Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ACADÉMICO DE ECONOMÍA “ THE EFFECT OF INTERNET AND CELL PHONES ON EMPLOYMENT AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN RURAL VILLAGES IN PERU ” Tesis :

In this paper we analyze the impact of a program that subsidized Internet access in rural and remote areas of Peru. We estimate a local treatment effect applying a Difference‐in‐Difference approach and a Triple Difference approach. We run several placebo tests to verify that the results are not generated by previous trends. We find that the program increased not only Internet usage but also ownership of cell phones and home phones. We also find that the program increased employment of educated, single, and young individuals. Additionally, the program led to an increase in the prices farmers received for their traditional products and in the production of more processed goods. The effects on cell phones ownership are higher and more widespread than the effects on Internet usage, but our evidence suggest that, at least for the case of the effects on employment, Internet access might have played an important role.
Spontaneous peripartum liver haemorrhage presenting as foetal distress

We present the case of a 32-year-old woman who presented at 37 weeks’ gestation with foetal bradycardia. At caesarean delivery, an intra-abdominal haemorrhage was noted before the uterine incision was made. A subsequent exploratory laparotomy revealed the source of the bleeding to be an extensive ruptured haematoma involving both lobes of the liver. Radiologic investigations revealed the presence of multiple cavernous haemangiomata in the liver. The perioperative management of this patient is described, with a brief review of the literature.
Détermination du débit cardiaque par la méthode du Modelflow

Cette thèse comporte deux études menées dans le but de valider le Modelflow® comme méthode de détermination du débit cardiaque (Q') battement-par-battement chez l'humain. Dans la première étude, nous comparons les valeurs de Q' obtenues par le Modelflow® à partir de profils de l'onde pulsatile enregistrés simultanément au doigt et à l'artère radiale, au repos et à l'exercice. Les profils pulsatiles périphériques se traduisent par des valeurs de Q' systématiquement plus élevées que celles obtenues au niveau artériel. Dans la deuxième étude, nus avons calibré Q' par Modelflow® appliqué aux profils pulsatiles au doigt, en utilisant la technique d'acétylène en circuit-ouvert, au repos et à divers niveaux d'effort à l'état stationnaire. Les facteurs de correction calculés étaient indépendants du niveau d'effort. L'utilisation de Modelflow® comme méthode fiable pour la mesure de Q' au repos et à l'exercice est possible après correction par rapport à une méthode indépendante. AZABJI KENFACK, Marcel. Détermination du débit cardiaque par la méthode du Modelflow appliquée à une artère périphérique au repos et à l'exercice modéré. Thèse de doctorat : Univ. Genève, 2006, no. Méd. 10474 URN : urn:nbn:ch:unige-4117 DOI : 10.13097/archive-ouverte/unige:411
Global Imbalances, Risk and the Great Recession

This paper describes a new analytical framework for the quantitative assessment of international external positions. The framework links each country’s current net foreign asset position to its current trade flows, forecasts of future trade flows, and expectations concerning future returns on foreign assets and liabilities in an environment where countries cannot run Ponzi schemes or exploit arbitrage opportunities in world financial markets. It provides guidance on how external positions should be measured in the data, and on how the sustainability of a country’s current position can be assessed. To illustrate its usefulness, I study the external positions of 12 countries (Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, The United States and The United Kingdom) between 1970 and 2011. In particular, I examine how changes in the perceived risk associated with future returns across world financial markets contributed to evolution of external positions before the 2008 financial crisis, and during the ensuing Great Recession.
Accelerating Relevance Vector Machine for Large-Scale Data on Spark

