Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A preliminary study of kiasu behaviour ‐ is it unique to Singapore?

Kiasuism (from the adjective, kiasu; meaning “the fear of losing out”) is a much talked‐about topic in Singapore. This study seeks to assess the situation in Singapore and in a major city in Australia, define this cultural concept and explore the possible repercussions on society. Data collected from undergraduates in Singapore and Australia by using a questionnaire survey were analysed using statistical techniques such as multiple regression analysis and t‐tests of sample means. Qualitative methods such as content analyses and critical incident technique for instrument development were also employed. The study consisted of two phases: a phase one pilot study and a phase two questionnaire designed to determine the degree of kiasuism in the two samples and its effect on general wellbeing, academic performance and satisfaction with performance. Results indicated that kiasuism is not unique to Singapore, and may well be a behaviour exhibited by people around the world.
Establishment of hematological parameters in boas (boa constrictor) in the centro de atencion y valoracion de fauna silvestre del valle de aburra (Cav amva)

Laboratory analyses often complements the clinical examination of the patient veterinarian. Physiological variables yield objective information in the process of diagnosis, treatment guidance and formulation of prognosis. Abnormal laboratory tests and measurements are defined clinically as values that are not within the limits of the reference ranges, these ranges are obtained by sampling a representative sample of a population. One of the most common problems is to decide if a value that is slightly outside the reference range is indicative of disease or physiological variation, however it is possible to solve it using ranges of references more precise, specific for the age, species, location, management practices, reproductive status, power and laboratory methodology.1 The hematological study in reptiles is a little explored field while there is the necessary methodology, and recognizes that blood is responsible for important functions such as the immune response, transportation of nutrients, gases, and metabolic wastes to be disposed of through the liver, kidney, among others.2
The role of supervisor autonomy support, organizational support, and autonomous and controlled motivation in predicting employees' satisfaction and turnover intentions

Using self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2008) as the guiding theoretical framework, the present study tested a model that incorporates workers' perceptions of organizational support and supervisor autonomy support, global and domain specific (i.e., work) motivation, work satisfaction, and turnover intentions. The hypothesized model was tested using a sample of 735 workers (362 men and 373 women). Results revealed that work motivation was significantly related to both intraindividual (global motivation) and contextual factors (organizational support and supervisor autonomy support). In addition, perceived organizational support and work autonomous motivation were positively related to work satisfaction, whereas turnover intentions were negatively related to perceived organizational support and work autonomous motivation, and positively related to work controlled motivation. The present results underscore the importance of understanding the mechanisms through which higher turnover intentions and lower worker satisfaction take place, eventually leading to appropriate interventions.
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND CORPORATE PERFORMANCE: A CRITICAL REVIEW

the link between the environmental issues of the corporations and their economic performance and competitiveness has became one of the most popular issues to be studied in the profession. However, previous studies that have attempted to relate environmental issues to economic performance have often led to conflicting results. This paper reviewed the previous environmental literature and suggested that the inconsistency is due to the absence of clear framework that explain what actually constitutes environmental practices and how their outcomes are to be determined and evaluated. Therefore, it becomes difficult to identify general relationships between different indicators of environment and economic performance. The paper concluded that there is a lack of study investigating the relationship between disaggregated environmental practices, corporate environmental performance, and environmentally related competitiveness. Key words: environmental practices, corporate environmental performance, competitiveness, resource-based view theory.
The Indigenous Roots of Representative Democracy

We document that rules for leadership succession in ethnic societies that antedate the modern state predict contemporary political regimes; leadership selection by election in indigenous societies is associated with contemporary representative democracy. The basic association, however, is conditioned on the relative strength of the indigenous groups within a country; stronger groups seem to have been able to shape national regime trajectories, weaker groups do not. This finding extends and qualifies a substantive qualitative literature, which has found in local democratic institutions of medieval Europe a positive impulse towards the development of representative democracy. It shows that contemporary regimes are shaped not only by colonial history and European influence; indigenous history also matters. For practitioners, our findings suggest that external reformers' capacity for regime-building should not be exaggerated.
High-power testing of PEP-II RF cavity windows

