664 research outputs found
Does the Current Account Matter?
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to investigate in detail the behavior of the current account in emerging economies, and in particular its role if any in financial crises. Models of current account behavior are reviewed, and a dynamic model of current account sustainability is developed. The empirical analysis is based on a massive data set that covers over 120 countries during more than 25 years. Important controversies related to the current account including the extent to which current account deficits help predict currency crises are also analyzed. Throughout the paper I am interested in analyzing whether there is evidence supporting the idea that there are costs involved in running 'very large' deficits. Moreover, I investigate the nature of these potential costs, including whether they are particularly high in the presence of other type of imbalances.
The singularities and birational geometry of the universal compactified Jacobian
No full textIn this paper we establish that the singularities of the universal compactified Jacobian are canonical if the genus is at least four. As a corollary we determine the Kodaira dimension and the Iitaka fibration of the universal compactified Jacobian for every degree and genus. We also determine the birational automorphism group for every degree if the genus is at least twelve. This extends work of G. Farkas and A. Verra, as well as that of G. Bini, C. Fontanari and the third author
Openness, outward orientation, trade liberalization, and economic performance in developing countries
No full textThis paper provides a critical review of the existing empirical literature that deals with the relationship between trade orientation and economic performance. Using a model that avoids the shortcomings of most current measures of trade orientation, the author finds strong support for the hypothesis that, other things being equal, countries with a less distorted external sector grow faster than countries with a more distorted external sector.TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Economic Theory&Research,Trade Policy,Environmental Economics&Policies,Achieving Shared Growth
Superfici ed essenze della memoria. Ferruccio Busoni e la Fantasia nach Johann Sebastian Bach
No full textIl presente saggio colloca la Fantasia nach J.S. Bach nella complessa tassonomia delle trascrizioni busoniane. In particolar modo, mette in rilievo la concezione «organica» dell’opera, tipica di Busoni, che si sviluppa qui sulla base di una peculiare categoria di memoria, sia a livello intra- sia extra- musicale. Ripetizioni trasformate, variazioni e ritorni tematici si intrecciano col significato di alcuni Corali bachiani e col ricordo per la scomparsa del padre. Nel milieu culturale fra Otto e Novecento, simili principi formali veicolavano significazioni altamente simboliche, fra cui rielaborazioni del passato umano (spicca la «Sonata di Vinteuil» nella Recherche di Proust). Busoni, tuttavia, sostenitore di una musica «assoluta» in quanto «terza via» fra formalismo e musica a programma, rifugge da analogie di superficie onde esprimere una memoria metafisica. Per dimostrare questa tesi, l’autore mette in relazione l’estetica della Fantasia con gli scritti di Busoni, e ripercorre in modo critico anche le teorie di L. B. Meyer su musica ed emozione e quelle di alcuni studiosi della narratologia musicale (A. Newcomb, J.J. Nattiez).
Surfaces and Essences of Memory. Ferruccio Busoni and his Fantasia nach Johann Sebastian Bach
This essay considers Busoni’s Fantasia nach Johann Sebastian Bach (“to the memory of my Father Ferdinando”) within the complex taxonomy of his piano transcriptions. The author emphasizes Busoni’s “organic” conception of the musical work, which, in this case, is developed on the basis of a peculiar category of memory, both at an intra- and extra-musical level. Transformed repetitions, variations and thematic recurrence blend with the symbolical meanings of Bach’s Chorals and with the memory of Busoni’s father’s passing. In the cultural milieu of the turn-of-the-century, these formal principles conveyed highly symbolical meanings, including the idea of reshaping human past (outstanding the case of the Vinteuil Sonata in Proust’s Recherche). Busoni, however, was a supporter of “absolute” music as a “third way” between formalism and program music, so he rejected merely exterior analogies in order to express metaphysical memory. The author of this article establishes a relationship between the aesthetic vision of the Fantasia and the writings of Busoni, while simultaneously carrying out a critical review of L. B. Meyer’s theories on music and emotion, and of some scholars involved in musical narratology such as A. Newcomb and J. J. Nattiez
Performance practice and analysis of Johann Sebastian Bach's Aria for tenor and flute obbligato, Wo wird in diesem Jammertale, from Cantata BWV 114
No full textThis creative project explores the musical performer’s obligation to fully
investigating traditional baroque performance practices, and how such study applies to
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Wo wird in diesem Jammertale, a sacred aria for tenor, flute
obbligato, and continuo from his Cantata BWV 114. This document researches major
treatises on baroque performance practice, including Johann Joachim Quantz’s respected
On Playing the Flute, to provide a thorough performance practice analysis of this aria.
