Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The factors that determine shopping centre rent in Wuhan, China

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that affect the retail rent of shopping centres in Wuhan, an important city in central China. Design/methodology/approach - – The study uses a data set of 68 shopping centres in urban Wuhan. A regression model is constructed to estimate the impact on retail rent of a composite range of variables that would capture the physical characteristics, spatial characteristics, potential attractiveness of shopping centres and market condition. Findings - – The empirical findings suggest the ceiling height, closeness to metro line station, being situated in commercial central area, vacancy rate and income have significant impact on rental level. Unexpected, the retail mix has a significant negative impact on rent. The impact of the more determining factors found in Western research – size, age, parking space and anchor tenant – is not supported in the Wuhan study. Practical implications - – While 68 shopping centres are included in the test, the sample size is relatively small. The comparatively short history of retail market in Wuhan would not allow to test the rent adjustment process. Originality/value - – This is the first paper to investigate retail rent determinants in a second-tier city in China. The results of the study give designers, developers and investors critical insights into the determinants of retail rent in an emerging market.
Genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance in shrunken-2 super-sweet corn (Zea mays L. 
saccharata) populations

Inbred line development requires information on the nature and magnitude of genetic variability and transmissibility of desired trait in source populations. In this study, the level of genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance of thirteen agronomic and fresh yield traits among twelve shrunken-2 super-sweet corn populations were evaluated. Field experiments were conducted for two years in Ibadan, Nigeria using a randomised complete block design with three replicates. Estimates of genetic variability components, broad-sense heritability and genetic advance were computed for each trait. All the traits exhibited significant genotypic differences. Genotypic variance was significant for number of marketable cobs, yield of cobs, number of cobs, number of kernel rows, husk cover, ear height and days to anthesis, while environmental variance was significant for all the traits. Phenotypic coefficients of variation were higher than the corresponding genotypic coefficients of variation for all traits. Broad-sense heritability ranged from 22.2% for anthesis-silking interval to 85.1% for husk cover. The genetic advance was high (32.7%) for husk cover, medium (12.0%) for yield of cobs and low for other traits. Genetic variability was present among the shrunken-2 super-sweet corn populations. Opportunities abound for further improvement of the populations and extraction of lines for hybrid seed production. Key words: Broad-sense heritability, genotypic coefficient of variation, husk cover score, sweet corn, yield of marketable cobs.
Anticorrelations between Active Brain Regions: An Agent-Based Model Simulation Study

Anticorrelations among brain areas observed in fMRI acquisitions under resting state are not endowed with a well-defined set of characters. Some evidence points to a possible physiological role for them, and simulation models showed that it is appropriate to explore such an issue. A large-scale brain representation was considered, implementing an agent-based brain-inspired model (ABBM) incorporating the SER (susceptible-excited-refractory) cyclic mechanism of state change. The experimental data used for validation included 30 selected functional images of healthy controls from the 1000 Functional Connectomes Classic collection. To study how different fractions of positive and negative connectivities could modulate the model efficiency, the correlation coefficient was systematically used to check the goodness-of-fit of empirical data by simulations under different combinations of parameters. The results show that a small fraction of positive connectivity is necessary to match at best the empirical data. Similarly, a goodness-of-fit improvement was observed upon addition of negative links to an initial pattern of only-positive connections, indicating a significant information intrinsic to negative links. As a general conclusion, anticorrelations showed that it is crucial to improve the performance of our simulation and, since these cannot be assimilated to noise, should be always considered in order to refine any brain functional model.
Do Firms Decouple Corporate Governance Policy and Practice?

We test whether Thai listed firms with higher levels of good governance policy adoption are less likely to violate listing rules and laws designed to protect shareholders. Our results suggest that firms on average implement, substantively as opposed to symbolically, recommended governance policies, as violations occur less frequently among firms with higher governance policy adoption scores. However, we also find evidence of symbolic governance among a small group of ‘talk-only’ firms that issue statements about governance while lagging in the adoption of policies related to shareholder rights and the board of directors.
Entropic characterization and time evolution of complex networks

