Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intergenerational Social Mobility

This paper assesses recent patterns in intergenerational social mobility across OECD countries and examines the role that public policies can play in affecting such mobility. It shows that the relationship between parental or socio-economic background and offspring’s educational and wage outcomes is positive and significant in practically all countries for which evidence is available. Intergenerational social mobility is measured by several different indicators since no single indicator provides a complete picture. However, one pattern that emerges is of a group of countries, e.g. southern European countries and Luxembourg, which appears to rank as relatively immobile on most indicators, while another group, e.g. Nordics, is found to be more mobile. Furthermore, public policies such as education and early childcare play a role in explaining observed differences in intergenerational social mobility across countries. In addition, this study also finds a positive cross-country correlation between intergenerational social mobility and redistributive policies. Mobilite sociale intergenerationnelle Cet article examine les tendances recentes de la mobilite sociale intergenerationnelle dans les pays de l’OCDE et analyse role joue dans ce contexte par les politiques publiques. On observe, dans la quasitotalite des pays pour lesquels les donnees sont disponibles, une relation positive et significative entre l’origine sociale et familiale et le niveau d’education et/ou de salaire d’un individu. La mobilite sociale intergenerationnelle est ici mesuree au travers d’une batterie d’indicateurs, parce qu’il n’existe pas d’indicateur unique permettant d’apprecier les phenomenes de persistance entre generations. Neanmoins l’analyse met clairement en evidence l’existence de deux groupes de pays: d’un cote les pays du Sud de l’Europe et le Luxembourg, ou l’on mesure une faiblesse relative de la mobilite sociale intergenerationnelle, et ce quel que soit l’indicateur utilise, et de l’autre les pays Nordiques, ou l’on mesure une realite inverse. De plus, l’article montre que certaines politiques, telles que les politiques educatives et scolaires ou les politiques liees a la petite enfance, peuvent affecter la mobilite sociale entre generations. L’analyse empirique met egalement en evidence une association positive entre les politiques de redistribution du revenu et la mobilite sociale intergenerationnelle.
Quantum Mechanical Modeling of Organic-Oxide Surface Complexation Reactions

Recent advancements in agriculture, industry, and pharmaceutical formulations have increased the presence of organic contaminants in the environment. It is important and necessary to study and understand the processes which control the environmental fate and transformation of contaminants and improve removal and remediation techniques. The use of advanced quantum mechanical modeling is a promising technique to better understand the mechanisms of adsorption within the environment. Relative Gibbs free energy values of adsorption have been calculated using such modeling for selected organic acids sorption to iron oxides, revealing the thermodynamic favorability of each of the reactions, except one involving bidentate mononuclear iron oxide. Theoretical spectra were constructed and evaluated with previous IR spectra studies to confirm the appropriate reliance on the modeling to accurately predict adsorption mechanisms.
Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History

Introduction: Identity as ExchangeItaly: A Physical and Mental SpaceThe Italian Way of EatingThe Formation of TasteThe Sequence of DishesCommunicating Food: The Recipe CollectionThe Vocabulary of FoodThe Cook, the Innkeeper, and the Woman of the HouseScience and Technology in the KitchenToward a History of the Appetite
Differential Responses of Two Lactuca sativa Varieties to Bicarbonate-Induced Iron Deficiency

in a growth chamber with controlled conditions. After 14 days of bicarbonate treatment, the two varieties seedling showed a slight yellowing of young leaves associated with a significant decline of plant biomass, leaf number and area. Furthermore, the concentrations of the nutrient elements (potassium, magnesium, iron and calcium) in leaves and roots of two lettuce varieties were modified. In roots of bicarbonate-treated plants, the Fe-chelate reductase activity was increased as compared to control in both varieties. PEPC activity was enhanced only in Vista variety. Moreover, Fe deficiency induced a small change in the photosynthetic parameters and chlorophyll fluorescence, especially in Romaine variety. These changes are accompanied by decreases in ribulose 1.5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) activity. These findings indicated that vista variety could survive at low iron supply.
Analyzing the Role of Computerized Accounting Usefulness with Quantile Regression

Previous research has examined the determinants resulting in the implementation of computerized accounting, mainly relying on the Generalized Linear Model (GLM), based on the conditional mean of dependent variables. The aim of this document is to analyze the implementation of computerized accounting systems with the quantile regression. Additionally, it attempts to study the mediating role of the perceived usefulness of computerized accounting in the implementation of computerized accounting systems as well as to discover the moderating role of environmental factors and organizational factors. The findings reveal that the effects of factors on the perceived usefulness of computerized accounting systems and on the implementation of these systems vary according to quantile levels. The perception of computerized accounting usefulness plays the mediating role in the implementation of computerized accounting systems. Only organizational factors, not environmental factors, moderate the relationship between the perceived usefulness of computerized accounting systems and the implementation of these systems.
A comparison of the initial orthotic effects of functional electrical stimulation and ankle-foot orthoses on the speed and oxygen cost of gait in multiple sclerosis