Furthermore, the author completes a formal theoretical analysis of the aria in order to
further explore performance possibilities involving the relationship between text and
harmonic structure. This project especially highlights specific ways to achieve both an
educated preparation and more musically accurate performance of historical music using
modern instruments.Thesis (M.M.)School of Musi
Intracutaneous or subcutaneous sterile water injection compared with blinded controls for pain management in labour
No full textExtent: 40p.Background: Intracutaneous or subcutaneous injection of sterile water is rapidly gaining popularity as a method of pain relief in labour and it is therefore essential that it is properly evaluated. Adequate analgesia in labour is important to women worldwide. Sterile water injection is inexpensive, requires basic equipment, and appears to have few side effects. It is purported to work for labour pain. Objectives: To determine the efficacy of sterile water injections for relief of pain (both typical contraction pain and intractable back pain) during labour compared to placebo (isotonic saline injections) or non-pharmacological interventions, and to identify any relevant effects on mode and timing of delivery, or safety of both mother and baby. Search methods: We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (30 May 2011), MEDLINE, and EMBASE (January 2010 to 30 May 2011), together with reference lists in retrieved studies and review articles. Selection criteria: We included randomised, double blind, controlled studies using intracutaneous or subcutaneous sterile water injections for pain relief during labour. There were no restrictions on birth place, parity, risk, age, weight, gestation, or stage of labour. Potential comparators were placebo (saline) and non-pharmacological interventions (e.g. hypnosis or biofeedback). Data collection and analysis: Two review authors independently assessed eligibility and quality of trials, and extracted data. We resolved any disagreements or uncertainties by discussion with a third review author. Primary outcome measures were at least 50% pain relief, or at least 30%, pain relief, patient global impression of change of at least 'good', mode of delivery, perinatal morbidity and mortality, maternal complications and adverse events. Secondary outcomes were women with any pain relief, use of rescue analgesia, and treatment group average pain relief. We made explicit judgements about potential biases in the studies. Main results: We included seven studies, with 766 participants: four used intracutaneous injections, two subcutaneous, and one both. All reported on low back pain in labour only. Methodological quality was good, but four studies were at high risk of bias due to small size of treatment groups, incomplete outcome data, and performance bias. All studies reported treatment group mean or median scores, finding greater reduction in pain for sterile water. However, failure to demonstrate a normal distribution for pain intensity or relief, and use of different scales, meant meta-analysis was inappropriate. No study reported primary dichotomous efficacy outcomes. One reported the number self-scoring 4/10 cm or more reduction in pain; significantly more had this outcome with sterile water (50% to 60%) than with placebo (20% to 25%). There was no significant difference between sterile water and saline for rates of caesarean section (risk ratio (RR) 0.58, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.33 to 1.02), instrumental delivery (RR 1.31, 95% CI 0.79 to 2.18), rescue analgesia (RR 0.86, 95% CI 0.44 to 1.69), timing of delivery, or Apgar scores. Two studies reported that more women treated with sterile water would request the same analgesia in future. No study reported on women's satisfaction with pain relief, women's sense of control in labour, women's satisfaction with the childbirth experience, mother/baby interaction, rates of breastfeeding, maternal morbidity, infant long-term outcomes, or cost. No adverse events were reported other than transient pain with injection, which was worse with sterile water. Authors' conclusions: The outcomes reported severely limit conclusions for clinical practice. We found little robust evidence that sterile water is effective for low back or any oth er labour pain. Neither did we find any difference in delivery or other maternal or fetal outcomes. Further large, methodologically rigorous studies are required to determine the efficacy of sterile ...Sheena Derry, Sebastian Straube, R Andrew Moore, Heather Hancock, Sally L Collin
