Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Board Composition, Grey Directors and Corporate Failure in the UK

This study examines the effect of board composition on the likelihood of corporate failure in the UK. We consider both independent and non-independent (grey) non-executive directors (NEDs) to enhance our understanding of the impact of NEDs' personal or economic ties with the firm and its management on firm performance. We find that firms with a larger proportion of grey directors on their boards are less likely to fail. Furthermore, the probability of corporate failure is lower both when firms have a higher proportion of grey directors relative to executive directors and when they have a higher proportion of grey directors relative to independent directors. Conversely, there is a positive relationship between the likelihood of corporate failure and the proportion of independent directors on corporate boards. The findings discussed in this study support the collaborative board model and the view that corporate governance reform efforts may have over emphasised the monitoring function of independent directors and underestimated the benefits of NEDs' affiliations with the firm and its management.
A Bayesian variable-selection approach for analyzing designed experiments with complex aliasing

Experiments using designs with complex aliasing patterns are often performed—for example, twolevel nongeometric Plackett-Burman designs, multilevel and mixed-level fractional factorial designs, two-level fractional factorial designs with hard-to-control factors, and supersaturated designs. Hamada and Wu proposed an iterative guided stepwise regression strategy for analyzing the data from such designs that allows entertainment of interactions. Their strategy provides a restricted search in a rather large model space, however. This article provides an efficient methodology based on a Bayesian variable-selection algorithm for searching the model space more thoroughly. We show how the use of hierarchical priors provides a flexible and powerful way to focus the search on a reasonable class of models. The proposed methodology is demonstrated with four examples, three of which come from actual industrial experiments.
Subcritical switching dynamics and humidity effects in nanoscale studies of domain growth in ferroelectric thin films

Ferroelectric domain switching in c-axis-oriented epitaxial Pb(Zr 0.2 ? > Ti 0.8 ? > )O3 thin films was studied using biased scanning probe microscopy tips. While linear and logarithmic dependence of domain size on tip bias and writing time, respectively, are well known, we report an additional linear dependence on relative humidity in the 28–65% range. We map out the switched domain size as a function of both the tip bias and the applied pulse time and describe a growth-limited regime for very short pulses and a nucleation-limited regime for very low tip bias. Using ‘interrupted-switching’ measurements, we probe the nucleation regime with subcritical pulses and identify a surprisingly long relaxation time on the order of 100 ms, which we relate to ionic redistribution both on the surface and within the thin film itself.
Production of salinity tolerant Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus through traditional and modern breeding methods: II. Application of genetically modified breeding by introducing foreign DNA into fish gonads

This study was conducted to produce a salinity tolerant Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus through genetically modified breeding by introducing a fragmented purified DNA isolated from sea bream, Sparus aurata or Artemia, Artemia salina into the gonads. The results showed a significant improvement (P ≤ 0.05) in most of the growth performance and feed utilization parameters of genetically modified O. niloticus treated with sea bream-DNA and reared at different salinity levels up to 16 ppt compared to both genetically modified O. niloticus treated with Artemia-DNA and the control fish reared at the same salinity levels. Genetically modified O. niloticus treated with Artemia-DNA reared at 32 ppt, had displayed better traits results (P ≤ 0.05) compared to the other fish within the same salinity level. Furthermore, genetically modified O. niloticus treated with sea bream-DNA showed a silver color covering all the body and no dark vertical bands. The results of the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting showed highly genetic polymorphic percentage (35.95%) among fish receiving foreign DNA and their control using different random primers. The results of the present work suggested that, hyper-saline genetically modified O. niloticus with higher growth rate can be produced using a feasible and fast methodology.
Response of ROS-Scavenging Systems to Salinity Stress in Two Different Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Cultivars

