Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Human Capital on Growth: Evidence from West Africa

This paper analyzes the impact of human capital on growth, on the basis of refined calculations of human capital, and with a focus on West Africa. Using a growth-accounting methodology, it distinguishes the sources of growth between the accumulation of factors of production and changes in production intensity or efficiency. Private capital is found to be particularly important to growth, but human capital appears not to be significant. The paper also identifies the terms of trade, trade openness, the government deficit, and the share of government investment in total investment as key policy variables affecting growth.
Does Coordinated Institutional Activism Work? An Analysis of the Activities of the Council of Institutional Investors

The Council of Institutional Investors is a group of public and private pension funds which collectively own over $800 billion in financial assets within the United States. The Council has provided a forum for these funds to coordinate and communicate with each other on a variety of matters including activism programs aimed at facilitating solution of problems in underperforming portfolio firms. The Council has issued a focus list of poorly performing firms for each of the last five years to its members who have the discretion to pursue activism programs. These lists have included well-publicized underperformers such as IBM, Kodak and Sears along with a variety of less known cases. This study documents the performance of 96 firms which appeared on the Council's focus lists in 1991, 1992 and 1993 relative to several control groups. Firms on Council focus lists experience poor share price performance in the year before being included on a focus list. In the year after being listed, these firms experienced an average share price increase of 11.6% above the S&P 500. Given that the mean equity market value of Council listed firms was $3.42 billion we estimate a total abnormal dollar gain of these firms of $39.7 billion. This increase is broadly consistent with the view that coordinated institutional activism creates shareholder wealth.
Cross-Layer Enhanced Real-Time Packet Scheduling over CDMA Networks

Most existing scheduling algorithms for real-time traffic in code division multiple access (CDMA) networks bound the bit error rate (BER) in order to guarantee the packet error rate (PER) of each packet However, there is a tradeoff between PER and the packet drop rate (PDR) caused by delay violations, i.e., by slightly degrading the PER, more packets can be sent thus lowering PDIR. This paper defines a new problem for scheduling real-time traffic in time division multicode CDMA networks, which optimizes the PER and PDR jointly across the physical and link layers. These two metrics make up the total packet loss ratio (PLR). A novel cross-layer enhanced real-time packet scheduling algorithm is proposed to optimize the PLR experienced by each user in each frame, and distribute it fairly between users over the long term. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm provides fairness in packet losses among users of different traffic classes, and achieves superior performance over previous algorithms in reducing PLR and increasing system capacity
Group Analysis of Variable Coefficient Diffusion--Convection Equations. III. Conservation Laws

The notions of generating sets of conservation laws of systems of differential equations with respect to symmetry groups and equivalence groups are introduced and applied. This allows us to generalize essentially the procedure of finding potential symmetries for the systems with multidimensional spaces of conservation laws. A class of variable coefficient (1+1)-dimensional nonlinear diffusion-convection equations of general form $f(x)u_t=(g(x)A(u)u_x)_x+h(x)B(u)u_x$ is investigated. Using the most direct method, we carry out two classifications of local conservation laws up to equivalence relations generated by both usual and enhanced equivalence groups. Equivalence with respect to $\hat G^{\sim}$ and correct choice of gauge coefficients of equations play the major role for simple and clear formulation of the final results. The notion of contractions of conservation laws and one of characteristics of conservation laws are introduced and contractions of conservation laws of diffusion-convection equations are found.
What Drives Consumers to Pass Along Marketer-Generated eWOM in Social Network Games? Social and Game Factors in Play

Social network games (SNGs) are part of the highly evolving marketing and e-commerce channel of social network sites (SNSs). Marketers in SNGs offer economic incentives of game currency or virtual goods in exchange for consumer interactions with ads, often encouraging consumers to forward marketer-generated messages broadly to social networks. This study investigates factors that lead consumers to engage in these marketer-generated electronic word of mouth (eWOM) behaviors. Social factors, and game factors with intrinsic and extrinsic benefits, are studied within extensions of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Survey data from 158 participants who play games on Facebook were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Normative influence positively impacted eWOM behaviors of opinion passing, or forwarding the message, and opinion giving, which is a persuasion attempt. Game enjoyment negatively influenced opinion passing, and economic incentive positively impacted both eWOM behaviors. Opinion passing significantly enhanced attitudes toward advertising, which in turn, positively influenced brand attitudes. Outcomes suggest marketers may increase brand awareness among eWOM senders through campaigns in SNGs, resulting from enhanced positive attitudes toward SNG advertising. However, applicable to SNGs and other games with advertising, marketers must balance appeal of economic incentives with low disruption to play experiences.
Fast Competition Approach using Self Organizing Map for Lip-Reading Applications

