces of a unital C*-algebra that are invariant under conjugation by sets of unitary elements of the algebra. The (unitarily-invariant) linear span of the projections in a simple, unital C*-algebra having non-scalar projections is shown to contain all additive commutators of the algebra and, in certain cases, to be equal to the algebra.
Delft University of Technology Mechanism of Ostwald Ripening in 2 D Physisorbed Assemblies at Molecular Time and Length Scale by Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Ostwald ripening can improve the long-range order of self-assembled monolayers by the growth of large domains and disassembly of smaller ones. Here, coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the dynamics of the stable assembly and the coarsening of defects of physisorbed monolayers of long-chain functionalized alkanes. Our results show that the partial desorption from the surface of one or more adsorbent molecules is the essential process that allows other adsorbent molecules to rearrange on the surface and thereby improve alignment. We also show that the ripening process is faster at higher temperature because the rate of partial desorption is higher.
Essay Review: The Laws of Belief

Wolfgang Spohn’s book The Laws of Belief: Ranking Theory and Its Philosophical Applications is a detailed presentation of ranking theory and its many and varied applications in philosophy. It is a work in formal or mathematical philosophy, philosophy that uses formal or mathematical tools to tackle philosophical problems. The book uses one simple and elegant yet powerful formal tool, namely, the theory of ranking functions, and applies it fruitfully to a great variety of philosophical problems. These start with problems in epistemology such as the representation of belief and its objects as well as justification and the a priori. They go to problems in metaphysics such as causation and objectification and problems in the philosophy of science such as laws and their confirmation as well as ceteris paribus conditions and dispositions. And they include, at least indirectly, problems in the philosophy of language such as conditionals and problems in the philosophy of mind such as perception and consciousness. The result is a unified picture of the world and our relation to it as epistemic agents: a philosophy. It is arrived at in a constructive attempt to reduce all “natural” or alethic modalities to nonmodal facts on the one hand and doxastic modalities as represented by ranking functions (and subjective probability measures) on the other hand. And it does so by displaying the virtues of using formal tools to tackle philosophical problems. The result is a formal philosophy whose radical nature, however, becomes visible only by working through the details, not something one can do over an extended weekend.
Walking Pattern Discrimination based on Wavelet and Fractal Analysis

we introduce a simple and effective feature extraction method for human gait classification based on wavelet and fractal analysis of acceleration signal. The focus is on the discrimination between normal walking, fast walking, and step walking. Three types of features are derived from wavelet coefficients obtained by wavelet decomposition of acceleration signals. The wrapper feature subset selection is also used to improve the classification performance. The proposed algorithm can recognize three walking patterns with 98.41% average accuracy. Additionally, we compare our performance with the widely used time-domain and frequencydomain features. Experimental results show that the proposed approach is effective.
Shocks to the Cost of Borrowing and Capital Structure.

We use the imposition of a non remunerated reserve on short term borrowing in Chile in 1991 as a cuasi natural experiment to test the eﬀects of an increase in the cost of short term borrowing on capital structure and investment. The diﬀerential impact of this regulatory measure across ﬁrms allows us to perform a diﬀerence in diﬀerences analysis. We ﬁnd a drastic drop in short term borrowing of regulated ﬁrms that was almost completely oﬀset by additional long term borrowing. The nature of the experiment allows us to isolate a clear causality from changes in the cost of funds to capital structure, solving some of the endogeneity problems present in preexisting literature.
Design of Active Vibration Absorbers Using On-Line Estimation of Parameters and Signals