Relevance vector machine (RVM) is a machine learning algorithm based on a sparse Bayesian framework, which performs well when running classification and regression tasks on small-scale datasets. However, RVM also has certain drawbacks which restricts its practical applications such as (1) slow training process, (2) poor performance on training large-scale datasets. In order to solve these problem, we propose Discrete AdaBoost RVM (DAB-RVM) which incorporate ensemble learning in RVM at first. This method performs well with large-scale low-dimensional datasets. However, as the number of features increases, the training time of DAB-RVM increases as well. To avoid this phenomenon, we utilize the sufficient training samples of large-scale datasets and propose all features boosting RVM (AFB-RVM), which modifies the way of obtaining weak classifiers. In our experiments we study the differences between various boosting techniques with RVM, demonstrating the performance of the proposed approaches on Spark. As a result of this paper, two proposed approaches on Spark for different types of large-scale datasets are available.
FOREST MANAGEMENT AND CARBON CAPTURED: ANALYTICAL ASPECTS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

En los ultimos anos ha habido una tendencia creciente de considerar a los ecosistemas forestales como posibles sumideros de dioxido de carbono. En este sentido, se intenta mitigar el importante incremento de las emisiones de este gas en los paises industrializados. Este nuevo contexto implica modificaciones en aspectos basicos de la gestion forestal, como la determinacion del periodo optimo de rotacion, incluyendo las nuevas subvenciones europeas. En este articulo se hace una revision critica de algunas experiencias recientes, y se consideran nuevas ideas. Con este proposito se estudian tres casos: una especie con periodo de rotacion corto (Populus sp.), otra especie con un periodo de rotacion medio (Pinus radiata D. Don.), y finalmente una especie con un periodo de rotacion largo (Pinus sylvestris L.)
Air-sea CO2 fluxes and the controls on ocean surface pCO2 seasonal variability in the coastal and open-ocean southwestern Atlantic Ocean : a modeling study

Abstract. We use an eddy-resolving, regional ocean biogeochemical model to investigate the main variables and processes responsible for the climatological spatio-temporal variability of pCO2 and the air-sea CO2 fluxes in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Overall, the region acts as a sink of atmospheric CO2 south of 30° S, and is close to equilibrium with the atmospheric CO2 to the north. On the shelves, the ocean acts as a weak source of CO2, except for the mid/outer shelves of Patagonia, which act as sinks. In contrast, the inner shelves and the low latitude open ocean of the southwestern Atlantic represent source regions. Observed nearshore-to-offshore and meridional pCO2 gradients are well represented by our simulation. A sensitivity analysis shows the importance of the counteracting effects of temperature and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in controlling the seasonal variability of pCO2. Biological production and solubility are the main processes regulating pCO2, with biological production being particularly important on the shelves. The role of mixing/stratification in modulating DIC, and therefore surface pCO2, is shown in a vertical profile at the location of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) site in the Argentine Basin (42° S, 42° W).
Estimation of monthly global solar radiation in Buenos Aires: preliminary analysis

Six existing models and one proposed approach for estimating global solar radiation were tested in Buenos Aires using commonly measured meteorological data as temperature and sunshine hours covering the years 2010-2013. Statistical predictors as mean bias error, root mean square, mean percentage error, slope and regression coefficients were used as validation criteria. The variability explained (R 2 ), slope and MPE indicated that the higher precision could be excepted when sunshine hours are used as predictor. The new proposed approach explained almost 99% of the R G variability with deviation of less than ± 0.1 MJm -2 day -1 and with the MPE smallest value below 1 %. The well known Angstrom-Prescott methods, first and third order, was also found to perform for the measured data with high accuracy (R 2 =0.97-0.99) but with slightly higher MBE values (0.17-0.18 MJm -2 day -1 ). The results pointed out that the third order Angstrom type correlation did not improve the estimation accuracy of solar radiation given the highest range of deviation and mean percentage error obtained. Where the sunshine hours were not available, the formulae including temperature data might be considered as an alternative although the methods displayed larger deviation and tended to overestimate the solar radiation behavior.
WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS' SUCCESS AND FAILURE AT TRU: A CASE OF INTRODUCTORY ECONOMICS COURSES

