Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reference Income Effects in the Determination of Equivalence Scales Using Income Satisfaction Data

We estimate household equivalence scales using income satisfaction data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. We extend previous studies applying this approach by taking reference income into account. This allows separating needs-based from reference effects in the determination of income satisfaction. We show that this adjustment helps to overcome a bias causing an overestimation of adults’ and an underestimation of children’s needs-based equivalence weights. Our results indicate that controlling for income comparisons eliminates the gap between equivalence scale parameters for adults and children found in other studies.
Self-assessment and students’ study strategies in a community of clinical practice: A qualitative study

Abstract Background : Self-assessment is recognized as a necessary skill for lifelong learning. It is widely reported to offer numerous advantages to the learner. The research evaluated the impact of students’ and supervisors’ self-assessment and feedback training on students’ perceptions and practices of self-assessment. Moreover, it evaluated the effect of self-assessment process on students’ study strategies within a community of clinical practice. Methods : We conducted a qualitative phenomenological study from May 2008 to December 2009. We held 37 semi-structured individual interviews with three different cohorts of undergraduate medical students until we reached data saturation. The cohorts were exposed to different contexts while experiencing their clinical years’ assessment program. In the interviews, students’ perceptions and interpretations of ‘self-assessment practice’ and ‘supervisor-provided feedback’ within different contexts and the resulting study strategies were explored. Results : The analysis of interview data with the three cohorts of students yielded three major themes: strategic practice of self-assessment, self-assessment and study strategies, and feedback and study strategies. It appears that self-assessment is not appropriate within a summative context, and its implementation requires cultural preparation. Despite education and orientation on the two major components of the self-assessment process, feedback was more effective in enhancing deeper study strategies. Conclusion : This research suggests that the theoretical advantages linked to the self-assessment process are a result of its feedback component rather than the practice of self-assessment isolated from feedback. Further research exploring the effects of different contextual and personal factors on students’ self-assessment is needed.
Capabilities, technologies, and firm exit during industry shakeout: Evidence from the global solar photovoltaic industry

Research Summary: Explanations of entrants’ survival in an emerging industry are premised on pre‐entry capabilities or technology entry choices prior to the emergence of the dominant design. We consider how these drivers interact to strengthen or nullify firms’ pre‐entry advantage, and facilitate adaptation as the industry evolves. We also expand the treatment of exit by separating dissolution from acquisition, in which firms’ capabilities continue to be utilized in the industry. Studying a recent shakeout in the global solar photovoltaic industry, we find that pre‐entry capabilities and technology choices act in a complementary manner for some firms, thereby enhancing survival, and as buffers against exit for others. Nearly half of exits were via acquisitions, and technology choice at entry played an important role in determining how firms exited. Managerial Summary: New industries are often characterized by intense technology competition that culminates in a dominant technology followed by industry shakeout. Although prior research underscores the central role of technology choice and firm capabilities to survival, we do not actually know how firms with different capabilities and who have made competing technology choices survive an industry shakeout. In this article, we show how entrants’ capabilities and technology choices can act in a complementary manner for some firms, enhancing their chance of survival, and as buffers against failure for others. Moreover, we explain why some firms that do exit are acquired, when others are dissolved.
Self-concept in College Students: Does It Affect The Emotional Domain?

With the completion of this work is to study the incidence of self-concept of emotional intelligence. The sample used includes 134 students and the instruments used were the TMMS 24 for emotional intelligence and AF for the self-concept. The results released into the Cronbach's alpha show that all scales have adequate internal consistency. Data analysis show that all dimensions of self-concept influence the emotional domain, being greater the impact of self-concept work/school.
An Evaluation of Dental Prosthetic Status , Prosthetic Needs and Awareness on Reimbursement of Dental Care among Individuals with Different Socioeconomic Status

Background: The quality of life has been found to be reduced in case of missing teeth without prosthetic replacement. An evaluation of prosthetic status and prosthetic need is required for promotion of oral health. Hence, a Survey of prosthetic status and need of people in relation to socioeconomic status living in Gurugram city was done. Materials and Method: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among 810 subjects belonging to age groups15-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54 and above 55 years in the city of Gurugram, Haryana. WHO Oral Health Assessment form (1997) and a preformed questionnaire were used to collect the required data. Modified Kuppuswamy scale was used for classifying the individuals into different Socio economic status (SES) categories. Statistical Analysis: Data analysis was done using SPSS Windows version 21. Comparison of the prosthetic status and Needs between different SES categories was done using cross tabs. Chi-square was used for compilation of results. Results: 6.79% of the subjects in the study had prosthesis of some kind. Prosthesis of some kind was present in 27.45% of the subjects in the upper middle SES category and none of the subjects in the lower SES category had prosthesis. The prevalent cause of loss of teeth in different SES categories was found to be dental caries (67.43%). The prosthetic need in the study population was 48.14%. About 70% of the subjects in the lower SES category needed prosthesis of some kind. Conclusion: The socio-economic status and prosthetic status has shown a direct relationship whereas indirect relationship was found between socio-economic status and prosthetic need. The provision of oral health care should not include only treatment but also oral health information and education programmes.
The Relationships among Emotional Capital, Job Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Cross-Level Analysis

