Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing the Effect of Using a Science-Enhanced Curriculum to Improve Agriculture Students' Science Scores: A Causal Comparative Study.

The academic skills of today’s teenagers are diminishing, and are a cause for concern. One of the academic areas in need of improvement is science. The purpose of this causal comparative study was to determine the effect that a science–enhanced, curriculum would have on students’ achievement in science. The population for this study consisted of students in secondary agricultural education programs whose instructors held a science credential in Oklahoma during the 2009–2010 school year and were selected by state staff in the Agricultural Education Division of the Oklahoma Career and Technology Education Department to teach the science–enhanced, curriculum. In addition, 10 equally credentialed instructors formed a purposeful comparison group and were selected according to specific variables (e.g., similarity of students’ SES status) for equivalency purposes. The findings of this study revealed that a statistically significant difference in students’ science achievement did not exist as a result of the treatment. However, small practical differences were detected between the groups, as student performance in the treatment group was more than two and one–half points higher than the means of students’ performance scores in the comparison group. Recommendations point to the need for replication of the study over an entire school year.
The UK Future Jobs Fund: Labour’s adoption of the job guarantee principle

This paper examines the development of employment policy in the United Kingdom leading to the creation of the Young Person’s Guarantee and its main component, the Future Jobs Fund. Past public-sector direct employment schemes, including those associated with the workfare model, had been discredited as ineffective across the OECD. In numerous countries, however, newer job creation schemes were implemented from the 1990s, aimed at addressing some of the shortcomings of earlier projects, and utilizing the growth of smaller community-based projects – the Intermediate Labour Markets, or ILMs. Whilst there was no strategic policy commitment to demand-led active labour market policy in the UK until recent years, a network of ILMs came into existence, and much of the funding for these small-scale local projects came from the government. With the onset of the current economic downturn, and the substantial rise in cyclical unemployment, policy-makers more closely examined options for a demand-led strategy. Although ILMs had not been created with a view to forming part of an ‘employer of last resort’ policy, and were generally directed at very specific groups, the potential of these schemes to form part of a wider national strategy was clearly seen. In 2009 the government announced a job guarantee for all young people, primarily through the Future Jobs Fund. This initiative was inspired by ‘employer of last resort’ (or ‘job guarantee’) concept and the work of Hyman Minsky, and the intention was to extend it over time. Although the Future Jobs Fund was scrapped in May 2010 following a change of government in the UK, it incorporates the lessons of past policy failures, representing a bold step in active labour market policy – and may form a model for reviving demand-led employment policy.
Validation of market commodity forward curves

In this thesis the aim was to propose a method that could be used to validate the market commodity forward curve and analyse if the method is possible to apply. The thesis is limited to forward curves with equally spaced maturities up to one year and seasonal price patterns. The method suggested is to construct a reference curve by simulating futures prices with the seasonal cost-of-carry model and perform linear interpolation between these simulated values. The validation method was applied to UK natural gas futures traded on the Intercontinental Exchange for every trading day in December 2013. Estimates were based on settlement prices for the period 2011- 01-01 to 2013-11-30. Resulting reference curves appeared to capture the seasonal behaviour of UK natural gas in a correct way and the shape of the curve seemed to follow the market curve. However the majority of observed time series representing the state variables did not fulfil model assumptions. Therefore the observation period was shortened to 2012-07-01-2013-11-30 but the result was only slightly improved. It was still the case that some of the state variable processes did not follow model assumptions. By performing likelihood ratio test it was found that for some state variables the speed of mean reversion could be set to zero. The conclusion was that the proposed method is not appropriate to use for validating the market curve for the considered contracts. This is because model assumptions for state variables were not always fulfilled and some of the state variable process could be reduced to random walks. Perhaps model assumptions are fulfilled if the method is applied to another time period. However it is difficult to use a method for validation if historical data sometimes suggests that times series are not stationary and do not fulfil model assumptions. Finally the conclusion was drawn that for the chosen commodity the validation method is not applicable.
Rational Learning and Partisan Attitudes

Theory: Characterizing voters as rational actors who update their party affiliations based on a Bayesian assimilation of new information, Achen (1992) showed that a revisionist model of party identification generates, among its empirical implications, stable partisanship among adults. The model further implies that susceptibility to partisan change declines with age. The significance of Achen's model for the study of party identification leads us to examine more closely its underlying assumptions and the empirical ramifications of this and other learning models. Method: This essay develops a more general learning model, based upon the Kalman filter, that encompasses the Achen model as a special case. Results: We show that the Achen assumption of a fixed party benefit level leads to implausible implications about how voters learn from the history of party performance. When party benefit levels are allowed to vary over time, models of voter learning no longer imply that partisan attitudes, even among the older segments of the population, remain stable in the wake of new information about the parties. We conclude by discussing the empirical viability of our revised learning model and its implications for the study of partisan attitudes.
Alien epibiont (Crassostrea gigas) impacts on native periwinkles (Littorina littorea)