Background Foot drop affects walking in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS). This study compares the initial orthotic effects of two treatments for foot drop: ankle-foot orthoses (AFO) and functional electrical stimulation (FES), on the speed and oxygen cost of walking in MS. Method and materials Seventy-eight pwMS were randomised to receive AFO or FES (ODFS PACE (OML, Salisbury, UK)). Participants completed the 25-ft walk test (25ftWT) and 5-min self-selected walk test (5minSSWT), from which oxygen cost was determined, with and without their device. Between-, within- and sub-group analyses (based on baseline walking speed of <0.8 m/s (slow) or ≥0.8 m/s (fast)) were undertaken. Results No significant differences between baseline measures were observed. The AFO group walked significantly slower than the FES group (5minSSWT, p = 0.037, 0.11 m/s). The AFO group walked significantly slower with than without AFO (25ftWT, p = 0.037), particularly in the fast-walking group ( p = 0.011). The slow-walking FES group walked significantly faster with FES than without (25ftWT; p = 0.029, 5minSSWT; p = 0.037). There were no differences in the fast-walking FES group or in the oxygen cost for either device. Conclusion AFO reduced walking speed, particularly in fast walkers. FES increased walking speed in slow, but not fast walkers.
On the behavior at collisions of solutions to Schr

The asymptotic behavior of solutions to Schr\"odinger equations with singular homogeneous potentials is investigated. Through an Almgren type monotonicity formula and separation of variables, we describe the exact asymptotics near the singularity of solutions to at most critical semilinear elliptic equations with cylindrical and quantum multi-body singular potentials. Furthermore, by an iterative Brezis-Kato procedure, point-wise upper estimate are derived.
Parametric Study of Silicon Based Optical Leaky-Wave Antenna

Parametric study is presented for 1550 nm CMOS compatible optical leaky wave antenna. The antenna is designed with Si3N4 waveguide perturbed periodically with silicon. The silicon perturbations are used to transform the guided mode into a leaky mode radiated to the surrounding space. Simulation results are obtained using the commercial software package CST STUDIO SUITE 2012 and indicate clearly the strong dependence of radiation parameters on the number and dimensions of the silicon perturbations. Indexing terms/
Pathological changes by Hapalotrema postorchis Rao 1976 (Digenea: Spirorchiidae) in a green turtle Chelonia mydas Linnaeus 1758 (Testudines, Cheloniidae) from Brazil

Summary This note reports the occurrence of Hapalotrema postorchis Rao 1976 collected from an aortic aneurysm in a green turtle (Chelonia mydas Linnaeus 1758) found on the coast of Brazil. Besides the vascular lesion, granulomatous reactions with foreign - body giant cells were found surrounding the parasite eggs in the heart, intestines, liver, pancreas, spleen, brain and kidneys. This paper presents the first report of H. postorchis and accompanying lesions in a green sea turtle from the western South Atlantic Ocean.
Interplanetary Magnetic Taylor Microscale and Implications for Plasma Dissipation

The Taylor microscale, a measure of mean square spatial derivatives, is evaluated for interplanetary magnetic field fluctuations from single- and multiple-point data using Cluster and ACE spacecraft data. The Taylor scale is compared to the measured inner scale, which for hydrodynamics would correspond to the Kolmogorov scale. The results are not consistent with dissipation of the hydrodynamic type, and indicate that solar wind dissipation involves kinetic plasma physics at both proton and electron scales.
Probing photo-ionization: simulations of positive streamers in varying N2 : O2-mixtures

Photo-ionization is the accepted mechanism for the propagation of positive streamers in air though the parameters are not very well known; the efficiency of this mechanism largely depends on the presence of both nitrogen and oxygen. But experiments show that streamer propagation is amazingly robust against changes of the gas composition; even for pure nitrogen with impurity levels below 1 ppm streamers propagate essentially with the same velocity as in air, but their minimal diameter is smaller, and they branch more frequently. Additionally, they move more in a zigzag fashion and sometimes exhibit a feathery structure. In our simulations, we test the relative importance of photo-ionization and of the background ionization from pulsed repetitive discharges, in air as well as in nitrogen with 1 ppm O2. We also test reasonable parameter changes of the photo-ionization model. We find that photo-ionization dominates streamer propagation in air for repetition frequencies of at least 1 kHz, while in nitrogen with 1 ppm O2 the effect of the repetition frequency has to be included above 1 Hz. Finally, we explain the feather-like structures around streamer channels that are observed in experiments in high purity nitrogen, but not in air.
Management of Manure Nitrogen Using Cover Crops

