cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Causal claims and causal explanation in international studies

Existing neopositivist approaches to causal explanation focus their time and effort on the evaluation of nomothetic causal claims, and spend very little energy on the question of how, precisely, a nomothetic generalization explains a particular observed outcome. Against this approach I develop a more pragmatic analysis of the act of explanation in order to flesh out the context of causal explanation more broadly. Causal explanation, I argue, responds to a problem-situation in which the challenge involves how to do something, and unfolds by clarifying why and how some outcome rather than some other outcome came about — thus giving instructions on how to make the desired outcome happen. The resulting account of causal explanation encompasses a wide variety of explanatory strategies including the appeal to causal mechanisms, dispositional properties, everyday experiences, and even nomothetic generalisations; as such, it provides a better and broader basis for thinking about causal explanation in international studies than the restrictive neopositivist models presently on offer.
Contested Citizenship: The Representation of Latinx Immigration Narratives in Jane the Virgin and One Day at a Time

Jane the Virgin (JTV) and One Day at a Time (ODAAT) are two contemporary shows that have disrupted a traditional media landscape that has largely overlooked Latina/o/x immigrants. Both shows reflect the burgeoning Latina/o/x viewership and embody the changing nature of the available representations by centering Latina/o/x immigrants, including those who are undocumented. This chapter examines the immigration narratives represented in these shows. We argue that JTV and ODAAT aim to normalize Latina/o/x families as American families without erasing their Latinidad. More concretely, we examine how JTV and ODAAT address three main themes: (1) Different pathways to residency/citizenship, (2) the experience of being undocumented, and (3) political consciousness and activism in relation to immigration. Through these themes JTV and ODAAT expand beyond the problematic dominant discourse of Latinx migrants.
Financing development : the power of regionalism

The reciprocal opening of markets for goods and financial services provides opportunities for foreign direct investment and its related fresh inflow of long-term capital, and developing countries must have sustained access to these markets in order to grow. Global integration efforts are essential in this process, but they need to be complemented by a certain degree of regional cooperation, which may include the provision of regional public goods and services essential for development that are not provided by markets of single nations. This report brings together the views of experts and policymakers on the benefits and limitations of regionalism. In dealing with the multiple issues of regionalism, the authors offer fresh insights and discuss ways in which Regional Development Banks (RDBs) may serve as catalysts for collective action. The authors also propose ways in which RDBs should modify current practices.
Valuing Great Lakes Beaches

This study aims to estimate the recreational use values of Great Lakes beaches using a two-level nested logit Random Utility Model. The choice set contains all 594 public Great Lakes beaches in Michigan. Beach sites located in the same Great Lakes water body are arranged into a nest. The trip data were obtained from a 2006 online survey using a web-panel of Michigan adults accessed through Survey Sampling International (SSI). The variables that affect the amount of utility derived from a particular site are the travel cost and site quality variables, which include beach length, days of beach advisory, and days of beach closure in 2006. We report the economic loss of permanently losing an individual beach site or a group of beach sites as well as benefits of reducing beach advisories and closures through water quality improvement along Michigan's Great Lakes shoreline.
The MATRIX: a novel controller for musical expression

The MATRIX (Multipurpose Array of Tactile Rods for Interactive eXpression) is a new musical interface for amateurs and professionals alike. It gives users a 3-dimensional tangible interface to control music using their hands, and can be used in conjunction with a traditional musical instrument and a microphone, or as a stand-alone gestural input device. The surface of the MATRIX acts as a real-time interface that can manipulate the parameters of a synthesis engine or effect algorithm in response to a performer's expressive gestures. One example is to have the rods of the MATRIX control the individual grains of a granular synthesizer, thereby "sonically sculpting" the microstructure of a sound. In this way, the MATRIX provides an intuitive method of manipulating sound with a very high level of real-time control.
Perils of simulation : parallel streams and the case of stata's rnormal command

Large-scale simulation-based studies rely on at least three properties of pseudorandom number sequences: they behave in many ways like truly random numbers; they can be replicated; and they can be generated in parallel. There has been some divergence, however, between empirical techniques employing random numbers, and the standard battery of tests used to validate them. A random number generator that passes tests for any single stream of random numbers may fail the same tests when it is used to generate multiple streams in parallel. The lack of systematic testing of parallel streams leaves statistical software with important potential vulnerabilities. This paper shows one such vulnerability in Stata's rnormal function that went unnoticed for almost four years, and how to detect it. It then shows practical implications for the use of parallel streams in existing software.
Hierarchical Modeling Approach in Aircraft Trajectory Optimization

