Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Horizontal and Vertical Intra-Industry Trade in Trans-Tasman Bilateral Trade

This paper disentangles trans-Tasman intra-industry trade (IIT) into horizontal IIT (HIIT) and vertical IIT (VIIT), and uses country-specific features to investigate their determinants in an econometric framework. Results suggest that trans-Tasman IIT is dominated by VIIT and concentrates mainly (about 50%) on two highly protected industries, namely machinery and equipment, and textile, clothing and footwear. This suggests that the closer economic relations (CER) may be contributing to trade diversion rather than trade creation. It appears that despite similarity in resource endowments between Australia and New Zealand the determinants of HIIT and VIIT are sensitive to the country specific characteristics. Hence, assuming similarity across countries in cross-country studies is unjustifiable.
"Testing moderator and mediator effects in counseling psychology research": Correction to Frazier et al. (2004).

The goals of this article are to (a) describe differences between moderator and mediator effects; (b) provide nontechnical descriptions of how to examine each type of effect, including study design, analysis, and interpretation of results; (c) demonstrate how to analyze each type of effect; and (d) provide suggestions for further reading. The authors focus on the use of multiple regression because it is an accessible data-analytic technique contained in major statistical packages. When appropriate, they also note limitations of using regression to detect moderator and mediator effects and describe alternative procedures, particularly structural equation modeling. Finally, to illustrate areas of confusion in counseling psychology research, they review research testing moderation and mediation that was published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology during 2001.
Marine reserves and its consequences as a fisheries management tool

This paper describes a prey-predator type fishery model with prey dispersal in a two-patch envi- ronment, one of which is a free fishing zone and other is protected zone. Different consequences of reserve are described by the simulation processes. Our simulation clearly indicates that prey-predator interactions do matter when the implementation of a reserve is considered. It is also observed that reserves will be most ef- fective when coupled with fishing effort controls in adjacent fisheries. Optimal harvesting policy is discussed.
Line design of a monitoring and emergency network to help in the study and prevention of the sudden infant death syndrome

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), also known as cot death or crib death, is the first cause of death in children between the ages of 2 and 12 months. In this paper, we outline the creation of a monitoring and emergency net which applies the internet of things (IoT) to get real-time information regarding the cause of SIDS and turn the system into a prevention and early diagnosis tool. An algorithm coded in MATLAB R2013a (Mathworks) will be implemented to assess the patient’s vitality, using fuzzy logic, and recollect information about the different phases of the disease.
Construcción automática de ortofotomapas : una aproximación fotométrica

Mosaicing allows to obtain a high-resolution representation of a given scene. Off-the-shelf still cameras including built-in software to build photo-mosaics and online applications such as Google Maps allowing to visualize maps resulting from a photomosaic are common nowadays. In most cases panoramic mosaics are generated from images acquired by means of a camera undergoing uniquely a rotation movement. When the acquisition conditions change, and the camera also performs a translation movement, the parallax phenomenon appears. If parallax exists, the seamless combination of the images is even more challenging. Additionally, adjacent photographs may present differences in appearance due to some automatic camera mechanisms, such as the automatic exposure. In this work a full processing pipeline intended to automatically build seamless mosaics with continuous and consistent appearance is described. Images are joined using methods which guarantee geometrical consistency, and fused using blending techniques, to achieve a non-visible transition between images. The described pipeline is applied on a high-resolution image sequence in order to evaluate its application in the context of aerial images of large dimensions.
Relationship of Organic Acids to Reactive Oxygen Species and Oxidative Stress in Biochemistry and Drug Action

This report deals with involvement of organic acids, such as acetic, citric and lactic, in biochemistry and drug actions. In certain cases, there is participation in physiological action of electron transfer, reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress. Electron transfer agents include quinones, metals, ArNO2 and imines. Acids play important roles in transamination, electron transfer processes and antibiotic action. Much attention has been devoted to vinegar (acetic acid) as a condiment with health benefits.
Person Detection : Unmanned System and Small MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE Sensor Applications

The ability to quickly and reliably detect people in images and video is highly desired. Several object recognition algorithms have demonstrated successful detection of multiclass objects with varied scale, position and orientation. This study examines the effectiveness of these methods when applied to detecting humans in two distinct domains: A) Leave-behind sensing and B) Aerial surveillance. Using novel image sets that are significantly more realistic and difficult than standard datasets, a variety of tests are conducted to compare the algorithms in terms of classification success rate. Dalal and Triggs' Histogram of Oriented Gradients algorithm, when trained with image samples taken from inside MIT's Stata Center, detects with no false positives all but one person in six minutes of video taken from inside a separate building. An enhanced version of Riesenhuber and Poggio's cortex-like recognition model, trained to detect people, correctly classifies 95% of images taken from a small UAV when trained with an independent set of images. These results illustrate the potential to accurately and reliably determine the presence of people in video from unmanned aircraft and indoor sensors. Thesis Advisor: Tomaso A. Poggio Title: Eugene McDermott Professor, Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Thesis Supervisor: Jeffrey W. Miller Title: Draper Laboratory Technical Supervisor Aero/Astro Dept. Thesis Reader: Brent D. Appleby Title: Draper Laboratory Tactical ISR Division Leader
ADAPS: Autonomous Driving Via Principled Simulations