In marine sedimentary coastal environments such as the Wadden Sea (coastal south-eastern North Sea) shells of epibenthic molluscs are the only major available settlement substrate for an increasing number of alien sessile organisms. We investigated the effects of Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas epibionts on body weight, mobility and fecundity of the native common periwinkle Littorina littorea. Body dry weight of snails without oyster overgrowth was twice as high compared to periwinkles covered with oysters. Also crawling speed of snails with oyster epigrowth was significantly slowed down and about ten times lower than in unfouled periwinkles. Additionally, oyster epibionts caused a strong decrease in reproductive output. In laboratory experiments, egg production of fouled L. littorea was about 100-fold lower than in periwinkles free of oysters. Field surveys in different years and habitats demonstrated that up to 10% of periwinkles occurring on epibenthic bivalve beds and up to 25% of snails living on sand flats may be fouled by C. gigas. However, oysters are not the only epibionts on L. littorea in the area. In previous studies it was shown that periwinkles can also be strongly overgrown by other alien epibionts such as Australian barnacles Austrominius modestus and American slipper limpets Crepidula fornicata. These epibiotic structures may cause similar effects as revealed for C. gigas. Thus, we conclude that an alien epibiont accumulation on L. littorea may have a significant impact on periwinkle population dynamics and its ecological functions in the Wadden Sea.
Towards Experienced Anomaly Detector Through Reinforcement Learning

This abstract proposes a time series anomaly detector which 1) makes no assumption about the underlying mechanism of anomaly patterns, 2) refrains from the cumbersome work of threshold setting for good anomaly detection performance under specific scenarios, and 3) keeps evolving with the growth of anomaly detection experience. Essentially, the anomaly detector is powered by the Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) and adopts the Reinforcement Learning (RL) method to achieve the self-learning process. Our initial experiments demonstrate promising results of using the detector in network time series anomaly detection problems.
In situ proliferation contributes to accumulation of tumor‐associated macrophages in spontaneous mammary tumors

Infiltration of a neoplasm with tumor‐associated macrophages (TAMs) is considered an important negative prognostic factor and is functionally associated with tumor vascularization, accelerated growth, and dissemination. However, the ontogeny and differentiation pathways of TAMs are only incompletely characterized. Here, we report that intense local proliferation of fully differentiated macrophages rather than low‐pace recruitment of blood‐borne precursors drives TAM accumulation in a mouse model of spontaneous mammary carcinogenesis, the MMTVneu strain. TAM differentiation and expansion is regulated by CSF1, whose expression is directly controlled by STAT1 at the gene promoter level. These findings appear to be also relevant for human breast cancer, in which an interrelationship between STAT1, CSF1, and macrophage marker expression was identified. We propose that, akin to various MU subtypes in nonmalignant tissues, local proliferation and CSF1 play a vital role in the homeostasis of TAMs.
The Bank of Canada's new Quarterly Projection Model (QPM): An introduction

This article provides an overview of the Bank of Canada's new economic model, the Quarterly Projection Model (QPM), which has been under development at the Bank since 1989. The model has two roles. It is used to make economic projections, which are conducted quarterly and form an important basis for discussions of monetary policy between staff and senior management. QPM is also a research tool: it was developed to analyse important changes to the economy or macroeconomic policies which require a deeper understanding of long-term economic forces. The model pays particular attention to factors shaping long-term equilibrium, such as stocks of wealth, capital, government debt and net foreign assets. Various sources of dynamics, including the adjustment of forward-looking expectations, operate to determine the transition path to equilibrium and the consistency of expectations. The article discusses the history of QPM and earlier economic models at the Bank, and provides a simple overview of how the model works.
Advances and Challenges

This study describes nursing students’ reflections on taking an online course on death and dying. In a semistructured paper, students described fears of caring for clients at end of life (EOL), important content learned, and remaining discomforts. Data were analyzed using directed content analysis. Consistent themes were noted among the papers. Student reflections on the knowledge they gained closely followed initial fears. Several students appreciated the ability to reflect on their experiences in a nonjudgmental setting. Overall, the data showed that nursing students can become more confident in EOL care through online education. Knowledge gains and continued fears about the same topics suggest EOL confidence lies along a continuum and may require ongoing education. Future research should focus on offering online continuing education on EOL to practicing nurses.
The Regime Complex for Food Security: Implications for the Global Hunger Challenge

