Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Measurement of Carbon Emission Effect of Construction Land Changes in Anhui Province Based on the Extended LMDI Model

Abstract: In the context of “two–wheel drive” development mode, China's construction land shows significant expansion characteristics. The carbon emission effect of construction land changes is an important factor for the increase of carbon emissions in the atmosphere. In this study, the drivers of carbon emissions in Anhui Province from 1997 to 2011 were quantitatively measured using the improved Kaya identity and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index. The results show that: economic growth, expansion of construction land and changes in population density have incremental effects on carbon emissions. The average contribution rate of economic growth as the first driver is 266.32 percent. The construction land expansion is an important driving factor with annual mean carbon effect of 6.4057 million tons and annual mean contribution rate of 187.30 percent. But the change in population density has little impact on carbon emission driving. Energy structure changes and energy intensity reduction have inhibitory effects on carbon emissions, of which the annual mean contribution rate is -212.06 percent and -158.115 percent respectively. The targeted policy approaches of carbon emission reduction were put forward based on the decomposition of carbon emission factors, laying a scientific basis to rationally use the land for the Government, which is conducive to build an ecological province for Anhui and achieve the purpose of emission reduction, providing a reference for the research on carbon emission effect of changes in provincial-scale construction land.
Student attitudes, satisfaction, and learning in a collaborative testing environment.

INTRODUCTION This study examined the effect of collaborative testing on student learning, attitude toward testing, and course satisfaction at a chiropractic college. METHODS THE STUDY COMPARED TESTING PERFORMANCE BETWEEN TWO COHORTS OF STUDENTS TAKING AN ADVANCED NEUROANATOMY COURSE: a control group (n = 78) and an experimental group (n = 80). Scores examined for each cohort included sums of quizzes, examination scores, and a comprehensive final examination. The control cohort completed weekly quizzes as individuals, while the experimental cohort completed the quizzes collaboratively in small groups. Both cohorts completed three unit examinations and the comprehensive final examination as individuals. Additionally, pretest-posttest and delayed posttest scores were examined. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) (including repeated measures MANCOVA) were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS The experimental cohort scored significantly higher compared to the control cohort on all quizzes (F = 217.761; df = 1,156; p < .05) and overall course grades (F = 16.099; df = 1,156; p < .05). There were no significant differences in either the comprehensive final (posttest) (F = 3.138; df = 1,122; p > .05) or the delayed posttest (taken 5 weeks after the end of the course) (F = 0.431; df = 1,122; p > .05) between the two cohorts. The overall scores for both cohorts on the delayed posttest were significantly lower than the posttest scores (F = 4.660; df = 1,122; p < .05). CONCLUSIONS This project extends previous findings that students using collaborative testing have significantly increased short-term course performance compared with those students using traditional testing. No differences in learning or retention were noted.
Managing Soil Acidity

The minerals from which a soil is formed partly determine whether it is acid or alkaline. Soils formed from acidic rocks have a lower pH than those formed from basic rocks or alkaline parent material. Rainfall affects soil acidity development by leaching basic elements such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium from the soil profile, leaving the acidic elements: hydrogen, aluminum and manganese. In addition, soil erosion can contribute to the loss of basic elements thereby increasing soil acidity.
Doping and performance enhancing drug use in athletes living in sivas, mid-anatolia: a brief report.

