Plant-level Productivity and Imputation of Missing Data in U.S. Census Manufacturing Data

Within-industry differences in measured plant-level productivity are large. A large literature has been devoted to explaining the causes and consequences of these differences. In the U.S. Census Bureau's manufacturing data, the Bureau imputes for missing values using methods known to result in underestimation of variability and potential bias in multivariate inferences. We present an alternative strategy for handling the missing data based on multiple imputation via sequences of classification and regression trees. We use our imputations and the Bureau's imputations to estimate within-industry productivity dispersions. The results suggest that there is more within-industry productivity dispersion than previous research has indicated. We also estimate relationships between productivity and market structure and between output prices, capital, and the probability of plant exit (controlling for productivity) based on the improved imputations. For some estimands, we find substantially different results than those based on the Census Bureau's imputations.

Hemiparesis post cerebral malaria

Cerebral malaria is one of the most serious complications in the Plasmodium falciparum infection. In endemic areas, the cerebral malaria interested mainly children. The occurrence in adults is very rare and most interested adult traveling in tropical zones. This case report describes a motor deficit post cerebral malaria in a young adult traveling in malaria endemic area. This complication has been reported especially in children and seems very rare in adults

Sistem Jaringan Nirkabel Dual-Sensor untuk Monitoring Data Medik Pasien

Riset tentang penggunaan sistem jaringan nirkabel untuk monitoring tanda-tanda vital kesehatan manusia terus mengalami perkembangan. Salah satu penelitian sebelumnya menghasilkan aplikasi jaringan sensor nirkabel untuk monitoring denyut nadi. Aplikasi yang dihasilkan berupa penggunaan jaringan nirkabel untuk memantau denyut nadi manusia, aplikasi ini menggunakan sensor tunggal (single sensor) dengan menggunakan jaringan Xbee sebagai media pengirim data. Dari uraian tersebut, dibutuhkan penelitian lanjutan dengan orientasi riset pada pemakaian lebih dari satu sensor (dual-sensor) serta penggunaan jaringan nirkabel yang berbeda yaitu jaringan bluetooth untuk mengirim data dari perangkat sensor ke smartphone android sebagai perangkat penerima. Hasil pengujian throughput dan data loss menunjukkan\ud bahwa bluetooth mempunyai stabilitas yang baik dalam melakukan pengiriman data tanpa data loss dalam jangkauan maksimal 9,5 meter dalam ruang terbuka dengan\ud throughput 0,97 kbps dan maksimal 17 meter dalam ruang tertutup dengan throughput yang sama yaitu 0,97 kbps

Net reductions or spatiotemporal displacement of intentional wildfires in response to arrests? : evidence from Spain

Research to date has not examined how the impacts of arrests manifest across space and time in environmental crimes. We evaluate whether arrests reduce or merely spatiotemporally displace intentional illegal outdoor firesetting. Using municipality-level daily wildfire count data from Galicia, Spain, from 1999 to 2014, we develop daily spatiotemporal ignition count models of agricultural, non-agricultural and total intentional illegal wildfires as functions of spatiotemporally lagged arrests, the election cycle, seasonal and day indicators, meteorological factors and socioeconomic variables. We find evidence that arrests reduce future intentional illegal fires across space in subsequent time periods.This research was partly funded by Project ECO2017–89274-R MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UES

Towards sample-efficient policy learning with DAC-ML

The sample-inefficiency problem in Artificial Intelligence refers to the inability of current Deep Reinforcement Learning models to optimize action policies within a small number of episodes. Recent studies have tried to overcome this limitation by adding memory systems and architectural biases to improve learning speed, such as in Episodic Reinforcement Learning. However, despite achieving incremental improvements, their performance is still not comparable to how humans learn behavioral policies. In this paper, we capitalize on the design principles of the Distributed Adaptive Control (DAC) theory of mind and brain to build a novel cognitive architecture (DAC-ML) that, by incorporating a hippocampus-inspired sequential memory system, can rapidly converge to effective action policies that maximize reward acquisition in a challenging foraging task

New Rotation Periods in the Pleiades: Interpreting Activity Indicators

We present results of photometric monitoring campaigns of G, K and M dwarfs in the Pleiades carried out in 1994, 1995 and 1996. We have determined rotation periods for 18 stars in this cluster. In this paper, we examine the validity of using observables such as X-ray activity and amplitude of photometric variations as indicators of angular momentum loss. We report the discovery of cool, slow rotators with high amplitudes of variation. This contradicts previous conclusions about the use of amplitudes as an alternate diagnostic of the saturation of angular momentum loss. We show that the X-ray data can be used as observational indicators of mass-dependent saturation in the angular momentum loss proposed on theoretical grounds

Programming of subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation with hyperdirect pathway and corticospinal tract-guided parameter suggestions.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is an effective treatment for advanced Parkinson's disease. Stimulation of the hyperdirect pathway (HDP) may mediate the beneficial effects, whereas stimulation of the corticospinal tract (CST) mediates capsular side effects. The study's objective was to suggest stimulation parameters based on the activation of the HDP and CST. This retrospective study included 20 Parkinson's disease patients with bilateral STN DBS. Patient-specific whole-brain probabilistic tractography was performed to extract the HDP and CST. Stimulation parameters from monopolar reviews were used to estimate volumes of tissue activated and to determine the streamlines of the pathways inside these volumes. The activated streamlines were related to the clinical observations. Two models were computed, one for the HDP to estimate effect thresholds and one for the CST to estimate capsular side effect thresholds. In a leave-one-subject-out cross-validation, the models were used to suggest stimulation parameters. The models indicated an activation of 50% of the HDP at effect threshold, and 4% of the CST at capsular side effect threshold. The suggestions for best and worst levels were significantly better than random suggestions. Finally, we compared the suggested stimulation thresholds with those from the monopolar reviews. The median suggestion errors for the effect threshold and side effect threshold were 1 and 1.5 mA, respectively. Our stimulation models of the HDP and CST suggested STN DBS settings. Prospective clinical studies are warranted to optimize tract-guided DBS programming. Together with other modalities, these may allow for assisted STN DBS programming

Fine particulate matter in the tropical environment: monsoonal effects, source apportionment, and health risk assessment

The health implications of PM2:5 in the tropical region of Southeast Asia (SEA) are significant as PM2:5 can pose serious health concerns. PM2:5 concentration and sources here are strongly influenced by changes in the monsoon regime from the south-west quadrant to the north-east quadrant in the region. In this work, PM2:5 samples were collected at a semi-urban area using a high-volume air sampler at different seasons on 24 h basis. Analysis of trace elements and water-soluble ions was performed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) and ion chromatography (IC), respectively. Apportionment analysis of PM2:5 was carried out using the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) positive matrix factorization (PMF) 5.0 and a mass closure model. We quantitatively characterized the health risks posed to human populations through the inhalation of selected heavy metals in PM2:5. 48% of the samples collected exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) 24 h PM2:5 guideline but only 19% of the samples exceeded 24 h US EPA National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). The PM2:5 concentration was slightly higher during the north-east monsoon compared to south-west monsoon. The main trace metals identified were As, Pb, Cd, Ni, Mn, V, and Cr while the main ions were SO