Published in Agron. J. 107:1595–1607 (2015) doi:10.2134/agronj14.0634 Available freely online through the author-supported open access option. Copyright © 2015 by the American Society of Agronomy, 5585 Guilford Road, Madison, WI 53711. All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. aBstract
An Empirical Analysis On How Conservatism Influences Cost Of Equity Capital: Evidence From Turkey

An extensive review of literature focusing on theoretical and analytical studies reveals that equity markets will benefit from accounting conservatism due to the increase in overall information quality. Conditional conservatism, which is evaluated as to the asymmetry between the impact of good and bad news on earnings, is regarded to be a substitute of discretionary disclosure. Therefore, as the firms increase the extent of their voluntary disclosures, the cost of raising capital is alleviated since this cost depends on how much information is attained by the firms’ potential investors. This study conducts a two stage analysis on a data set of nonfinancial firms listed on Borsa Istanbul 2005-2014, inclusive. Accordingly, the existence of conditional conservatism is tested by using cross-sectional regression based on the asymmetric timeliness model developed by Basu (1997) modified by Khan and Watts (2009). Consequently, the resulting firm-year measure of conditional conservatism is used as the explanatory variable of the panel data analysis. The originality of the paper stems from the fact that it attempts to provide evidence on the economic consequences of discretionary accounting practices from Turkey in this specific strand of literature related to the equity investors’ required rates of return.
Factors Persuading ICTs Use among University Students in Africa and Applicability of the UTAUT Model: A Literature Survey

The preset study was carried out to survey various literatures on the factors influencing the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) among university students in Africa, and accordingly to investigate the applicability of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and use of Technology (UTAUT) as presented by Venkatesh et al . (2003) on the observed factors. The study was highly qualitative and involved a survey of literatures on researches conducted in various universities found in African countries. The countries which research studies were involved were selected at random. In order to arrive at reasonable conclusion, literature from at least one country from each of the five regions of Africa was involved. Findings revealed that the main reasons for ICTs use among university students in Africa are pedagogical and social; however the later are subdivided into various reasons. It was further deduced that university students are finding ways for ICTs to smoothen the progress of their academic and social life. These finding agree with the assertion by the UTAUT’s first core determinant variables of technology use, the performance expectancy. The study also revealed that the extent of use of ICTs tools and applications by university students in Africa depends on the availability of those tools/applications, which is unlike the effort expectancy as asserted by the UTAUT model. It was also discovered that male students are using ICTs slightly more than females; the main differentiation is however on social reasons than pedagogical reasons, among other findings. In most cases the study agrees with the UTAUT model on the factors persuading ICTs use among university students in Africa except in few cases as presented in the document. Keywords: ICTs use, UTAUT model, University students, Africa
The Relationships among Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction, and Customer Loyalty in Library Services

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty in the library of Trunojoyo University. In total, 204 participants students participated in this research. Questionnaires were used for data collection. Additionally, we employed the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method to test the causal relationship model. The results showed that the χ2 was 82.666 (degrees-of-freedom [df] = 62), and the overall goodness of fit index (GFI) was 0.943, indicating an empirically good fit with the model. The results of the study indicate that service quality and customer satisfaction are significantly and positively related to customer loyalty. Student satisfaction has found to be an important mediator between service quality and student loyalty. A clear understanding of the postulated relationships among the studied variables might encourage the library to figure out appropriate course of action to gratify students by providing better services in order to create a loyal customer. Keywords: Service Quality; Customer Satisfaction; Customer Loyalty; Library JEL Classifications: M2; M3
Three Essays on Human Capital and the Distribution of Income

