Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Essex Finance Centre Working Paper Series Working Paper No 19 : 05-2017 “ Testing the Order of Fractional Integration of a Time Series in the Possible Presence of a Trend Break at an Unknown Point ” “

We develop a test, based on the Lagrange multiplier [LM] testing principle, for the value of the long memory parameter of a univariate time series that is composed of a fractionally integrated shock around a potentially broken deterministic trend. Our proposed test is constructed from data which are de-trended allowing for a trend break whose (unknown) location is estimated by a standard residual sum of squares estimator. We demonstrate that the resulting LM-type statistic has a standard limiting null chi-squared distribution with one degree of freedom, and attains the same asymptotic local power function as an infeasible LM test based on the true shocks. Our proposed test therefore attains the same asymptotic local optimality properties as an oracle LM test in both the trend break and no trend break environments. Moreover, and unlike conventional unit root and stationarity tests, this asymptotic local power function does not alter between the break and no break cases and so there is no loss in asymptotic local power from allowing for a trend break at an unknown point in the sample, even in the case where no break is present. We also report the results from a Monte Carlo study into the finite-sample behaviour of our proposed test.
The new enclosures: critical perspectives on corporate land deals

The contributions to this collection use the tools of agrarian political economy to explore the rapid growth and complex dynamics of large-scale land deals in recent years, with a special focus on the implications of big land deals for property and labour regimes, labour processes and structures of accumulation. The first part of this introductory essay examines the implications of this agrarian political economy perspective. First we explore the continuities and contrasts between historical and contemporary land grabs, before examining the core underlying debate around large- versus small-scale farming futures. Next, we unpack the diverse contexts and causes of land grabbing today, highlighting six overlapping mechanisms. The following section turns to assessing the crisis narratives that frame the justifications for land deals, and the flaws in the argument around there being excess, empty or idle land available. Next the paper turns to an examination of the impacts of land deals, and the processes of inclusion and exclusion at play, before looking at patterns of resistance and constructions of alternatives. The final section introduces the papers in the collection.
What every pediatrician should know about liver transplantation

Liver transplantation is the treatment of choice for children with end-stage liver disease. Improvement in outcomes (allograft and patient survival) has led to widespread use of pediatric LT worldwide. This success is due to improvement in patient selection, transplant surgery, anesthesia/postoperative care and immunosuppression management. This review will focus on different aspects of LT which every pediatrician should know to provide better patient care.
Verifying Alloy Models Using KeY

Alloy is a declarative specification language suitable for modeling structurally rich systems. It provides a relational first-order logic augmented with built-in operators for transitive closure, set cardinality, and integer arithmetics. The Alloy Analyzer automatically analyzes Alloy models by bounding the size of the modeled system. Therefore, although capable of finding counterexamples, it cannot prove the model correct. In this thesis, an interactive first-order theorem prover, namely the KeY system, is used to provide such proving capability. Alloy specifications are translated to KeY’s first-order logic. For this purpose, a relational first-order theory is defined that resembles the relational calculus offered by Alloy, and supports most of the language features including all relational, set, and numerical operators. Unlike the Alloy Analyzer that bounds the size of a model’s instances, our translation allows instances to be infinite. We prove that our translation is correct for the Alloy kernel, a subset of the Alloy language for which a formal semantics is available. A translated Alloy model is loaded in the KeY system for proving. KeY’s automatic proof search strategy is extended to allow efficient relational reasoning. We evaluate our approach by several experiments. As a case study, we prove Dijkstra’s solution to the dining philosophers problem.
Antibacterial Effect of some Plant Extracts on Selected Enterobacteriaceae

Vernonia amygdalina (Bitterleaf), Eucalyptus citriodora (Eucalypt) and Phyllanthus amarus (Schum) were investigated for their antibacterial properties against pure cultures of clinical isolates of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp. , Salmonella sp. and Shigella sp. The isolates were obtained from dept of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. Water and Ethanol were used in the crude extractions of the active constituents of the plants. Broth dilution and Agar diffusion methods were used in determining the antibacterial effects of the different plant extracts on the test organisms. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the water extracts on the test organisms was 50mg/ml while that of the ethanolic extract ranged between 6.25 - 50mg/ml. Similarly the diameters of zones of inhibition of the plant extracts at concentration of 100mg/ml ranged between 3.014. 0mm and 3.0-18.0mm for the water and ethanolic extracts respectively on the test organisms. Water extracts of vernonia amygdalina (Bitterleaf) and Schum (Phyllanthus amarus) were not effective on majority of the test organisms. Klebsiella sp. was not inhibited by the water extracts at the test concentrations. The Ethanolic extracts of Eucalyptus citriodora (Eucalypt) were most effective on all the test organisms. The least and the most susceptible organisms to the extracts were Shigella sp. and E. coli respectively. The results of this study suggest the possibility of using the ethanolic extracts of these plants in treating diseases caused by the test organisms.
Mammographic Density Classification based on Local Histograms

