Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Economic Discontinuities at Borders: Evidence from Satellite Data on Lights at Night

Using a new methodology for the computation of standard errors in a regression discontinuity design with in ll asymptotics, I document the existence of discontinuities in the levels and growth of the amount of satellite-recorded light per capita across national borders. Both the amount of lights per capita and its growth rate are shown to increase discontinuously upon crossing a border from a poorer (or lower-growing) into a richer (or higher-growing) country. I argue that these discontinuities form lower bounds for discontinuities in economic activity across borders, which suggest the importance of national-level variables such as institutions and culture relative to local-level variables such as geography for the determination of income and growth. I nd that institutions of private property are helpful in explaining di¤erences in growth between two countries at the border, while contracting institutions, local and national levels of public goods, as well as education and cultural variables, are not. I would like to thank Daron Acemoglu, Jerry Hausman, James Snyder and Amy Finkelstein for guidance and advice. I would like to thank Melissa Dell, Esther Duo, Susan Elmes, Jens Hainmueller, Horacio Larreguy, Anna Mikusheva, Serena Ng, Elias Papaioannou, Jack Porter, Bernard Salanie, Whitney Newey, and participants at the Political Economy Breakfast at MIT and the Econometrics Lunch at Columbia University for very insightful comments. I would like to thank Daniel Sheehan and the MIT GIS lab for assistance with geographic software. I am very grateful to the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans for intellectual stimulation, and to the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program and the Institute of Humane Studies for funding. The paper does not necessarily represent the views of the above individuals and organizations, and all remaining errors are my own.
Distributed lags time series analysis versus linear correlation analysis (Pearson r) in identifying the relationship between anti-pseudomonal antibiotics consumption and the susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates in a single ICU of a tertiary hospital

Erdeljić V. , Francetić I. , Bošnjak Z. , Budimir A. , Kalenić S. , Bielen L, Makar-Aušperger K. , Likić R. (2011) Distributed lags time series analysis versus linear correlation analysis (Pearson's r) in identifying the relationship between antipseudomonal antibiotic consumption and the susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates in a single Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary hospital. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 37 (5). pp. 467-71. ISSN 0924-8579
On the matrix Monge–Kantorovich problem

The classical Monge–Kantorovich (MK) problem as originally posed is concerned with how best to move a pile of soil or rubble to an excavation or fill with the least amount of work relative to some cost function. When the cost is given by the square of the Euclidean distance, one can define a metric on densities called the Wasserstein distance. In this note, we formulate a natural matrix counterpart of the MK problem for positive-definite density matrices. We prove a number of results about this metric including showing that it can be formulated as a convex optimisation problem, strong duality, an analogue of the Poincaré–Wirtinger inequality and a Lax–Hopf–Oleinik–type result.
EXTRACTION OF PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS FROM PETAI LEAVES (PARKIA SPECIOSA HASSK.) USING MICROWAVE AND ULTRASOUND ASSISTED METHODS

The antioxidant has an activity to neutralize free radical compound that the body needs to avoid damage cells and tissues. Phenolic is one of the compounds that have an antioxidant activity. The influences of ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE) and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) conditions on phenolic compounds of Parkia speciosa Hassk. leaves were investigated. The effects of temperature (40°C, 50°C, 60°C and 70°C), time (10, 30 and 50 minutes) and material-solvent ratio (1:10, 1:13, 1:15 ) were evaluated based on the yield, total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity. The result showed that the highest yield (15.82%) was obtained at 1:15 (w/w) of material-solvent ratio, 50°C of temperature and 50 minutes of extraction time for MAE. The highest yield of UAE is 15.53% that sample was obtained at 1:13 (w/w) of material-solvent ratio, 60°C of optimal temperature and 30 minutes extraction time. The highest IC50 of UAE method extract was 52.55 ppm, while the extract obtained using MAE method was 50.44 ppm. UAE is more stable at higher temperatures. Time and solvent which was used more efficient than MAE. Extract of petai leaves (Parkia speciosa Hassk.) were very potential to be used as a source of natural antioxidants because they have IC50 values from 41.39 to 66.00 ppm. Its antioxidants capacity is ranged from strong to very strong capacity.
Microfungi in grain and grain feeds and their potential toxicity