Many engineering systems undergo undesirable vibrations. Vibration control in mechanical systems is an important problem by means of which vibrations are suppressed or at least attenuated. In this direction, the dynamic vibration absorbers have been widely applied in many practical situations because of their low cost/maintenance, efficiency, accuracy and easy installation (Braun et al., 2001; Preumont, 1993). Some of their applications can be found in buildings, bridges, civil structures, aircrafts, machine tools and many other engineering systems (Caetano et al., 2010; Korenev & Reznikov, 1993; Sun et al., 1995; Taniguchi et al., 2008; Weber & Feltrin, 2010; Yang, 2010). There are three fundamental control design methodologies for vibration absorbers described as passive, semi-active and active vibration control. Passive vibration control relies on the addition of stiffness and damping to the primary system in order to reduce its dynamic response, and serves for specific excitation frequencies and stable operating conditions, but is not recommended for variable excitation frequencies and/or parametric uncertainty. Semiactive vibration control deals with adaptive spring or damper characteristics, which are tuned according to the operating conditions. Active vibration control achieves better dynamic performance by adding degrees of freedom to the system and/or controlling actuator forces depending on feedback and feedforward real-time information of the system, obtained from sensors. For more details about passive, semiactive and active vibration control we refer to the books (Braun et al., 2001; Den Hartog, 1934; Fuller et al, 1997; Preumont, 1993). On the other hand, many dynamical systems exhibit a structural property called differential flatness. This property is equivalent to the existence of a set of independent outputs, called flat outputs and equal in number to the control inputs, which completely parameterizes every state variable and control input (Fliess et al., 1993; Sira-Ramirez & Agrawal, 2004). By means of differential flatness techniques the analysis and design of a controller is greatly Design of Active Vibration Absorbers Using On-Line Estimation of Parameters and Signals 2
The Efficacy of Responsible Gambling Measures in NSW Clubs: The Gamblers' Perspective

In 2000, the NSW Government legislated for gambling venues, including registered clubs, to implement certain responsible gambling measures. Many clubs also have introduced some voluntary strategies, including those contained in the Clubsafe program developed by Clubs NSW. However, no evidence exists that such measures are effective in minimising harm and protecting consumers in gambling. This paper reports on a 2002-2003 research project, funded by the NSW Casino Community Benefit Fund, which sought to address this gap in knowledge. It surveyed members from ten large Sydney clubs to assess their level of awareness of their clubs' responsible gambling measures, how adequate they consider these measures to be, and whether these measures have changed their gambling behaviour in terms of frequency, expenditure and gambling session length. Comparisons are drawn between 'problem' and 'recreational' gamblers to inform a more grounded approach to responsible conduct of gambling, one that is better targeted at those most at risk of gambling-related harm.
Body size and the relative abundance of species

Existing models of species abundance distributions (SADs) can be divided into those that are based on concepts of common limited niche space (niche apportionment models, neutral models) and those that invoke standard statistical distributions (e. g. log-series, lognormal). While the first type of models assumes that competitive interactions lead to observed SADs, the models of the second type appear to be mainly statistical descriptors of SADs without deeper biological meaning. None of the models explicitly includes species body size as a factor influencing species abundances. Further, with the exception of recent neutral models they are not embedded into basic ecological and evolutionary models to explain local diversity and ecosystem functioning. Here I present a new random walk model of species abundances that is based on two well known ecological distributions, the abundance - body weight distribution and the species - body weight distribution to define long-term upper abundance boundaries (carrying capacities). I show that a simple random walk of species abundances around the carrying capacities not only generates observed SADs but is also able to explain other patterns of community structure like core - satellite distributions, temporal patterns of species turnover, variance - mean ratios, and biomass distributions.
True and spurious articles in Germanic and Romance

Recent analyses of the qualitative binominal NP construction that idiot of a doctor/el idiota del medico (e.g. Den Dikken and Singhapreecha 2004, Den Dikken 2006) make the strong claim that a spurious (in)definite article is involved, and that the NPs involved have an impoverished functional structure. In contrast with this view, we will show that in Romance, no evidence exists for an alleged spurious article, and that the apparently syntactic restrictions on the size of the NPs involved have to do with a referential restriction imposing that the subject of the construction be specific, which in turn derives from the topic interpretation associated with such a position. This pragmatic analysis will be shown to account in a simple and elegant way for a variegated set of data, and to extend straightforwardly to a related nominal quantificational construction, the lo-de construction.
Stream temperatures in two shaded reaches below cutblocks and logging roads: downstream cooling linked to subsurface hydrology