The aim of this study was to determine the rate of doping and performance enhancing drug use in athletes in Sivas, Turkey, and to analyze the main reasons for the use. This was a cross-sectional study based on a self-report questionnaire. The subjects filled the questionnaires under the supervision of the investigators during interviews. This questionnaire included 24 items describing the population in terms of demographics, sport practice, doping in sport and substance use. Moreover, we assessed the frequency of doping drug use. The number of respondents was 883, of which 433 athletes and 450 healthy non-athletes (control group). The mean age of the total volunteers was 21.8 ± 3.7 yrs. The male and female ratios were 78.2% and 21.8% respectively. Doping and performance enhancing drug usage rate was 8.0% (71cases in 883 subjects). Doping drug use among the athletes was significantly (p < 0.05) higher (14.5%) compared with the non-athletes (1.8%). The agents used were anabolic steroids in 60.5%, l-carnitene in 12.7%, erythropoietin in 5.4%, Na-bicarbonate in 11.3% and creatinine in 14.1% of 71 cases. The reasons for doping use were to have a better body condition in 34 cases (47.9%) and to solve weight (gaining or loosing) problems in 8 (11.3%) cases. Since the potential side effects of doping drugs are not satisfactorily familiar to the most users, the education of athletes on the matter must be a top priority. Key PointsDoping and performance enhancing drug use was 71 (8.0%) in 883 subjects, and it was significantly higher (14.5%) in the athletes compared with the non-athletes (1.8%) in Sivas, Turkey.The rate of athletes who experienced such drugs at least once in their life was 29.0%. The 52.4% of doping and performance enhancing drug users accepted that they were unaware of the drugs full and/or potential side effects.
Novel multiband wideband filter relying on metamaterial technology

We propose a multiband passive filter in the microwave frequency range based on a strip-line technology metamaterial. The construction relies on 2D photonic band-gap surface realized by periodic repetition of a square shaped unit cell. The pattern impressed inside the unit cell has a novel structure introducing three electromagnetic band gaps ranging across of the first six modes of operation. The relatively large band-gaps, allowing to be controlled by the geometrical and material parameters of the unit cell, recommend the structure for applications as band-pass, band-stop or multiband filter or in sensor related applications.
Supratentorial Ependymoma in Children

The clinical and pathological characteristics of supratentorial ependymomas (STE) in children are not well identified in the literature, because most series deal with ependymomas regardless of their location or the age of the patient. As a result, the pathological description of the disorder is still debated. We therefore reviewed our cases of children operated for STE and compared them with cases of infratentorial ependymomas (ITE) to provide a better characterization of STE and suggest guidelines for treatment. From 1985 to 1999, we operated 18 children for STE, almost half of which developed with no connection to the ventricular system. Intraoperative bleeding and infiltration of the basal ganglia prevented total removal in 4 cases and were the main causes of operative mortality and morbidity. The 5-year overall survival and recurrence-free survival rates were 54 and 37%, respectively, and were highly affected by the extent of resection, but not by histological grade. Because of the high recurrence rate, we recommend systematic postoperative irradiation limited to the tumor site for all high-grade tumors in older children, and reoperation after subtotal removal and for recurrences.
Effects of endurance training on satellite cell frequency in skeletal muscle of old men

We investigated the effects of endurance training on satellite cells, which are a major component of the regenerative capacity of muscles. Muscle biopsies were obtained from the vastus lateralis of 11 men aged between 70 and 80 years who trained for 14 weeks (work load corresponding to 65–95% of peak oxygen consumption, V̇O2 peak). Satellite cells were identified by immunohistochemistry. There was a significant increase in satellite cell number. Additionally, V̇O2 peak, citrate synthase activity, and the area of type IIA fibers were significantly increased. Fiber type distribution and the myonuclear number were not significantly affected. The enhancement of satellite cell frequency and fiber area indicate that endurance training is an efficient strategy to improve muscle function in the elderly. Muscle Nerve 28: 87–92, 2003
Determinants of FDI inflows to Arab economies

The paper studies location determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) to 16 Arab economies over the period from 1984 to 2012, by employing Arellano–Bover/Blundell–Bond linear dynamic panel data estimation. We find that market size, trade openness, preferential trade agreements and financial development have significant positive impact on FDI inflows to Arab economies. FDI in Arab economies appears to be resource seeking since the total oil supply variable is positive and significant. The paper finds that better institutions and educated labour force may play a key role in attracting FDI inflows. We suggest that Arab economies should sequence their economic policy measures with the institutional ones, beginning with a focus on privatization and trade liberalization, and subsequently shift to improvement in economic growth.
New Evidence on the Impact of Financial Crises in Advanced Countries