Abstract A scheme is developed for numerical solution of minimum-time trajectories for combat aircraft, undergoing large velocity vector change. The usual six degree-of-freedom a.rcraft model naturally embeds a point-mass model and a somewhat higher-fidelity "body-rate" model, and can be viewed as consisting of a few "dynamic layers" that exhibit distinct dynamic characterist.es. These features, coupled with some classical singular perturbation ideas, allow for time scale separation and mteract.ve sequential multistage optimization. The scheme is illustrated by heading reversal trajector.es, computed with a nonlinear programming code.
Nonlinear Robot ARM Control Through Third Order Motor Model

Abstract Design of robot controllers are typically based on the second order model of rigid robot arms. However, the robot joint motor dynamics constitutes an important part of the overall robot dynamics, and should be included in robot controller design. A third order robot dynamic model is obtained in this paper which includes the robot arm dynamics as well as the actuator dynamics. Differential geometric control theory is used to linearize and decouple the resultant nonlinear and coupled dynamic system, yielding linear subsystems for each degree of freedom in the robot task space. Linear system control theory and optimal control theory are then used to obtain desired system performance. Extensive computer simulations are carried out using the joint actuators. They demonstrate that the controller designed in this paper produces excellent steady state as well as transient system performance, and it is robust in the presence of robot model parameter inaccuracy. The importance of robot motor dynamics is further illustrated by computer simulations, where a controller based on the second order robot arm dynamical model is adopted to control the third order robot dynamics and produces unacceptable transient state response.
On the impossibility of convex inference in human computation

Human computation or crowdsourcing involves joint inference of the ground-truth-answers and the worker-abilities by optimizing an objective function, for instance, by maximizing the data likelihood based on an assumed underlying model. A variety of methods have been proposed in the literature to address this inference problem. As far as we know, none of the objective functions in existing methods is convex. In machine learning and applied statistics, a convex function such as the objective function of support vector machines (SVMs) is generally preferred, since it can leverage the high-performance algorithms and rigorous guarantees established in the extensive literature on convex optimization. One may thus wonder if there exists a meaningful convex objective function for the inference problem in human computation. In this paper, we investigate this convexity issue for human computation. We take an axiomatic approach by formulating a set of axioms that impose two mild and natural assumptions on the objective function for the inference. Under these axioms, we show that it is unfortunately impossible to ensure convexity of the inference problem. On the other hand, we show that interestingly, in the absence of a requirement to model "spammers", one can construct reasonable objective functions for crowdsourcing that guarantee convex inference.
A Model of the Vertebrate Nervous System Based Largely on Disinhibition: A Key Role of the GABA System

I would like to be able to utilize neurochemical information already currently available in such a way as to lead to a better understanding of problems of nervous system function and malfunction. In order to begin to achieve this it is necessary to have some model of normal nervous system function. The present essay follows several such efforts on my part (Roberts, 1966a; Roberts, 1966b; Roberts et al., 1964; Roberts and Matthysse, 1970; and Roberts, 1972), and is an attempt to look at the role of the γ-aminobutyric (GABA) system in somewhat larger dimensions than usual.
Effects of postharvest changes in quality on the stability of plant co-products

Publisher Summary The harvested plant tissues remain alive and continue to respire, develop, and respond to their environment long after they have been detached from the parent plant. Many physiological changes alter the quality of trimmings and other food wastes often at an accelerated rate due to injuries imposed during and after harvesting. Therefore, post-harvest treatments are applied to control the rate of desirable changes while reducing the rate of deleterious changes, and to maintain quality and market life of the commodity. These post-harvest treatments range from the control of temperature and humidity, to chemical and gaseous treatments, to control of atmospheric composition, to cleaning and sanitation, and to packaging for transport and marketing. The many steps between harvest and consumption offer abundant opportunities for additional injuries that often induce unwanted physical and physiological changes. Foremost among these changes are elevated rates of respiration and ethylene production, and the production and accumulation of phenolic compounds that participate in tissue browning and toughening.
Provability-Based Semantic Interoperability for Information Sharing and Joint Reasoning

We describe provability-based semantic interoperability (PBSI), a framework transcending syntactic translation that enables robust, meaningful, knowledge exchange across diverse information systems. PBSI is achieved through translation graphs that capture complex ontological relationships, and through provability-based queries. We work through an example of automating an unmanned aerial vehicle by reasoning over information from a number of sources.
Minimum payments and debt paydown in consumer credit cards

Abstract Using a data set covering one quarter of the U.S. general-purpose credit card market, we document that 29% of accounts regularly make payments at or near the minimum payment. To explain the prevalence of low payment amounts, we exploit changes in issuers’ minimum payment formulas to quantify the explanatory power of two potential theories: liquidity constraints and anchoring. At least 22% of near-minimum payers (and 9% of all accounts) respond to the formula changes in a manner consistent with anchoring as opposed to liquidity constraints alone. Our results show that anchoring to a salient contractual term has a significant impact on household repayment decisions.
Science, Its Publics and New Media. Reflecting on the Present and Future of Science Communication.