Salinity leads to oxidative stress in plant cells due to increased production of reactive oxygen species. The response of two wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars, salt sensitive (‘Darab2’) and salt-tolerant (‘Arta’) were studied to salinity-induced oxidative stress (0, 75 and 150 mM NaCl). Increasing of lipid peroxidation caused oxidative stress in both sensitive and tolerant cultivars. The result showed that reactive oxygen species (ROS) viz., superoxide and hydrogen peroxide increased in leaves of ‘Darab2’ under salinity stress. Under salinity stress, the salt-tolerant cv. ‘Arta’ showed higher activity of the ROS scavenging enzymes like ascorbate peroxidase and peroxidases than ‘Darab2’. Furthermore, in sensitive cv. ‘Darab2’ the activities of these enzymes in leaves were unable to prevent the scavenging of H 2 O 2 . Unlike ‘Arta’, there were no significant differences in superoxide dismutases and glutathione reductase activities in sensitive cv. ‘Darab2’ under salinity stress. The amount of reduced glutathione, reduced/oxidized glutathione ratio in leaves of ‘Darab2’ was lower than ‘Arta’ under saline conditions. It seems that in salt tolerant cultivars like ‘Arta’, both enzymatic and non-enzymatic ROS scavenging machineries is critical point to overcome salinity-induced oxidative stress.
Growth and efficiency in subsidized firms

The literature aiming at an evaluation of the impact of subsidies on firm behaviour is now extensive. However, only few of the papers we have reviewed use evaluation methods based on microeconometric studies of firm level data. Moreover, almost all the studies apply a parametric approach: impact is evaluated through an econometric estimation of a function, usually specified linearly. In this approach the evaluation results critically dependent on assumptions about functional forms, and this tends to generate substantial biases in several cases. The purpose of this paper is to provide a statistically robust evaluation of the impact of subsidies allocated by Law 488/92 on subsidized firm, using a nonparametric approach. We evaluate if the receipt of financial assistance from public funds actually makes a difference to firm performance in terms of investment, new employment, profit and labour productivity. The analysis is based on a new data set that merges the financial statement database with the 488 administrative database by firm. The data set include information related not only to firm performances but also to the length of the subsidized investment. Our approach applies difference-in differences estimator using a matching procedure, considering selection on observables and unobservables. The analysis shows that growth in turnover, employment and fixed assets has been more dynamic in the subsidized firms. The results are statistically significant and robust to different econometric specifications and changes in the underlying hypotheses. However, the labour productivity of subsidized firms grows less than in the non subsidized firms. This behaviour can affect long run efficiency and growth. The paper highlights the trade-off between the increase in employment and turnover and the increase in labour productivity that the firm faces applying for the 488 subsidies.
Solubilization of fluocinolone acetonide by cosolvents and surfactants for buccal solution preparation

Fluocinolone acetonide (FA) buccal solution was prepared for treatment of oral lichen planus using cosolvents and surfactant to enhance FA solubility. Based on solubility power (s), cosolvents enhanced FA solubility in the order; polyethylene glycol 400 (s=3.06×10 -2 ) > propylene glycol (s=2.92×10 -2 ) > glycerin (s=0.95×10 -2 ). The order of FA solubility in surfactant solutions was 1% polysorbate 80 (1.04×10 -2 %w/v) > 0.05% cetypyridinium chloride (0.69×10 -2 %w/v) > 0.1% sodium lauryl sulfate (0.27×10 -2 %w/v). Cosolvents increased the critical micelle concentration (CMC), especially for ionizable surfactants (sodium lauryl sulfate and cetylpyridinium chloride). This influence of cosolvents on micellization impeded the ability of the surfactants to increase FA solubility. Both polysorbate 80 and cetylpyridinium chloride induced instability of FA. We conclude that a 0.01% FA buccal solution should be prepared in a cosolvent system without use of surfactants.
RETAS: a restricted ETAS model inspired by Bath's law