The likelihood of success and failure in Microeconomics, ECON 1900, and Macroeconomics, ECON 1950, of 1369 Thompson Rivers University (TRU) students was analyzed using a probit model. This approach uses students’ final marks in these courses along with other personal and institutional characteristics. It also determines the probability of passing the two introductory courses in economics against alternative contributing factors. The success and failure have found to be influenced by factors such as high school GPA, age, gender, location, type of high school, etc. In addition, the results indicate that boys have a higher chance of successfully passing Microeconomics while such differentiation between boys and girls was not clearly evident in case of Macroeconomic. Prior academic achievement, measured by the average GPA of some selected high school courses, was also found to be significant. In addition, the likelihood is also dependent on the age of students at the time the course is taken. For a given high school GPA and regardless of student’s gender, the highest probability of passing these courses occurs at age 26. Finally, students of both genders who were recruited from the School Districts close to Thompson Rivers University have shown better chances to pass these courses.
THE INFLUENCE OF PRODUCT PRESENTATION MODE AND ACADEMIC MAJOR ON THE MOTIVATION OF HAPTIC

Purpose of the study: This study was aimed to investigate the effect of product presentation mode and education background of the subject on the willingness of touch, preferences and visual imagery. Methodology: A total of 60 students were recruited to participate. The independent variables included product presentation mode (physical products, backgrounds removed image, scenario photo) and academic major of the subject (design major or management major). Three different kind dependent variables were measured in the study. On physical product condition, one sample was placed in front of subjects at a time. Both backgrounds removed image and scenario photo conditions, the subjects view experimental photos through a 22-inch LCD screen. They watched the sample item for 10 seconds and then were asked to assess the subjective questionnaire. Main Findings: The study results showed that when watching a physical product, the motivation of touch was greatest. The scenario photo generated more positive feelings and resulted in higher preference rating. The willingness of touch, preference and sensory ratings of management major students were higher than design major students. Applications of this study: The findings of this study can serve as a reference for enterprises to properly present products on web pages in order to increase consumers’ motivation to touch and preference. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study reinforces construction of a model of motivation to touch, and find that product presentation mode significant affect motivation to touch, preference and novelty feeling.
Identification of RNA regulators operating in the segmentation clock

Embryonic development is highly controlled in space and time and in many developmental processes this control relies on mechanisms of post-transcriptional regulation, namely the modulation of mRNA stability and translation efficiency. This study is focused on the formation of transient mesodermal structures, termed somites, which are the precursors of the vertebrae, skeletal muscles and dermis of the back. Somite formation – Somitogenesis is governed by two mechanisms: a molecular clock, composed of cyclically expressed genes that need to be unstable at the mRNA level to produce sustained oscillations; and a wavefront of differentiation, formed by a morphogen gradient which is thought to be generated by the slow degradation of the morphogens' mRNA. However, the mechanisms that regulate the stability of these mRNAs have not been studied. We set out to assess the effects that the 3'untranslated regions (3'UTRs) of the zebrafish cyclic and wavefront genes exert on the stability and translation efficiency of their mRNAs. To achieve this we established an in vivo fluorescent reporter system and created a mathematical model to describe and characterize this system. Additionally we conducted a bioinformatic identification of sequence elements present in these UTRs that could modulate the observed effects. We uncovered the existence of three alternative 3'UTRs for the wavefront gene fgf8a. Our in vivo studies revealed that two of these fgf8a alternative 3'UTRs, as well as the 3'UTRs of the cyclic genes her1 and her7, modulate a negative regulation of the reporters' expression. The bioinformatic approach revealed inter-species conserved sequence elements in these 3'UTRs, as well as predicted binding motifs for heterogeneous ribonucleoproteins, and for members of the microRNA-1 family and microRNA 17~19 clusters. The in vivo experimental system implemented will enable the future study of the role these sequence elements play in the post-transcriptional regulation of the cyclic and wavefront genes.
Limited Tomography Reconstruction via Tight Frame and Sinogram Extrapolation