In this thesis, we address problems encountered in complex network analysis using graph theoretic methods. The thesis specifically centers on the challenge of how to characterize the structural properties and time evolution of graphs. We commence by providing a brief roadmap for our research in Chapter 1, followed by a review of the relevant research literature in Chapter 2. The remainder of the thesis is structured as follows. In Chapter 3, we focus on the graph entropic characterizations and explore whether the von Neumann entropy recently defined only on undirected graphs, can be extended to the domain of directed graphs. The substantial contribution involves a simplified form of the entropy which can be expressed in terms of simple graph statistics, such as graph size and vertex in-degree and out-degree. Chapter 4 further investigates the uses and applications of the von Neumann entropy in order to solve a number of network analysis and machine learning problems. The contribution in this chapter includes an entropic edge assortativity measure and an entropic graph embedding method, which are developed for both undirected and directed graphs. The next part of the thesis analyzes the time-evolving complex networks using physical and information theoretic approaches. In particular, Chapter 5 provides a thermodynamic framework for handling dynamic graphs using ideas from algebraic graph theory and statistical mechanics. This allows us to derive expressions for a number of thermodynamic functions, including energy, entropy and temperature, which are shown to be efficient in identifying abrupt structural changes and phase transitions in real-world dynamical systems. Chapter 6 develops a novel method for constructing a generative model to analyze the structure of labeled data, which provides a number of novel directions to the study of graph time-series. Finally, in Chapter 7, we provide concluding remarks and discuss the limitations of our methodologies, and point out possible future research directions.
Impact of 30 Day Readmission After Left Ventricular Assist Device Implantation

Early readmission (within 30 days) after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation might be a marker for increased mortality. We retrospectively reviewed the records of 277 adults who underwent continuous-flow LVAD implantation from 2005 through 2015 at our institution. The baseline characteristics of patients who were (versus were not) readmitted within 30 days after LVAD implantation were compared. To assess the impact of 30 day readmission on long-term survival, we used multivariate Cox regression. We also compared the cardiac transplant rate between the two groups. Of the 277 patients, 217 (78.3%) underwent LVAD implantation as a bridge-to-transplant; 76 (27.4%) of the 277 were readmitted within 30 days. The most common reason for readmission was volume overload (23.6%), followed by gastrointestinal bleeding (15.8%). Male gender, previous smoking, a higher baseline creatinine level, higher Model for End Stage Liver Disease Excluding INR (MELD-XI) score, and postoperative gastrointestinal bleeding or stroke were each associated with 30 day readmission. In our final multivariate model, increased mortality was also associated with 30 day readmission (hazard ratio, 1.60; 95% confidence interval, 1.1–2.5). Among the 217 bridge-to-transplant patients, the cardiac transplant rate was similar between the two groups: 18.7 transplants per patient-year among those who were readmitted within 30 days versus 19.7 transplants per patient-year among those who were not (p = 0.26). Among our study patients, 30 day readmission after LVAD implantation was frequent and was associated with increased mortality. It is currently unclear whether the general health of those patients was a factor and whether efforts to reduce 30 day readmission would favorably affect longer-term patient outcomes.
Cost-effectiveness of screening for chronic hepatitis C infection in the United States.

BACKGROUND Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most common chronic blood-borne infection in the United States and will become an increasing source of morbidity and mortality with aging of the infected population. Our objective was to develop decision analytic models to explore the cost-effectiveness of screening in populations with varying prevalence of HCV and risks for fibrosis progression. METHODS We developed a Markov state transition model to examine screening of an asymptomatic community-based population in the United States. The base case was an ethnically and gender-mixed adult population with no prior knowledge of HCV status. Interventions were screening followed by guideline-based treatment, or no screening. Effectiveness was measured in quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and costs were measured in 2011 US dollars. RESULTS In the base case (US population, 49% male, 78% white, 13% African American, and 9% Hispanic, mean age, 46 years), screening followed by guideline-based treatment (using boceprevir as the direct-acting antiviral agent) of those with chronic HCV infection costs $47 276 per QALY. The overall HCV prevalence in the United States is reported to be 1.3%-1.9%, but prevalence varies markedly among patients with different numbers and types of risk factors. The marginal cost-effectiveness ratio (mCER) of screening decreases as prevalence increases. Below a prevalence of 0.84%, the mCER is greater than the generally accepted societal willingness-to-pay threshold of $50 000 per QALY and thus is not considered highly cost-effective. CONCLUSIONS Targeted screening is cost-effective when prevalence of HCV exceeds 0.84%. Prospective evaluation of a screening tool is warranted and should include comparisons with other screening strategies.
Adequacy of pension income in Nigeria: the case of retired women civil servants