This dissertation exams topics on the human capital and the distribution of income. The first chapter investigates the insurance value of progressive taxation with heterogeneous risk aversion. The Investment in human capital is lower when the returns to it are subject to uninsurable risk. Progressive income taxation offers a degree of insurance against such risk. Offsetting this effect are the two well-known distortions imposed by progressive taxation: lower expected netof-tax returns to human-capital acquisition and distortion of the labor-supply decision. The net efficiency effect of progressive income taxation is therefore ambiguous, but there is a presumption that some degree of progressivity can be welfare-improving for risk-averse individuals. To derive the degree of progressivity that may be desirable on efficiency grounds, I construct a general-equilibrium model of an economy with two sectors, calibrated to approximate the U.S. labor market, that differ in terms of the productivity of human capital and the variability of lifetime earnings. Individuals, who differ only in terms of their risk aversion, sort themselves into the two sectors. The simple version of this model, which ignores the labor-leisure choice, suggests that a relatively high degree of income-tax progressivity maximizes aggregate welfare as measured by workers willingness to pay for the insurance being provided. When each workers supply of labor is allowed to vary in response to marginal tax rates, the efficient degree of progressivity is similar to that of the U.S. tax code. The second chapter exams the worker quality and education premium in the United States. The education premium in the U.S. has been increasing since the 1980s, but the rate of increase has slowed. One explanation for the slowdown is the decrease in the quality of workers who attended some college relative to the quality of workers who obtained a high school diploma. This paper develops a measure of worker quality to estimate the impact of college and high school graduates quality on wages and the education premium. The measure of worker quality uses a weighted average of an occupational skill index. I link occupational skill to the measurement of quality because the
Luck and Entrepreneurial Success

How much of entrepreneurial performance is sheer luck compared to talent, experience, education, and hard work? We define luck as unexpected performance and look for an answer in a large survey of entrepreneurs. Accordingly, luck ranks last in importance among various success factors and accounts for less than one third of performance variation. This ranking is unaffected by past performance and many personality traits, including self-attribution and illusion of control. Luck matters, however, in activities such as finding the appropriate business idea or choosing the right moment to enter a market. More important, luck perceptions shape decisions. For example, individuals who believe luck is important are reluctant to become entrepreneurs. Consistent with the definition, what entrepreneurs believe is luck correlates with the unexplained variation in a standard econometric model of performance. Estimates of that model also show that hard work does affect performance. So do talent, education, and, especially, experience.
Detailed and large-scale cost/benefit analyses of landslide prevention vs. post-event actions

Abstract. The main aim of this paper is to test economic benefits of landslide prevention measures vs. post-event emergency actions. To this end, detailed- and large-scale analyses were performed in a training area located in the northeastern Italian pre-Alps that was hit by an exceptional rainfall event occurred in November 2010. On the detailed scale, a landslide reactivated after 2010 event was investigated. Numerical modeling demonstrated that remedial works carried out after the landslide – water-removal intervention such as a drainage trench – could have improved slope stability if applied before its occurrence. Then, a cost/benefit analysis was employed. It defined that prevention would have been economically convenient compared to a non-preventive and passive attitude, allowing a 30 % saving relative to total costs. On the large scale, one of the most affected areas after 2010 event was considered. A susceptibility analysis was performed using a simple probabilistic model, which allowed to highlight the main landslide conditioning factors and the most hazardous and vulnerable sectors. In particular, such low-cost analysis demonstrated that almost 50 % of landslides occurred after 2010 event could be foreseen and allowed to roughly quantify benefits from regional landslide prevention. However, a large-scale approach is insufficient to carry out a quantitative cost/benefit analysis, for which a detailed case-by-case risk assessment is needed. The here proposed approaches could be used as a means of preventive soil protection in not only the investigated case study but also all those hazardous areas where preventive measures are needed.
A Scholarship of Open Teaching and Learning: new basis for quality in higher education

The recent research and policy context is drawing attention on the issue of openness in higher education. This emphasis is probably coming out from decades of debate on the power of open education to transform teaching and learning aligning the educational process with the needs of the knowledge society. However, the concept of openness has been probably endowed with a power that should be reconsidered on the light of real practices and institutional projects. This is particularly the case of quality teaching and learning in higher education, an issue that has been often connected with openness in a rather superficial way. This article draws on existing literature on the area of Open Education as well as on the area of educational quality, aiming at better understand how “opening up education” could generate quality for teaching and learning, and how quality teaching and learning could relate with openness in Higher Education. In exploring these two conceptual universes, and building on Ghislandi and Raffaghelli (this Issue) the idea of SOTL is reconsidered, inviting the reader to think about a scholarship of open teaching and learning (SO2TL). In order to illustrate concepts, a case study is presented. It introduces a strategy to support an institutional process to opening up educational practices, which takes as key issue staff development to reflect on the idea of SO2TL. The conclusions aim at rethink future practice and research on the issue, in an attempt to give not only a concrete answer to the question “Is a scholarship of open teaching and learning connected to quality in higher education”? , but also, to put the basis for experiences that do support a positive answer.