The aim of the research work was to study microfungi in grain (spring and winter wheat) and grain feeds of domestic origin and determine their composition with special attention on toxigenic and allergenic species. The total number of fungi was estimated on wort agar or on the nutrient substratum of Czapek. The species and number of Fusarium were defined on the selective medium of Nash & Snyder. For a mycological survey of grain samples, the moist chamber method was used in the year of 1992. The fungi were determined by microscopy, using corresponding nominators (Raper et al., 1949; Raper et al., 1965; Arx, 1970; Bilai et al., 1988). The classification of Fusarium has been made according to Gerlach & Nirenberg (1982). The toxicity of isolated fungi was defined by means of a test organism, Bacillus stearothermophilus (Watson & Lindsay, 1982). Spring wheat of the years 1992, 1993, 1994 and winter wheat of the years 1992, 2002 and 2003, and spoilt grain feeds of the years 1997-2002 were investigated. About half of the identified 63 fungi species are either potentially toxigenic or allergenic. In 1992-1994; on average Alternaria spp. occurred on 72% of spring wheat seeds and on 45% of winter wheat seeds, Cladosporium spp. on 20% and 8% of the seeds, Aspergillus spp. on 6% and 9% of the seeds, Verticillium spp. on 13% and 23% of the seeds, Fusarium spp. on 23% and 64% of the seeds, respectively. Penicillium spp. was represented very differently: in 1992 and 1994 on 10%, in 1993 on 80-90% of the seeds. The species known as toxicants were also from the genera Chaetomium, Cochliobolus, Gliocladium, Mortierella, Mucor, Rhizopus, Stachybotrys, and Trichothecium. In spoilt grain feeds the potential toxicants were represented from the genera Acremonium, Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Fusarium, Penicillium, Rhizopus, and Trichothecium. Allergenic species were represented by the genera Epicoccum, Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Ulocladium. The toxicity of fungi isolated from grain, on the basis of the growth inhibition zone of B. stearothermophilus, was 0-7 mm, whereas on fungi isolated from spoilt feeds it was 0-18 mm. The most toxic fungi were Penicillium cyclopium, Penicillium sp. , Trichothecium roseum, Aspergillus terreus, Paecilomyces varioti, Rhizopus nigricans, and Acremonium sp.
Morphological Consequence of Sonication on Lignin-CNT-Epoxy Composite

This project will utilize SEM and molecular modeling analysis to determine morphological consequences of sonication time on lignin particle size and the joint sonication of lignin with CNT during prefabrication. The investigation will yield a more fundamental understanding of the interactions between lignin and CNT. Currently, lignin provides a significant increase in mechanical strength to buckypaper. This study provides structural analysis to support the role of lignin in improving the mechanical properties of buckypaper. Additionally, this study will provide a pathway to greater details regarding improvements in mechanical strength and possibly other properties of the modified buckypaper.
Biogeosciences Response of the temperate coral Cladocora caespitosa to mid-and long-term exposure to p CO 2 and temperature levels projected for the year 2100

Atmospheric CO2 partial pressure ( pCO2) is expected to increase to 700 μatm or more by the end of the present century. Anthropogenic CO 2 is absorbed by the oceans, leading to decreases in pH and the CaCO 3 saturation state ( ) of the seawater. Elevated pCO2 was shown to drastically decrease calcification rates in tropical zooxanthellate corals. Here we show, using the Mediterranean zooxanthellate coralCladocora caespitosa , that an increase inpCO2, in the range predicted for 2100, does not reduce its calcification rate. Therefore, the conventional belief that calcification rates will be affected by ocean acidification may not be widespread in temperate corals. Seasonal change in temperature is the predominant factor controlling photosynthesis, respiration, calcification and symbiont density. An increase in pCO2, alone or in combination with elevated temperature, had no significant effect on photosynthesis, photosynthetic efficiency and calcification. The lack of sensitivity C. caespitosato elevatedpCO2 might be due to its slow growth rates, which seem to be more dependent on temperature than on the saturation state of calcium carbonate in the range projected for the end of the century.
The effect of heat treatment of glass fibers on their phase composition and solubility in simulated lung fluid

Some of the insulating materials made of ceramics and glass fibers do not satisfy the present standards, in particular regarding biopersistance. The estimation of their biopersistance is usually carried out using both invivo and in-vitro tests. The present testing of glass fibers determined that the risk of carcinogenicity evidently increases with increasing biopersistance. The purpose of this study was to determine a normalized dissolution rate of heated and unheated glass fibers and to discuss the mechanism of glass fibers dissolution in the simulated lung fluids (SLFs) using in-vitro flowthrough tests. Corrosion of both heated (crystalline) and unheated (amorphous) glass fibers was investigated. The NR [g·m -2 /day (normalized dissolution rate) for unheated and heated glass fibers was determined. This rate (NR) increased with increasing flow rate. Most probable rate controlling mechanism of glass matrix dissolution is the transition of surface reaction products through the solution boundary layer adjacent to the fiber surface. The first results show that the dissolution rate of the heated glass fibers is lower than of the unheated glass fibers in both of the simulated lung fluids.
Pricing of South African thermal coal exports