In this work, the task of classifying mammograms according to breast density is studied using a local-histogram-based feature extraction method and a non-parametric classification scheme. Breast density estimation is important due to its association with a higher risk of cancer and an increased difficulty of diagnosis. 322 images from the Mammographic Image Analysis Society (MIAS) Database have been analyzed, and the density prediction accuracy of the method has been assessed. The obtained results show an agreement of 77.96% between automatic and expert radiologist manual classification.
Adjoint-Driven Importance Sampling in Light Transport Simulation

Monte Carlo light transport simulation has recently been adopted by the movie industry as a standard tool for producing photo realistic imagery. As the industry pushes current technologies to the very edge of their possibilities, the unprecedented complexity of rendered scenes has underlined a fundamental weakness of MC light transport simulation: slow convergence in the presence of indirect illumination. The culprit of this poor behaviour is that the sampling schemes used in the state-of-the-art MC transport algorithms usually do not adapt to the conditions of rendered scenes. We base our work on the observation that the vast amount of samples needed by these algorithms forms an abundant source of information that can be used to derive superior sampling strategies, tailored for a given scene. In the first part of this thesis, we adapt general machine learning techniques to train directional distributions for biasing scattering directions of camera paths towards incident illumination (radiance). Our approach allows progressive training from a stream of particles while maintaining bounded memory footprint. This progressive nature makes the method robust even in scenarios where we have little information in the early stages of the training due to difficult visibility. The proposed method is not restricted only to path tracing, where paths start at the camera, but can be employed also in light tracing or photon mapping, where paths are emitted from light sources, as well as in combined bidirectional methods. In the second part of this thesis we revisit Russian roulette and splitting, two variance reduction techniques that have been used in computer graphics for more than 25 years. So far, however, the path termination (Russian roulette) and splitting rates have been based only on local material properties in the scene which can result in inefficient simulation in the presence of indirect illumination. In contrast, we base the termination and splitting rates on a pre-computed approximation of the adjoint quantity (i.e. radiance in the case of path tracing) which yields superior results to previous approaches. To increase robustness of our method, we adopt the so called weight window, a standard technique in neutron transport simulations. Both methods, that is the biasing of scattering directions introduced in the first part of the thesis and the adjoint-driven Russian roulette and splitting, are based on the prior estimate of the adjoint quantity. Nevertheless, they constitute two complementary importance sampling strategies of transported light and as we show, their combination yields superior results to each strategy alone. As one of our contributions, we present a theoretical analysis that provides insights into the importance sampling properties of our adjoint-driven Russian roulette and splitting, and also explains the synergic behaviour of the two strategies.
The Developmental and Physiological Interactions between Free Radicals and Antioxidant Defense System: Effect of Environmental Pollutants

This review explores the relation between antioxidant defense system and reactive oxygen species (ROS) during the development and shows the effect of environmental pollutants on this process. In normal state, the decline in levels of free radicals is coupled with increased antioxidant and the reverse is true, but there is a critical balance between them during the development. Also, redox signaling induced by environmental pollutants (stressors) involves both alterations in antioxidant defenses and accumulation of ROS leading to oxidative stress which acts as a critical pathophysiological mechanism. This disturbance has deleterious effect on male/female reproductive functions, on the development of the blastocysts and on the health of the embryos, newborns (perinatal life) and adulthood. Also, this overview shows that sperm, egg, zygote or blastocyst derived during the abnormal production of ROS due to environmental pollutants may result into offspring with high risk of any type of diseases producing developmental delay, embryopathy, teratogenic changes and apoptosis. These early insults may then lead to an increased rate of miscarriage and congenital anomalies depending on free radicals signaling and cell-death pathways. Thus, maintaining the balance between antioxidants and ROS during pregnancy or lactation period may modulate normal fetal/neonates growth and development, and may play an important role in a healthy life for the newborns. However, this argument is still ambiguous because of the difficulties of to what degree oxidants could participate as signaling molecules controlling fundamental and developmentally relevant cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, and death.
Alternatives to cash prices in fed-cattle price discovery

Price discovery in fed cattle markets is a significant concern as cash market volume declines and trade becomes more sporadic. Producers need to consider other sources of pricing information when negotiating cash trade and long-term marketing agreements. This study evaluated several alternative price sources for producers to consider. Live cattle futures and wholesale boxed-beef prices offer the most promise; however, both also have limitations associated with their use.
Use of tPA in a 16 Year Old with Acute MCA Stroke

