Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Pricing of 'Luckiness' in the Apartment Market

Abstract Previous study (Ma and Chau, 1998) suggests that superstition and taboo affect property price. People are willing to pay a premium for a 'lucky' property. In a Cantonese prevailing society such as Hong Kong, many people regard the number ‘8’ as lucky since '8' has similar pronunciation as prosperity in Cantonese. Therefore lucky floor number is a valuable attribute. Although not all Cantonese are superstitious about the luckiness of the number ‘8’, this is an added benefit that no Cantonese will reject. However such attribute of the property is intangible, as it does not carry any tangible benefit to the owner or tenant. This attribute has the characteristics of luxury goods, which are more volatile than other tangible attributes such as floor area and age. The price of such attribute is higher when the market is booming. A hedonic price model is estimated using transaction data during boom and slump of the property market. The results show that, flats with lucky floor numbers are sold at a significantly higher price during property booms but does not command a premium during property slump.
The use of self-, peer and co-assessment in higher education: A review

ABSTRACT The growing demand for lifelong learners and reflective practitioners has stimulated a re-evaluation of the relationship between learning and its assessment, and has influenced to a large extent the development of new assessment forms such as self-, peer, and co-assessment. Three questions are discussed: (1) what are the main findings from research on new assessment forms such as self-, peer and co-assessment; (2) in what way can the results be brought together; and (3) what guidelines for educational practitioners can be derived from this body of knowledge? A review of literature, based on the analysis of 63 studies, suggests that the use of a combination of different new assessment forms encourages students to become more responsible and reflective. The article concludes with some guidelines for practitioners.
Cancer-related direct-to-consumer advertising—a study of its antecedents, influence on patient information seeking behaviors, and contingent effects

Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription medications and healthcare facilities has generated much debate over the potential benefits and adverse consequences for the public at large, patients, clinicianpatient relationships, and the overall healthcare system. This dissertation is aimed at contributing to this debate through studying the impact of DTCA in the context of cancer treatment. Study 1 assessed the reliability and validity of three candidate measures of patient-reported exposure to cancer-related DTCA across seven criteria. The study found that all three measures performed well in terms of convergent, nomological, discriminant, and face validity. Findings from this study offer support for utilizing these survey measures in future studies targeting cancer patients. Next, Study 2 examined the prevalence and correlates of cancer-related DTCA exposure in a sample of patients in Pennsylvania diagnosed with breast, prostate, or colorectal cancers. On average, patients reported modest exposure to such DTCA (median exposure was once per week). Significant correlates of exposure included cancer type, age, stage of disease, and ethnicity. Study 3 investigated the relationships between DTCA exposure and subsequent information seeking behaviors. The analyses detected a significant association between DTCA exposure and cancer patients' subsequent information engagement with their clinicians at one-year follow-up. Exposure to DTCA was marginally significant in predicting information seeking from non-clinician (lay media and interpersonal) sources. Based on the Integrative Model of Behavioral Prediction, a focused analysis showed a significant indirect path between DTCA exposure and subsequent information seeking from non-clinician sources, mediated through attitudes and intention to seek from these sources. Study 4 was guided by the Structural Influence Model of Communication to explore disparities in health information seeking behaviors arising from DTCA exposure. The study found that the associations between DTCA exposure and active information seeking behaviors were not moderated by patients' age, educational level, race/ethnicity, or cancer type. To conclude, these studies would likely inform the ongoing debate and future research regarding the impact of cancer-related DTCA exposure on communication outcomes and disparities. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Communication First Advisor Robert C. Hornik This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn. edu/edissertations/706
Preferential Reduction of the Thermodynamically Less Favorable Electron Acceptor, Sulfate, by a Nitrate-Reducing Strain of the Sulfate-Reducing Bacterium Desulfovibrio desulfuricans 27774