X-ray computed tomography (CT) is one of widely used diagnostic tools for medical and dental tomographic imaging of the human body. However, the standard filtered backprojection reconstruction method requires the complete knowledge of the projection data. In the case of limited data, the inverse problem of CT becomes more ill-posed, which makes the reconstructed image deteriorated by the artifacts. In this paper, we consider two dimensional CT reconstruction using the horizontally truncated projections. Over the decades, the numerous results including the sparsity model based approach has enabled the reconstruction of the image inside the region of interest (ROI) from the limited knowledge of the data. However, unlike these existing methods, we try to reconstruct the entire CT image from the limited knowledge of the sinogram via the tight frame regularization and the simultaneous sinogram extrapolation. Our proposed model shows more promising numerical simulation results compared with the existing sparsity model based approach.
Effects of conservation agriculture on soil quality and productivity in contrasting agro‐ecological environments of Zimbabwe

Experimentation by farmers with conservation agriculture (CA) is increasing in southern Africa, but local longer term data on these new production systems are scarce. This study focuses on CA research at two contrasting on‐farm sites and one on‐station long‐term trial in Zimbabwe. The on‐farm trials were conducted at Chikato village on a sandy soil at Zimuto Communal Area with low rainfall and at Hereford farm near Bindura on a clay‐rich soil in a high rainfall area. The on‐station trial was at Henderson Research Station near Mazowe where more in‐depth soil studies were possible. Results of CA systems from the on‐station site show on average 38 and 65% greater water infiltration on ripline‐seeded (RS) and direct‐seeded CA treatments compared with conventionally ploughed control treatments. Results from on‐farm sites show a 123 and 168% greater aggregate stability at Hereford and 11 and 24% lower dispersion ratio at Chikato on the two CA compared with the conventionally ploughed control treatments. Soil carbon increased by 46% in the first 20 cm on the sandy soils at Chikato in RS and by 104% in direct‐seeded CA treatments in four cropping seasons from 2004 to 2008, while it stayed at low levels on the conventionally tilled control treatment. Yields on CA plots were higher on the sandy soils in dry seasons, but lower in very wet seasons because of waterlogging. Yields on clay soils were less affected by the rainfall season. Crop productivity from CA systems increased at all sites over time owing to better management although significant differences between CA and conventional treatments on the three sites were apparent only after several cropping seasons. Conservation agriculture offers practical solutions to small‐scale farmers threatened by future soil degradation and fertility loss, but its successful use will depend on weed control and adequate application of fertilizers. The results indicate that there is no immediate increase in maize (Zea mays L.) yield when changing from a tilled to a CA system, but there is gradual improvement in some soil quality indicators over time.
Accuracy of Skill Performance in the Basketball Free Throw Shooting

The purpose of this study were to investigates how timing of shot of skilled player and assess performance accuracy of free throw shooting. Ten college students participated in this study (5 skilled players, and 5 naive participants) aged 18-23 years. They performed free throw shooting at 10 times. Shooting seen was recorded three cameras and analyzed shooting successful rate, off-target distance (the distance between the basketball through point and the center of the goal) and shot timing. Shot timing was not significant difference. Shooting successful rate of skilled players was higher than unskilled players. Offtarget distance of skilled players was significant smaller than naive player. Consequently, skilled player is possible to aim at the center of the goal and shooting near the center of goal.
Long-term effects of anthropogenic habitat disturbance on a lizard assemblage inhabiting coastal dunes in Argentina