Introduction: The incidence of pediatric stroke is 1.29-13.0 per 100,000 annually. Use of fibrinolytic therapy in qualified adults with acute ischemic stroke is standard practice. However, alteplase is not recommended in pediatric patients. Case: We report a case of a 16 year old Caucasian female who presented to the emergency room with aphasia and right arm numbness one hour and twenty minutes after symptom onset. National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was three. Initial computed tomography without contrast showed a hyper-dense left middle cerebral artery (MCA). The patient was below the minimum age for alteplase administration in acute ischemic stroke. Written consent was obtained from the parents and 90 mg alteplase (0.9 mg/kg; 90 mg maximum) was administered 3 h 25 min after symptom onset. Right arm numbness resolved thirty minutes after drug administration and repeat NIHSS was one for mild expressive aphasia. Diffusion-weighted MRI the following day demonstrated infarction of the posterior left insular cortex while sparing most of the MCA distribution. She remained stable during hospitalization and was discharged home on daily aspirin and resumed school activities with full recovery. Discussion: Although stroke is among the top ten causes of mortality in this age group, there are many barriers to administration of alteplase. Use of alteplase in the pediatric population is poorly reported and there are no randomized trials conducted in this age group. Due to the challenges in conducting randomized controlled trials in children, registries provide an alternative approach to gathering and analyzing information. Clinicians are encouraged to continue reporting cases of alteplase use in pediatric stroke patients.
Would a Second Transition Stage Prolong the Initial Period of Post-socialist Economic Transformation into Market Capitalism?

The article attempts to define the relevant yardsticks that can be used to delineate the end of the transition process or, alternatively, a second stage in the post-socialist economic transformation into market capitalism. A first benchmark is EU accession, but it does not apply to non accession transitional economies. Moreover, a delay is going to appear between accession and the full benefit of common policies - a second transition period will open in May 2004. Convergence criteria are likely to postpone the end of transition for decades, if not for ever. Institution building varies significantly among transition countries, but the non accession countries are trapped for a long time in a no man's land between the former system and a market economy with its necessary institutions. Our privileged analysis is that transition ends when the economic phenomena that are specific to transition will vanish (and the associated concepts will disappear). These are assumed to be transformational recession, transitional unemployment, barterisation, the typical informal sector and managerial entrenchment. They are not going to fade away without a second stage of transition
Evidence of multiple vicariance in a marine suture‐zone in the Gulf of Mexico

Aim Our aim was to assess whether single or multiple vicariance event(s) have occurred in a marine suture‐zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico. We estimated the divergence time of two genetically distinct groups of lane snapper (Lutjanus synagris), distributed on either side of this zone, and compared it to the timing of other vicariance events described previously in the area.
Structural‐technological factors of efficiency of floors with permanent reinforced concrete formwork

Abstract Problems associated with the development of reinforced concrete floors, the main element of a building, are considered in this article. Structural and technological factors effecting the advantages of floors with permanent formwork being the modern type of such structures are investigated. Rational diagrams, ways of manufacture and erection of these structures are presented. Essential peculiarities for design and analyses of such structures based on the investigations performed by the author and other investigators are indicated. This shall be taken into account for obtaining not only economical, but a reliable and rigid structure as well. Economical comparison of various types of floors is presented.
Chapter 9 Nitrogen control of nitrogen fixation in free-living diazotrophs

Whilst the process of nitrogen fixation is found distributed amongst a taxonomically very diverse range of microorganisms, research over the last thirty years has, perhaps not surprisingly, revealed that the physiological constraints that these organisms face are often very similar. The ways in which free-living diazotrophs deal with these problems have been examined by physiologists, biochemists and geneticists and this research is now providing a unified picture of the exquisitely elaborate mechanisms that have evolved. Furthermore whilst each group of organisms has evolved its own particular genetic and biochemical strategies to maximise the efficiency of nitrogen fixation some common themes are now becoming clear. The physiological issues to be addressed by a free-living diazotroph are well defined; namely to optimise nitrogen fixation whilst coping with the oxygen sensitivity of nitrogenase, to satisfy the substantial energy demands of the fixation process, to supply metals for a range of metalloenzymes, and to utilise other sources of fixed nitrogen before fixing atmospheric N2. It is now very apparent that all of these aspects of regulation are not only inter-related but also have to be integrated with the rest of the cell’s metabolism. This chapter focuses on the mechanisms by which free-living diazotrophs regulate nitrogen fixation in response to changes in the cellular nitrogen status. In all organisms this regulation operates at the level of transcription of the nitrogen
Synthesis and Isolation of 2,9,17,23-Tetrakis[(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)phenoxy]phthalocyanine and Its Magnesium(II) and Zinc(II) Complexes

