Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Constraining the magnitude of the global dust cycle by minimizing the difference between a model and observations

Current estimates of global dust emission vary by over a factor of two. Here, we use multiple data types and a worldwide array of stations combined with a dust model to constrain the magnitude of the global dust cycle for particles with radii between 0.1 and 8 μm. An optimal value of global emission is calculated by minimizing the difference between the model dust distribution and observations. The optimal global emission is most sensitive to the prescription of the dust source region. Depending upon the assumed source, the agreement with observations is greatest for global, annual emission ranging from 1500 to 2600 Tg. However, global annual emission between 1000 and 3000 Tg remains in agreement with the observations, given small changes in the method of optimization. Both ranges include values that are substantially larger than calculated by current dust models. In contrast, the optimal fraction of clay particles (whose radii are less than 1 μm) is lower than current model estimates. The optimal solution identified by a combination of data sets is different from that identified by any single data set and is more robust. Uncertainty is introduced into the optimal emission by model biases and the uncertain contribution of other aerosol species to the observations.
Solving multi-objective problems using SPEA2 and Tabu search

Evolutionary Algorithms (EA's) are often well-suited for optimization problems involving several, often conflicting objectives. In this paper an improved hybrid method based on Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm2 (SPEA2) and Tabu Search (TS) is proposed to handle the multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs). This method uses the exploration capacity of SPEA2 beside the power of TS in neighborhood research to find Pareto optimal solutions in different multi objective problems. To have a good distribution of solutions, proposed approach also uses an Improved Diversificator Tabu Search (IDTS) to find unexplored zones of Pareto front and achieve a comprehensive coverage. To test and compare this model with previous works, functions (ZDT1, ZDT2, and ZDT3) are selected. Experimental results show not only clear improvement of the proposed method, in contrast to the previous approaches, but good coverage and distribution of the Pareto front points have been achieved.
Interfaces to support children's co-present collaboration: multiple mice and tangible technologies

This paper summarises two different approaches using technology to support young children's collaborative interaction in a classroom setting. KidPad, a 2 1/2D drawing package with zooming capabilities, was adapted for use with multiple mice and tangible interfaces. The first section of the paper focuses on a study carried out to evaluate the effect of multiple mice on children's collaborative behaviour at a desktop computer. Positive effects of the use of two mice included symmetry of mouse use amongst pairs and a greater degree of engagement in the task. However a number of usability issues were identified when children attempted to collaborate, particular problems were faced when the shared control was taken away, and one of the users took control, for example, when navigating. Different types of working styles were also evident between the one mouse and two mice conditions. The second section of the paper describes a move away from the desktop computer towards room-based technologies. Tangible interfaces to KidPad were developed in order to facilitate shared control over actions such as navigation where difficulties had been identified in a desktop situation. The visibility of action is highlighted as a fundamental element in the support of collaboration on a larger scale. Finally, future work and the potential of these technologies in encouraging shareable co-present interaction in a real school context are briefly discussed.
Beyond State Planned School-Based Curriculum Development: One Chinese School's Story

View through a power perspective, this article critically evaluates tensions involved in China's school-based curriculum development (SBCD) in middle schools: the state's concern about control, accountability, and schools’ eagerness to struggle for more decision-making power. This article examines how a Chinese school and its teachers go beyond state-planned SBCD through analysis of power relationships in three stages of SBCD: goal setting, content and pedagogy selection, and implementation. It finds that the school and teachers negotiated with the governments and empowered themselves to gain more influence by taking the lead in collaborations with external groups, making major SBCD decisions, and distributing power democratically among school staff. The main purpose of the article is to highlight the complexity of the power redistribution in SBCD and to draw attention to the need for improved understandings of school power in Chinese context.
Essays in cross-sectional asset pricing

In this dissertation, I study the performance of asset-pricing models in explaining the cross section of expected stock returns. The finance literature has uncovered several potential failings of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). I investigate the ability of additional risk factors, which are not considered by the CAPM, to explain these problems. In particular, I examine intertemporal risk and long-run risk in the cross section of returns. In addition, I develop a firm-level test to refine and reassess the cross-sectional evidence against the CAPM. In the first chapter, I test the cross-sectional implications of the Intertemporal CAPM (ICAPM) of Merton (1973) and Campbell (1993, 1996) using a new firm-level approach. I find that the ICAPM performs well in explaining returns. Consistent with theoretical predictions, investors require a large positive premium for taking on market risk and zero-beta assets earn the risk-free rate. Moreover, investors accept lower returns on assets that hedge against adverse shifts in the investment opportunity set. The ICAPM explains more cross-sectional variation in average returns than either the CAPM or Fama–French (1993) model. I also investigate whether the SMB and HML factors of the Fama–French model proxy for intertemporal risk and find little evidence in favor of this conjecture. In the second chapter, we propose an intertemporal asset-pricing model that simultaneously resolves the puzzling negative relations between expected stock return and analysts’ forecast dispersion, idiosyncratic volatility, and credit risk. All three effects emerge in a long-run risk economy accommodating a formal cross sec-
GSTM1 and GSTT1 Null Polymorphisms and Childhood Acute Leukemia Risk: Evidence from 26 Case-Control Studies