We describe the high power testing of RF cavity windows for the PEP-II B factory. The window is designed for continuous operation at 476 MHz with up to 500 kW throughput and has been tested to full power using a modified PEP Klystron. The windows use an anti-multipactor coating on the vacuum side and the application and processing of this layer is discussed. The high power test configuration, RF processing history and high power performance are described.
Unveiling the early-stage anatomy of a protocluster hub with ALMA

High-mass stars shape the interstellar medium in galaxies, and yet, largely because the initial conditions are poorly constrained, we do not know how they form. One possibility is that high-mass stars and star clusters form at the junction of filamentary networks, referred to as "hubs". In this letter we present the complex anatomy of a protocluster hub within an Infrared Dark Cloud (IRDC), G035.39-00.33, believed to be in an early phase of its evolution. We use high-angular resolution ($\{\theta_{\rm maj}, \theta_{\rm min}\}=\{1.''4, 0.''8\}\sim\{0.02\,{\rm pc}, 0.01\,{\rm pc}\}$) and high-sensitivity ($0.2$ mJy beam$^{-1}$; $\sim0.2$ M$_{\odot}$) 1.07 mm dust continuum observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) to identify a network of narrow, $0.028\,\pm\,0.005$ pc wide, filamentary structures. These are a factor of $\gtrsim3$ narrower than the proposed "quasi-universal" $\sim0.1$ pc width of interstellar filaments. Additionally, 28 compact objects are reported, spanning a mass range $0.3\,{\rm M_{\odot}}<M_{\rm c}<10.4\,{\rm M_{\odot}}$. This indicates that at least some low-mass objects are forming coevally with more massive counterparts. Comparing to the popular "bead-on-a-string" analogy, the protocluster hub is poorly represented by a monolithic clump embedded within a single filament. Instead, it comprises multiple intra-hub filaments, each of which retains its integrity as an independent structure and possesses its own embedded core population.
Software Reliability Assesment using Neural Networks of Computational Intelligence Based on Software Failure Data

The computational intelligence approach using Neural Network (NN) has been known to be very useful in predicting software reliability. Software reliability plays a key role in software quality. In order to improve accuracy and consistency of software reliability prediction, we propose the applicability of Feed Forward Back-Propagation Network (FFBPN) as a model to predict software reliability. The model has been applied on data sets collected across several standard software projects during system testing phase with fault removal. Unlike most connectionist models, our model attempt to compute average error (AE), the root mean square error (RMSE), normalized root mean square error (NRMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) simultaneously. A comparative study among the proposed feed-forward neural network with some traditional parametric software reliability growth model’s performance is carried out. The results indicated in this work suggest that FFBPN model exhibit an accurate and consistent behavior in reliability prediction.
Taking capitalism seriously: Toward an institutionalist approach to contemporary political economy

This paper outlines an institutionalist political economy approach to capitalism as a specific type of social order. Social science institutionalism considers social systems to be structured by sanctioned rules of obligatory behavior. Its perspective is one of collective ordering, or governance, through regularization and normalization of social action, either by public authority or by private contract. Political economy looks at the interrelations between collective action in general and collective rule-making in particular, and the economy; it extends from economic and social policy-making to the way in which economic interests and constraints influence policy, politics and social life as a whole. The approach proposed in this article looks at society and economy as densely intertwined and closely interdependent, which is what traditional concepts of capitalism stood for. Proceeding from an institutionalist perspective, it elaborates a concept of capitalism not as a self-driven mechanism of surplus extraction and accumulation governed by objective laws, but as a set of interrelated social institutions, and as a historically specific system of structured as well as structuring social interaction within and in relation to an institutionalized social order.
Discs and the 10‐μm silicate spectra of young stellar objects with non‐photospheric continua