Employee job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior are affected not only by individual-level variables but also by group-level variables. Hence, this study uses a cross-level approach to investigate the relationships among individual and group emotional capitals with job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviors. We first explore the individual emotional capital effects, and then group emotional capital effects. Based on hierarchical linear modeling, the study found individual emotional capital has significant positive effects on job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior, and so does group emotional capital within organizations. In addition, this study also found that group emotional capital has moderate effects on job satisfaction but organizational citizenship behaviors. According to the empirical findings, this study proposes that enterprises should take individual emotional capital into account when recruiting new employees, and then develop and accumulate the group emotional capital to facilitate the cohesive spirits and team work performance.
Surface integral equation based characteristic mode formulation for dielectric resonators

The characteristic mode (CM) theory for analyzing the resonant behaviors of arbitrarily shaped dielectric bodies is further discussed based on the well-known PMCHW formulation. A careful investigation into the CM formulation developed in the 1970s finds that it fails to provide modal solutions with clear underlying physics for the dielectric resonators. To fix this problem, we propose a new generalized eigenvalue equation involving only the electric current on the equivalent surface. Moreover, a generalized eigenvalue equation involving only the magnetic current is also proposed for the CM analysis of the dielectric resonators. It is actually a dual CM formulation of the previous one. The two generalized eigenvalue equations are independent of each other and yield exactly the same CMs. The CMs can accurately describe the resonant behavior and modal fields of a dielectric resonator. Numerical results are presented to validate the proposed CM formulations.
Being Good When Not Doing Well

How firms behave under conditions of decline and resource constraints has not been considered in the corporate sustainability literature. This leaves unanswered the question how much we should rely on firms’ sustainability-oriented voluntary initiatives at a time when the global economy continues to be weak and firms face persistent threats of decline. In addressing this question, we first argue that the effect of a decline would be different for peripheral and core initiatives. Using data gathered from 478 small firms representing multiple manufacturing sectors in the United States through a survey, we empirically demonstrate that a decline in a firm’s financial performance is associated with a higher decline of peripheral initiatives than of core initiatives. We further found that a decline in peripheral initiatives was even greater when a firm operated in a relatively dynamic context. Contextual dynamism, however, did not affect decline in core initiatives.
ARROW: Approximating Reachability Using Random Walks Over Web-Scale Graphs

Efficiently answering reachability queries on a directed graph is a fundamental problem and many solutions - theoretical and practical - have been proposed. A common strategy to make reachability query processing efficient, accurate and scalable is to precompute indexes on the graph. However this often becomes impractical, particularly when dealing with large graphs that are highly dynamic or when queries have additional constraints known only at the time of querying. In the former case, indexes become stale very quickly and keeping them up to date at the same speed as changes to the graph is untenable. For the latter setting, currently proposed indexes are often quite bulky and are highly customized to handle only a small class of constraints. In this paper, we propose a first practical attempt to address these issues by abandoning the traditional indexing approach altogether and operating directly on the graph as it evolves. Our approach, called ARROW, uses random walks to efficiently approximate reachability between vertices, building on ideas that have been prevalent in the theory community but ignored by practitioners. Not only is ARROW well suited for highly dynamic settings - as it is index-free, but it can also be easily adapted to handle many different forms of ad-hoc constraints while being competitive with custom-made index structures. In this paper, we show that ARROW, despite its simplicity, is near-accurate and scales to graphs with tens of millions of vertices and hundreds of millions of edges. We present extensive empirical evidence to illustrate these advantages.
How should PCNA be assessed? Total of stained cells or only the most intensely stained ones?