Several molecular epidemiological studies have been conducted to examine the association between glutathione S-transferase mu-1 (GSTM1) and glutathione S-transferase theta-1 (GSTT1) null polymorphisms and childhood acute leukemia; however, the conclusions remain controversial. We performed an extensive meta-analysis on 26 published case-control studies with a total of 3252 cases and 5024 controls. Crude odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence interval were used to assess the strength of association between childhood acute leukemia risk and polymorphisms of GSTM1 and GSTT1. With respect to GSTM1 polymorphism, significantly increased risk of childhood acute leukemia was observed in the overall analysis (OR = 1.30; 95%CI, 1.11-1.51). Furthermore, a stratification analysis showed that the risk of GSTM1 polymorphism are associated with childhood acute leukemia in group of Asians (OR = 1.94; 95%CI, 1.53-2.46), Blacks (OR = 1.76; 95%CI, 1.07-2.91), ALL (OR = 1.33; 95%CI, 1.13-1.58), ‘< 100 cases and <100 controls’ (OR = 1.79; 95%CI, 1.21-2.64), ‘≥ 100 cases and ≥ 100 controls’ (OR = 1.25; 95%CI, 1.02-1.52), and population-based control source (OR = 1.40; 95%CI, 1.15-1.69). With respect to GSTT1 polymorphism, significant association with childhood acute leukemia risk was only found in subgroup of Asian. This meta-analysis supports that GSTM1 null polymorphism is capable of causing childhood acute leukemia susceptibility.
Growing restrictiveness or changing selection? The nature and evolution of migration policies

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THE OEM-OBM DEBATE: FACTORS INFLUENCING CHINESE FIRMS' BRANDING DECISIONS IN THEIR INTERNATIONALISATION PROCESS

A key international marketing decision for many Chinese (and firms from other emerging markets) is whether to internationalise their own brands - labelled by the Chinese as OBM (Original or Own Brand Manufacturing) - or to be international players by acting as contract manufacturers (labelled by the Chinese as OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) for foreign brand owners (FBOs). The paper discusses some of the extant research on the advantages and disadvantages of each business model and then focuses on primary research conducted amongst 8 Chinese firms in electronics and textiles and the OEM-OBM decisions they face. In so doing, it discusses some of the factors influencing such decisions and proposes a framework for reviewing them as firm and environmental circumstances change.
Cell plasticity and heterogeneity in cancer.

BACKGROUND Heterogeneity within a given cancer arises from diverse cell types recruited to the tumor and from genetic and/or epigenetic differences amongst the cancer cells themselves. These factors conspire to create a disease with various phenotypes. There are 2 established models of cancer development and progression to metastatic disease. These are the clonal evolution and cancer stem cell models. CONTENT The clonal evolution theory suggests that successive mutations accumulating in a given cell generate clonal outgrowths that thrive in response to microenvironmental selection pressures, dictating the phenotype of the tumor. The alternative cancer stem cell (CSC) model suggests that cancer cells with similar genetic backgrounds can be hierarchically organized according to their tumorigenic potential. Accordingly, CSCs reside at the apex of the hierarchy and are thought to possess the majority of a cancer's tumor-initiating and metastatic ability. A defining feature of this model is its apparent unidirectional nature, whereby CSCs undergo symmetric division to replenish the CSC pool and irreversible asymmetric division to generate daughter cells (non-CSCs) with low tumorigenic potential. However, evolving evidence supports a new model of tumorigenicity, in which considerable plasticity exists between the non-CSC and CSC compartments, such that non-CSCs can reacquire a CSC phenotype. These findings suggest that some tumors may adhere to a plastic CSC model, in which bidirectional conversions are common and essential components of tumorigenicity. SUMMARY Accumulating evidence surrounding the plasticity of cancer cells, in particular, suggests that aggressive CSCs can be created de novo within a tumor. Given the current focus on therapeutic targeting of CSCs, we discuss the implications of non-CSC-to-CSC conversions on the development of future therapies.
Scrutinizing usability evaluation: Does thinking aloud affect behaviour and mental workload?