ABSTRA C T Dust emission in the non-photospheric 10-mm continua of HL Tau and Taurus-Elias 7 (Haro6-10, GV Tau) is distinguished from foreground silicate absorption using a simple disc model with radial power-law temperature and mass‐density distributions based on the IR‐ submm model of T Tauri stars by Adams, Lada & Shu with foreground extinction. The resulting 10-mm absorption profiles are remarkably similar to those of the field star TaurusElias 16 obtained by Bowey, Adamson & Whittet. The fitted temperature indices are 0.44 (HL Tau) and 0.33 (Elias 7) in agreement with Boss’s theoretical models of the 200‐300 K region, but lower than those of IR‐submm discs (0.5‐0.61; Mannings & Emerson); a significant fraction of the modelled 10-mm emission of HL Tau is optically thin, whilst that of Elias 7 is optically thick. We suggest that HL Tau’s optically thin component arises from silicate dust within low-density layers above an optically thick disc.
The Broad-lined Type Ic SN 2003jd

The results of a world-wide coordinated observational campaign on the broad-lined Type Ic SN 2003jd are presented. In total, 74 photometric data points and 26 spectra were collected using 11 different telescopes. SN 2003jd is one of the most luminous SN Ic ever observed. A comparison with other Type Ic supernovae (SNe Ic) confirms that SN 2003jd represents an intermediate case between broad-line events (2002ap, 2006aj), and highly energetic SNe (1997ef, 1998bw, 2003dh, 2003lw), with an ejected mass of M_{ej} = 3.0 +/- 1 Mo and a kinetic energy of E_{k}(tot) = 7_{-2}^{+3} 10^{51} erg. SN 2003jd is similar to SN 1998bw in terms of overall luminosity, but it is closer to SNe 2006aj and 2002ap in terms of light-curve shape and spectral evolution. The comparison with other SNe Ic, suggests that the V-band light curves of SNe Ic can be partially homogenized by introducing a time stretch factor. Finally, due to the similarity of SN 2003jd to the SN 2006aj/XRF 060218 event, we discuss the possible connection of SN 2003jd with a GRB.
Circlular RNA BARD1 (Hsa_circ_0001098) overexpression in breast cancer cells with TCDD treatment could promote cell apoptosis via miR-3942/BARD1 axis

ABSTRACT Breast cancer threatened the health of millions of people around the world. Here we explored the influence of TCDD on the expression of circRNA_BARD1 (circ_0001098) in breast cancer and studied the potential molecular mechanism of circRNA_BARD1. The data from GSE76608 was applied to analyze differentially expressed circRNAs and mRNAs. The expressions of circRNA_BARD1, BARD1, miR-3942-3p, miR-4760-3p and apoptosis-related protein p53 were detected by qRT-PCR or western blot. Circinteractome, TargetScan, CIRCNET and dual luciferase reporter assay were employed to uncover the target relationship between circRNA_BARD1/BARD1 and miR-3942-3p/miR-4760-3p. Flow cytometric analysis was used to reveal cell cycle and cell apoptosis. Immunofluorescence was applied to determinate γ-H2AX level. Xenograft assay and in vivo 3-D imaging was implemented to further verify the conclusions in vitro. CircRNA_BARD1 (circ_0001098) was up-regulated in breast cancer with the treatment of TCDD and the up-regulation of circRNA_BARD1 could restrain cell proliferation, block cell cycle and promote cell apoptosis. Moreover, the target relationship between circRNA_BARD1/BARD1 and miR-3942-3p was confirmed. In addition, miR-3942-3p overexpression promoted the disease progression and BARD1 up-regulation inhibited the disease progression in the breast cancer. Similarly, circRNA_BARD1 overexpression induced by TCDD suppressed the growth and metastasis of tumor in vivo. In conclusion, TCDD induced circ_0001098 overexpression and then suppressed breast cancer tumorigenesis via miR-3942-3p/BARD1 axis. The finding of TCDD-circRNA-miRNA-mRNA axis might bring a new perspective for cure strategy of breast cancer.
Stochastic-Based RANS-LES Simulations of Swirling Turbulent Jet Flows

Abstract Many turbulent flow simulations require the use of hybrid methods because LES methods are computationally too expensive and RANS methods are not sufficiently accurate. We consider a recently suggested hybrid RANS-LES model that has a sound theoretical basis: it is systematically derived from a realizable stochastic turbulence model. The model is applied to turbulent swirling and nonswirling jet flow simulations. The results are shown to be in a very good agreement with available experimental data of nonswirling and mildly swirling jet flows. Compared to commonly applied other hybrid RANS-LES methods, our RANS-LES model does not seem to suffer from the ’modeled-stress depletion’ problem that is observed in DES and IDDES simulations of nonswirling jet flows, and it performs better than segregated RANS-LES models. The results presented contribute to a better physical understanding of swirling jet flows through an explanation of conditions for the onset and the mechanism of vortex breakdown.
Characterisation of episodic aerosol types over the Australian continent

Abstract. Classification of Australian continental aerosol types resulting from episodes of enhanced source activity, such as smoke plumes and dust outbreaks, is carried out via cluster analysis of optical properties obtained from inversion of sky radiance distributions at Australian aerosol ground stations using data obtained over the last decade. The cluster analysis distinguishes four significant classes, which are identified on the basis of their optical properties and provenance as determined by satellite imagery and back-trajectory analysis. The four classes are identified respectively as aged smoke, fresh smoke, coarse dust and a super-absorptive aerosol. While the first three classes show similarities with comparable aerosol types identified elsewhere, the super-absorptive aerosol has no obvious foreign prototype. The class identified as coarse dust shows a prominent depression in single scattering albedo in the blue spectral region due to absorption by hematite, which is shown to be more abundant in central Australian dust relative to the "dust belt"of the Northern Hemisphere. The super-absorptive class is distinctive in view of its very low single scattering albedo (~0.7 at 500 nm) and variable enhanced absorption at 440 nm. The strong absorption by this aerosol requires a high black carbon content while the enhanced blue-band absorption may derive from organic compounds emitted during the burning of specific vegetation types. This aerosol exerts a positive radiative forcing at the top of atmosphere (TOA), with a large deposition of energy in the atmosphere per unit aerosol optical depth. This contrasts to the other three classes where the TOA forcing is negative. Optical properties of the four types will be used to improve the representation of Australian continental aerosol in climate models, and to enhance the accuracy of satellite-based aerosol retrievals over Australia.
Are company size and stock beta, liquidity and idiosyncratic volatility related to stock returns? Australian evidence

The degree to which any one of a firm's beta, market capitalization, stock liquidity or idiosyncratic volatility of stock returns may be a proxy for one or more of the other variables in explaining the cross-sections of market return performances remains controversial. In the context of Australian markets, we reveal how return performances appear to relate to these variables individually as well as in combination. The paper's main conclusions are as follows. We find no general tendency for any of the considered variables of beta, market capitalization, liquidity or idiosyncratic volatility, to influence the overall pattern of returns for large capitalized Australian stocks. However, the smallest capitalized stocks markedly outperform the largest capitalized stocks, and for such small capitalized stocks those with greater idiosyncratic volatility have markedly superior returns. It appears therefore that we have little evidence to support the notion that asset pricing models for Australian markets might be successfully related to these variables.
EXPERIMENTAL TAPHONOMY OF KERATIN: A STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF EARLY TAPHONOMIC CHANGES

Abstract: The evolution of integumentary structures, particularly in relation to feathers in dinosaurs, has become an area of intense research. Our understanding of the molecular evolution of keratin protein is greatly restricted by the fact that such information is lost during diagenesis and cannot be derived from fossils. In this study, decay and maturation experiments are used to determine if different keratin types or integumentary structures show different patterns of degradation early in their taphonomic histories and if such simulations might advance our understanding of different fossilization pathways. Although different distortion patterns were observed in different filamentous structures during moderate maturation and ultrastructural textures unique to certain types of scales persisted in moderate maturation, neither of these have been observed in fossils. It remains uncertain whether these degradation patterns would ever occur in natural sediment matrix, where microbial and chemical decay happens well before significant diagenesis. It takes some time for remains to be buried, meaning that keratin may not be left for moderate maturation to produce such patterns. Higher, more realistic maturation conditions produce a thick, and water soluble fluid that lacks all morphological and ultrastructural details of the original keratin, suggesting that such textural or distortion patterns are unlikely to be preserved in fossils. Although different degradation patterns among keratinous structures are intriguing, it is unlikely that such information could be recorded in the fossil record. Calcium phosphates and pigments are the surviving components of integumentary structures. Thus, the results here are likely of more relation to the archaeological record than fossil record. Other noteworthy results of these experiments are that melanin may not be the leading factor in determining the rate of microbial decay in feathers but may reduce the rate of degradation from maturation, that the existence of rachis filamentous subunits similar to plumulaceous barbules is supported, and that previously reported dinosaur ‘erythrocytes' may be taphonomic artifacts of degraded organic material.
Short-termism, investor clientele, and firm risk

Using conference call transcripts to measure the time horizon that senior executives emphasize when they communicate with investors, we explore the effect of managerial short-termism on firms‘ investor clientele and risk. We find that our measure of short-termism is associated with various proxies for earnings management, suggesting that our proxy partially captures opportunistic behavior. Next, we show that firms focusing more on the short-term have a more short-term oriented investor base. Moreover, we find that short-term oriented firms have higher stock price volatility, and that this effect is mitigated for firms with more long-term investors. We also find that short-term oriented firms have higher equity betas and as a result higher cost of capital. However, this result is not alleviated by the presence of long-term investors, consistent with these investors requiring a risk premium for holding the stock of short-term oriented firms. Our results hold after controlling for the endogeneity between short-termism and both investor clientele and risk. Francois Brochet is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, Maria Loumioti is an Assistant Professor of Accounting at the University of Southern California, and George Serafeim is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. We are grateful for insightful discussions with Catherine Abi-Habib, Conor Kehoe and Andrea Tricoli from Mc Kinsey & Company. We thank Mark Bradshaw, Brian Bushee, Victoria Ivashina, Stephannie Larocque, Greg Miller, Krishna Palepu, Shiva Rajgopal, Doug Skinner, Rodrigo Verdi, Franco Wong, and conference participants at the American Accounting Association Annual Meeting in Washington DC, the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section Mid-Year Meeting in San Diego CA, the Colorado Summer Accounting Research Conference, the DePaul University People & Money Research Symposium, the Harvard Business School Information, Markets and Organizations conference, the Wharton Accounting Seminar at the University of Pennsylvania, and brownbag participants at Harvard Business School and the University of Southern California for their helpful comments. James Zeitler provided excellent research assistance. All errors are our own. Contact emails: fbrochet@hbs.edu, loumioti@marshall.usc. edu, gserafeim@hbs.edu. 1
Perceptions of Elementary School Teachers Regarding Political Life at School

Abstract The basic purpose of this study was to determine political behavior in schools according to the perceptions of elementary school teachers and to present the political perceptions of teachers according to miscellaneous variables. The study was carried out using a survey model. The participants in the study consisted of 265 elementary school teachers, randomly selected from seven provinces in the seven geographical regions of Turkey. “A scale of political perception at school” developed by the researcher, was used as the data collection tool. It was determined that teachers from the more developed regions of Turkey, such as the Marmara, Aegean and Mediterranean regions, perceived less political behavior than the teachers from regions considered to be less developed, such as the Eastern Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia Regions. The study also determined that married teachers and female teachers perceived more rational behavior than single teachers and male teachers, respectively. It was observed that teachers who were union members perceived more political behavior than those who were not union members.