Autonomous driving has gained significant advancements in recent years. However, obtaining a robust control policy for driving remains challenging as it requires training data from a variety of scenarios, including rare situations (e.g., accidents), an effective policy architecture, and an efficient learning mechanism. We propose ADAPS for producing robust control policies for autonomous vehicles. ADAPS consists of two simulation platforms in generating and analyzing accidents to automatically produce labeled training data, and a memoryenabled hierarchical control policy. Additionally, ADAPS offers a more efficient online learning mechanism that reduces the number of iterations required in learning compared to existing methods such as DAGGER [1]. We present both theoretical and experimental results. The latter are produced in simulated environments, where qualitative and quantitative results are generated to demonstrate the benefits of ADAPS.
Media Imperialism and Body Image Discernment: A Comparison Study

Mass Media has a long-standing reputation of influencing perception and affecting behavior and in the age of globalization, investigating its influence in different cultural contexts has become increasingly relevant. Perpetuating unrealistic standards of body types is just one way mediated messages are said to influence negatively an audience. By way of TV, magazines and movies, the media imperialism of the United States is having a strong presence in small countries like Malaysia. The same media effects, on body image and identity, that are found in the US should also be observable. Furthermore, the social comparison theory states that an individual evaluates their own opinions by comparing themselves to others. Exposure to US media, in this case US television shows, offers individuals characters to whom to compare themselves. This study examines how US media imperialism and the social comparison theory through media affects body perception by examining how often college-age young adults watched shows with prominent thin television characters compared to shows that had a diversity of body types in the core cast. Being exposed to programming with only thin characters is expected to correlate positively with body dissatisfaction. The study included distributing 286 preliminary surveys to discover what were the most popular shows being watched by college students (mostly 18 to 25 year olds). After the most popular shows were identified, surveys were circulated to a sample of 240 college-age young adults (120 males and 120 females) to determine if any correlation could be made between their television show preferences and their body dissatisfaction, or lack thereof.
The fundamental Laplacian eigenvalue of the ellipse with Dirichlet boundary conditions.

In this project, I examine the lowest Dirichlet eigenvalue of the Laplacian within the ellipse as a function of eccentricity. Two existing analytic expansions of the eigenvalue are extended: Close to the circle (eccentricity near zero) nine terms are added to the Maclaurin series; and near the infinite strip (eccentricity near unity) four terms are added to the asymptotic expansion. In the past, other methods, such as boundary variation techniques, have been used to work on this problem, but I use a different approach -- which not only offers independent confirmation of existing results, but extends them. My starting point is a high precision computation of the eigenvalue for selected values of eccentricity. These data are then fit to polynomials in appropriate parameters yielding high-precision coefficients that are fed into an LLL integer-relation algorithm with forms guided by prior results.
Some stylized facts of return in the foreign exchange and stock markets in Peru

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to find and describe some stylized facts for foreign exchange and stock market returns, which are explored using statistical methods. Design/methodology/approach - Formal statistics for testing presence of autocorrelation, asymmetry, and other deviations from normality are applied. Dynamic correlations and different kernel estimations and approximations to the empirical distributions are also under scrutiny. Furthermore, dynamic analysis of mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis are also performed to evaluate time-varying properties in return distributions. Findings - The findings include: different types of non-normality in both markets, fat tails, excess furtosis, return clustering and unconditional time-varying moments. Identifiable volatility cycles in both forex and stock markets are associated to common macro financial uncertainty events. Originality/value - The paper is the first work of this type in Peru.
Impact of mesoscale eddies on water mass and oxygen distribution in the eastern tropical South Pacific