El periodisme cientific s’enfronta al repte d’adaptar-se no sols a nous formats sino tambe a les noves formes d’intercanvi d’informacio. Les noves plataformes digitals faciliten l’acces i la produccio de continguts cientifics i, per tant, forcen la seua audiencia a evolucionar. La xarxa s’ha convertit en el present de la divulgacio cientifica, i tant els cientifics com els comunicadors s’hi han d’adaptar. En aquest article analitzarem aquests canvis i les implicacions que tenen per al periodisme cientific i per aconseguir una ciutadania informada.
Concurrent Secure Computation via Non-Black Box Simulation

Recently, Goyal (STOC’13) proposed a new non-black box simulation techniques for fully concurrent zero knowledge with straight-line simulation. Unfortunately, so far this technique is limited to the setting of concurrent zero knowledge. The goal of this paper is to study what can be achieved in the setting of concurrent secure computation using non-black box simulation techniques, building upon the work of Goyal. The main contribution of our work is a secure computation protocol in the fully concurrent setting with a straight-line simulator, that allows us to achieve several new results: We give first positive results for concurrent blind signatures and verifiable random functions in the plain model as per the ideal/real world security definition. Our positive result is somewhat surprising in light of the impossibility result of Lindell (STOC’03) for black-box simulation. We circumvent this impossibility using non-black box simulation. This gives us a quite natural example of a functionality in concurrent setting which is impossible to realize using black-box simulation but can be securely realized using non-black box simulation. Moreover, we expand the class of realizable functionalities in the concurrent setting. Our main theorem is a positive result for concurrent secure computation as long as the ideal world satisfies the bounded pseudo-entropy condition (BPC) of Goyal (FOCS’12). The BPC requires that in the ideal world experiment, the total amount of information learnt by the adversary (via calls to the ideal functionality) should have “bounded pseudoentropy”. We also improve the round complexity of protocols in the single-input setting of Goyal (FOCS’12) both qualitatively and quantitatively. In Goyal’s work, the number of rounds depended on the length of honest party inputs. In our protocol, the round complexity depends only on the security parameter, and is completely independent of the length of the honest party inputs.
Pricing games for hybrid object stores in the cloud: provider vs. tenant

Cloud object stores are increasingly becoming the de facto storage choice for big data analytics platforms, mainly because they simplify the management of large blocks of data at scale. To ensure cost-effectiveness of the storage service, the object stores use hard disk drives (HDDs). However, the lower performance of HDDs affect tenants who have strict performance requirements for their big data applications. The use of faster storage devices such as solid state drives (SSDs) is thus desirable by the tenants, but incurs significant maintenance costs to the provider. We design a tiered object store for the cloud, which comprises both fast and slow storage devices. The resulting hybrid store exposes the tiering to tenants with a dynamic pricing model that is based on the tenants' usage and the provider's desire to maximize profits. The tenants leverage knowledge of their workloads and current pricing information to select a data placement strategy that would meet the application requirements at the lowest cost. Our approach allows both a service provider and its tenants to engage in a pricing game, which our results show yields a win-win situation
Estimation of a Health Production Function: Evidence from East-European Countries:

The purpose of this study is to estimate a health production function for 13 East European countries.1 Using panel data from 1997 to 2005 on a diverse array of economic, demographic, environmental,...
Understanding Large-Scale Structure in Massive Data Sets†

This article discusses massive data sets and some statistical methods for analyzing them. This is not a comprehensive review of all aspects of massive data set analysis, but rather a review and discussion of the issues in the context of statistics. We start with what a “massive” data set is, and then review several analysis methods that have been proposed in the statistics literature. These have certain common threads, most notably their relationships to the concept of data reduction. Then we examine how they can be applied with the specific aim of understanding local structure on a global scale, thus exploiting one important characteristic of massive data sets. We conclude with a brief discussion of the challenges and potential benefits for risk analysis, focusing on an example from climate studies. Keywords: massive data sets; data reduction; scales of resolution; quantization; density estimation; complexity
Uncertainty, Welfare Cost, and the 'Adaptability' of U.S. Corporate Taxes