Recurrent food price crises, coupled with the steady deterioration of world food security over the past two decades, have prompted efforts to reform the global governance of food security. This article argues that diverging rules and norms across the elemental regimes of agriculture and food, international trade, and human rights over the appropriate role of states and markets in addressing food insecurity are a major source of transnational political conflict. It analyzes (1) the role of norms in the construction of the international food security regime; (2) the transition from an international food security regime to a regime complex for food security; and (3) rule and norm conflicts within this regime complex. It concludes with a discussion of the impacts of diverging norms on the politics of regime complexity and its policy implications for current efforts to reform the global governance of food security.
Broadband Chaotic Signals and Breather Oscillations in an Optoelectronic Oscillator Incorporating a Microwave Photonic Filter

We propose a technique to generate broadband chaotic and breather signals employing an optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) comprising a phase modulator (PM) and a linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating (LCFBG). The joint operation of the PM and the LCFBG forms a broadband microwave photonic filter (MPF), which allows the OEO to generate chaotic signals and breathers taking advantage of the interplay between the broadband MPF and the time-delayed feedback loop provided by a long optical fiber delay line. The breather excitations are characterized by nanosecond chaotic oscillations breathing periodically at a significantly lower time-scale determined by the OEO large delay time. A theoretical analysis based on a modified Ikeda time-delayed model to include the effect of the broadband filtering process is provided. The analysis is verified by an experiment. The proposed LCFBG-based OEO and the possibility to control in the optical domain its broadband bandpass characteristics considering the flexibility, accuracy, and precision in FBG fabrication can find applications in chaos-based communications and in fast optical processing systems, such as random number generation, or optical processing in reservoir computing taking advantage of the intrinsic multiple time scales of the LCFBG-based OEO.
Dreaming of a Red Lamborghini and Blue Sky: Towards Understanding Sustainability and Sustainable Consumption in Developing Countries.

Abstract: Title: Dreaming of a Red Lamborghini and Blue Sky: Towards Understanding Sustainability and Sustainable Consumption in Developing Countries. Date of the Seminar: 1st June, 2010 Course: BUS 808 -Master thesis in International Marketing and Brand Management. Authors: Bishaara Hameed, Igor Ackerberg, Sundus Ahad Khan Advisors: Sofia Ulver-Sneistrup Keywords: Sustainability Discourses, Sustainable Consumption, Consumers, Developing Countries Thesis purpose: To explore how consumers in developing countries living in a complex globalized world make sense of the various discourses of sustainable consumption, habitats of meaning and cultural flows to which they are exposed to; and investigate how these negotiations may indicate their future consumption choices. Methodology: A qualitative research methodology was used which focused on identifying meanings and values that individuals associate with different experiences they undergo in transition between different social contexts. This methodology allowed us to gather rich and thick data, which was used to analyze how informants negotiate and make sense of ‘sustainability’ and that allowed to penetrate their dreams and aspirations which may indicate their future consumption choices. Theoretical perspective: Sustainability discourses and ideological roots of consumerism, global trickle -down theory, emulation, global cultural flows and habitats of meaning. Empirical data: The empirical data used for this particular study was gathered through in-depth, phenomenological long interviews with Chinese students, temporarily in Sweden, pursuing graduate education Conclusion: We demonstrate that our informants do not associate sustainability with their personal consumption. This may be rooted in the strong forces of their original habitat of meaning which encourages consumerism in consistency with the ideology of growth. Secondly, we show that habitats of meaning are not country bound. Nevertheless, in our study when individuals in transition are exposed to different habitats of meaning, we demonstrate that the intersection of flows may not result in a scenario of de-territorialisation as to what Appadurai (1990) might have predicted. In line with Heyman & Campbell (2009), we demonstrate that de-territorialisation of cultural flows may only be one of many possible consequences by clearly disclosing the contradictions that the individuals are caught up in and we stress the importance of understanding the transition process. Hence, thirdly, we demonstrate ways through which sustainable consumption choices in developing countries may be explained through other ways than merely anticipating whether emulation or imitation occurs.
Mainstreaming Sustainable Coffee

This overview article examines the various dimensions of sustainable coffee as well as the actors involved and their perceptions on how to advance the market from niche to mainstream. The issues at hand are very complex, with different types of coffee producers, manufacturing/roasting companies and consumers, and a variety of standards, all with their own peculiarities and views on what is the best approach, and characterised by a divergent potential for ‘scaling up’. Policy-makers, managers and NGOs thus face difficult choices as to which path to pursue as there is no clear consensus on a concrete ‘solution’ to this ‘wicked problem’. The article analyses the market for sustainable coffee, the different types of certified coffee available and their peculiarities considering production and supply perspectives, in relation to consumers who buy the final product. Implications are discussed as well, in the context of complexity and confusion, and the need for more complementarity.
Leverage, foreign borrowing and corporate performance: firm-level evidence for India