This paper examines the aftermath of financial crises in advanced countries in the four decades before the Great Recession. We construct a new series on financial distress in 24 OECD countries for the period 1967–2007. The series is based on assessments of the health of countries’ financial systems from a consistent, real-time narrative source; and it classifies financial distress on a relatively fine scale, rather than treating it as a 0-1 variable. We find that output declines following financial crises in modern advanced countries are highly variable, on average only moderate, and often temporary. One important driver of the variation in outcomes across crises appears to be the severity and persistence of the financial distress itself.
Does Valuation Model Choice Affect Target Price Accuracy?

We investigate whether the choice of valuation model affects the forecast accuracy of the target prices that investment analysts issue in their equity research reports, controlling for factors that influence this choice. We examine 490 equity research reports from international investment houses for 94 UK-listed firms published over the period July 2002–June 2004. We use four measures of accuracy: (i) whether the target price is met during the 12-month forecast horizon (met_in); (ii) whether the target price is met on the last day of the 12-month forecast horizon (met_end); (iii) the absolute forecast error (abs_err); and (iv) the forecast error of target prices that are not met at the end of the 12-month forecast horizon (miss_err). Based on met_in and abs_err, price-to-earnings (PE) outperform discounted cash flow (DCF) models, while based on met_end and miss_err the difference in valuation model performance is insignificant. However, after controlling for variables that capture the difficulty of the valuation task, the performance of DCF models improves in all specifications and, based on miss_err, they outperform PE models. These findings are robust to standard controls for selection bias.
Wage Contracts When Output Grows Stochastically: The Roles of Mobility Costs and Capital Market Imperfections

The paper considers an industry in which individual output follows a stochastic growth process with a cumulative effect. It analyzes the roles of labor mobility and capital market conditions in the determination of wage contracts. Positive costs of mobility are shown to be necessary for the provision of wage and employment insurance when workers have no access to the capital market. When insurance is provided, wages grow less than average productivity. If the capital market is perfect, wage insurance will be provided even in the absence of costs of mobility. In this case, wages grow faster than average productivity.
Banking Competition and Shrouded Attributes: Evidence from the US Mortgage Market

We document that increased competition leads banks to reduce initial rates offered on adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) to attract borrowers but increase interest rates after the rate reset and thereby exploit consumer inattention in pricing terms. Consistent with theoretical predictions, we find that banks shroud more with naive borrowers or less financially sophisticated borrowers, who are more subject to behavioral bias. Although competition reduces firm profits and benefits consumers due to price reduction, the effect is small, since firms respond to competition by increasing add-on prices and loans have lower default rates and delayed prepayments since deregulation.
Blanchard's Model of Consumption: An Empirical Study

This paper derives several empirically testable implications for O. J. Blanchard's (1985) consumption model that has been widely used in analytical macroeconomic research. Cointegration methods are applied. The parameter that measures the life horizon of households is estimated and the consumption model is tested. Quarterly Canadian data are used. There is no empirical evidence against the assumption that households behave as if they live forever within Blanchard's framework. However, Blanchard's model of consumption is strongly rejected by the data.
Adverse Selection for Luxury Goods in Online Auctions

Online auction marketplaces such as eBay are susceptible to adverse selection. Due to information asymmetry between buyers and sellers, buyers of luxury goods from online auctions face uncertainty, especially because they are unable to determine the authenticity of goods sold in these marketplaces. Using data from completed auctions on eBay, this study confirms that adverse selection exists for luxury goods in online auctions. Institutions, such as authenticity money-back guarantee, do not effectively mitigate the adverse selection problem. The results also show that sellers tend to set up a reserve price to protect themselves from adverse selection when they choose a low starting bid. However, reserve price auctions for luxury goods result in a lower closing price and such a protection does not economically benefit the sellers. Alternatively, when sellers choose a high starting bid to lower the risk of adverse selection, they tend to offer a buy-it-now price, and the buyout option positively affects the closing price. The implications of our findings for research and practice are also discussed.
Healthy Outside-Healthy Inside: The Human Health & Well-being Benefits of Alberta's Protected Areas - towards a benefits-based management agenda