Alternative corporate tax systems differ in their ability to adapt to changes in the rate of inflation. In the absence of complete indexing of depreciation allowances, policymakers may use a particular expected inflation rate to set accelerated depreciation allowances in a way that minimizes the welfare loss from the misallocation of capital. This welfare loss is a nonlinear function of the assumed inflation rate, however, so the welfare loss at the expected inflation rate may be quite different from the expected welfare loss. We compute these two welfare concepts for each of three alternative corporate tax schemes in the U.S. and for two different relationships between inflation and interest rates. One important finding is that the Auerbach-Jorgenson first-year recovery plan is not equivalent to indexing as is often claimed, if uncertainty about inflation implies uncertainty about the real after-tax discount rate.
A parameter-adaptive control technique

Control of linear stochastic systems with unknown parameters is accomplished by means of an approximate solution of the associated functional equation of dynamic programming. The approximation is based on repeated linearizations of a quadratic weighting matrix appearing in the optimal cost function for the control process. This procedure leads to an adaptive control system which is linear in an expanded vector of state estimates with feedback gains which are explicit functions of a posteriori parameter probabilities. The performance of this controller is illustrated with a simple example.
Financial intermediation and growth - Chinese style

The author analyzes the relationship between growth and financial intermediation at the sub-national level within China. Does the quality of the banking sector in a province affect its rate of growth? Do state and non-state banking sectors perform differently? Does the structure of the local banking sector affect the rate of provincial economic growth? To answer these questions, the author first uses evidence on the fragmentation of regional capital markets to justify the existence of local credit channels. Second, using a dataset of 26 provinces between 1990 and 1999, she defines and introduces indicators of local banking development into the traditional growth regression framework using the GMM-system estimator. The results suggest that credit extended by the banking sector at the state level has a negative impact on provincial economic growth. This negative effect appears to be attributable to the burden of supporting the state-owned corporate sector rather than to the poor performance of state-owned banks. Moreover, provinces with more diversified banking sectors appear to grow faster.
Fluctuations and noise: a general model with applications

A wide variety of dissipative and fluctuation problems involving a quantum system in a heat bath can be described by the independent-oscillator (IO) model Hamiltonian. Using Heisenberg equations of motion, this leads to a generalized quantum Langevin equation (QLE) for the quantum system involving two quantities which encapsulate the properties of the heat bath. Applications include: atomic energy shifts in a blackbody radiation heat bath; solution of the problem of runaway solutions in QED; electrical circuits (resistively shunted Josephson barrier, microscopic tunnel junction, etc.); conductivity calculations (since the QLE gives a natural separation between dissipative and fluctuation forces); dissipative quantum tunneling; noise effects in gravitational wave detectors; anomalous diffusion; strongly driven quantum systems; decoherence phenomena; analysis of Unruh radiation and entropy for a dissipative system.
A Model of Diffusion of Genetically Modified Crop Technology in Concentrated Agricultural Processing Markets - The Case of Soybeans

In the paper, a dynamic model of diffusion of genetically modified crop technology is developed and simulated using the U.S. soybean market data. The model accounts for factors specific to agricultural markets, such as oligopsony power and strategic interaction among crop processors, growers' characteristics such as adoption behavior, and identity preservation requirements. Simulation results show how these factors affect the magnitude and distribution of the potential gains from genetically modified crops.
Judicial Reasoning and Social Change

Some have begun to doubt whether courts adequately respond to recent social problems. Formulated rules, principles, and statutes govern a case in court, and these commanding communications addressed to judges theoretically guide and control the decisionmaking process. Rules, although often imprecise, are subjected to the scrutiny of the legal profession, which is trained to interpret their meaning and possible application in different fact situations. This, in turn, promotes a high degree of social and political stability since there is less ambiguity as to what constitutes permissible or required behavior. Attitudes, social institutions, language, and critical decision making are all factors that influence judicial reasoning and social change. Propositions held valid in law cannot be held valid as ultimate or ontological truths without assuming that mankind has perfect knowledge of that part of existence described in the proposition. Adherence to “objective” standards provides for no flexibility. Recognizing a need for flexibility in the tools of law does not require that all law become questionable. It is only when the effect of law causes a social disruption as evidenced by a serious controversy in regard to fundamental changes that warrants reexamination.The law, peculiarly among disciplines, seeks legitimacy through the realization of the basic and universal needs of individuals living in a fluid yet cohesive group. It is only through reason that basic needs, which in the societal aggregate give rise to the collective will, can be distinguished from superficial interests.
Solving Dynamic Equilibrium Models by a Method of Undetermined Coefficients

I present an undetermined coefficients method for obtaining a linear approximating to the solution of a class of dynamic, rational expectations models. I also show how that solution can be used to compute a model's implications for impulse response functions and for second moments.
Towards Minimax Online Learning with Unknown Time Horizon