A version of the restricted trigger model is used to analyse the temporal behaviour of some aftershock sequences. The conditional intensity function of the model is similar to that of the Epidemic Type Aftershock-Sequence (ETAS) model with the restriction that only the aftershocks of magnitude bigger than or equal to some threshold M tr can trigger secondary events. For this reason we have named the model restricted epidemic type aftershocksequence (RETAS) model. Varying the triggering threshold we examine the variants of the RETAS model which range from the Modified Omori Formula (MOF) to the ETAS model, including such models as limit cases.
Competitiveness in Manufacturing SMEs: A Perspective of México

In the literature on enterprise management, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are considered the sector with significant contribution to the economical growth of both developed countries and emergent countries. However, SMEs have fewer opportunities to be integrated with bigger companies in current market globalization and uncertainty in businesses, mainly because they have not taken advantage of those market opportunities and have not improved their competitiveness level. They have only dedicated to certain functional aspects of their business but have not collaborated with their suppliers to achieve it. This investigation has focused on 125 SMEs from the manufacturing sector in Aguascalientes State, Mexico, with the main objective is
An evaluation of the effect of women's perceptions IPTp 2 uptake to support the need for appropriate interventions to strengthen IPTp programs in malaria- endemic countries

Accepted 17 August, 2015 Intermittent Preventive Treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine is a key intervention for malaria prevention. Bungoma East District falls within the malaria-endemic zone of Kenya, with an infection risk class of 20%, or higher. Even though malaria accounts for about 41% of maternal deaths in the District, uptake of the second dose (IPTp2) remains below the Roll Back Malaria target. Perceptions about a disease and prophylactic interventions are likely to influence health behavior. This study set to determine women’s perceptions influencing IPTp2 uptake to support the need for appropriate interventions to strengthen IPTp programs in malaria-endemic countries. We applied the cross-sectional survey design and sourced primary data from 278 women who were at the twenty-fourth week, or more of gestation, aged between 15 and 49 years, had not experienced malaria during the pregnancy, and were not on cotrimoxazole prophylaxis. Analysis techniques included independent samples t-test, cross-tabulations with Chi Square statistic and binary logistic regression. Women believing that they were ‘very susceptible’ to malaria infection had about 2.3 times the odds of taking IPTp2+ as those indicating that they were ‘not susceptible’ (β = 0·813, SE = 0·239, 95% CI = 1·41-3·60). Women perceiving that SP tablets were ‘very useful’ had 1·7 times the odds of taking IPTp2+ as those believing that SP tablets were ‘not useful’ (β = 0·552, SE = 0·139, 95% CI = 1·32-2·28). Women perceiving that SP tablets were ‘very safe’ for use during pregnancy had about 25·4 times the odds of taking IPTp2+ as those believing that SP tablets were ‘not safe’ (β = 3·235, SE = 0·63, 95% CI = 21·54-29·40). The stronger the conviction about personal susceptibility to infection, as well as usefulness and safety of SP tablets, the higher the odds of IPTp2+ uptake. Strengthening health education interventions at the antenatal clinics is likely to re-orient negative perceptions, dispel misconceptions, and clear the way for IPTp2+ uptake.
Factors controlling Slope Environmental Lapse Rate (SELR) of temperature in the monsoon and cold-arid glacio-hydrological regimes of the Himalaya