Thinking aloud is widely used for usability evaluation. The validity of the method is, however, debatable because it is generally used in a relaxed way that conflicts with the prescriptions of the classic model for obtaining valid verbalizations of thought processes. This study investigates whether participants that think aloud in the classic or relaxed way behave differently compared to performing in silence. Results indicate that whereas classic thinking aloud has little or no effect on behaviour apart from prolonging tasks, relaxed thinking aloud affects behaviour in multiple ways. During relaxed thinking aloud participants took longer to solve tasks, spent a larger part of tasks on general distributed visual behaviour, issued more commands to navigate both within and between the pages of the web sites used in the experiment, and experienced higher mental workload. Implications for usability evaluation are discussed.
Convective Modes for Significant Severe Thunderstorms in the Contiguous United States. Part I: Storm Classification and Climatology

AbstractRadar-based convective modes were assigned to a sample of tornadoes and significant severe thunderstorms reported in the contiguous United States (CONUS) during 2003–11. The significant hail (≥2-in. diameter), significant wind (≥65-kt thunderstorm gusts), and tornadoes were filtered by the maximum event magnitude per hour on a 40-km Rapid Update Cycle model horizontal grid. The filtering process produced 22 901 tornado and significant severe thunderstorm events, representing 78.5% of all such reports in the CONUS during the sample period. The convective mode scheme presented herein begins with three radar-based storm categories: 1) discrete cells, 2) clusters of cells, and 3) quasi-linear convective systems (QLCSs). Volumetric radar data were examined for right-moving supercell (RM) and left-moving supercell characteristics within the three radar reflectivity designations. Additional categories included storms with marginal supercell characteristics and linear hybrids with a mix of supercell and Q.
Analyst Following, Capital Market Pressure, and Real Activity Manipulation

ANALYST FOLLOWING, CAPITAL MARKET PRESSURE, AND REAL ACTIVITY MANIPULATION Melanie Maureen Rose Old Dominion University, 2011 Director: Dr. Mohammad Najand I investigate the impact of analyst following on real activity manipulation. Because analysts follow firms and serve as information intermediaries, analyst following should reduce earnings management through real activity manipulation. However, given the negative ramifications of missing analysts' earnings forecasts, the fact that analysts are watching and issuing forecasts might actually create capital market pressures as managers try to ensure that they do not miss earnings targets. Because managers can engage in earnings management through real activities manipulation and accrual manipulation, I control for accrual manipulation in examining the relationship between analyst following and real activity manipulation. I find that analyst following is associated with more real activities earnings management. I also find evidence that discretionary accrual manipulation and real activity manipulation are used as substitutes to manage earnings. These findings provide valuable information for model specification for future research that investigates earnings management.
The instrumental genesis of collective activity The case of an ERP implementation in a large electricity producer

Collective activity should be a focal subject to study organizational dynamics, particularly in relation with the implementation of management systems such as ERPs. Collective activity is analyzed here as an ongoing dialogical construction by actors. It is always mediated by signs and particularly by instruments. To design and adapt collective activity, a reflexive dialogical exchange between actors, a “collective activity about collective activity”, mediated by instruments, is necessary: we call it “the instrumental genesis of collective activity”. We analyze the case of an ERP implementation at EDF, a large electricity company, in the purchase and procurement area of the production division. The design and implementation of the new system was not clearly viewed as the instrumental genesis of collective activity. Difficulties appeared particularly for cross-functional cooperation and for the construction of new professional profiles of competence. In the light of this case, we suggest that key conditions for the intelligibility and the actionability of collective activity are the establishment of communities and the hybridization of professional competences.
Birds as a model to study adult neurogenesis: bridging evolutionary, comparative and neuroethological approaches

During the last few decades, evidence has demonstrated that adult neurogenesis is a well‐preserved feature throughout the animal kingdom. In birds, ongoing neuronal addition occurs rather broadly, to a number of brain regions. This review describes adult avian neurogenesis and neuronal recruitment, discusses factors that regulate these processes, and touches upon the question of their genetic control. Several attributes make birds an extremely advantageous model to study neurogenesis. First, song learning exhibits seasonal variation that is associated with seasonal variation in neuronal turnover in some song control brain nuclei, which seems to be regulated via adult neurogenesis. Second, food‐caching birds naturally use memory‐dependent behavior in learning the locations of thousands of food caches scattered over their home ranges. In comparison with other birds, food‐caching species have relatively enlarged hippocampi with more neurons and intense neurogenesis, which appears to be related to spatial learning. Finally, migratory behavior and naturally occurring social systems in birds also provide opportunities to investigate neurogenesis. This diversity of naturally occurring memory‐based behaviors, combined with the fact that birds can be studied both in the wild and in the laboratory, make them ideal for investigation of neural processes underlying learning. This can be done by using various approaches, from evolutionary and comparative to neuroethological and molecular. Finally, we connect the avian arena to a broader view by providing a brief comparative and evolutionary overview of adult neurogenesis and by discussing the possible functional role of the new neurons. We conclude by indicating future directions and possible medical applications.
THE ROLE OF EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT TO MODERATE EFFECT OF ROLE STRESS ON EXAMINER JOB PERFORMANCE IN AUDIT BOARD OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA

Auditors are often associated with work stress. One of the stresses that are often experienced by auditors in doing work is role stress. Excessive stress faced by the auditor when working and often not immediately anticipated properly, and unfavorable working conditions can also affect auditor performance. This study uses a moderator variable, namely emotional quotient. An auditor needs to have a mechanism that is able to minimize and overcome the pressure that occurs in order to be able to maintain performance that is by the presence of emotional quotient. The self-motivation of each individual will grow if affiliated with the presence of emotional quotient. Emotional quotient is expected to be in the auditor to have high performance and get a good career in his career path. This research was conducted at the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia with 100 respondents, with a range of research ranges from March-April 2018. The data analysis technique used in this study is the Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA). The results of this study is emotional quotient strengthen the influence of role stress on job performance examiner.
The GL(2) McKay Correspondence

In this paper we show that for any affine complete rational surface singularity there is a correspondence between the dual graph of the minimal resolution and the quiver of the endomorphism ring of the special CM modules. We thus call such an algebra the reconstruction algebra. As a consequence the derived category of the minimal resolution is equivalent to the derived category of an algebra whose quiver is determined by the dual graph. Also, for any finite subgroup G of GL(2,C), it means that the endomorphism ring of the special CM C[[x,y]]^G modules can be used to build the dual graph of the minimal resolution of C^2/G, extending McKay's observation for finite subgroups of SL(2,C) to all finite subgroups of GL(2,C).
The Evolution of Green ICT Practice: UK Higher Education Institutions Case Study

Green ICT is understood as an initiative to encourage stakeholders engaged in ICT activities to address environmental problems and find solutions to them. The UK is one of the first countries to focus on Green ICT inform of governmental strategies and policies. The UK public sector, including UK HEIs, is under pressure to implement Green ICT. Although the UK government encourages HEIs to work on Green ICT, there has not been a comprehensive review of existing Green ICT policies and strategies devised by UKHEIs. This paper first reviews the concepts of Green ICT, and presents a framework to analyse Green ICT strategy, practice, and measurement in UK HEIs. This is followed by the analysis of evolution of Green ICT practices in UK HEIs based on web-based data collection in 2009 and 2011.
On the Relation between External Software Quality and Static Code Analysis

Only a few studies exist that try to investigate whether there is a significant correlation between external software quality and the data provided by static code analysis tools. A clarification on this issue could pave the way for more precise prediction models on the probability of defects based on the violation of programming rules. We therefore initiated a study where the defect data of selected versions of the open source development environment ldquoEclipse SDKrdquo is correlated with the data provided by the static code analysis tools PMD and FindBugs applied the source code of Eclipse. The results from this study are promising as especially some PMD rulesets show a good correlation with the defect data and could therefore serve as basis for measurement, control and prediction of software quality.
China's Contribution to Recent Convergence and Integration Among the Asian Economies

The objective of this article is to explore the economic relationship between China and the surrounding dynamic Asian economies. It delves into China's influence over the Asian economies and whether this relationship is a market-led or de facto symbiosis. The three principal channels of regional integration analyzed in this article are trade, FDI and vertically integrated production networks. They are essentially based on the activities of the private-sector in these economies. China methodically expanded and deepened its economic ties with the regional neighbors. At the present juncture, China's integration with the surrounding Asia is deep. Another issue that this article explores is the so-called China "threat" or "fear" in Asia. It implies that China is crowding out exports of the other Asian economies in the world market place. Also, as China has become the most attractive FDI destination among the developing countries, it is apprehended that China is receiving FDI at the expense of the Asian economies. These concerns were examined by several empirical studies, and the inference is that they are exaggerated. This article concludes that the private-sector business activities in China and other rapidly growing Asian economies were (and are) instrumental in bringing together the production structures and real economies. The result is both convergence and integration among the dynamic Asian economies. Over the years China and its Asian neighbors has developed a close and symbiotic economic relationship and a de facto regional integration.