We consider online learning when the time horizon is unknown. We apply a minimax analysis, beginning with the fixed horizon case, and then moving on to two unknown-horizon settings, one that assumes the horizon is chosen randomly according to some distribution, and the other which allows the adversary full control over the horizon. For the random horizon setting with restricted losses, we derive a fully optimal minimax algorithm. And for the adversarial horizon setting, we prove a nontrivial lower bound which shows that the adversary obtains strictly more power than when the horizon is fixed and known. Based on the minimax solution of the random horizon setting, we then propose a new adaptive algorithm which "pretends" that the horizon is drawn from a distribution from a special family, but no matter how the actual horizon is chosen, the worst-case regret is of the optimal rate. Furthermore, our algorithm can be combined and applied in many ways, for instance, to online convex optimization, follow the perturbed leader, exponential weights algorithm and first order bounds. Experiments show that our algorithm outperforms many other existing algorithms in an online linear optimization setting.
Through the Looking Glass: What a Comparison with the New Polish Legal Framework of Arbitration Reveals About the U.S. Legal Framework of Arbitration

Domestic and international arbitration in Poland is regulated by the Civil Procedure Code. In October of 2005, a new set of regulations went into effect that completely altered the Polish legal framework for arbitration. A comparison of this framework with that of the United States reveals several similarities and a few key differences. These differences involve the power of arbitrators to decide upon their own jurisdiction, the arbitrability of employment disputes and the consequences of an arbitrator’s failure to consider applicable national law. A comparison of how similar cases would be resolved under new Polish standards versus U.S. standards raises the question of how U.S. standards evolved and whether they are truly the most desirable or practical. Ultimately, as a result of this comparison, the author concludes that Congress should amend the Federal Arbitration Act to eliminate certain troublesome ambiguities. † This exercise in comparative law is intended to highlight how the relevant provisions of the Polish Code of Civil Procedure are in some ways more logical than the U.S. legal framework of arbitration. The phrase “through the looking glass” is obviously borrowed from Lewis Carroll. Upon reading this Article, the reader will appreciate how the metaphor of Alice encountering seemingly illogical absurdities in Wonderland more aptly applies to practitioners dealing with U.S. jurisprudence than the Polish framework governing arbitration. In the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes, “a page of history is worth a volume of logic” for the purposes of understanding seemingly illogical practices in common law jurisdictions. New York Trust Co. v. Eisner, 256 U.S. 345, 349 (1921). This Article is part of a growing chorus suggesting that it is time for Congress to take action to reform the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and mitigate some egregious idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies. The title of this Article was chosen before realizing that this is a continuation of a distinguished tradition of coopting the “looking glass” metaphor for use in the titles of scholarly legal works. See, e.g., J.H.H. Weiler & Ulrich R. Haltern, The Autonomy of the Community Legal Order—Through the Looking Glass, 37 HARV. INT'L L.J. 411 (1996). ∗ Assistant Professor of Business Law, Charlton College of Business, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth; J.D./M.B.A, Boston College. The author would like to thank his former colleague, Dr. Andrzej Tynel, partner at the Warsaw, Poland office of Baker & McKenzie, for his assistance in understanding the precise meaning and implications of recent changes to Polish law. In addition to his time at Baker & McKenzie, the author has worked at the Warsaw offices of White &
Semiclassical Virasoro symmetry of the quantum gravity S-matrix

It is shown that the tree-level $$ \mathcal{S} $$ -matrix for quantum gravity in four-dimensional Minkowski space has a Virasoro symmetry which acts on the conformal sphere at null infinity.
Using Knowledge Tracing to Measure Student Reading Proficiencies

Constructing a student model for language tutors is a challenging task. This paper describes using knowledge tracing to construct a student model of reading proficiency and validates the model. We use speech recognition to assess a student’s reading proficiency at a subword level, even though the speech recognizer output is at the level of words. Specifically, we estimate the student’s knowledge of 80 letter to sound mappings, such as ch making the sound /K/ in “chemistry.” At a coarse level, the student model did a better job at estimating reading proficiency for 47.2% of the students than did a standardized test designed for the task. Our model’s estimate of the student’s knowledge on individual letter to sound mappings is a significant predictor of whether he will ask for help on a particular word. Thus, our student model is able to describe student performance both at a coarse- and at a fine-grain size.
Construction of a "Green Box" Countercyclical Program