Pensions are fundamentally methods of addressing and managing the risks of aging. However, in terms of coverage, the acknowledged difference between the formal and informal sector workers in developing countries has led to the assumption that people in the formal sector do not have to worry about pension. Against this background, this thesis investigates the extent to which pension ensures adequate income for retired women civil servants in Nigeria. Understanding these women‘s retirement experiences necessitated an approach that incorporated gendered life course and gendered political economy. Central to a life course approach is the notion that it is difficult to divorce pension and retirement outcomes from the life course experiences that precede them. A gendered political economy approach allows for the de-bunking of the unitary household model and enables the adaptation of Razavi‘s ―care diamond‖ with a focus on retirees‘ financial support for dependants. By using interviews and questionnaires, this thesis analyses the links between and comparisons across pension schemes, educational levels, retirement age, pension entitlements, adequacy and supplements. Cross tabulation is used as a lead to identifying and pursuing potential patterns in dataset and digging deep into the factors that impact women‘s pension adequacy. Despite the limitations of the study, it is apparent that in the context of normative expectations of extended family structure, linked lives, high rate of un/under employment of dependants and limited (and high cost of ) access to social provisioning, pension is and will always be inadequate. This then forces formal sector women retirees into the informal sector to supplement their pension income. Findings of the study clearly demonstrate that the sustainable provision of formal sector pensions should not be the end of policy concerns about wellbeing in later life; but the start of a much wider focus on social provision and social relations in later life. This study‘s findings have implications for the pension, ageing and social protection policies in Nigeria, which are applicable to the wider sub Saharan African. The implications of this study for assessing pension adequacy also extend beyond Nigeria.
Sexual Coercion Perpetration and Victimization: Gender Similarities and Differences in Adolescence

Sexual coercion is a worldwide health problem that endangers the well-being of those involved. In the same line of the most recent and comprehensive studies, this study sought to investigate the extent of sexual coercion, both perpetration and victimization, among male and female adolescents. Moreover, it jointly analyzed the predictive power of different variables that have been considered as useful to design preventive programs. For this purpose, a cross-sectional study, using proportional stratified cluster sampling, was performed and 1,242 Spanish adolescents (15-19 years old) were surveyed. Results show that both genders had reported committing and suffering sexual coercion. However, perpetration was reported more often by males: no significant gender difference was found in victimization. It was also concluded that need for control and power, normative beliefs about sexual coercion, hostile sexism, negative alcohol expectancies, and sociosexual orientation were significant predictors of perpetration for both genders. Concerning victimization, need for control and power and normative beliefs were found to be significant predictors for males and females, as were negative alcohol expectancies and sexual esteem, though only for males. According to these results, both genders can be both perpetrators and victims of sexual coercion in adolescence, but not to the same extent. Moreover, preventive programs should include activities related to perpetration and victimization, taking into account the effectiveness of their components to intervene with male and female adolescents.
Performance study of LTE and mmWave in vehicle-to-network communications

A key enabler for the emerging autonomous and cooperative driving services is high-throughput and reliable Vehicle-to-Network (V2N) communication. In this respect, the millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies hold great promises because of the large available bandwidth which may provide the required link capacity. However, this potential is hindered by the challenging propagation characteristics of high-frequency channels and the dynamic topology of the vehicular scenarios, which affect the reliability of the connection. Moreover, mmWave transmissions typically leverage beamforming gain to compensate for the increased path loss experienced at high frequencies. This, however, requires fine alignment of the transmitting and receiving beams, which may be difficult in vehicular scenarios. Those limitations may undermine the performance of V2N communications and pose new challenges for proper vehicular communication design. In this paper, we study by simulation the practical feasibility of some mmWave-aware strategies to support V2N, in comparison to the traditional LTE connectivity below 6 GHz. The results show that the orchestration among different radios represents a viable solution to enable both high-capacity and robust V2N communications.
Production of solar fuels by CO2 plasmolysis

A storage scheme for Renewable Energy (RE) based on the plasmolysis of CO2into CO and O2 has been experimentally investigated, demonstrating high energy efficiency (>50%) combined with high energy density, rapid start-stop and no use of scarce materials. The key parameter controlling energy efficiency has been identified as the reduced electric field. Basic plasma parameters including density and temperature are derived from a simple particle and energy balance model, allowing parameter specification of an upscale 100 kW reactor. With RE powered plasmolysis as the critical element, a CO2 neutral energy system becomes feasible when complemented by effective capture of CO2 at the input and separation of CO from the output gas stream followed by downstream chemical processing into hydrocarbon fuels.
Assessment of Samanea saman Whole Pod Extract as an Antimicrobial Agent and its Effect on Chicken Patties