ABSTRACT Desulfovibrio desulfuricans strain 27774 is one of a relative small group of sulfate-reducing bacteria that can also grow with nitrate as an alternative electron acceptor, but how nitrate reduction is regulated in any sulfate-reducing bacterium is controversial. Strain 27774 grew more rapidly and to higher yields of biomass with nitrate than with sulfate or nitrite as the only electron acceptor. In the presence of both sulfate and nitrate, sulfate was used preferentially, even when cultures were continuously gassed with nitrogen and carbon dioxide to prevent sulfide inhibition of nitrate reduction. The napC transcription start site was identified 112 bases upstream of the first base of the translation start codon. Transcripts initiated at the napC promoter that were extended across the napM-napA boundary were detected by reverse transcription-PCR, confirming that the six nap genes can be cotranscribed as a single operon. Real-time PCR experiments confirmed that nap operon expression is regulated at the level of mRNA transcription by at least two mechanisms: nitrate induction and sulfate repression. We speculate that three almost perfect inverted-repeat sequences located upstream of the transcription start site might be binding sites for one or more proteins of the CRP/FNR family of transcription factors that mediate nitrate induction and sulfate repression of nitrate reduction by D. desulfuricans.
A conceptual model for E-government adoption in Egypt

Electronic government (e-government) was created as an efficient method for government adeptness and proficiency as a vital facilitator for citizen-oriented services. Since their establishment over a decade ago, E-government services are recognised as a vehicle for accessing online public services. Both governments and academic researchers comprehend the difficulty of low-level adoption of e-government services among citizens; a shared issue between both developing and developed countries. This paper investigates determinants and factors necessary to enhance adoption of citizens for e-government services in developing countries, with particular focus on Egypt, by extending the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) using a set of political, social, and design constructs that were developed from different sources of research literature.
4 SCIENTIFIC HIGHLIGHT OF THE MONTH First-principles design of magnetic oxides

We present an efficient methodology for the computational design of structural, electronic and magnetic properties of complex magnetic oxides. Our approach combines several complementary first-principles methods rooted in density functional theory. The optimization of atomic positions and the optimization of the crystalline structure is achieved by means of pseudopotential methods, known for yielding precise total energies and forces. The obtained structural information constitutes an input for calculations of electronic and magnetic properties using the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker and Linear Muffin-Tin Orbital methods. The resulting Kohn-Sham Green function is utilized in various applications, including the description of transport, spectroscopic properties and magnetism. This multi-code approach is particularly well suited for strongly correlated systems and therefore enables a faithful description of complex oxides. In this highlight, we illustrate the strengths of the methodology on examples of electronic and magnetic properties of transition metal monoxides, diluted magnetic oxides and magnetic oxidic surfaces.
Foundation Paper: The Australian Consortium on Higher Education, Community Engagement and Social Responsibility

The purpose of this paper is to begin a discussion regarding some core conceptual and theoretical tools that will inform the research agenda of the Australian Consortium on Higher Education, Community Engagement, and Social Responsibility (henceforth 'The Australian Consortium'). Although we have taken particular approaches and articulated particular assumptions regarding community engagement, this is not intended to limit discussion to one particular way of describing or practising community engagement. During this phase of the project we are interested in developing an intertextual spectrum of ideas and representations of community engagement which draws on a range of voices from a range of university, government, and community contexts. We propose that these discussions will then become a resource both for this project and in general via the Australian Consortium website and emerging Consortium publications in academic and non academic media. This paper is in five parts. The first provides an overview of the concept of community engagement based on current activities in universities and other large organisations. The second provides an overview of current organisational and policy contexts for university community engagement activities. The third begins a conceptual-theoretical mapping of community engagement in universities including, and in particular, an exploration of the university as being situated within a community of 'concentric circles', including local, state, national, and international communities; the "networked" university; higher education as social practice; and sustainability and social responsibility in engagement. The fourth section outlines a number of political challenges facing those who seek to practice community engagement, including the potential for community engagement practices to privilege certain voices over others. The fifth section invites detailed feedback on the ideas presented in this paper, including a call for contributions in the form of Australian Consortium discussion papers.
Use and application of computer and internet in dental education among students of Nagpur city

Background: Computer and Internet has currently become most easily accessible vehicle for extracting and viewing the data to everybody. Each folk carry the Internet in our hand and use it in just one finger bit. In dental education, additional use of computer and Internet is not a story of happening once and whereas, it is a routine procedure. The computers and Internet is employed for teaching and learning purpose. For the students, the Internet is currently one in every of the foremost necessary sources of data for looking and resolving the queries in academics beneath the steering of revered colleges. Hence, we decided do conduct such study in three dental institutes of our Nagpur city. Aim: Assessment of computer and Internet use and its application in dental education among the dental students of three dental institutes of Nagpur city. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was undertaken among the first to final BDS students of three dental colleges of Nagpur city. Results: One hundred and twenty (16.12%) of the participants use the Internet for searching information in dentistry. Three hundred and eighty-five (51.74%) of them use Internet for searching textbooks, videos, and literature. Three hundred and two (40.59%) of them prefer to read text from a book than computer. Conclusion: Majority of the dental students use computer and Internet for their studies. At the identical time students were not a lot aware of e-books. They conjointly preferred to read text from a book. The preclinical year student's angle toward the use of computer and Internet was found to be more than clinical year students.
The impact of Accounting Information Systems (AIS) on performance measures: empirical evidence in Spanish SMEs