The self organizing map, or Kohonen SOM, is one of the most widely used neural network paradigm based on unsupervised competitive learning. However, the search algorithm introduced by Kohonen is slow when the size of the map is large. This slowness is caused by seeking about the best matching neuron among "all" the map neurons which tuned to "each" input sample. In this paper, we present a new strategy capable to accelerate the SOM's competition algorithm. Instead of Kohonen SOM strategy, the new approach concerns "only" with the neurons which are aligned along the low-order principal components of the feature space and neglects the rest of neurons. The idea is based on the fact that most of the data variance lie on the low-order principal components of the manifold which often contain the most important features of the data . The new SOM can works effectively as a feature extractor for all kinds of manifolds even in the curved ones. Two data sets are utilized to illustrate how the proposed algorithm reduces the computation efforts (or time) of SOM effectively. For N-dimensions feature space, it is shown here that the computation effort to get the best matching units is reduced to O(D1 x D2 X D.XDN), instead of O(D1 x D2 X D.XDN),where D1is the number of neurons through the dimension i. Also, under same experimental conditions, our method computation time is less than that of fast DCT by sixth times. In all cases, the new SOM shows, at least, same recognition accuracy or may be better.
Effect of Telmisartan on Functional Outcome, Recurrence, and Blood Pressure in Patients With Acute Mild Ischemic Stroke: A PRoFESS Subgroup Analysis

Background and Purpose— High blood pressure (BP) is common in acute ischemic stroke and associated independently with a poor functional outcome. However, the management of BP acutely remains unclear because no large trials have been completed. Methods— The factorial PRoFESS secondary stroke prevention trial assessed BP-lowering and antiplatelet strategies in 20 332 patients; 1360 were enrolled within 72 hours of ischemic stroke, with telmisartan (angiotensin receptor antagonist, 80 mg/d, n=647) vs placebo (n=713). For this nonprespecified subgroup analysis, the primary outcome was functional outcome at 30 days; secondary outcomes included death, recurrence, and hemodynamic measures at up to 90 days. Analyses were adjusted for baseline prognostic variables and antiplatelet assignment. Results— Patients were representative of the whole trial (age 67 years, male 65%, baseline BP 147/84 mm Hg, small artery disease 60%, NIHSS 3) and baseline variables were similar between treatment groups. The mean time from stroke to recruitment was 58 hours. Combined death or dependency (modified Rankin scale: OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.84–1.26; P=0.81; death: OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.27–4.04; and stroke recurrence: OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 0.68–2.89; P=0.36) did not differ between the treatment groups. In comparison with placebo, telmisartan lowered BP (141/82 vs 135/78 mm Hg, difference 6 to 7 mm Hg and 2 to 4 mm Hg; P<0.001), pulse pressure (3 to 4 mm Hg; P<0.002), and rate-pressure product (466 mm Hg.bpm; P=0.0004). Conclusion— Treatment with telmisartan in 1360 patients with acute mild ischemic stroke and mildly elevated BP appeared to be safe with no excess in adverse events, was not associated with a significant effect on functional dependency, death, or recurrence, and modestly lowered BP.
Best Practices for Employee Engagement Graduate Degree/major: Ms Training and Development

Organizations have the potential to gain considerable benefits from incorporating ii engagement into their culture. This study explores the construct of employee engagement relative to how engagement is defined, the impact of engagement on organizational elements, increasing engagement levels through the search and identification of specific drivers of engagement, as well as an exploration of the different methods of measuring engagement. This study investigates best practices that organization can use for designing an engagement program through the content analysis of existing literature.
Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy study of vacancy cluster evolution in swift heavy ion irradiated HOPG

Isotropic carbon is the material of choice for the rareisotope production target and beam catchers of the future Super-FRS. During operation both components are exposed to high-intensity ion beams and may suffer from radiation damage. To better understand damage formation processes in graphite, irradiation experiments were performed at the X0 beamline using 11.1 MeV/u Au-ions and different fluences. As material we selected highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), because in contrast to isotropic graphite, it has a well defined structure and as such serves as a model material. The irradiated samples were studied by positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) performed at the pulsed low-energy positron system (PLEPS) at the Munich research reactor FRM II [1].
Social value orientation and anticipated emotions in resource allocation decisions

