Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of information and communication technology contribution on newly industrialized countries'economic growth

In recent years, progress in information and communication technology (ICT) has coused many structural changes, including the reorganization of economics globalization, and trade extention,which has led to capital flows and the enhancement of information availability.Moreover,ICT plays a significant role in the development of each economic sector,especially during liberazation processes. Growth economists predict that economic growth is driven by investment in ICT.However, empirical studies on this issue have produced mixed results, due to different research methodology and geographical configuration ultilized in the studies, In this paper we estimate the endogenous production growth model, using panel data of the newly industrialized countries (NICS) in Asia-namely Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Malaysia- over the period of 1990-2007. We find a strong significant positive impact of ICT investment on economic growth for these countries.This indicates that if these countries seek to enhance their economic growth, they need to omplement specific policies that facilitate investment in ICT.
The Prevalence of Refractive Errors Among Iranian University Students

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of refractive errors in the students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we used cluster sampling for selecting participants from every department of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, proportional to the number of students in each department. Each participant received refraction examination with an autorefractometer and check up with a retinoscope. Myopia and hyperopia were defined as spherical equivalent (SE) less than -0.5 and more than +0.5 D, respectively. Astigmatism was defined as cylinder power worse than 0.5 D. Results: Out of 1,745 selected individuals, the data of 1,431 participants were analyzed after implementing the exclusion criteria; 58.8% of the participants were female and the mean age of the participants was 23.8±3.8 years (range, 18-32 years). Myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism were seen in 41.7% (95%CI 38.7-44.7), 7.8% (95%CI 6.2-9.4), and 25.6% (95%CI 23-28.3) of the students in this study, respectively. The prevalence of myopia increased significantly with age (OR=1.16 1.12-1.20 p<0.001). The prevalence of hyperopia was significantly higher in females (OR=2.1 1.1-3.7 p=0.025) and decreased significantly with age (OR=0.87 0.81-0.94 p=0.001). The prevalence of astigmatism increased significantly with age. Moreover, 6% of the students had anisometropia and 1.2% had high myopia. Conclusion: The prevalence of myopia was considerably high in these students; therefore, attention to this age group to identify and correct the refractive errors should receive priority in the health system.
Evolution of X-ray spectra in down-Comptonization. A comparison of the extended Kompaneets equation with Monte Carlo simulation and the Ross-McCray equation

The original Kompaneets equation fails to describe down-Comptonization, which is the most important radiative transfer process in hard X-ray and γ-ray astronomy, compared with up-Comptonization. In this paper, we improve our previous derivation of the extended Kompaneets equation and present it more clearly. The new equation can be used to describe a more general Comptonization process, including up- and down-Comptonization, suitable for any case, hν � kTe, hν � kTe and hν ∼ kTe. The condition of the original Kompaneets equation hν � kTe is no longer necessary. Using the extended equation, we give some typical solutions in X-ray astronomy, and compare them with those of the prevailing Monte Carlo simulations and the Ross-McCray equation. The excellent consistency between the extended Kompaneets equation and Monte Carlo simulation or Ross-McCray equation confirms the correctness of our extended Kompaneets equation. The numerical solution of the extended Kompaneets equation is less expensive in terms of computational time than the Monte Carlo simulation. Another advantage of the equation method is the simplicity and the clarity in physics. The potential applications in X-ray and γ-ray astronomy are also emphasized.
A COMPARATIVE SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THE POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC CRISIS IN GREECE AND RUSSIA ON PROVINCES IN TURKEY

After 2008 global financial crisis some Europe countries which have excessive debt burden especially Greece, Iceland, Spain etc. effected negatively more than the others. On the other hand decrease in oil prices effected negatively some exporter countries for instance Russia, Venezuela etc. in this period. Greece and Russia are neighbor countries that has significant role on Turkey’s foreign trade. In this aspect, it has been occurred some potential risks for provinces in Turkey which exporting to Greece and Russia. This study aims to examine the possible effects of Greek and Russian economic crisis for provinces of Turkey by using spatial data and techniques. To identify risky areas first, it is created different choropleth maps of Turkey by using province based export data in particular Greece and Russia. Second, spatial dimensions of potential risks are discussed. To test spatial dimensions of the variables, we perform an exploratory spatial data analysis on export values for provinces of Turkey. While our choropleth maps indicate that the some part of the country is significantly more related to foreign trade of the countries than the others, the tools of spatial statistics reveal the presence of spatial dependence across provinces. The presence of heterogeneity is reflected in the distribution of LISA statistics. Overall, this paper is original in terms of analyzing spatial dimensions of a current economic issue for provinces across Turkey.
A comparison of ringed seal ( Phoca hispida ) biology on the east and west sides of the North Water Polynya , Ba ffi n Bay

In conjunction with the International North Water Polynya Study (NOW) in northern Baffin Bay, we compared aspects of the biology of ringed seals (Phoca hispida) on the west (Grise Fiord, Nunavut) and east (Qaanaaq, Greenland) sides of the polynya. From May to July 1998, Inuit hunters collected 99 ringed seals near Grise Fiord, and 100 ringed seals were collected near Qaanaaq. Adult ringed seals from Qaanaaq were significantly shorter (P=0.007) and weighed less (P=0.0005) than those from Grise Fiord, but did not differ in axillary girth. Female ringed seals from Grise Fiord had significantly greater blubber thickness than seals from Qaanaaq (P=0.04). The ovulation rates for adult female ringed seals were 100% at Grise Fiord and 93% at Qaanaaq. Evidence of pregnancy in the previous year was found in 80% of females from Grise Fiord and in 77% of females from Qaanaaq. The average age of sexual maturity of females at Qaanaaq was earlier than in areas of the Canadian Arctic. Differences in the biology of ringed seals on the west and east sides of the North Water Polynya could reflect variations in biological productivity within the polynya.
Retail Order Flow Segmentation

In August 2012, the New York Stock Exchange launched the Retail Liquidity Program (RLP), a new trading facility that enables participating organizations to quote dark limit orders available only to retail traders. The facility increased the information content of the order flow by distinguishing retail trades from relatively more informed trades. Stocks with substantial RLP activity experienced no material changes in relative bid–ask spreads, effective spreads, and price impacts, and had mildly decreased return autocorrelations.
The Impact of European Works Councils on Management Decision-Making in UK and Us-Based Multinationals: A Case Study Comparison

The operation of European Works Councils (EWCs) is taking management and employee representatives in MNCs into uncharted territory. In particular, for companies headquartered in Anglo-Saxon economies there is little domestic tradition of statutory employee consultation. Drawing on comparative case studies, this article investigates the impact of EWCs on the process and outcomes of corporate-level management decision-making in UK and US-based MNCs. Variation in EWC impact arises from the interaction of structural factors, such as business focus, management organisation and pre-existing industrial relations arrangements, and agency factors, including management policy and the cohesion of employee representatives.
Seasonal Nitrate Content of Stream Water, Soil and Some Foodstuffs Samples in Abuja Municipal Area of Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria

The vegetation of Abuja, Nigeria’s new Federal Capital Territory is predominantly guinea savannah. The need for a new Federal Capital Territory for Nigeria was necessitated by the congestion and environmental problems in the old capital. Nitrates are widespread in soil, and are present in small amounts in plant and animal tissues. Wate ra nd food containing high nitrate concentrations are potentially harmful to infants and young children. Nitrate content of Stream water, soil and some food samples was assessed, in Wuse, Garki and Maitama with a view to determine regular monitoring of the environment in the Municipal of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. River water, soil and food samples from Wuse, Garki and Maitama were collected during the rainy (July) season and dry (February) season. Nitrates and ammonia levels wer ed etermined using spectrophotometer. Results showed al ow contamination pattern of nitrates in river water, soil and foodstuff samples. Regular monitoring of Nitrate levels need to be put in place to check for contamination levels.
Utilization of different dietary carbohydrate sources in hybrid grouper, Tiger grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, ♀) × Giant grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus, ♂) juveniles