Photometric stereo data of non-crimp fabric boundaries
No full text<p><strong>DATA DESCRIPTION</strong></p>
<p>This data set was acquired in the context of EU project ZAero. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 721362. Project duration: 2016/10/01 - 2019/09/30. This data set contains a set of 68 HDF5 files from two different example surface patches of NCF carbon fiber fabrics.</p>
<p>For more information about the HDF5 format, please visit the HDF5 Group website:<br>
https://www.hdfgroup.org/solutions/hdf5/</p>
<p>Each file contains data from a photometric stereo vision system [1]. The data set is intended for evaluation of methods for carbon fiber fabric edge detection [2].</p>
<p>Each file contains a single 3-dimensional (W x H x L) array 'raw' with:<br>
H...height of the images<br>
W...width of the images<br>
L...number of images with different light sources (L = 8)</p>
<p>An example for loading and visualizing the data in Python comes with this data set:<br>
readDataExample.py</p>
<p><br>
<strong>REFERENCES</strong></p>
<p>[1]<br>
@inproceedings{Palfinger2011, <br>
author = {Palfinger, Werner and Thumfart, Stefan and Eitzinger, Christian},<br>
title = {Photometric stereo on carbon fiber surfaces},<br>
booktitle = {35th Workshop of the Austrian Association for Pattern Recognition},<br>
year = {2011}<br>
}</p>
<p>[2]<br>
@inproceedings{Zambal2019,<br>
author = {Zambal, Sebastian and Heindl, Christoph and Eitzinger, Christian}<br>
title = {Probabilistic Modelling combined with a CNN for boundary detection of carbon fiber fabrics},<br>
booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Industrial Informatics (INDIN)}<br>
year = {2019}<br>
}</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
Evosuite at the SBST 2021 Tool Competition
No full textEvoSuite is a search-based unit test generation tool for Java. This paper summarises the results and experiences of EvoSuite's participation at the ninth unit testing competition at SBST 2021, where EvoSuite achieved the highest overall score.Software Engineerin
A short-story of sin
No full textA brief overview is given of the theory of surface-ion neutralization (SIN) by highlighting studies from the pioneering days to the present time. Emphasis is placed on the 1-electron time-dependent Newns-Anderson (TDNA) model, which has played such a key role in studying resonance charge transfer. Recently, a many-electron (ME) version of the TDNA approach has been formulated to treat two or more electron processes, such as Auger transitions. The equation-of-motion technique is used to obtain the TD coefficients from which the required SIN probabilities can be found. After outlining the ME method, two applications are described. The first deals with the Li+-Cs/W(110) system, while the second addresses the laser enhancement of SIN, in the case of Li+-KBr: and revises some earlier results.PT: J; CR: AMOS AT, 1986, PHYS LETT A, V118, P471 AMOS AT, 1992, SURF SCI LETT, V277, L100 BLANDIN A, 1976, J PHYSIQUE, V37, P369 BLOSS W, 1978, SURF SCI, V72, P277 BRAKO R, 1981, SURF SCI, V108, P253 BRAKO R, 1985, SOLID STATE COMMUN, V55, P633 BRAKO R, 1989, REP PROG PHYS, V52, P655 DAVISON SG, 1986, J ELECTROANAL CH INF, V204, P173 DAVISON SG, 1994, IN PRESS ELECTRONIC GOLDBERG EC, 1985, PHYS REV B, V32, P4375 GOLDBERG EC, 1992, PHYS REV B, V45, P8657 GOODMAN FO, 1993, PHYS REV B, V47, P10685 GRIMLEY TB, 1983, SURF SCI, V124, P305 HAGSTRUM HD, 1954, PHYS REV, V96, P325 HAGSTRUM HD, 1954, PHYS REV, V96, P336 HAGSTRUM HD, 1961, PHYS REV, V122, P83 LANGRETH DC, 1991, PHYS REV B, V43, P2541 LOS J, 1990, PHYS REP, V190, P133 MASSEY HSW, 1930, P CAMB