Abstract. Moisture, temperature and precipitation interplay forced through the orographic processes sustains the Himalayan cryospheric system. However, factors controlling the Slope Environmental Lapse Rate (SELR) of temperature along the higher Himalayan mountain slopes across various glacio-hydrologic regimes remain as a key knowledge gap. Present study dwells on the orographic processes driving the moisture–temperature interplay in the monsoon and cold-arid glacio-hydrological regimes of the Himalaya. Systematic data collection at three altitudes between 2540 and 3763 m a.s. l. in the Garhwal Himalaya (hereafter called monsoon regime) and between 3500 and 5600 m a.s. l. in the Ladakh Himalaya (herefater called cold-arid regime) revealed moistrue control on temperature distribution at temporal and spatial scales. Observed daily SELR of temperature ranges between 9.0 to 1.9 °C km−1 and 17.0 to 2.8 °C km−1 in the monsoon and cold-arid regimes respectively highlighting strong regional variability. Moisture influx to the region, either from Indian summer monsoon (ISM) or from Indian winter monsoon (IWM) forced lowering of SELR. This phenophena of "monsoon lowering" of SELR is due to the release latent heat of condensation from orographically focred lifted air parcel. Seasonal response of SELR in the monsoon regime is found to be closly linked with the variations in the local lifting condensation levels (LCL). Contrary to this, cold-arid system is characterised by the extremely high values of daily SELR upto 17 °C km−1 signifying the extremely arid conditions prevailing in summer. Distinctly lower SELR devoid of monsoon lowering at higher altitude sections of monsoon and cold-arid regimes suggests sustained wetter high altitude regimes. We have proposed a SELR model for both glacio-hydrological regimes demostrating with two sections each using a derivative of the Clausius–Clapeyron relationship by deriving monthly SELR indices. It has been proposed that the manifestations of presence or absence of moisture is the single most important factor determining the temperature distribution along the higher Himalayan slopes driven by the orographic forcings. This work also suggests that the arbitary use of temperature lapse rate to extrapolate temperature to the higher Himalaya is extremely untenable.
Effect of Conservational and Conventional Tillage Systems on Functional Soil Archaea Diversity in Wheat-Pea Rotation Field

Soil borne archaea in agricultural systems is crucial for cycling of nutrient such as Nitrogen, Carbon and Sulphur. The objective of the study was to assess the effect of different tillage systems on functional archaea diversity in a 15 years cereal-legume rotation field using Illumina sequencing platform for archaea 16S rRNA gene. The treatments in the study included conventional tillage with stubble removed (T), no-till with stubble removed (NT), conventional tillage with stubble incorporated (TS) and no-till with stubble retained (NTS). The results showed that the dominant soil archaea phyla was Crenarchaeota (> 96%), followed by Euryarchaeota with a lower abundance of NTS > TS > T for 16S rRNA number of OTUs, Shannon and Simpson indices calculated for the 0-10cm soil depth. Analysis of factor effect revealed that tillage but not stubble retention or their interaction significantly influenced (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05) 16S rRNA diversity. Non metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) analysis clearly grouped the microbial communities according to depths. Linear Discriminant Analysis Effect Size (LEfSe) identified Crenarchaeota and Thaumarchaeota (to genus level) as significantly enriched clades in 0-10 cm depth of T while Euryarchaeota and Thermoplasmata were significantly enriched in TS. The conservational tillage systems (NT and NTS) promoted even distribution of archaea diversity while conventional tillage systems (T and TS) enriched the archaea communities identified in the study.
Testing for Panel Cointegration Using Common Correlated Effects Estimators

Spurious regression analysis in panel data when the time series are cross section dependent is analysed in the article. We show that consistent estimation of the long‐run average parameter is possible once we control for cross section dependence using cross section averages in the spirit of the common correlated effects approach proposed by Pesaran. This result is used to design a panel cointegration test statistic accounting for cross section dependence. The performance of the proposal is investigated in comparison with factor‐based methods to control for cross section dependence when strong, semi‐weak and weak cross section dependence may be present.
Some physico-chemical and Heavy metal levels in soils of waste dumpsites in Port Harcourt Municipality and Environs