Abstract. Abstract. The influence of mesoscale eddies on the flow field and the water masses, especially the oxygen distribution of the eastern tropical South Pacific is investigated from a mooring, float and satellite data set. Two anticyclonic (ACE1/2), one mode water (MWE) and one cyclonic eddy (CE) are identified and followed in detail with satellite data on their westward transition with velocities of 3.2 to 6.0 cm/s from their generation region, the shelf of the Peruvian and Chilean upwelling regime, across the Stratus Ocean Reference Station (ORS) (~ 20° S, 85° W) to their decaying region far west in the oligotrophic open ocean. The ORS is located in the transition zone between the oxygen minimum zone and the well-oxygenated South Pacific subtropical gyre. Velocity, hydrographic, and oxygen measurements at the mooring show the impact of eddies on the weak flow region of the eastern tropical South Pacific. Strong anomalies are related to the passage of eddies and are not associated to a seasonal signal in the open ocean. The mass transport of the four observed eddies across 85° W is between 1.1 and 1.8 Sv. The eddy type dependent available heat, salt and oxygen anomalies are 7.6 × 10 18 J (ACE), 0.8 × 10 18 J (MWE), −9.4 × 10 18 J (CE) for heat, 23.9 × 10 10 kg (ACE2), −3.6 × 10 10 kg (MWE), −42.8 × 10 10 kg (CE) for salt and −3.6 × 10 16 μmol (ACE2), −3.5 × 10 16 μmol (MWE), −6.5 × 10 16 μmol (CE) for oxygen showing an imbalance between anticyclones and cyclones for heat and salt transports probably due to seasonal variability of water mass properties in the formation region of the eddies. Heat, salt and oxygen fluxes out of the coastal region across the ORS region in the oligotrophic open South Pacific are estimated based on these eddy anomalies and on eddy statistics (gained out of 23 years of satellite data). Furthermore, four profiling floats were trapped in the ACE2 during its westward propagation between the formation region and the open ocean, which allows conclusions on the isolation of water mass properties and the lateral mixing with time between the core of the eddy and the surrounding water showing the strongest lateral mixing between the seasonal thermocline and the eddy core during the first half of the lifetime.
Controlled release studies of 5-Fluorouracil through poly (vinyl caprolactum-co-vinyl acetate) microspheres

Novel poly (vinyl caprolactam-co-vinyl acetate) microspheres were crosslinked with N’, N’ methylene bisacrylamide (NNMBA) prepared by free radical emulsion polymerization. This was done by using vinyl caprolactam, vinyl acetate, and NNMBA with varying amounts. 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is an anticancer drug which was mixed into these microspheres during in situ polymerization. These microspheres were characterized by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. XRD and DSC results indicated that there was uniform distribution of 5-FU drug particles in microspheres, and SEM pictures suggest that the microspheres are in spherical shape. Both encapsulation efficiency and release patterns are found to be dependent on the amount of crosslinking agent and amount of drug loaded. From the results of drug release kinetic studies, an anomalous and nonFickian behavior was observed in the present studies. Furthermore, in vitro release studies indicated the release of 5-FU up to 10 hours.
Neurodynamics of up and down Transitions in Network Model

At the network level, populations of neurons have been observed to make upward and downward transitions synchronously. This paper focuses on the neurodynamics of these transitions in a network model which consists of 25 neurons in the network. We study the spontaneous transitions between up and down states and the ones induced by external inputs. We also compare these results with the results of a single neuron model, trying to find out the function of the cortex and the mechanism of how our brains work.
The Independent and Joint Effects of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Age on Sentencing Outcomes in U.S. Federal Courts

Using data compiled by the United States Sentencing Commission, we examine the independent and joint effects of race/ethnicity, gender, and age on sentencing decisions in U.S. federal courts. We find that Hispanics and blacks, males, and younger defendants receive harsher sentences than whites, females, and older defendants after controlling for important legal and contextual factors. When these effects are examined in combination, young Hispanic male defendants have the highest odds of incarceration and young black male defendants receive the longest sentences. The findings show considerable variation in the sentencing outcomes of defendants depending on their relative social‐structural position in society, and that particularly harsh punishments are focused disproportionately on the youngest Hispanic and black male defendants. Our results reinforce the idea that researchers need to consider the combined impact of multiple defendant statuses on sentencing outcomes because joint effects are considerably larger than the effects of any one defendant characteristic.
Measurmenet of inflation forecast targeting. A proposal of methodological solution