We studied abundance and habitat use in two species of Liolaemus (Squamata: Tropiduridae) at a coastal dune site in eastern Argentina before and 7 years after a road was built at the site. Before disturbance, lizards exhib - ited similar abundances and a wide segregation in microhabitat use. Liolaemus multimaculatusused flat dunes scarcely covered by Spartina ciliata, while Liolaemus gracilis used the grass Panicum racemosumas cover. After disturbance, the mean number of L. multimaculatus detected by month was significantly less than that observed in the predisturbance period, owing to a drastic reduction in S. ciliata microhabitat patches. The mean number of L. gracilis was similar to that seen during the first period. These differences were clearly linked to habitat loss at the site. We concluded that human impact on the habitat structure of foredunes induced changes in the structure of the lizard assemblage, including shifts in the relative abundance of species and the proportional use of their preferred microhabitats. Resume : Nous avons etudie l'abondance et l'utilisation de l'habitat chez deux especes de Liolaemus (Squamata : Tro- piduridae) sur le site d'une dune cotiere de l'est de l'Argentine, avant et 7 ans apres la construction d'une route a cet endroit. Avant la perturbation, les lezards des deux especes etaient tout aussi abondants et il y avait segregation des deux dans differents microhabitats. Liolaemus multimaculatusutilisait les dunes plates a peine couvertes de Spartina ci- liata, alors que Liolaemus gracilis utilisait les zones couvertes de plantes herbacees Panicum racemosum. Apres la per- turbation, le nombre moyen de L. multimaculatus reperes chaque mois etait significativement moins eleve qu'avant la perturbation a cause de la reduction considerable des microhabitats a S. ciliata. Le nombre moyen de L. gracilis a peu change apres la perturbation. Ces differences sont directement attribuables a la perte d'habitat sur le site. Nous con- cluons que l'impact de la perturbation d'origine humaine sur la structure de l'habitat des avant-dunes a entraine des modifications des associations de lezards, notamment des changements dans l'abondance relative des especes et dans l'utilisation proportionnelle des habitats preferes. (Traduit par la Redaction) 1660
A Systemic Evaluation of Obstacles Preventing the Wider Public Benefiting from and Participating in

In the context of a regular COST 298 management meeting, the authors have organized a structured democratic dialogue co-laboratory to study the obstacles, which the Cost298 community faces in their effort to engage the wider public in the wideband society. Through a process known as Structured Design Process (SDP), the experts of the COST 298 network collected and structured all their ideas concerning obstacles to achieving this goal. The process was initiated asynchronously before the co-laboratory by sending to all participants the following triggering question by email: “What are the obstacles to the wider public benefiting from and participating in the broadband society? ” They were requested to contribute one or more ideas expressed as single sentences, but with the option of providing separate clarifications. During the co-laboratory all ideas were presented again and participants were guided through a structured process to cluster and prioritize their ideas. Subsequently, with the help of special software (CogniscopeTM), the relative influence of one idea on another was systematically studied. This process resulted in a root cause influence map, which provides a clear picture of which obstacles need to be tackled first. Two ideas emerged as root causes: the inadequate public promotion of its importance and the lack of user friendliness.
Subsurface drip irrigation using livestock wastewater: dripline flow rates.

Using subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) with lagoon wastewater has many potential advantages. The challenge is to design and manage the SDI system to prevent emitter clogging. The objective of this study was to measure the flow rates of five types of driplines (with emitter flow rates of 0.57, 0.91, 1.5, 2.3, and 3.5 L/h/emitter) when used with lagoon wastewater. A disk filter with openings of 55 µm (200 mesh) was used and shock treatments of chlorine and acid were injected periodically. During the 1998 growing season, 530 mm of wastewater were applied through the SDI system and 390 mm were applied in 1999. During the growing seasons, the two lowest flow rate emitter designs decreased in flow rate, indicating that some emitter clogging had occurred. The magnitudes of the decreases were 15% and 11% of the original flow rates in 1998 and 22% and 14% in 1999 for the 0.57 L/h/emitter and 0.91 L/h/emitter driplines, respectively. After the winter idle period, the flow rates of both driplines returned to the initial flow rates. The three emitter designs with higher flow rates showed little sign of clogging; their flow rates decreased by 4% or less through both growing seasons. Observations showed that the disk filter and automatic backflush controller performed adequately in 1998 and 1999. Based on these preliminary results, the use of SDI with lagoon wastewater shows promise. However, the smaller emitter sizes (0.91 L/h/emitter or less) may be risky for use with wastewater and the long-term (greater than two growing seasons) effects are untested.