Coal, either directly or indirectly, is an essential part of everyday life, the energy infrastructure, and therefore the national economy. Recent rises in coal prices have created continuing economic, social, and political instability and uncertainty, and presents a challenge to the international community. It is an international priority in the short, medium and long-term, to ensure stable, secure, and sustainable global commodity markets at a national, regional and international level. For each commodity this requires insights into the quality, size, location, and nature of the mineral reserves and the products to be delivered to the markets. In addition, issues such as supply and demand, and more specifically understanding the fragility or robustness of the supply-demand balance, are essential. Other aspects, generally considered less important, but nevertheless crucial to the marketing plan include the transport of the product from the mine site to the discharge port, the suitability and longterm quality of transport infrastructure, ensuring long-term durability of the relationships with customers, the detail of marketing contracts, the way in which invoicing is undertaken and the overall structure of the marketing plan. Although pricing mechanisms for coal have evolved significantly over the past decade they are still principally a function of the basic economic parameters of supply and demand. In South Africa coal comprises only 5 per cent of the global resource base, but is the third main contributor to the country’s export earnings after platinum and gold (SAMI 2007). Planning, establishing, and executing optimal pricing structures in the context of the global coal markets requires that the global macro–economic environment and the domestic micro-economic environment are understood in detail. A significant development took place in 2000 with the establishment of GlobalCoal, a pricing and over-the-counter platform for globally traded coal. From this platform indices for free-onboard (FOB) Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT), FOB Newcastle, and customer insurance freight (CIF) Europe prices, were established; these are referred to as API #4, API Newcastle, and API #2, respectively. This was the start of the coal terminal market (an exchange on which futures contracts or spot deals are traded) that brought transparency to the industry for the first time, and risk management through derivative trading Pricing of South African thermal coal exports
1 Multi-trace element sea surface temperature coral reconstruction for the 1 southern Mozambique Channel reveals teleconnections with the tropical 2 Atlantic 3

20 Here we report seasonally resolved sea surface temperatures for the southern Mozambique 21 Channel in the SW Indian Ocean based on multi-trace element temperatures proxy records 22 preserved in two Porites sp. coral cores. Particularly, we assess the suitability of both 23 separate and combined Sr/Ca and Li/Mg proxies for improved multi-element SST 24 reconstructions. Overall geochemical records from Europa Island Porites sp. highlight the 25 potential of Sr/Ca and Li/Mg ratios as high-resolution climate archives but also show 26 significant differences in their response at this Indian Ocean tropical reef site. Our 27 reconstruction from 1970 to 2013 using the Sr/Ca-SST proxy reveals a warming trend of 0.58 28 ± 0.1 °C in close agreement with instrumental data (0.47 ± 0.07 °C) over the last 42 years 29 (1970 to 2013). In contrast the Li/Mg showed unrealistically large warming trends, most 30 probably caused by uncertainties around different uptake mechanisms of trace elements Li 31 and Mg and uncertainties in their temperature calibration. However, spatial correlations 32 between the combined detrended Sr/Ca, and Li/Mg proxies compared to instrumental SST at 33 Europa revealed robust correlations with local climate variability in the Mozambique 34 Channel and teleconnections to regions in the Indian Ocean and southeastern Pacific where 35 Biogeosciences Discuss. , https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2018-441 Manuscript under review for journal Biogeosciences Discussion started: 16 October 2018 c © Author(s) 2018. CC BY 4.0 License.
Service workers’ job performance: The roles of personality traits, organizational identification, and customer orientation

Purpose – This paper aims to advance the literature by testing the boundary of this relationship with reference to a key construct in employee performance in the service domain: employee customer orientation. Organizational identification refers to employees’ perceived oneness and belongingness to their work organization, and has been argued to be associated with higher employee performance. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected based on a sample of call center service workers. Employees rated their organizational identification, customer orientation and personality traits. Supervisors independently rated their subordinates’ performance. Variables statistic tools were used to analyze the data and test a series of hypotheses. Findings – It was found that customer orientation strengthens the relationship between organizational identification and service workers’ job performance, and it enhances the mediating effect of organizational identification on the relationship between service workers’ per.
A unified algorithm framework for quality control of sensor data for behavioural clinimetric testing