Purpose: Samanea saman whole pod (SSWP) has a potential to be used as an ingredient in broiler feed while its pod extract has antimicrobial properties. There is however, insufficient information on the use of Samanea saman whole pod extract (SSWPE) as antimicrobial agent in meat products. This study was aimed at assessing the antimicrobial effect of SSWPE against bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus feacalis, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pyogenes, Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and assessing the potential of using SSWPE on chicken patties in order to reduce the microbial contaminants. Research Method: Agar well diffusion method and Minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) method were used to determine the antimicrobial activity in the pod extract. In order to investigate the antibacterial effect of S. saman extract in chicken patties, total plate counts and selective plate counts (to enumerate Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) were carried out on refrigerated chicken patties stored for 1, 7 and 14 days. The data generated from the study were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: The result of Agar well diffusion method showed that the SSWPE was active against all the tested bacteria with varying mean zones of inhibition. S. saman ethanolic whole pod extract has shown the 25 μg /ml as the minimum inhibition concentration against both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria used in the study when compared to the standard Ciprofloxacin at 1μg /ml. The total microbial counts of the chicken patties with various treatments showed increase in total microbial counts with increment of the time of storage from day 1 to 14. Salmonella and Pseudomonas were absent in chicken patties at the day 1 and in other two sampling points (day 7 and 14) whereas Escherichia coli was present at day 1 in T4, T5 and in day 14 in T5. Original Value: Thus the extract of S. saman whole pods has a potential of serving as antimicrobial agent at the minimum inhibition concentration of 25 μg /ml.
A Study on the Cognitive Process of Isolating Language for Developing Software User Interface

This research focuses on the cognitive process in Thai language because the written nature of Thai language does not have spaces in a sentence like English and does not have Kanji characters as in Japanese. Words will be written continuously until the end of the sentence, which sometimes leads to ambiguity. This research studies the cognitive processing and influence of final consonants and non-final consonants by using word identification tasks to verify the differences in time spent to answer and correct data consisting of 4 main variables: Types of question divided by single words and sentences; Types of option word or word choices divided by words with consonants and without consonants. The level of difficulty was divided into 3 levels: easy, middle, and hard, while the Type of word was divided into 4 types: Uncontrolled, Homophone, Homograph, and Semantic. The differences of average duration for identifying target words were analyzed by ANOVA and t-test that is statistical analysis. The results showed that final consonants work as the space in English is used for separating words and sentences, and can make the Thai language easier. It works as the accelerator of competency in cognition of Thai language and helps learners to receive more precise and faster information.
SELF-PERCEPTION PROFILE FOR CROATIAN ADOLESCENTS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

Mijat I, Soriæ M, Šataliæ Z, Mikuliæ P, Mišigoj Durakoviæ M. Agreement of Air Displacement Plethysmography, Skinfold Measurement and Bioelectrical Impedance in Estimation of Body Composition in Competitive Rowers.17 Cveniæ J, Bariæ R. Differences in Intrinsic Motivation of Female Students in Different Stages of Readiness to Change For Exercise.22 Schuster S, Sindik J, Kavran U. Psychological Characteristics and Traits in Male Handball Players – the Application of Multidimensional Psychological Sports Talents Scale.29 Kralj J, Štefan Š, Kristièeviæ T. The Efficiency of Intermittent Mechanical Traction Vs. Gymnastic Exercises in Persons With Lower Back Pain.39
Women Abuse and Resilience in a Sample of Minority Low-Income Women

Research suggests that maintaining good physical and mental health helps prevent some women from being abused by their male partners, and that social support is inversely related to male-to-female victimization. This study examined the role of mental and physical health and two forms of social support (all of which we define as elements of resilience) in predicting woman abuse among Hmong and Black women from the same low-income community. Many survey respondents from both ethnic groups reported being physically, psychologically, and sexually assaulted in the past year. Still, women reporting higher levels of self-efficacy, and to some extent, higher levels of physical health, were less likely to report being abused. Further, for some participants, personal and institutional social support resources are positively related to some forms of woman abuse. We conclude by describing the implications of our results for policy and practice.