The aim of the research reported in this thesis was to enhance our understanding of why individuals differ in their so-called social value orientation (SVO), i.e., their preferences for allocating resources equally or unequally between themselves and another person. By comparison with ‘proself’ individuals, ‘prosocials’ prefer to allocate resources equally. This has been linked to their greater sympathy with or empathy for other people. In the current research I propose that the anticipation of cooperative or competitive emotions may underlie these different preferences. To measure anticipated emotions about allocating resources fairly or unfairly, I developed a reliable and valid measure, as reported in Chapter 2. This measure was used to investigate whether anticipated emotions mediate the relation between SVO and allocation behaviour. I found that anticipated emotions did account (at least in part) for the relationship between SVO and allocation behaviour. This pattern of mediation was consistent in two cultural settings: Western European (UK, reported in Chapter 3) and Asian (Malaysia, reported in Chapter 4). I also examined whether participants’ allocation behaviour would differ as a function of whether the receiver was a member of the allocator’s ingroup or outgroup. Surprisingly, no such differences were found. Nevertheless, there was some evidence that individual differences in social dominance orientation are related to participants’ allocation behaviour, with anticipated emotion again mediating the relation. In Chapter 5, I experimentally manipulated anticipated emotion in an effort to show that this proposed mediator has a causal impact on allocation behaviour. Two experimental studies yielded evidence that manipulating anticipated emotion had a significant impact on allocation behaviour, and that the normally observed relation between SVO and allocation behaviour was eliminated by this manipulation. Overall, this thesis provides compelling evidence that anticipated emotion is a key psychological mechanism that helps to explain individual differences in allocation behaviour
Spatial Heterogeneity of Snow Density and Its Influence on Snow Water Equivalence Estimates in a Large Mountainous Basin

Accurate representation of the spatial distribution of snow water equivalent (SWE) in mountainous basins is critical for furthering the understanding of snow as a water resource, especially in the Western United States. To estimate the spatial distribution and total volume of SWE over mountainous basins, previous work has either assumed uniform snow density or used simple approaches to estimate density. This study uses over 1000 direct measurements of SWE and snow depth (from which density was calculated) in sampling areas that were physiographically proportional to a large (207 km2) mountainous basin in southwest Montana. Using these data, modeled spatial distributions of density and depth were developed and combined to obtain estimates of total basin SWE. Six estimates of SWE were obtained using varying combinations of the distributed depth and density models and were compared to the average of three different models that utilized direct measurements of SWE. Models utilizing direct SWE measurements varied by approximately 1% around their mean, while SWE estimates derived from combined depth and density models varied by over 14% around the same mean. This study highlights the need to carefully consider the spatial variability of density when estimating SWE based on snow depth in these environments.
Hypnosis and psychopathology: retrospect and prospect.

An editorial introduction to a special issue on hypnosis and psychopathology discusses several links between the two fields. Historically, observation of the parallels between hypnosis and hysteria played an important role in the discovery of unconscious mental processes, the development of psychogenic theories of psychopathology, and the rise of psychotherapy. It is proposed that hypnotic anesthesia and analgesia, amnesia, and posthypnotic suggestion may serve as laboratory models of dissociative phenomena seen in the clinic. Furthermore, hypnosis may be useful in the exploration of processes involved in emotional response and the formation of hallucinations and delusions. With respect to personality and behavior change, hypnosis has commonly been employed in the treatment of pain and habit disorders by means of direct suggestion, but its use is not limited to suggestive therapeutics. Hypnotic relaxation, images and dreams, suggested amnesia, hypermnesia, and age regression may be useful in both psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral therapies. Possible lines for further research on the relation between hypnosis and both experimental and clinical psychopathology are discussed. A major task for those interested in hypnosis and psychopathology is to foster the integration of their interests and research with the rest of scientific psychology.
Coma cluster object populations down to M_R~-9.5

This study follows a recent analysis of the galaxy luminosity functions and colour-magnitude red sequences in the Coma cluster (Adami et al. 2007). We analyze here the distribution of very faint galaxies and globular clusters in an east-west strip of $\sim 42 \times 7$ arcmin$^2$ crossing the Coma cluster center (hereafter the CS strip) down to the unprecedented faint absolute magnitude of M$_R \sim -9.5$. This work is based on deep images obtained at the CFHT with the CFH12K camera in the B, R, and I bands. The analysis shows that the observed properties strongly depend on the environment, and thus on the cluster history. When the CS is divided into four regions, the westernmost region appears poorly populated, while the regions around the brightest galaxies NGC 4874 and NGC 4889 (NGC 4874 and NGC 4889 being masked) are dominated by faint blue galaxies. They show a faint luminosity function slope of -2, very significantly different from the field estimates. Results are discussed in the framework of galaxy destruction (which can explain part of the very faint galaxy population) and of structures infalling on to Coma.
Protective Human Leucocyte Antigen Haplotype, HLA-DRB1*01-B*14, against Chronic Chagas Disease in Bolivia