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to analyse whether a marker of proliferative activity (PCNA) could provide a prognosis of tumor evolution and to determine whether different interpretation criteria could alter the results. METHOD The presence of PCNA in 59 patients of state II (T2 N0.1 M0) mammary carcinoma was determined. RESULT Numerical proportions of total and intensely stained cells were established. These data were compared with anatomopathological parameters. A significant association between higher cyclin values and worse histological and nuclear grading was encountered, particularly in patients with a "negative axilla" using the PCNA index. Cyclin values were not significant in relation to any parameters when indices from the intensely stained cells were considered exclusively. CONCLUSION Higher nuclear (NG3) and histological (HGIII) grading, associated with a high PCNA index (> 50), distinguish high-risk patients, and it is more appropriate considering all the stained cells as representative of PCNA indices, thus reflecting tumor aggressiveness.
Endemic Lagos bat virus infection in Eidolon helvum

SUMMARY Phylogenetic analyses suggest lyssaviruses, including Rabies virus, originated from bats. However, the role of bats in the maintenance, transmission and evolution of lyssaviruses is poorly understood. A number of genetically diverse lyssaviruses are present in Africa, including Lagos bat virus (LBV). A high seroprevalence of antibodies against LBV was detected in Eidolon helvum bats. Longitudinal seroprevalence and age-specific seroprevalence data were analysed and capture–mark–recapture (CMR) analysis used to follow 98 bats over 18 months. These data demonstrate endemic infection, with evidence of horizontal transmission, and force of infection was estimated for differing age categories. The CMR analysis found survival probabilities of seronegative and seropositive bats were not significantly different. The lack of increased mortality in seropositive animals suggests infection is not causing disease after extended incubation. These key findings point towards acute transmission of bat lyssaviruses in adapted bat hosts that occurs at a far higher rate than the occurrence of disease.
Guns and Violence: The Enduring Impact of Crack Cocaine Markets on Young Black Males

Crack cocaine markets were associated with substantial increases in violence in the U.S. during the 1980s and 1990s. Using cross-city variation in the emergence of these markets, we show that the resulting violence has important long-term implications for understanding current levels of murder rates by age, sex and race. We estimate that the murder rate of young black males doubled soon after crack’s entrance into a city, and that these rates were still 70 percent higher 17 years after crack’s arrival. We document the role of increased gun possession as a mechanism for this increase. Following previous work, we show that the fraction of suicides by firearms is a good proxy for gun availability and that this variable among young black males follows a similar trajectory to murder rates. Access to guns by young black males explains their elevated murder rates today compared to older cohorts. The long run effects of this increase in violence are large. We attribute nearly eight percent of the murders in 2000 to the long-run effects of the emergence of crack markets. Elevated murder rates for younger black males continue through to today and can explain approximately one tenth of the gap in life expectancy between black and white males.
Beta Coefficients of Polish Blue Chip Companies in the Period Of 2005–2011

Abstract Risk plays a significant role in various aspects of financial decision throughout the world financial markets. Beta parameter is one of the commonly used coefficient to estimate the systematic risk associated with stocks. Beta is mostly calculated using single index market model by W. Sharpe. This study examined the beta parameter under bull and bear market conditions on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE). This paper analyses the beta responses for bad and good news for 44 stocks (14 stocks from the WIG20 index and 30 stocks from the mWIG40 index) over the last six years of trading at the WSE. Beta was calculated using monthly returns over the period 2005-2011, separately for the bull and the bear market. Our analysis finds strong evidence that beta is different in bull and bear market phase.
Confidence and the Propagation of Demand Shocks

We revisit the question of why shifts in aggregate demand drive business cycles. Our theory combines intertemporal substitution in production with rational confusion, or bounded rationality, in consumption and investment. The first element allows aggregate supply to respond to shifts in aggregate demand without nominal rigidity. The second introduces a “confidence multiplier,” that is, a positive feedback loop between real economic activity, consumer expectations of permanent income, and investor expectations of returns. This mechanism amplifies the business-cycle fluctuations triggered by demand shocks (but not necessarily those triggered by supply shocks); it helps investment to comove with consumption; and it allows front-loaded fiscal stimuli to crowd in private spending.
INSURANCE MARKET DEVELOPMENT AND MACROECONOMIC INTERACTIONS IN TWENTY-SIX COUNTRIES

This paper examines the cointegrating and causal relationships between insurance market development (IMD) and economic growth based on panel-data estimation techniques. It also investigates the dynamic interrelationships amongst a number of important macroeconomic variables on IMD-growth nexus. The sample consists of 26 countries observed over the period 1980-2013. We use six different indicators of IMD, covered under both insurance density and insurance penetration, to validate the robustness of our results. Our findings affirm a long-run equilibrium relationship between insurance market development, economic growth, and six other macroeconomic variables selected, namely broad money supply (relative to national income), real interest rates, inflation rates, urban population growth, youth dependency ratios, and government consumption expenditure (relative to national income). We use a panel vector auto-regression model to examine the nature of Granger causality among the variables. Most significantly, we find that IMD and some macroeconomic variables Granger-cause economic growth in the long run, irrespective of which measure of IMD we use.
Topology of the Prism Model for 3D Indoor Spatial Objects