The use of smartphone and wearable sensing technology for objective, non-invasive and remote clinimetric testing of symptoms has considerable potential. However, the clinimetric accuracy achievable with such technology is highly reliant on separating the useful from irrelevant or confounded sensor data. Monitoring patient symptoms using digital sensors outside of controlled, clinical lab settings creates a variety of practical challenges, such as unavoidable and unexpected user behaviours. These behaviours often violate the assumptions of clinimetric testing protocols, where these protocols are designed to probe for specific symptoms. Such violations are frequent outside the lab, and can affect the accuracy of the subsequent data analysis and scientific conclusions. At the same time, curating sensor data by hand after the collection process is inherently subjective, laborious and error-prone. To address these problems, we report on a unified algorithmic framework for automated sensor data quality control, which can identify those parts of the sensor data which are sufficiently reliable for further analysis. Algorithms which are special cases of this framework for different sensor data types (e.g. accelerometer, digital audio) detect the extent to which the sensor data adheres to the assumptions of the test protocol for a variety of clinimetric tests. The approach is general enough to be applied to a large set of clinimetric tests and we demonstrate its performance on walking, balance and voice smartphone-based tests, designed to monitor the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CLOUD-TO-GROUND LIGHTNING IN WARM-SEASON THUNDERSTORMS IN THE GREAT PLAINS

In July, 2005, a field campaign was conducted in the Great Plains of eastern Colorado, western Kansas and western Nebraska to obtain 60 field/sec video imagery of lightning in correlation with reports from the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN). This region was chosen because prior studies have shown that it contains high fractions of both positive and negative flashes. In our campaign, lightning was recorded using digital video cameras that were synchronized to GPS time (with 16.7 msec resolution, see Parker and Krider (2003) and Biagi et al. (2007)), and the results were compared with NLDN reports that provided the time, polarity, location, and an estimate of the peak current (Ip) for each stroke [Cummins et al., 1998]. In this paper, we will discuss the characteristics of the negative, positive, and bipolar flashes recorded during the campaign.
Working paper on Simulating Heterogeneous Farmer Behaviors under Different Policy Schemes : Integrating Economic Experiments and Agent-Based Modeling

In this paper, we develop an agent-based model that scales up results from economic experiments on technology diffusion and abatement of non-point source water pollution under the conditions of an actual watershed. The results from the economic experiments provide the foundation for assumptions used in the agent-based model. Data from geographic information systems and the US Census of Agriculture initialize and parameterize the model. This integrated model enables the exploration of the effects of several policy interventions on technology diffusion and agricultural production and, hence, on agricultural non-point source pollution. Simulation results demonstrate that information ‘nudges’ based on social comparisons increase ambient based policy performance as well as efficiency, especially individual-level tailored information on what others like them have done in past similar situations.
Assessing the Case for Social Experiments

This paper analyzes the method of social experiments. The assumptions that justify the experimental method are exposited. Parameters of interest in evaluating social programs are discussed. The authors show how experiments sometimes serve as instrumental variables to identify program impacts. The most favorable case for experiments ignores variability across persons in response to treatments received and assumes that mean impacts of a program are the main object of interest in conducting an evaluation. Experiments do not identify the distribution of program gains unless additional assumptions are maintained. Evidence on the validity of the assumptions used to justify social experiments is presented.
Ferroalloy Quality for Electric Steelmaking with Nonmetallic Inclusion Control

Data about quality of ferroalloys used for electric steelmaking and alloys with special properties controlled by specified nonmetallic inclusions according to GOST 801-78 and ASTM E-45 (method A) are generalized and analyzed. Results of investigation of matrix and proeutectoid phases in the structure of industrial carbonaceous ferrochromium with application of electron microscopy and electron probe microanalysis as the main alloying ferroalloy at roller-bearing steel ШХ15СГ-В smelting are presented.
Brussels ( Musical ) creativity , technology and social interaction

Music is part of a vibrant cultural and creative economy. Of all "content industries" (film, TV, art, heritage,.), music is the one which has been most affected by the digital revolution. In addition, music has an important psychosocial function and strongly contributes to well-being and social integration. In this paper, I argue that music, technology and social integration can reinforce each other. More advanced mediation technologies should extend the human body (the natural mediator between mind and physical environment) so that the mind can focus on domains where it has otherwise no access (such as social musical interaction). New methodologies should be developed that go beyond the limitations of the current bottom-up engineering research paradigms. The new approach can be called “transdisciplinary”, as it aims at transcending object-centred and subject-centred methodologies. Music: a vibrant economical sector Music is part of a vibrant cultural and creative sector. According to KEA (2006), the European music industry represents about 40% of the world-wide activity in this area. Europe employs about 650,000 workers in this sector, with an annual return of more than € 40 Billion. The study also claims that the whole cultural/creative industry to which music belongs is in total “twice as large as auto-mobile, and as large as ICT”, with remarkable growth figures of about 20% over the past 5 years. The sector represents 2,6 % of the GNP (compared with chemistry and rubber/plastics industry: 2,3%). Total annual return is € 654 Billion. Music and advanced technologies 1 My own rough estimates: recorded music sales € 12.5 Billion; music publishing € 3.4 Billion; life concerts > € 12.5 Billion; collecting societies € 4.5 Billion. 2 Compare with car industry = € 271 Billion in 2003, ICT factories = € 541 Billion in 2003.