The paper offers a methodological solution to measuring infl ation forecast targeting (IFT). IFT is a central bank’s procedure which consists in: producing its own infl ation forecast, revealing its results and making interest rates decisions on the basis of the forecast. Infl ation forecast targeting is implemented, to some extent, by any central bank implementing infl ation targeting framework. It facilitates the forward-looking attitude of the central banker. This forward-lookingness facilitates the expectations shaping and goals achievement. The literature on IFT is broad but it does not cover a concise framework for IFT analysis and measurement. The following contribution fi lls in this gap. It presents the IFT index. The idea of its elaboration is in line with any monetary policy qualitative aspects measurement: 5 aspects of IFT are distinguished, each of which having a system of points attribution described. These aspects are: forecasting methodology, declaration on the forecast role in the monetary policy, forecast publication, actual central bank’s practice and ex post forecast evaluation. Actual central bank’s practice covers the assessment of the central bank’s decision compatibility with the message of the forecast. The multivariate scheme of assessment which considers central bank’s fl exibility in the decision making process – guaranteed by the framework of the infl ation targeting – is elaborated. The other IFT aspects’ evaluations consist in the analysis of the information revealed. The IFT can be divided into two sub indices: one covering only the forecasting system transparency and the other one – for decisions compatibility check. The IFT index and sub-indices are universal in the sense of considering the IFT broadly on the basis of various central bank’s practice. The index can be used to cross-country and over time comparison – such an example is also presented in the paper. It also makes it possible to verify the hypotheses on the central banks’ consistency in implementing IFT – measured by IFT index – and the central banks’ performance.
Evolution of seismic layer 2B across the Juan de Fuca Ridge from hydrophone streamer 2‐D traveltime tomography

How oceanic crust evolves has important implications for understanding both subduction earthquake hazards and energy and mass exchange between the Earth's interior and the oceans. Although considerable work has been done characterizing the evolution of seismic layer 2A, there has been little analysis of the processes that affect layer 2B after formation. Here we present high‐resolution 2‐D tomographic models of seismic layer 2B along ∼300 km long multichannel seismic transects crossing the Endeavour, Northern Symmetric, and Cleft segments of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. These models show that seismic layer 2B evolves rapidly following a different course than layer 2A. The upper layer 2B velocities increase on average by 0.8 km/s and reach a generally constant velocity of 5.2 ± 0.3 km/s within the first 0.5 Myr after crustal formation. This suggests that the strongest impact on layer 2B evolution may be that of mineral precipitation due to “active” hydrothermal circulation centered about the ridge crest and driven by the heat from the axial magma chamber. Variations in upper layer 2B velocity with age at time scales ≥0.5 Ma show correlation about the ridge axis indicating that in the long term, crustal accretion processes affect both sides of the ridge axis in a similar way. Below the 0.5 Ma threshold, differences in 2B velocity are likely imprinted during crustal formation or early crustal evolution. Layer 2B velocities at propagator wakes (5.0 ± 0.2 km/s), where enhanced faulting and cracking are expected, and at areas that coincide with extensional or transtensional faulting are on average slightly slower than in normal mature upper layer 2B. Analysis of the layer 2B velocities from areas where the hydrothermal patterns are known shows that the locations of current and paleohydrothermal discharge and recharge zones are marked by reduced and increased upper layer 2B velocities, respectively. Additionally, the distance between present up‐flow and down‐flow zones is related to the amount of sediment cover because, as sediment cover increases and basement outcrops become covered, direct pathways from the igneous basement through the seafloor are cut off, forcing convective cells to find alternate paths.
Economic Growth Centre Working Paper Series Indeterminacy and Market Instability

This note shows that indeterminacy arising from an economy exhibiting production with social constant returns to scale may be related to the instability of the consumption goods market equilibrium. Furthermore, trade does not contribute to indeterminacy; indeterminacy arises becasue each country’s equilibrium path is already indeterminate before trade. JEL Classification Numbers: E32, F00, F11, F43.
O BJECTIVE A SSESSMENT OF IP V IDEO C ALLS WITH A STERISK

The paper deals with an objective assessment of IP video calls transmission over GSM and UMTS networks. Video transmission is affected by many factors in mobile network. Among these factors belong packet loss, latency and transmission rate of the mobile network. Network properties were simulated by Simena network simulator. Our team have developed a unique technique for finding defects in video appearing in video calls. This technique is built on modified Asterisk SW PBX with enabled video recording and playback functions. Transmitted video files are compared with original video file by means of size of transmitted video file and invideo-defects. We are using MSU VQMT software for finding in video defects; more precisely we are using VQM method for comparing two video sources.
eCRM Features that Affect Customer Attitude to Loyalty: A Case Study of a Sample of 402 University Students Enrolled in International Programs in Thailand

The rapid growth of eCRM and its alarming failure rate call for a greater insight into the relationship between eCRM and its direct objective: customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The purpose of this research is to give a better understanding of customer perception of value from eCRM features on companies’ websites. In this study, the researcher empirically tested a model explaining the relationship between three eCRM features, (i.e. personalization, community and convenience), customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The empirical data were collected from 402 customers through a survey questionnaire. Findings of this study showed all the features of eCRM influenced customer satisfaction significantly, at the same time a significant impact of personalization and convenience on customer loyalty was found. The results also indicated a moderate effect of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty. This research clarifies the role of eCRM features in enhancing customer loyalty directly and through customer satisfaction; also highlights the critical features of eCRM program which companies’ websites should invest in their customer loyalty strategies.