Recommended Citation Lemieux, Christopher J., Sean T. Doherty, Paul F.J. Eagles, Joyce Gould, Glen T. Hvenegaard, Elizabeth (Lisa) Nisbet and Mark W. Groulx. 2015. Healthy Outside-Healthy Inside: the human health and well-being benefits of Alberta’s protected areas towards a benefits-based management agenda. Canadian Council on Ecological Areas (CCEA) Occasional Paper No. 20. CCEA Secretariat, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. vi + 71 pp.
Aggregate and Firm�?Level Volatility in the Japanese Economy

In this paper, we investigate the volatility of sales at the firm and the aggregate level using the longitudinal dataset of the Financial Statements Statistics of Corporations (FSSC). The main findings are as follows: (1) Firm-level volatility decreased until the mid-1990s but then increased again. (2) Aggregate-level volatility steadily decreased until the mid-1990s and has remained low since. (3) Decomposing the total variance of the growth rate of aggregated sales, we find that the divergence between firm-level and aggregate-level volatility is caused by the drastic decline and subsequent low level of the covariance of sales growth between different firms and the increase in individual firms' volatility.
Enhancing Youth Development Through Sport

Abstract It is commonly believed that through sports, children and adolescents learn values and skills that will serve them well as they prepare for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, many youth sport programs are neither properly structured nor implemented in a manner that these life skills can be learned in sport and later transferred to other life domains. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of positive youth development, to describe the role sport can play in preparing youth to learn essential “life lessons,” to discuss why so few programs achieve this goal, and to provide examples of several sport-based programs designed to achieve these goals. In addition, various issues relating to the design, implementation and evaluation of these programs and future sport programs are discussed.
Analysis of subclinical synovitis detected by ultrasonography and low-field magnetic resonance imaging in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

ObjectiveTo assess the utilities of ultrasonography (US) and low-field magnetic resonance imaging (compacTscan, cMRI) in the diagnosis of subclinical synovitis of hand joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). MethodsA total of 1,540 joints of 77 RA patients were examined clinically, using US, using cMRI, and the baseline X-ray examination was performed. Clinical synovitis was defined as joint tenderness or swelling. Subclinical synovitis was diagnosed by US and by cMRI. The incidence of bone erosion and joint space narrowing was assessed by X-ray examination performed at approximately 40 weeks of follow-up.ResultsOf the hand joints examined, 294 (19.1 %) were diagnosed with clinical synovitis, and 218 joints (14.1 %) were diagnosed with subclinical synovitis. The remaining 1,028 joints (66.8 %) were synovitis-free on clinical examination and imaging. For the diagnosis of subclinical synovitis, cMRI (11.4 %) was significantly more sensitive than power Doppler signals detected by US (US-PD; 6.8 %) (P < 0.01), and the combination of US-PD and cMRI was more useful (14.1 %) than US-PD or cMRI alone (P < 0.05). Follow-up X-ray examination of 600 joints showed a significantly higher incidence of bone erosion in joints with subclinical synovitis than in synovitis-free joints (P < 0.05). ConclusionUS-PD and cMRI are useful for detecting subclinical synovitis in patients with RA. Subclinical synovitis of the small joints of the hand can progress to bone destruction.
THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN ECONOMIC GROWTH: EVIDENCE FROM ASIA AND PACIFIC COUNTRIES