Topological relationships between spatial objects are an essential property of spatial objects. They are used for spatial analysis and query processing. In this paper, we first introduce an alternative 3D geometric model, called the prism model. The prism model is based on an extrusion method from 2D footprints of 3D objects. Then we study the correspondence between the 2D topology of footprints and the topologies of 3D objects using the prism model. We propose a method of topological analysis to implement topological operators for the prism model based on this study. This method is simpler and more efficient than the methods of the 3D spatial model. The topological operators are easy to implement since we can extend the 2D Simple Feature Geometry of OGC provided by most spatial DMBS.
Teacher Peer Observation and Student Test Scores: Evidence from a Field Experiment in English Secondary Schools

This paper reports on a field experiment in 82 high schools trialing a low-cost intervention in schools’ operations: teachers working in the same school observed and scored each other’s teaching. Students in treatment schools scored 0.07 student standard deviations higher on math and English exams. Teachers were further randomly assigned to roles—observer and observee—and students of both types benefited, observers’ students perhaps more so. Doubling the number of observations produced no difference in student outcomes. Treatment effects were larger for otherwise low-performing teachers.
Exploring Local Areas, Skills and Unemployment The Relationship Between Vacancies and Local Unemployment

This report is part of an analytical series using the 2001 Employers Skill Survey (ESS2001) (the statistical report is indexed at TD/TNC 69.214). The Exploring Local Areas, Skills and Unemployment (ELASU) analysis was designed to explore the relationship between relatively high levels of unemployment and hard-to-fill vacancies in some local areas, first identified in ESS1999 and subsequently referred to as an ‘apparent paradox’. ELASU was multi-faceted, involving three main elements: an exploratory data analysis at local area level (report indexed at TD/TNC 73.363); multivariate econometric analysis of the relationship between vacancies and local unemployment (this current report); and qualitative interviews with employers who had experienced recruitment difficulties in areas where both levels of unemployment and vacancies were relatively high (report indexed at TD/TNC 73.365). A synthesis report is indexed at TD/TNC 73.367. This current report aims to identify the factors associated with the incidence and intensity of recruitment problems, including the influence of unemployment rates at the local level. The first part of the report describes the distribution of job vacancies of different kinds. The analysis reveals that the local area in which an establishment is located has a relatively significant effect on how common skill shortages are. The second part of the report investigates the unemployment-vacancy (UV), or Beveridge curve, relationship at the local level while accounting for the characteristics of the establishment and the local labour market which may impact upon this relationship. The evidence suggests that, in general, vacancy incidence and vacancy rates tend to be higher where local unemployment is lower, and vice versa. This relationship is weaker for hard-to-fill and skill-shortage vacancies which is evidence of skills mismatch, as these are the jobs that the unemployed are least likely to be qualified for and therefore least able to fill. From a policy perspective, the results indicate that differences in vacancies and local unemployment rates are more a consequence of the composition of employment and unemployment in the local area than any systematic failure of the local labour market to operate and adjust in the expected manner.
Intercultural understanding in the new mobile learning environment

The proliferation of mobile learning technologies, wireless devices and cloud-based applications had been attracting a school of researchers and educators worldwide in developing new programs or extending their current programs. This growing phenomenon can be explained as part of many higher education institutions’ strategy to meet the growing demand from offshore students which domicile in another country, speak another language and have a different culture. A desk based study into recent academic research in mobile learning and distance learning has been conducted with particular emphasis in evaluating competence in intercultural understanding. It is in this context that we review the current practices by higher education which is by and large still using teacher-led pedagogical model with their own cultural orientation, values and actions of how they perceive as beneficial for the learners and whether specific design strategy can be used to enhance intercultural understanding and competence for both the institution and learners alike.
Vertical Coordination in the Pork and Broiler Industries: Implications for Pork and Chicken Products

Recent changes in structure of the U.S. pork industry reflect, in many ways, past changes in the broiler industry. Production contracts and vertical integration in the broiler industry facilitated rapid adoption of new technology, improved quality control, assured market outlets for broilers, and provided a steady flow of broilers for processing. Affordable, high-quality chicken products have contributed to continual increases in U.S. chicken consumption, which has surpassed pork and beef on a per capita basis. Incentives for contracting and vertical integration in the pork industry may yield comparable results. If so, these arrangements might be expected to result in larger supplies of higher quality pork products at economical prices.