Various physico-chemical techniques were used to investigate the characteristics and heavy metal concentration of soils in some selected waste dumpsites in Port Harcourt. This is because the soils act as vehicles for the permeability of leachates into various levels of aquifers in the environment. The results show that the soils are moderately acidic with a mean pH value of 5.5 for the 1m subsoil and 5.8 for 30cm soil depth in the various dumpsites, while the total organic carbon (TOC) levels show that it was low with 3.41% and 2.90% for depths 30cm and 1m respectively. The cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the soils showed a range of 21.36 - 28.79 meq/100g for a depth of 30cm and 20.94 - 26.44meq/100g for a depth of 1m soil level across the waste dumpsites. The textural class of the soils was observed to be a mixture of sand, clay and loam in all the sites. Low sand fractions (>40%) was observed for almost all sites except for Elekahia and Eleme roads that had 64.7% and 56.4% respectively. The results of the heavy metal concentration in all the locations of the waste dumpsites were above permissible limits. In this study, the soil did not meet up the moisture requirement for a waste land filling and could therefore be prone to porosity, surface flooding and underground water pollution. It is therefore suggested that the use of impermeable geomembrane is necessary for all dumpsites to minimize seepage of leachates from causing pollution of both surface and groundwater resources taking into account the possibility that the containment system may be threatened by any disaster. @ JASEM
On the modeling of exchange rate: some evidence from Pakistan

This paper tests the interconnected form of PPP and UIP while allowing the random component of exchange rate in the specification. We find a significant long-run association among exchange rates, price and interest rate differentials. Besides the PPP and UIP conditions, the previous period exchange rate plays an important role in explaining exchange rate variability. The coefficient of error correction term reveals substantial convergence towards long-run equilibrium. These findings are interesting because they explicate the dilemma of PPP and UIP and illustrate the significance of the joint modelling of these parity conditions in explaining the convergence towards equilibrium exchange rates.
Business cycle co-movements between South Africa and the BRIC countries

This article examines the relationships between South African economy and the economies of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China). In particular, it identifies the nature and key features of the co-movement of South African business cycles with cycles of the BRIC countries. It uses the dynamic factor model to a set of 307 macroeconomic series during the period 1995Q2 to 2009Q4. We found significant evidence of synchronization between South Africa and the BRIC countries over the business cycle, although the magnitude of co-movement differs with each country. India portrays strong ties with South Africa over time. Moreover, Brazil, China and Russia lead South Africa in the long run, while India is contemporaneous. Further, the findings imply that the first two factors are BRICS factors while the third one is a US factor.
Quantum correspondences of affine Lie superalgebras

There is a surprising isomorphism between the quantised universal enveloping algebras of osp(1|2n) and so(2n+1). This same isomorphism emerged in recent work of Mikhaylov and Witten in the context of string theory as a T-duality composed with an S-duality. We construct similar Hopf superalgebra isomorphisms for families of pairs of quantum affine superalgebras. An immediate consequence is that the representation categories of the quantum affine superalgebras in each pair are equivalent as strict tensor categories.
The impacts of ultraviolet radiation feedback on galaxies during the epoch of reionization

We explore the impacts of ultraviolet (UV) radiation feedback on galaxies during the epoch of reionisation by cosmological simulations in which hydrodynamics and the transfer of the H and He ionising photons are consistently coupled. Moreover we take into account H2 non-equilibrium chemistry, including photo-dissociation. The most striking feature of the simulations is a high spatial resolution for the radiative transfer (RT) calculation which enables us to start considering not only external UV feedback processes but also internal UV feedback processes in each galaxy. We find that the star formation is significantly suppressed due to the internal UV and supernova (SN) feedback. In low mass galaxies with M < 10 9 M⊙, a large amount of gas is evacuated by photo-evaporation as previous studies have shown, which results in the suppression of star formation. Surprisingly, star formation in massive halos is also strongly suppressed despite the fact that these halos hardly lose any gas by photoevaporation. The suppression of star formation in massive halos is mainly caused by following two factors; (i) small scale clumpy structures in the galaxies are smoothened by the internal feedback, (ii) although the dense gas in the galaxies is mostly neutral, the H2 formation and cooling processes are disturbed by mild photo-heating. Photodissociating radiations actually suppress star formation, but the magnitude of the effect is not so large in massive galaxies. Even though our simulation volume is too small to be a representative patch of the Universe during reionisation, we find that our simulated star formation rate densities and HI fractions at z � 6 7 are consistent with those found in observations.