This research study is aimed, based on empirical evidence, at measuring the relationship between the use of the Accounting Information Systems (AIS) by the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Spain, and firms� improved performance indicators and productivity. This empirical study is based on a survey carried out among small and medium-sized firms to ascertain the extent to which development and implementation of accounting information systems had taken place, and subsequently an analysis was made as to how much this introduction may impact on improvement in outcome indicators and productivity. As interesting results we have found that there is a positive relationship among the SMEs that use AIS for fiscal and bank management and better performance measures. This research provides value added in accounting literature given the scarcity of works dealing with the relationship between the application and use of AIS and performance and productivity indicators in SMEs in Spain.
A model of returns for the post-credit-crunch reality: hybrid Brownian motion with price feedback

Recent market events have reinvigorated the search for realistic return models that capture greater likelihoods of extreme movements. In this paper we model the medium-term log-return dynamics in a market with both fundamental and technical traders. This is based on a trade arrival model with variable size orders and a general arrival-time distribution. With simplifications we are led in the jump-free case to a local volatility model defined by a hybrid SDE mixing both arithmetic and geometric or CIR Brownian motions, whose solution in the geometric case is given by a class of integrals of exponentials of one Brownian motion against another, in forms considered by Yor and collaborators. The reduction of the hybrid SDE to a single Brownian motion leads to an SDE of the form considered by Nagahara, which is a type of ‘Pearson diffusion’, or, equivalently, a hyperbolic OU SDE. Various dynamics and equilibria are possible depending on the balance of trades. Under mean-reverting circumstances we arrive naturally at an equilibrium fat-tailed return distribution with a Student or Pearson Type~IV form. Under less-restrictive assumptions, richer dynamics are possible, including time-dependent Johnson-SU distributions and bimodal structures. The phenomenon of variance explosion is identified that gives rise to much larger price movements that might have a priori been expected, so that ‘25σ’ events are significantly more probable. We exhibit simple example solutions of the Fokker–Planck equation that shows how such variance explosion can hide beneath a standard Gaussian facade. These are elementary members of an extended class of distributions with a rich and varied structure, capable of describing a wide range of market behaviors. Several approaches to the density function are possible, and an example of the computation of a hyperbolic VaR is given. The model also suggests generalizations of the Bougerol identity. We touch briefly on the extent to which such a model is consistent with the dynamics of a ‘flash-crash’ event, and briefly explore the statistical evidence for our model.
Behavioral / Systems / Cognitive Personality Predicts Brain Responses to Cognitive Demands

Eysenck (1981) proposed that the personality dimension of introversion– extraversion (E) reflects individual differences in a cortical arousal system modulated by reticulothalamic– cortical pathways: it is chronically more active in introverts relative to extraverts and influences cognitive performance in interaction with task parameters. A circuit with connections to this system, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and anterior cingulate (AC) cortex, has been identified in studies applying functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to a broad range of cognitive tasks. We examined the influence of E, assessed with the Eysenck Personality QuestionnaireRevised (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1991), in fMRI activity during an “n-back” task involving four memory loads (0-, 1-, 2-, and 3-back) and a rest condition in healthy men. To confirm the specificity of E effects, we also examined the effects of neuroticism and psychoticism (P) scores. We observed that, as predicted by Eysenck’s model, the higher the E score, the greater the change in fMRI signal from rest to the 3-back condition in the DLPFC and AC. In addition, E scores were negatively associated with resting fMRI signals in the thalamus and Broca’s area extending to Wernicke’s area, supporting the hypothesized (negative) relationship between E and resting arousal. P scores negatively correlated with resting fMRI signal in the globus pallidus–putamen, extending previous findings of a negative relationship of schizotypy to striatal activity seen with older neuroimaging modalities to fMRI. These observations suggest that individual differences affect brain responses during cognitive activity and at rest and provide evidence for the hypothesized neurobiological basis of personality.
A New Statistical Model of the Noise Power Density Spectrum for Powerline Communication