This study examined water temperature patterns and their physical controls for two small, clearing-heated streams in shaded reaches downstream of all forestry activity. Field observations were made during July-August 2000 in the central interior of British Columbia, Canada. For both reaches, downstream cooling of up to 4°C had been ob- served during daytime over distances of ~200 m. Radiative and convective exchanges of energy at heavily shaded sites on both reaches represented a net input of heat during most afternoons and therefore could not explain the observed cooling. In one stream, the greatest downstream cooling occurred when streamflow at the upstream site dropped below about 5 L·s -1 . At those times, temperatures at the downstream site were controlled mainly by local inflow of ground- water, because the warmer water from upstream was lost by infiltration in the upper 150 m of the reach. Warming of- ten occurred in the upper subreach, where cool groundwater did not interact with the channel. At the second stream, creek temperature patterns were comparatively stable. Energy balance estimates from one afternoon suggested that groundwater inflow caused about 40% of the ~3°C gross cooling effect in the daily maximum temperature, whereas bed heat conduction and hyporheic exchange caused about 60%.
Climate-resilient revegetation of multi-use landscapes: Exploiting genetic variability in widespread species

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . 2 1. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH . 4 2. RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND METHODS . 6 2.1 Eucalyptus tricarpa study sites . 6 2.2 Eucalyptus salubris study sites . 8 2.3 Climate and soil characteristics. 9 2.4 Morphology and physiology measurements . 10 2.5 Molecular methods . 11 2.5. 1 Background . 11 2.5. 2 Method . 13 2.6 Statistical analysis . 13 3. RESULTS AND OUTPUTS . 16 3.1 Results of Eucalyptus tricarpa study . 16 3.1. 1 Environmental variation along the gradient . 16 3.1. 2 Morphology and physiology along the rainfall gradient . 16 3.1. 3 Variation among provenances in the common gardens . 18 3.1. 4 Growth rate of trees in the common gardens . 19 3.1. 5 Genomic results . 19 3.2 Results of Eucalyptus salubris study . 32 3.2.1 Environmental variation along the gradient . 32 3.2.2 Morphology and physiology along the gradient . 32 3.2.3 Genomic results . 36 4. DISCUSSION . 48 4.1 Functional responses to climate across the gradients . 48 4.2 Genomic variation across the gradients . 53 4.2.1 Evidence of adaptive genetic variation . 53 4.2.2 Environmental indicators of genetic adaptation . 54 4.3 Implications for revegetation seed sourcing . 54 5. GAPS AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS . 58 6. REFERENCES . 60 APPENDIX 1: CLIMATIC VARIABLES . 70 APPENDIX 2: STUDY SITE SOIL CHARACTERISTICS . 71 APPENDIX 3: ANUCLIM DRAFTSMAN PLOTS OF EUCALYPTUS TRICARPA CLIMATIC VARIABLES . 73 APPENDIX 4: REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE ADAPTIVE GENETIC INDEX (CAP1) OF EUCALYPTUS TRICARPA AGAINST SOIL PROPERTIES. 74 APPENDIX 5: ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE (ANOVA) OF PHYSIOLOGICAL/MORPHOMETRIC DATA IN WILD POPULATIONS AND FIELD TRIALS OF EUCALYPTUS TRICARPA. 75 APPENDIX 6: REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL/MORPHOMETRIC DATA IN WILD POPULATIONS OF EUCALYPTUS TRICARPA AGAINST THE ADAPTIVE GENETIC INDEX (CAP1). 78 APPENDIX 7: REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL/MORPHOMETRIC DATA FROM EUCALYPTUS TRICARPA IN COMMON GARDEN FIELD TRIALS AT LAKE TYERS (WET TRIAL) AND HUNTLY (DRY TRIAL) AGAINST THE ADAPTIVE GENETIC INDEX (CAP1). 79 APPENDIX 8: REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF PLASTIC TRAIT DATA FROM EUCALYPTUS TRICARPA AGAINST THE ADAPTIVE GENETIC INDEX (CAP1). 81 APPENDIX 9: REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE ADAPTIVE GENETIC INDEX (CAP1) OF EUCALYPTUS TRICARPA AGAINST CLIMATIC VARIABLES. 82 APPENDIX 10: ANUCLIM DRAFTSMAN PLOTS OF EUCALYPTUS SALUBRIS CLIMATIC VARIABLES . 84 APPENDIX 11: REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE ADAPTIVE GENETIC INDEX (CAP1) OF EUCALYPTUS SALUBRIS LINEAGE 1 AGAINST CLIMATIC VARIABLES. 85