This article examines the association between corporate leverage and profitability. Using firm-level data on manufacturing sector in India for 1995–2004, the findings indicate that corporate profitability and cash flows declines as leverage rises. More importantly, the marginal effect of an increase in leverage on earnings is larger for firms that participate in international debt markets than other firms. The results are robust after controlling for the economic environment and various firm-specific controls.
Peptidoglycan and Lipoteichoic Acid Induces Differential mRNA Response of Immune-Related Genes in PBMC of Crossbred, Tharparkar Cattle and Murrah Buffalo

ABSTRACT Subclinical mastitis, generally caused by Staphylococcus aureus, has a global economic impact all over the world. Hence, it needs to be resolved on higher priority which may be attained via. selection of mastitis resistant animals or inclusion of mastitis resistant trait into herd apart from management care. Diverse hosts with various genetic make-ups encounter pathogens in a diverse manner which in turn leads to contradicting outcome of the disease. Identification of species-wise or breed-wise differential expressed genes in response to S. aureus through relative evaluation of transcripts may be useful for judging the immuno-competency of a species or breed toward mastitis. The present study was undertaken to examine the stimulant effect of S. aureus peptidoglycan (PGN) and lipoteichoic acid (LTA) on Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) harvested from blood samples of crossbred cattle, Tharparkar cattle, and Murrah buffaloes. After 6 h of in vitro stimulation qRT-PCR was used to measure the relative mRNA expression of TLR-2, TNF-α, IL-8, IFN-γ and IL-10 genes in stimulated and un-stimulated PBMC. The selected genes revealed significant differences in the pattern of immune response among crossbred cattle, Tharparkar cattle and Murrah buffalo in spite of the same stimulant dose.
Mean-Variance Theory in Complete Markets

Two paradigms in the pricing of risky assets are the "complete markets" model of Arrow and Debreu and mean-variance pricing as embodied in the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). The former is primarily of theoretical interest. In fact, prior to the recent work of Banz and Miller (1978) and Breeden and Litzenberger (1978) there was little thought or hope of practical applications. On the other hand, the hegemony of the CAPM is due mostly to its apparent ease of applicability and, to a lesser extent, its empirical justification. In a competitive market with no taxes, transactions costs, or institutional constraints on portfolio holdings, the allocation of the available assets will be Pareto optimal. The end-of-period distribution of wealth (or the consumption goods), however, will typically be Pareto optimal only when there is available an Arrow-Debreu security for each contingency. Since, by definition, a Pareto superior reallocation is weakly preferred by all investors, a complete set of Arrow-Debreu markets should naturally arise provided they are not too costly to establish. The complete-markets model of Arrow and Debreu and the meanvariance capital asset pricing model (CAPM) are two paradigms of risky asset markets. This paper provides an integration of these two theories. We prove that the standard meanvariance separation theorem obtains in a complete market only if all investors have quadratic utility. In addition, the familiar CAPM pricing relation can hold for all assets in a complete market only if arbitrage opportunities exist. On the positive side, we show that the validity of this relation for the primary assets in a complete market is unaffected by the distribution of returns on the created financial assets.
Firm Entry, Competitive Pressures and the US Inflation Dynamics

This paper studies the effect of competitive pressures on inflation dynamics. To this end it derives and estimates a New Keynesian Phillips curve in a model with endogenous firm entry. The number of active firms is inversely related to their market power. By taking into account the number of competitors, the pass-through of real marginal cost on inflation is separately identifiable from the effect of endogenous desired markup fluctuations. Estimates with US data suggest that the effect of real marginal cost on inflation is stronger than that found in the empirical test of the standard model. The estimated elasticity of the desired markup with respect to the number of firms implies that an increase of 10% in the number of active firms would lower annual inflation by 1.4% in the short run.
New Journal of Physics Correlation structure and dynamics in volatile markets

The statistical signatures of the ‘credit crunch’ financial crisis that unfolded between 2008 and 2009 are investigated by combining tools from statistical physics and network theory. We devise measures for the collective behavior of stock prices based on the construction of topologically constrained graphs from cross-correlation matrices. We test the stability, statistical significance and economic meaningfulness of these graphs. The results show an intriguing trend that highlights a consistently decreasing centrality of the financial sector over the last 10 years. 4 Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed. New Journal of Physics 12 (2010) 085009 1367-2630/10/085009+21$30.00 © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft