Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does the compositional effect explain the association between rates of in-migration and out-migration?

A common empirical observation obtained in many countries is that regions with a high gross out-migration per capita also tend to have a high gross in-migration per capita, and vice versa. Another common and curious observation is a positive correlation between out-migration rate and net-migration rate. This has been interpreted to mean that out-migration is independent of the economic characteristics of the region. A number of explanations has been suggested to explain the positive relationship between the rates of out-migration and in-migration. According to the compositional effect- explanation, a region that attracts migrants grow to have a population which is more migration prone, thus also increasing out-migration from the region. Another explanation is related to the idea of "vacancy chain": the departure of residents leaves vacated positions such as jobs and houses for new-comers, thus increasing in-migration. The economic activities that make an area attractive may also increase turnover and thus out-migration. If jobs are easily available, this attracts in-migrants, but may also make workers to leave the jobs easily, thus adding out-migration. This paper analyses the relationships between the components of migration in Finland in the 1990s, and their development since 1975. Inter-regional migration, and regional concentration with it, accelerated pronouncedly in Finland after the mid 1990s. Migration research, which also gained popularity, is dominated by the analysis of net-migration and analyses based on micro-data, but the analysis related to gross migration is few in number. Therefore, we have only limited understanding on the behaviour and relationships of the out-, in- and net-migration rates in Finland. The results show that the rate of out-migration is positively related to the rate of in- migration, but negatively related to the rate of net-migration. The first result is in accordance with the common result, but the second is not. Out-migration seems to be related with the economic characteristics of the region in Finland, and therefore the correlation between the rates of out- and net-migration is negative. The push factors work in Finland, which result has also been obtained from migration studies based on micro-data. In analysing the relationship between the out- and in-migration rates, this paper also analyses the significance of the compositional effect by utilizing micro-based data from the period of 1987-96. In this analysis, the population is divided into two parts, those who have moved before and those who have not, and the relationships between the components of migration are analysed separately in these two groups. Accordingly, we swift from the use of microdata to the use of macro (regional) data in this analysis.
Food habits of Geoffroy’s cat (Leopardus geoffroyi) in agroecosystem habitats of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Geoffroy’s cat (Leopardus geoffroyi), a small wild cat of South America, showed in the last years a decline in population abundance mainly related to both habitat destruction and hunting. The increasing human population densities and the consequent demand for food and natural resources will rapidly erode and fragment its remaining habitats. In Argentina most studies about Geoffroy’s cat diet have been conducted in protected areas or in their surroundings, while there are no studies conducted in purely agricultural systems. We described the diet composition of Leopardus geoffroyi and its seasonal variations in an agricultural ecosystem to contribute knowledge of its ecology and natural history. The study was carried out from spring 2008 to spring 2011. A total of 494 scats were analyzed and at least 695 prey-items were identified. The diet included 81.58% of mammal prey, representing 93.32% of the potential biomass ingested. Within mammals, the principal prey were rodents, representing 79.57% of the total prey items and 59.39% of the total potential biomass consumed. Small rodents account for a great proportion of prey items, while larger species, as the caviid Cavia aperea, contributed more biomass. The diet plasticity may enhance the persistence of Geoffroy’s cat populations in variable and anthropized ecosystems. [
Effects of climate on size structure and functioning of aquatic food webs

In aquatic food webs, the role of body size is notoriously strong. It is also well known that temperature has an effect on body size. For instance, Bergmann’s rule states that body size increases from warm to cold climates. This thesis addresses the question how climate shapes the size structure of fish and zooplankton communities, and how this affects the strength of the trophic cascade from fish to plankton. I combine three different approaches: a space-for-time substitution study of data from the 83 shallow lakes distributed along a latitudinal gradient in South America, simple mathematical models to explore climate effects on the dynamics of trophic interactions, and an experimental analysis of trophic interactions using outdoor mesocosms.
PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCTIVITY CHANGES OF MICROFINANCE BANKS IN SOUTH-WEST, NIGERIA.

The Nigerian Microfinance sub-sector is yet to attain the desired level of global best practice. This paper thus investigates the performance and productivity changes of MFBs in South-West Nigeria, from 2006 to 2010, having had the Microfinance Policy launched in 2005. The study revealed that only 16.28% of the sampled MFBs met the recommended maximum PAR value of 5% in 2006 and that was the highest throughout the sample period. It was also revealed that 31.14% of the sampled MFBs reported a debt/equity ratio of above the recommended value of 2 in 2006, while 32.56% had gearing of over 2 in 2010. The MFBs experienced fluctuating performances in their productivity changes, with pure technical efficiency improvements in 2007 and 2009. However, the MFBs suffered technological decline throughout the study period. Overall, the MFBs experienced Total Factor Productivity improvement in 2007, while there were productivity deteriorations in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Determinants of dividend policy in Korean banking industry

From the panel data of Korean banks during 1994-2005, we find that, consistent with the general findings of the previous research, the banks with higher profitability or performance pay more dividends. Furthermore and more importantly, we find very strong, significant, and consistent evidences that the safer banks pay more dividends. In the test for the partitioned sample, the tendency of the banks with higher safety and profitability to pay more dividends is observed more strongly and transparently. Considering that banks are subject to monitoring and surveillance of regulator about their operation and riskiness in addition to the pressure form capital market, dividend policy of banks would be more closely associated with their riskiness than other types of industries.
Tempo of burial and exhumation within the deep roots of a magmatic arc, Fiordland, New Zealand

The U-Pb thermochronology of titanite, apatite, and rutile from a crustal profile through a Mesozoic magmatic arc in Fiordland, New Zealand, is used to constrain the timing and duration of significant vertical movements during arc construction and evolution. Titanite data from deep-crustal (12-13 kbar) basement and cover rocks of central Fiordland imply that contractional arc thickening (;25 km) occurred by 111.1-113.4 Ma, within a few million years of a major phase of mid- to deep-crustal magmatism. This finding suggests that this cycle of magmatism, arc thickening, and high-grade metamorphism occurred in #6.2 m.y. In contrast to rapid burial, significant unroofing of the central Fiordland gran- ulites was more protracted, requiring an additional 40-45 m.y. These new data are con- sistent with continued residence of the granulites in thickened arc crust for 15-20 m.y. , with subsequent major unroofing recorded by rutile cooling to ,450 8C by ca. 70 Ma. Such temporal constraints are essential for comprehensive models of the growth, modifi- cation, and unroofing of magmatic arc systems.
THE EFFECT OF SELECTED MECHANICAL THRESHING PARAMETERS ON KERNEL DAMAGE AND THRESHABILITY OF WHEAT

The Saskatchewan Agricultural Machinery Administration in its test work with combines, noted threshing difficulties particularly with the 1963 harvest. In one report from that year (17) the follownig was observed: "In many wheat crops, it was not possible to adjust the cylinder of the Cockshutt 431 so that the cylinder loss was acceptable, while keeping cracks and white caps at a reasonable level. " In another report (MF 300) for the same year: "Best adjustment then gave 2 percent crackage with a cyl inder loss of about 1 kernel per head. Note that most of the cracks are lost over the shoe with the chaff. " With regard to the last comment, it is necessary to point out that the test group assessed crackage on the basis of the quantity delivered to the hop per with the clean grain and did not consider the "cracks" lost over the shoe.
Illustrating the Quantity Theory of Money in the United States and in Three Model Economies

We show that, between 1960 and 2009, the Quantity Theory of Money held in the United States in the long run and that it failed to hold in the short run. We ask whether standard monetary model economies from the Cash-in-Advance, the New-Keynesian, and the SearchMoney frameworks can replicate these results, and we nd that they do so in the long run, but that they fail in the short run because prices respond too quickly to changes in the growth rates of money.
To Volunteer or Not

The study examines a hybrid theory containing individual characteristics, resources, and social factors and volunteering of older adults living in Belgium. As scholars have pointed out the underresearched importance of taking the recruitment potential of older adults into account, this study investigates whether potential volunteers, actual volunteers, and non-volunteers in later life are different from each other in terms of individual characteristics (e.g., religiosity), resources (e.g., socioeconomic status), and social factors (e.g., social networks and social roles). Data for the present research were derived from the Belgian Aging Studies, a sample of 31,581 individuals aged 65 to 80 years. Logistic regression analyses indicate that altruistic and religious values, physical health, frequent contact with friends, and providing help to others are important predictors for potential volunteers as well as actual volunteers. Overall, the results indicate important insights for recruitment and retention of older volunteers.
Lipocalin gene expression is varied in developmental stages by larval nutritional stress in Drosophila

Lipocalin genes NLaz, GLaz, and Karl are evolutionarily conserved genes in Drosophila melanogaster. There are studies on lipocalin gene expression differences under diverse diet conditions, but these studies have focused mainly on age-dependent expression profiles of these genes. The main aim of our study is to determine lipocalin expression in the developmental period by nutritional manipulation with an isofemale-based design. Three larval developmental periods have been researched under normal and restricted diets. We found significant differences between lines during their developmental time-related lipocalin expression. Here, we demonstrate that upregulations in the early developmental stages of lipocalin genes under stressful conditions resulted in unaffected developmental time. The possible reason for high expression is the activation of stress signal pathways in order to buffer the harmful effects of nutritional restriction. Our data showed that the early developmental period (48-72 h) is especially crucial to tolerate the dietary stress with respect to GLaz and NLaz expression. Results of this experiment have shown that the expression profiles of lipocalin genes have line-specific pathways to nutritional stress. Their expression depends on the genetic background corresponding to development time results. Our results highlight the transcriptional changes of lipocalins associated with developmental time in larvae, developed in a dietary-restricted medium.
POPULATION CONSEQUENCES OF A PREDATOR-INDUCED HABITAT SHIFT BY TROUT IN WHOLE-LAKE EXPERIMENTS

In a replicated whole-lake experiment, we (a) tested for the existence of a flexible habitat shift in response to predator presence in age-0 rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) at risk of cannibalism and (b) evaluated the population-level consequences of habitat shifts in terms of growth and survival over their first growing season. Daphnid food and adult trout predators were substantially more abundant in pelagic than in littoral habitats. Age-0 trout used all habitats in populations without adult trout predators, whereas age-0 trout were observed only in the less profitable littoral habitat in populations with adult trout. Consequently, mean fall mass of age-0 trout in the presence of predators was almost half that observed in populations without adult trout. Despite the shift in habitat use, age- 0 trout experienced 90% mortality when adult trout predators were present, in comparison to only 36% mortality when absent. We conclude that the commonly observed habitat shifts by fish at risk of predation, observed at smaller scales, do in fact occur at the whole-system scale over long time intervals. These results suggest that fish are able to perceive risk at large spatial scales and thus take advantage of profitable (but normally risky) habitats when predators are absent, or move to less profitable refuge habitats when predators are present.
Free subsemigroups of domains

It is proved that the multiplicative semigroup of the ring of polynomials in two commuting indeterminates over a noncommutative domain contains a noncommutative free subsemigroup. The question whether the multiplicative group of a division ring D contains a free noncommutative subgroup has been raised by Lichtman [4]. The answer is positive when D is finite-dimensional over its center Z. A more general result is given in [2]. The question is studied further in [3], but the general case is still open. Makar-Limanov raised a seemingly simpler question: Does D* = D {O} contain a free noncommutative subsemigroup? In [5] he proved that the answer is positive when Z is uncountable. In the present note we propose a more general question: Given a noncommutative domain D (with 1) does D* contain a free noncommutative subsemigroup? Using a recent result [1, Theorem 3] it is possible to extend MakarLimanov's result to noncommutative domains. We prove a stronger result that has the advantage that it does not make any assumptions on the center. It says that if R is a noncommutative domain and u, v are commuting indeterminates over R, then the multiplicative semigroup of the ring of polynomials R[u, v] contains a free noncommutative subsemigroup. The case of a domain with uncountable center then becomes an easy corollary. Let W be the free semigroup of words in two letters x, y. A nonempty word can be written in the form xilyjl . xiryIr with r, ji, . , ir > 1 and ii, jr > 0. A relation between two elements a, b of a semigroup is a pair (wI, w2) of two distinct words wI, w2 E W. Since we are interested in the semigroup S* where S is a domain, we may consider only relations (wI, w2) such that w1, w2 do not end (and do not start) with the same letter. A relation is said to be homogeneous if w1 and w2 have the same degree in x and the same degree in y. In what follows, R will be a domain and R[u, v] the polynomial ring in two commuting indeterminates u, v over R. The subring of R generated by 1 is denoted by P, and P(x, y) is the free algebra in x, y over P. Received by the editors October 12, 1990 and, in revised form, March 25, 1991. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 16U10; Secondary 20M05.
A NEW BEST WAVELET'S MOTHER SEARCHING ALGORITHM

A modern tool in signal processing is the discrete wavelet transform. This transform realizes a concentration of the energy of the signal to be processed in a small number of coefficients. This transform has two parameters. One of them is the wavelet's mother used. In this paper is presented a new best wavelet's mother searching method that maximizes the energy concentration of the signal to be processed in the transformed domain. An application of this new method for the compression of electrocardiograms is presented. The method’s performances are proved by simulation. The discrete wavelet transform, DWT, realizes a concentration of the energy of the input signal in a small number of coefficients. This concentration's enhancement is useful for the reduction of the number of operations in the application considered. For a given signal, using different wavelet's mothers, different energy concentrations are obtained. So, for a given input signal there is a best wavelet's mother, that realizes the higher energy concentration. The aim of this paper is to propose a best wavelet's mother selection procedure. In the second section of this paper is proved, using two examples, the importance of the wavelet's mother selection. The central result of this paper is the proposition proved in the third section. In the forth section is presented a polynomial on intervals approximation procedure, required by the proposition already mentioned. A simulation of the proposed selection method is presented in the fifth section. The last section is dedicated to conclusions.
Accruals, Net Stock Issues and Value-Glamour Anomalies: New Evidence on their Relation

In this paper we investigate the relation of the anomalies on accruals and net stock issues with the value/glamour anomaly. Our findings reveal, that hedge strategies on retained earnings, total accruals, net operating assets (accrual proxies), cash distributions to equity holders (net stock issues proxy), past sales growth, book to market ratio and free cash flow yield (value/glamour proxies) constitute statistical arbitrage opportunities. We also find that the generated abnormal returns from hedge strategies that combine information on retained earnings (and on other accrual proxies) or cash distributions to equity holders and value/glamour proxies are significantly higher than those from each proxy alone. Thus, if one agrees that the notion of statistical arbitrage is incompatible with market efficiency our evidence suggests that the anomalies on accruals and net stock issues capture distinct forms of mispricing with the value glamour anomaly. Alternatively, our evidence suggests the specification of a broader set of risk factors to existing asset pricing models.
Modified atmosphere packaging and osmotic dehydration effect on pork quality and stability

Objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of food dehydration and modified atmosphere packaging on the quality characteristics and shelf-life extension of pork meat. Meat was osmotically dehydrated in solution of sugar beet molasses. Half of the samples were packed in atmospheric conditions while other half was packed under modified atmosphere. Samples were stored for 2 months under 4 0 C. Microbiological, physico-chemical (pH, aw, moisture, proteins, fat, carbohydrate, thiobarbituric acid) and sensorial parameters, as parameters of shelf-life changes, were monitored. Sugar beet molasses solution improved quality stability during subsequent refrigerated storage, in terms of microbial growth, nutritional profile and sensorial degradation, resulting in a significant shelf- life extension. Samples packed under modified atmosphere showed higher level of stability compared to samples packed in atmospheric conditions. Although osmotic dehydration can provide shelf-life extension, combination of osmotic dehydration and modified atmosphere packaging was more effective in terms of microbial and sensorial meat quality.
Birmingham Experimental characterisation of the effects of thermal conditions on austenite formation for hot stamping of boron steel

The formation of austenite in manganese-boron steels during selective heat treatment has great significance in the application of innovative hot stamping processes. Heat treatment tests were designed according to the thermal cycle of industrial heating and hot stamping processes and were conducted on a Gleeble 3800 thermomechanical testing system. Specimens were subjected to non-isothermal (heating rates: 1K/s–25K/s) and isothermal (soaking temperatures: 1023K–1173K) temperature profiles. A high-resolution dilatometer was employed to detect the dimensional change of the specimens associated with austenitization. The dilatometric measurement was quantitatively related to the volume fraction of austenite. By analysing the evolution curves of austenite fraction, the effects of heating rate and temperature on the progress of austenite formation under both non-isothermal and isothermal conditions were investigated and characterised, improving the current understanding of the mechanisms that control austenite formation in manganese-boron steels.
Stationary solution of the ring-spinning balloon in zero air drag using a RBFN based mesh-free method

A technique for numerical analysis of the dynamics of the ring-spinning balloon based on radial basis function networks (RBFNs) is presented in this paper. This method uses a ‘universal approximator’ based on neural network methodology to solve the differential governing equations which are derived from the conditions of the dynamic equilibrium of the yarn to determine the shape of the yarn balloon. The method needs only a coarse finite number of collocation points without any finite element-type discretisation of the domain and its boundary for numerical solution of the governing differential equations. This paper will report a first assessment of the validity and efficiency of the present mesh-less method in predicting the balloon shape across a wide range of spinning conditions.
Integrating Cognitive Mechanisms in the Relationship Between Trait Affect and Depressive Symptoms: The Role of Affect Amplification

Trait levels of negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA) are established risk factors for depressive symptoms (Clark & Watson, 1991), but the mechanisms through which high NA and low PA confer risk for depression are poorly understood. Two proposed mechanisms in the transmission of affective vulnerabilities to depression are the cognitive responses of brooding and positive rumination. Brooding and positive rumination may represent a common cognitive process that amplifies the intensity of affect and contributes to depressive symptoms. Therefore, my dissertation purposes were to (a) determine whether brooding and positive rumination represent a shared cognitive process on distinct affective content and (b) examine brooding and positive rumination as cognitive mechanisms through which NA and PA predict depressive symptoms with an 8-week, prospective design among adults. I hypothesized that brooding and positive rumination would be best modeled as distinct but related factors (Model 2). I also hypothesized that greater brooding and less positive rumination would mediate the relationships between greater NA and less PA in predicting greater depressive symptoms. I first compared three confirmatory factor analysis models of the relationship between brooding and positive rumination as distinct constructs, as the same construct, and as distinct but related constructs to determine how these constructs relate. Thereafter, I utilized structural equation modeling to examine whether brooding and positive rumination mediated the relationship between trait affect and depressive symptoms.