Background Chagas disease, caused by the flagellate parasite Trypanosoma cruzi affects 8–10 million people in Latin America. The mechanisms that underlie the development of complications of chronic Chagas disease, characterized primarily by pathology of the heart and digestive system, are not currently understood. To identify possible host genetic factors that may influence the clinical course of Chagas disease, Human Leucocyte Antigen (HLA) regional gene polymorphism was analyzed in patients presenting with differing clinical symptoms. Methodology Two hundred and twenty nine chronic Chagas disease patients in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, were examined by serological tests, electrocardiogram (ECG), and Barium enema colon X-ray. 31.4% of the examinees showed ECG alterations, 15.7% megacolon and 58.1% showed neither of them. A further 62 seropositive megacolon patients who had undergone colonectomy due to acute abdomen were recruited. We analyzed their HLA genetic polymorphisms (HLA-A, HLA-B, MICA, MICB, DRB1 and TNF-alpha promoter region) mainly through Sequence based and LABType SSO typing test using LUMINEX Technology. Principal Findings The frequencies of HLA-DRB1*01 and HLA-B*14:02 were significantly lower in patients suffering from megacolon as well as in those with ECG alteration and/or megacolon compared with a group of patients with indeterminate symptoms. The DRB1*0102, B*1402 and MICA*011 alleles were in strong Linkage Disequilibrium (LD), and the HLA-DRB1*01-B*14-MICA*011haplotype was associated with resistance against chronic Chagas disease. Conclusions This is the first report of HLA haplotype association with resistance to chronic Chagas disease.
The economic growth and electricity consumption nexus: Evidence from Mauritius

This paper has tried to unfold the causal relationship between electricity consumption and real economic growth in Mauritius using co-integration models applied to time series data between 1961 and 2011. The results unambiguously show that there is a short-term unidirectional causality from electricity consumption towards economic growth. Therefore GDP growth depends on electricity consumption. The implications of this distinct causal relationship between the two variables on the formulation of policies for the power sector are discussed.
Redshift-space bias and β from the halo model

We analyse scale dependence of redshift-space bias b and β ≡ Ωm0. 6/b in the context of the halo model. We show that linear bias is a good approximation only on large scales, for k 0.1 h Mpc−1. Most problematic are galaxies predominantly found in groups and clusters, such as bright, red or elliptical galaxies, where we find poor convergence to a constant bias or β even on large scales.
Herd Behavior in the Japanese Loan Market: Evidence from Semi-Macro Data

The aim of this paper is to examine whether herd behavior exists or not between di®erent types of Japanese banks. Using data of loans outstanding by types of banks from 1980 to 2000, we investigate statistical causality between loans from di®erent types of banks in Japan. Time-series analysis manifested the causality from city banks to regional banks, from long-term credit banks to city banks, and from trust banks to city banks. Consistent with historical events in Japan, these relationships have been found especially for loans to emerging industries and for those in the 1980s. We also conducted analysis to clarify possible causes of the detected herding. Among di®erent stories behind herd behavior, the results are most consistent with that based on inference from other type of banks. The results between long-term credit banks and city banks, and those between trust banks and city banks are also consistent with the "Cowbell-like" e®ect.
A covert attention P300-based brain–computer interface: Geospell

The Farwell and Donchin P300 speller interface is one of the most widely used brain–computer interface (BCI) paradigms for writing text. Recent studies have shown that the recognition accuracy of the P300 speller decreases significantly when eye movement is impaired. This report introduces the GeoSpell interface (Geometric Speller), which implements a stimulation framework for a P300-based BCI that has been optimised for operation in covert visual attention. We compared the Geospell with the P300 speller interface under overt attention conditions with regard to effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction. Ten healthy subjects participated in the study. The performance of the GeoSpell interface in covert attention was comparable with that of the P300 speller in overt attention. As expected, the effectiveness of the spelling decreased with the new interface in covert attention. The NASA task load index (TLX) for workload assessment did not differ significantly between the two modalities. Practitioner Summary: This study introduces and evaluates a gaze-independent, P300-based brain–computer interface, the efficacy and user satisfaction of which were comparable with those off the classical P300 speller. Despite a decrease in effectiveness due to the use of covert attention, the performance of the GeoSpell far exceeded the threshold of accuracy with regard to effective spelling.
Reconciling explanations for the evolution of evolvability

Evolution’s ability to find innovative phenotypes is an important ingredient in the emergence of complexity in nature. A key factor in this capability is evolvability, or the propensity towards phenotypic variation. Numerous explanations for the origins of evolvability have been proposed, often differing in the role that they attribute to adaptive processes. To provide a new perspective on these explanations, experiments in this paper simulate evolution in gene regulatory networks, revealing that the type of evolvability in question significantly impacts the dynamics that follow. In particular, while adaptive processes result in evolvable individuals, processes that are either neutral or that explicitly encourage divergence result in evolvable populations. Furthermore, evolvability at the population level proves the most critical factor in the production of evolutionary innovations, suggesting that nonadaptive mechanisms are the most promising avenue for investigating and understanding evolvability. These results reconcile a large body of work across biology and inform attempts to reproduce evolvability in artificial settings.