The United States Congress is currently devising the next farm bill. One of the many factors influencing the debate is the effect of trade agreements into which the United States has entered. Under the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Agriculture, government spending on trade-distorting agricultural policies (referred to as "amber box" policies) has been limited. However, if the policy is considered non-trade-distorting ("green box"), then spending on such a policy is not constrained under the agreement. We explore the possible construction of a green box policy that is countercyclical to factors related to agriculture. The policy is based on our interpretation of the green box requirements; other interpretations are possible. The policy we construct would provide payments that are countercyclical to weather events and exchange rate movements (that is, the timing and size of the payments depends on weather events and exchange rate movements). Our model is but one of many possible configurations of such an approach and was chosen as an example of how such a program might be implemented. Given our construction, we also estimate the cost of the new program.
Achieving Good Angular Resolution in 3D Arc Diagrams

We study a three-dimensional analogue to the well-known graph visualization approach known as arc diagrams. We provide several algorithms that achieve good angular resolution for 3D arc diagrams, even for cases when the arcs must project to a given 2D straight-line drawing of the input graph. Our methods make use of various graph coloring algorithms, including an algorithm for a new coloring problem, which we call localized edge coloring.
Exercising Property Rights to Pollute: Do Cancer Risks and Politics Affect Plant Emission Reductions?

This paper examines whether firms' decisions about reductions in toxic emissions depend on the magnitude of dangers arising from their pollution and on who bears pollutant risks. Controlling for the quantity of air toxics released in 1988, this article finds that plants whose emissions generated higher numbers of expected cancer cases did reduce their emissions more between 1988 and 1991. The nature of the community bearing the pollution risk also affected firm decisions. The higher the voter turnout in the area, a proxy for residents' likelihood of collective action, the greater the reductions in a plant's release of air carcinogens.
Trade and foreign investment policies under imperfect competition: Lessons for developing countries

Abstract The 1980s saw the emergence of a large literature on the role of trade policy in market structures characterized by imperfect competition. This paper contributes to that literature by providing a unified treatment of the effects of trade and foreign investment policy under imperfect competition using a model easily accessible to non-specialists. We examine the circumstances under which trade and direct foreign investment (DFI) are immiserizing, and identify the appropriate forms of intervention by a welfare-maximizing government. Our positive analysis shows how depending on parameter values, monopoly or duopoly situations arise as equilibrium market structures, possibly involving DFI. Our normative analysis shows that while free trade and unrestricted DFI may be welfare-reducing, neither tariffs nor restrictions on DFI are first-best instruments to increase welfare. The paper concludes with an assessment of the lessons of the new literature for trade and DFI policy formulation in developing countries.
International Financial Management

This new and fully updated edition of International Financial Management blends theory, data analysis, examples and practical case situations to equip students and business leaders with the analytical tools they need to make informed financial decisions and manage the risks that businesses face in today's competitive global environment. Combining theory and practice, the authors offer the reader a multitude of real-world examples and case studies, emphasising fundamental concepts, principles and analytical theories to enable students to understand not only what to do when confronted with an international financial decision, but why that choice is the correct one. Features include: real data analysis - all fully updated for the third edition; extended cases illustrating practical application of theory; point-counterpoints offering insight into contentious issues; concept boxes that explore and illustrate key concepts; and end-of-chapter questions. Suitable for M.B.A and advanced undergraduate business students taking a course in international financial management or international finance.
Pension Reform, Investment Restrictions and Capital Markets

This Policy Discussion Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Policy Discussion Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Policy Discussion Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate. Pension reform in several emerging market countries has been associated with rapid growth in assets under management and a positive impact on the development of local securities markets. However, limitations on such development may lead to asset price distortions, bubbles, and concentration of risks. Regulatory limits on pension fund investments are assessed in light of these risks and developments in modern portfolio theory. A gradual but decisive loosening of restrictions on equity and foreign investments is recommended. Changes in these regulations ought to be coordinated with measures designed to foster the development of local securities markets as well as with macroeconomic policies. JEL Classification Numbers: G23, G15, G28
Outpatient vs. inpatient treatment of community acquired pneumonia.

Using a clinical prediction tool at the point of care will help you choose which course is best for your patient.
The Conceptual Foundations of Macroprudential Policy : A Roadmap

This paper explores post-Lehman macroprudential regulation by interacting two types of market failures (principal-agent and collective action) with two cognition modes (unconstrained and constrained) in the context of aggregate risk. Four paradigms with orthogonal policy justifications are identified. In the first time consistency paradigm, regulation offsets the moral hazard implications of efficient but time inconsistent post-crisis bailouts. In the second dynamic alignment paradigm, it protects unsophisticated market participants by maintaining principal-agent incentives continuously aligned in the face of aggregate shocks. In the third collective action paradigm, regulation arises in response to the socially inefficient yet rational financial instability resulting from uninternalized externalities. The fourth collective cognition paradigm is grounded on the need to temper the mood swings that arise from bounded rationality or severe cognitive frictions in a rapidly changing, complex and uncertain world. These four rationales give rise to important tensions and trade-offs in the design of macroprudential policy.
High-Frequency Principal Components and Evolution of Liquidity in a Limit Order Market

