2,518 research outputs found
Complex Word Identification: Challenges in Data Annotation and System Performance
This paper revisits the problem of complex word identification (CWI)
following up the SemEval CWI shared task. We use ensemble classifiers to
investigate how well computational methods can discriminate between complex and
non-complex words. Furthermore, we analyze the classification performance to
understand what makes lexical complexity challenging. Our findings show that
most systems performed poorly on the SemEval CWI dataset, and one of the
reasons for that is the way in which human annotation was performed.Comment: Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on NLP Techniques for Educational
Applications (NLPTEA 2017
Deformation of polymer films by bending forces
We study the deformation of nano--scale polymer films which are subject to
external bending forces by means of computer simulation. The polymer is
represented by a generalized bead--spring--model, intended to reproduce
characteristic features of n--alkanes. The film is loaded by the action of a
prismatic blade which is pressed into the polymer bulk from above and a pair of
columns which support the film from below. The interaction between blade and
support columns and the polymer is modelled by the repulsive part of a
Lennard-Jones potential. For different system sizes as well as for different
chainlengths, this nano--scale experiment is simulated by molecular dynamics
methods. Our results allow us to give a first characterization of deformed
states for such films. We resolve the kinetic and the dynamic stage of the
deformation process in time and access the length scale between discrete
particle and continuum mechanics behaviour. For the chainlengths considered
here, we find that the deformation process is dominated by shear. We observe
strangling effects for the film and deformation fluctuations in the steady
state.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
Shifting the tax burden from labor to property: The case of Germany
Contrary to frequent recommendations of the public finance literature and international institutions, a persistently high tax wedge on labor is observed in Europe. At the same time, the scope for shifting taxes from labor to more growth-friendly revenue sources appears underused in many European countries. This motivates our simulation of a revenue-neutral property tax reform for Germany, a country in which tax receipts from land are particularly low. More precisely, we assess by how much social insurance contributions (SIC) can be reduced when Germany switches from its current property tax scheme based on outdated cadastral values to one based on market property values. In order to make such a simulation possible, we match property related information with the input dataset of EUROMOD, the tax-benefit simulation model for the EU. Our results suggest that the implicit tax rate on labor could be reduced from currently 37,2% to 36,5%. Furthermore, we simulate different scenarios of the SIC reduction. Redistributive effects of these different scenarios tend to be modest and depend crucially on the design of the SIC reduction
Taking the high road? Compliance with commuter tax allowances and the role of evasion spillovers
This paper provides evidence of evasion in the context of a widely used commuter tax allowance, and explores evasion spillovers as a determinant of the individual compliance decision. For this purpose, we exploit discontinuities in the commuter allowance scheme and employ a research design resting on a large panel of individual tax returns. We find that around 30 percent of all allowance claims are overstated and, consistent with deliberate tax evasion, we observe sharp reactions of taxpayers to thresholds where the allowance discretely jumps to a higher amount. Further, we use variation in job changes to uncover spillover effects from the work environment on the individual compliance decision. These effects appear to be asymmetric: Job changers moving to companies with a higher fraction of cheaters increase their cheating. In contrast, movers to companies with a lower fraction of cheaters tend not to alter their reporting behavior. We provide suggestive evidence that the spillover has more to do with an information environment, but can ultimately not reject other behavioral explanations such as asymmetric persistence of norms
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