In this paper a model for the disturbances on power line channels is represented. The model is based on extensive long-term measurements in office and home environments. The parameters of the model are based on random variables with space-dependent statistical distributions. A substantial advantage of this concept is its simple adaptation to new types of environment. This adaptation can be realized with only a few additional measurements and, in this connection, with a reconfiguration of the model parameters. This opens a simple possibility to calculate the system capacities of the new environment. The small number of necessary model parameters predestined this model for simulations.
Job satisfaction and turnover intention: The mediating effect of affective commitment

This study aims to investigate the mediating effect of affective commitment on the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention in international school teachers. Data were collected through questionnaire from 80 teachers in an international school in Jakarta, Indonesia, which indicated that affective commitment fully mediated the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.
A FRAME-BASED RATE-DISTORTION OPTIMAL CODING SYSTEM USING A LOWER BOUND DEPTH-FIRST-SEARCH STRATEGY

The problem of finding the optimal set of quantized coefficients for a frame-based encoded signal is known to be of very high complexity. This paper presents an efficient method of finding the operational Rate-Distortion (RD) optimal set of coefficients. The major complexity reduction lies in the reformulation of the original RD-tradeoff problem, where a new set of coefficients is used as decision variables. These coefficients are connected to the orthogonalization of the set of selected frame vectors and not to the frame vectors themselves. Contrary to the original problem, the new problem is practicable to solve optimal in a reasonable amount of time. By organizing all possible solutions as nodes in a solution tree, we use complexity saving techniques to find the optimal solution in an even more efficient way.
Preserved Recognition in a Case of Developmental Amnesia: Implications for the Acaquisition of Semantic Memory?

We report the performance on recognition memory tests of Jon, who, despite amnesia from early childhood, has developed normal levels of performance on tests of intelligence, language, and general knowledge. Despite impaired recall, he performed within the normal range on each of six recognition tests, but he appears to lack the recollective phenomenological experience normally associated with episodic memory. His recall of previously unfamiliar newsreel event was impaired, but gained substantially from repetition over a 2-day period. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the recollective process of episodic memory is not necessary either for recognition or for the acquisition of semantic knowledge.
143 GHz BRIGHTNESS MEASUREMENTS OF URANUS, NEPTUNE, AND OTHER SECONDARY CALIBRATORS WITH BOLOCAM BETWEEN 2003 AND 2010

Bolocam began collecting science data in 2003 as the long-wavelength imaging camera at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory. The planets, along with a handful of secondary calibrators, have been used to determine the flux calibration for all of the data collected with Bolocam. Uranus and Neptune stand out as the only two planets that are bright enough to be seen with high signal-to-noise in short integrations without saturating the standard Bolocam readout electronics. By analyzing all of the 143 GHz observations made with Bolocam between 2003 and 2010, we find that the brightness ratio of Uranus to Neptune is 1.027 ± 0.006, with no evidence for any variations over that period. Including previously published results at ≃ 150 GHz, we find a brightness ratio of 1.029 ± 0.006 with no evidence for time variability over the period 1983–2010. Additionally, we find no evidence for time variability in the brightness ratio of either Uranus or Neptune to the ultracompact H ii region G34.3 or the protostellar source NGC 2071IR. Using recently published Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe results we constrain the absolute 143 GHz brightness of both Uranus and Neptune to ≃ 3%. Finally, we present ≃ 3% absolute 143 GHz peak flux density values for the ultracompact H ii regions G34.3 and K3-50A and the protostellar source NGC 2071IR.
Global attractors for Cahn–Hilliard equations with nonconstant mobility

We address, in a three-dimensional spatial setting, both the viscous and the standard Cahn–Hilliard equation with a nonconstant mobility coefficient. As shown in Barrett and Blowey (1999 Math. Comput. 68 487–517), one cannot expect the uniqueness of the solution to the related initial and boundary value problems. Nevertheless, referring to Ball's theory of generalized semiflows, we are able to prove the existence of compact quasi-invariant global attractors for the associated dynamical processes settled in the natural ‘finite energy’ space. A key point in the proof is a careful use of the energy equality, combined with the derivation of a ‘local compactness’ estimate for systems with supercritical nonlinearities, which may have an independent interest. Under growth restrictions on the configuration potential, we also show the existence of a compact global attractor for the semiflow generated by the (weaker) solutions to the nonviscous equation characterized by a ‘finite entropy’ condition.