The paper applies a popular methodology of competing risks to the analysis of the timing and interaction between the Deutsche Mark/U.S. dollar transactions, quotes, and cancellations in the Reuters D2000-2 electronic brokerage system. Consistently with previous stock market studies, the bid-ask spread and market depth at the best bid and ask quotes are found to be major determinants of limit order market dynamics at ultra-high frequencies. Consistently with the microstructure approach to exchange rate determination, the signed transaction activity appears to be the main factor behind the limit order market dynamics at lower frequencies. Application of principal component analysis to the covariate indices of competing risks identifies five pervasive factors that capture 85% of the Reuters D2000-2 limit order book activity. The multifactor competing risks model substantially improves the quality of short-term probability forecasts for buyer- and seller initiated transactions, relative to popular moving average-type forecasting rules
A logical calculus of the ideas immanent in nervous activity

Because of the “all-or-none” character of nervous activity, neural events and the relations among them can be treated by means of propositional logic. It is found that the behavior of every net can be described in these terms, with the addition of more complicated logical means for nets containing circles; and that for any logical expression satisfying certain conditions, one can find a net behaving in the fashion it describes. It is shown that many particular choices among possible neurophysiological assumptions are equivalent, in the sense that for every net behaving under one assumption, there exists another net which behaves under the other and gives the same results, although perhaps not in the same time. Various applications of the calculus are discussed.
Determining how much software assurance is enough? A value-based approach

A classical problem facing many software projects is how to determine when to stop testing and release the product for use. On the one hand, we have found that risk analysis helps to address such "how much is enough?" questions, by balancing the risk exposure of doing too little with the risk exposure of doing too much. In some cases, it is difficult to quantify the relative probabilities and sizes of loss in order to provide practical approaches for determining a risk-balanced "sweet spot" operating point. However, we have found some particular project situations in which tradeoff analysis helps to address such questions. In this paper, we provide a quantitative approach based on the COCOMO II cost estimation model and the COQUALMO qualify estimation model. We also provide examples of its use under the differing value profiles characterizing early startups, routine business operations, and high-finance operations in marketplace competition situation. We also show how the model and approach can assess the relative payoff of value-based testing compared to value-neutral testing based on some empirical results. Furthermore, we propose a way to perform cost/schedule/reliability tradeoff analysis using COCOMO II to determine the appropriate software assurance level in order to finish the project on time or within budget.
The 3D X-Ray Crystal Microscope: An Unprecedented Tool for ICME

There is a long-standing debate over the length scales needed to understand the behavior of materials and the role of surfaces, defects, and inhomogeneities. Indeed the properties of most materials are ultimately determined by defects —including grain boundaries and surfaces-that are either introduced during processing or in-service, and defect density and distribution must be considered for high-fidelity integrated computational modeling and engineering. Scientists at ORNL together with partners at Argonne have developed a powerful 3D X-ray Crystal Microscope that can nondestructively characterize the local 3D crystal structure of polycrystalline materials with submicron resolution and with sensitivity to the local crystal structure, orientation, elastic strain tensor and the local Nye tensor. This emerging tool provides unprecedented tests of materials models under different processing/environmental conditions and provides new insights into the impact of unpaired dislocations, elastic strain and surfaces and interfaces. The promise of the 3D Microscope and the emergence of similar instruments at synchrotrons around the world will be discussed with respect to ICME.
Unmanned Aircraft: A Pilot's Perspective

Conference presentation sharing aspects of basic human factors engineering applied to aviation and unmanned aircraft systems from the pilot's perspective
Inferiority and Superiority Trials

Superiority clinical trials are often conducted to establish superior treatment effect of an experimental treatment compared to the control treatment. Noninferiority clinical trials are frequently designed to establish that the treatment effect of an experimental treatment is not much worse than that of an active control treatment, while the experimental treatment may offer other advantages such as reduced toxicity and/or cost. This article provides a brief introduction to the design and analysis of superiority and noninferiority clinical trials. The main issues discussed include, randomization and blinding during treatment allocation, prespecification of the noninferiority margin, the requirement of effective active control in noninferiority trials, risk of type I and type II errors, sample size and power analysis, and assessment and comparison of treatment effects between different treatment groups. Keywords: comparison of treatment effect; design of clinical trials; efficacy; equivalent trials; hypothesis testing; noninferiority margin; sample size
Updown categories