The synthesis of novel phthalocyanine containing four (3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)phenoxy groups and its complexes with magnesium and zinc is reported. The practically pure CS regioisomers of peripheral substituted phthalocyanines were separated and isolated by column chromatography with good yields. The structure and symmetry of synthesized phthalocyanines were confirmed by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, IR, UV-Vis, and MS spectral data. Influence of metals and reaction conditions on the isolation of practically pure CS regioisomers were discussed. Aggregation properties of phthalocyanines were investigated in DMF in different concentration ranges.
The NWPU System for CHiME-5 Challenge

The 5th CHiME Speech Separation and Recognition Challenge (CHiME-5) [1] considers the problem of distant multi-microphone conversational speech recognition in everyday home environments. In this challenge, we take advantage of several beamforming techniques, powerful TDNN-F [2] acoustic models, pruned lattice-rescoring algorithm as well as ROVER [3] based system fusion. Compared to the ofﬁcial baseline, our best system achieves around 18% and 17% absolute WER reduction on the development and test sets respectively.
Effects of haptic texture rendering modalities on realism

In haptics, two major modalities, force and vibration, are used to model real textures and recreate them in a virtual environment. This paper compares the perceptual advantages and disadvantages between the two approaches by a user study. In particular, the perceptual similarity of a virtual texture to a real texture is rated using five criteria of geometry, roughness, hardness, friction and overall similarity. These categorical comparisons allowed us to provide general guidelines to appropriate uses of the two approaches.
Marine Reserves for Fisheries Management

Conventional methods of regulating commercial fisheries restrict catch by limiting either the quantity or efficiency of fishing effort, or by putting direct limits on catch. These regulatory practices are neither feasible nor desirable for many fisheries, and have failed to conserve fishery stocks in other fisheries. Marine reserves may be an effective alternative management strategy for some fisheries. Here we develop a dynamic model of marine reserves applicable to inshore fisheries. In contrast to previous models of reserves, the model is fully dynamic and provides information on both equilibrium conditions and the path to equilibrium. A simulation model based on red snapper data from the Gulf of Mexico is presented. The simulation results suggest that marine reserves can sustain or increase yields for moderate to heavily fished fisheries but will probably not improve yields for lightly fished fisheries.
Optimal control for a Formula One car with variable parameters

The minimum-lap-time optimal control problem for a Formula One race car is solved using direct transcription and nonlinear programming. Features of this work include significantly reduced full-lap solution times and the simultaneous optimisation of the driven line, the driver controls and multiple car set-up parameters. It is shown that significant reductions in the driven lap time can be obtained from track-specific set-up parameter optimisation. Reduced computing times are achieved using a combination of a track description based on curvilinear coordinates, analytical derivatives and model non-dimensionalisation. The curvature of the track centre line is found by solving an auxiliary optimal control problem that negates the difficulties associated with integration drift and trajectory closure.
Nordic Walking - A New Form of Adapted Physical Activity (A Literature Review)

Purpose. �thepurposeofthisstudywastoanalyzescientificevidenceontheeffectsthatNordicWalking�(NW)�hasonthehumanbody. � Basic procedures. �Acomprehensivesearchofcomputerdatabases�(MEDLINE/PubMed,�cINAHL,�andSPORtDiscus)�wasconducted� toidentifyrelevantEnglishandPolishstudiesonNWthatwerepublishedfrom�1995�to�2009�andbasedonscientificresearch. �Main findings. �Atotalof�26�studiesmettheinclusioncriteria. �themajorityofstudies�(12)�discussedphysiologicalissues,�elevenstudieswere� dedicatedtoNWasaformofrehabilitation� (includingonecasestudy),�andthreestudiesfocusedonbiomechanicalissuespresentin� NW. �Conclusions. �NotallofthewidelypromotedbenefitsofNWwereconfirmedintheresultsofthefoundscientificstudies. �Often� analyzedissuesdidnotprovidesufficientexplanation. �thereisalargediscrepancyintheresultsofphysiologicalresponsesduringNW� inavarietyofconditions�(onatreadmillwith/withoutgrade;�field� -�uphill/downhill/horizontallevelterrain). �theresultsofstudies� analyzingtheeffectsofNWtrainingasaformofrehabilitationparticularlyintheareasofcardiologyconfirmedthepositiveaspectsof� includingNWtowardsapatient'srehabilitationafteracutecoronarysyndrome,�withintermittentclaudication,� andaftercoronaryartery� disease,�oraftermyocardialinfarction. �contrarytopopularbeliefandpreviouslydonestudies,�recentresearchhasshownthatNWdoes� notreducetheloadingofthekneejoint.