PHILOS SOC, V26, P386 MASSEY HSW, 1931, P CAMB PHILOS SOC, V27, P469 MISKOVIC ZL, 1993, SOLID STATE COMMUN, V87, P883 NAKANISHI H, 1991, SURF SCI, V242, P410 OLIPHANT MLE, 1930, P R SOC LOND A-CONTA, V127, P388 SEBASTIAN KL, 1983, PHYS LETT A, V98, P39 SEBASTIAN KL, 1985, PHYS REV B, V31, P6976 SHEKHTER SS, 1937, ZH EKSP TEOR FIZ, V7, P750 SROUBEK Z, 1974, SURF SCI, V44, P47 SULSTON KW, 1987, SOLID STATE COMMUN, V62, P781 SULSTON KW, 1988, PHYS REV B, V37, P9121 SULSTON KW, 1993, J PHYS-CONDENS MAT, V5, P2134 TULLY JC, 1977, PHYS REV B, V16, P4324 YOSHIMORI A, 1984, PROG THEOR PHYS SUPP, V80, P203 YOSHIMORI A, 1984, SPRINGER SERIES SOLI, V59, P74 YOSHIMORI A, 1986, PROG SURF SCI, V21, P251; NR: 34; TC: 3; J9: PROG SURF SCI; PG: 14; GA: QX183Source type: Electronic(1
Assessing the impacts of environmental stressors on watershed ecosystem services integrating hydro-ecologic models and socio-cultural perspective
No full textEcosystems have been subjected to an accelerated fragmentation and degradation due to the expansion and intensification of agricultural activities to produce food and other commodities to satisfy the needs of an increasing population. Therefore, the sustainability of agro-ecosystems is an urgent need as distinct hydro-ecologic and socio-cultural dynamics are involved, which may become more relevant on the face of climate change. Although it is widely recognized that human and hydro-ecologic systems are mutually inclusive and dependent upon each other, socio-cultural traditions and expectations of local communities have remained implicit in decision-making. This problem has hindered the implementation of mitigation practices aimed at reducing the environmental impact. Due to methodological challenges in conceptualizing the social components in hydro-ecological studies and the lack of appropriate decision support tools, decision-makers have not been able to evaluate the tradeoffs among decision alternatives that comprise uncertain information and social preferences.
The overall goal of this study was to develop a decision-making framework that enables the evaluation of tradeoffs within management alternatives designed to balance the human-environmental dynamics in agro-ecosystems at the watershed scale under uncertain future climate conditions. This research, framed by sustainability science, examined all the stages and issues involved in hydro-ecological modeling for land use decision-making employing the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and the Modular Finite-difference Flow Model (MODFLOW). Common flaws in model selection and calibration were discussed, while tools and techniques for environmental impact assessment using scenario-based analysis were provided. Furthermore, social research and multi-criteria decision analysis methods (e.g., SMAA) were integrated to identify, evaluate, and rank feasible management alternatives that simultaneously accommodate production goals, environmental soundness, and social relevancy under future climate uncertainty. This framework facilitated the evaluation of the possible impacts of different land management practices under distinct preference schemes, and allowed to identify information gaps between government institutions and common stakeholders. This research served as a starting point for the establishment of a robust decision support system where social engagement is crucial to enable all the parties involved to formulate timely adaptation and mitigating strategies to adopt to natural and anthropogenic changes.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2022-12-01The student, Juan Sebastian Acero Triana, accepted the attached license on 2020-10-10 at 14:39.The student, Juan Sebastian Acero Triana, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2020-10-10 at 15:11.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2020-10-13 at 16:03.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15832 on 2021-03-04 at 16:30:20Made available in DSpace on 2021-03-05T21:45:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 4
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