A poset can be regarded as a category in which there is at most one morphism between objects, and such that at most one of the sets Hom ( c , c ' ) and Hom ( c ' , c ) is nonempty for distinct objects c , c ' . Retaining the latter axiom but allowing for more than one morphism between objects gives a sort of generalized poset in which there are multiplicities attached to the covering relations, and possibly nontrivial automorphism groups of objects. An updown category is such a category with an appropriate grading on objects. In this paper we give a precise definition of updown categories and develop a theory for them, including two types of associated generating functions and a notion of universal covers. We give a detailed account of ten examples, including updown categories of sets, graphs, necklaces, integer partitions, integer compositions, planar rooted trees, and rooted trees.
Analyzing Growth and Welfare Effects of Public Policies in Models of Endogenous Growth with Human Capital: Evidence from South Africa

Since the abolition of its Apartheid regime in 1994, South Africa has launched a massive program of education, which has been financed through resources representing on average 21% of the national budget or 7% of GDP. Today, the GDP share of public spending on education is 1.3 times the average of industrialized countries (5.4%) and almost twice that of developing countries (3.9%). In this paper, we simulate fiscal policy experiments to analyze the growth and welfare effects of a shift in the allocation of government expenditures between public spending on education and transfers as well as those of a change in the tax rate in a model of endogenous growth with human capital accumulation for the South African economy. The results of simulations demonstrate that a shift in the allocation of fiscal resources between educational spending and transfers does not affect the long run allocation decisions. In the transition, however, this shift generates a negative effect on the rate of growth of GDP. In fact, a reallocation of expenditures shifts resources away from saving and toward consumption, and translate into lower rate of growth but higher welfare. Nonetheless, these growth and welfare effects are very small. On the other hand, a tax cut generates growth effects in the long run as well as in transition. In fact, reducing or cutting the tax rate in the long run lowers the interest rate, which in turn creates disincentives for saving and results in low rate of growth of GDP. However, in the transition, it reduces or removes distortions and translates into high work effort, high accumulation of human capital, and thus high rate of growth of GDP. Nonetheless, its welfare effect is negative.
African Englishes and creative writing

This study considers a number of questions regarding the structural characteristics of African Englishes exemplified in African creative writing, with a focus on such leading novelists as Achebe, Ngugi, Nwapa, and Okara. It explores the degree to which these writers reconstruct the English language in their writings to convey the African cultures represented in their works. A related issue is whether these texts demonstrate ‘trans-creations’ that still adhere to the standard varieties of English with appropriately encoded and limited Africanisms to capture African cultures. Another crucially important issue is whether the extensive use of English is detrimental to the vitality and creativity of African languages.
Double Schubert polynomials and degeneracy loci for the classical groups

Nous proposons une theorie des polynomes de Schubert doubles P w (X,Y) pour les types de Lie B, C, D qui etend naturellement la famille de Lascoux et Schutzenberger pour le type A. Ces polynomes possedent des proprietes de positivite, d'orthogonalite et de stabilite, et representent les classes des varietes de Schubert et des lieux de degenerescence des fibres vectoriels. Quand w est un element grassmannien maximal du groupe de Weyl, P w (X,Y) s'exprime en termes de determinants du type de Schur et de pfaffiens, de maniere analogue a la formule de Kempf et Laksov pour le type A. Un exemple, motive par la cohomologie quantique, montre qu'aucune formule dans les classes de Chern ne decrit les lieux de degenerescence des morphismes isotropes des fibres.
What Do America’s First Patents Have to Do With Today’s?

In an invited response to an article by Prof. Michael Risch, Prof. Osenga reexamines some of the conclusions drawn by his study of early American Patents and what they suggested about inventors' perceptions of patentability.
Economics of Polluter Pays Principles for Mitigating Social Costs of Electricity A Search for an Optimal Liability Share

To deal with externalities associated with electricity generation, under the Polluter Pays Principles (PPP), companies can be made to pay the compliance costs and then pass these costs incurred on to the end-users by charging a higher price per kWh of electricity used. However, there is a need for an optimal liability scheme, in terms of economic efficiency, equity and ethics in a world of favor seeking politics. With implicit weighting of welfare gains and losses to society, we developed supply-demand models. By incorporating plausible parameter values into the models, the optimal liability shares fell to less 100 percent (full) liability. However, the model is very sensitive to changes in the parameter values.
Er:YLF-pumped AgGaSe2 optical parametric oscillator

An AgGaSe2 optical parametric oscillator, pumped by a 1.73-micron Er:YLF laser, has demonstrated reproducible low thresholds, 3.6 mJ, and high-slope efficiencies, 0.31. Threshold and slope efficiency were investigated as a function of resonator length. Spectral bandwidth was measured and correlated with the beam divergence of the pump laser.