Artikel ini menganalisis peran pemerintah dalam pertumbuhan ekonomi jangka panjang di sebagian besar negara Asia Pasifik yang mempunyai kesamaan latar belakang ekonomi, periode 1980-2000. Studi yang menggunakan “unbalanced panel method”ini memberikan hasil bahwa koefisien pangsa pengeluaran pemerintah terhadap GDP adalah negatif signifikan dalam mempengaruhi pertumbuhan ekonomi di kawasan ini. Hubungan negatif ini menunjukkan bahwa komponen konsumsi mendominasi pengeluaran anggaran pemerintah. Hasil ini sejalan dengan kenyataan bahwa sebagian besar negara-negara di kawasan ini menemui masalah dalam manajemen pengeluaran pemerintah. Jadi pengeluaran yang besar untuk konsumsi bagi kepentingan pemerintah sendiri menutupi efek positif investasi publik. Namun demikian, koefisien penerimaan pajak menunjukkan tanda positif. Hasil yang signifikan menjelaskan adanya hubungan yang kuat antara penerimaan pajak dan pertumbuhan ekonomi di mana meningkatnya penerimaan pajak mendorong pertumbuhan ekonomi jangka panjang. Oleh karena itu, kebijakan pemerintah sebaiknya mendukung akumulasi penerimaan pemerintah yang mempunyai peran potensial dalam mendorong pertumbuhan ekonomi. Selain itu, studi empiris ini juga menunjukkan bahwa di antara variabel yang mempengaruhi pertumbuhan ekonomi, menurut argumen teori pertumbuhan neoklasik, hanya variabel investasi modal yang mempengaruhi pertumbuhan ekonomi untuk negara di kawasan Asia Pasifik dalam analisis. Akhirnya, dalam artikel ini juga direkomendasikan studi lebih jauh yaitu analisis peran kebijakan fiskal dalam pertumbuhan ekonomi yang memisahkan antara kebijakan fiskal untuk kepentingan yang produktif, seperti investasi publik, dan kepentingan yang tidak produktif, seperti konsumsi rutin.
Metabolic engineering of Cyanobacteria and microalgae for enhanced production of biofuels and high‐value products

A lot of research has been performed on Cyanobacteria and microalgae with the aim to produce numerous biotechnological products. However, native strains have a few shortcomings, like limitations in cultivation, harvesting and product extraction, which prevents reaching optimal production value at lowest costs. Such limitations require the intervention of genetic engineering to produce strains with superior properties. Promising advancements in the cultivation of Cyanobacteria and microalgae have been achieved by improving photosynthetic efficiency through increasing RuBisCO activity and truncation of light‐harvesting antennae. Genetic engineering has also contributed to final product extraction by inducing autolysis and product secretory systems, to enable direct product recovery without going through costly extraction steps. In this review, we summarize the different enzymes and pathways that have been targeted thus far for improving cultivation aspects, harvesting and product extraction in Cyanobacteria and microalgae. With synthetic biology advancements, genetically engineered strains can be generated to resolve demanding process issues and achieve economic practicality. This comprehensive overview of gene modifications will be useful to researchers in the field to employ on their strains to increase their yields and improve the economic feasibility of the production process.
Moving beyond Schein's typology: individual career anchors in the context of Nigeria

Purpose – Drawing on institutional theory, this study sets out to explore the career anchors that exist among information technology (IT) workers in Nigeria and also to establish the strongest anchors in this context.Design/methodology/approach – This research adopted a two‐pronged methodological approach, which involved the use of 30 semi‐structured interviews and a 336‐question survey.Findings – Results suggest the continued significance of traditional orientations to careers in Nigeria as well as orientations associated with new career theory.Research limitations/implications – The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the selected context of the research.Practical implications – Human resources managers in Nigeria should be cautious of adopting career management models developed in the West. They should provide a reward system, which minimises financial uncertainty and risk.Originality/value – This paper provides valuable insights on the career anchors of I.