Four isoproteic (50% crude protein) and isolipidic (10% crude lipid) diets containing four different carbohydrate sources (tapioca, corn, sago and dextrin) at the same inclusion level (20%) were fed to triplicate groups of fish for 67 days. The fish were cultured in 150L fiberglass tanks with 20 individuals/tank. At the end of the feeding trial, growth performance and feed intake of fish fed diets tapioca, corn and sago were better than those fed diet dextrin. Body indices, muscle and liver composition were also affected by the dietary treatments. Sago diet produced fish with significantly higher glucose and lower total protein than other diets. Meanwhile, only mean cell volume and platelet count of blood were affected by the carbohydrate sources. In general, the values of digestibility for dry matter, protein and lipid were considered high in all diets, with significant differences detected among them. In conclusion, all tested starches performed significantly better than dextrin as carbohydrate sources, and the findings of the present study had provided the aquafeed industry with more carbohydrate choices in the formulation of diets for grouper species.
Application of a Diffusion Model to Predict Drying Kinetics Changes Under Variable Conditions: Experimental and Simulation Study

This study focuses on the interplay between drying kinetics (encoun- tered in typical industrial processes and particularly in the context of solar drying) and the possible variation of external (e.g., environmental) conditions. Theoretical models of these behavioursare introduced. Experimental resultsconfirmed by sim- ulationare also presented. Variationofthethermo physicalpropertiesofair istaken into account in terms of variation of viscosity, density and coefficient of diffusion. In particular, this coefficient is calculated from experimental data and expressed as a function of the wet bulb air temperature. When external conditions are modified and, as a natural consequence, also the drying kinetics undergo some change, in general, products exhibit a time of response. This response (the principal object of the present study) changes from the kernel of the product to its surface. Two kinds ofconditionsare simulated in thepresent workto model such behaviour: a constant flux and a convective flux. It is found that the convective flux is more affected by external conditions than the constant flux. A comparison between sudden and pro- gressive changes of drying conditions is also considered for possible optimisation of the considered processes.
Wall Street Likes its Women: An Examination of Women in the Top Management Teams of Initial Public Offerings

Excerpt] As part of an overall research project exploring the determinants of initial public offering (IPO) firm success, I examine the effect of having women on the top management teams of IPO firms on the organizations’ short and long-term financial performance. Looking at three different samples, I found that trend data indicate IPO firms are gaining in the number of women they employ in their top management teams (where top management team is defined as those listed in the firm’s prospectus). The results of the study reported in this paper suggest one reason why the trend is growing; women appear to have a positive effect on the firms’ short-term performance (Tobin’s Q, which is market price to book value per share), three-year stock price growth, and growth in earnings per share.
Aggregation of Value Judgments Differs from Aggregation of Preferences

My focus is on aggregation of individual value rankings of alternatives to a collective value ranking. This is compared with aggregation o individual prefrences to a collective preference. While in an individual preference ranking the alternatives are ordered in accordance with one’s preferences, the order in a value ranking expresses one’s comparative evaluation of the alternatives, from the best to the worst. I suggest that, despite their formal similarity as rankings, this difference in the nature of individual inputs in two aggregation scenarios has important implications: The kind of procedure that looks fine for aggregation of judgments is inappropriate for aggregation of preferences. The procedure I have in mind consists in similarity maximization, or – more precisely – in minimization of the average distance from individual inputs. When applied to judgment aggregation, this procedure can also be approached from the epistemic perspective: the questions are posed concerning its advantages as a truth-tracker. From that perspective, what matters is not only the probability of the outcome of the procedure being true, but also the expected verisimilitude of the outcome: its expected distance from truth. (Less)
Challenges associated with infrastructure delivery

The main purpose of this paper is to document some challenges faced by Independent Development Trust (IDT) in infrastructure delivery of the provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal. Infrastructure delivery has a significant effect on the local budgets or budgets of projects in the province. The main focus of the study was the root causes of delays, budgetary overruns and the resultant effect on service delivery back-logs and socio-economic impact caused by such delays. The study setting comprised of professional stakeholders in the built environment and these include specialists and professionals in the engineering, construction management, civil and general building fields. The objectives of this study were achieved by means of a self-administered questionnaire that was distributed to a group of participants, composed of project managers, quantity surveyors, engineers, architects and project managers working with IDT. The nature of the research was quantitative and data analysis used descriptive and a bit of inferential statistics to arrive at some generalizations and conclusions. The study was able to affirm that there are major inefficiencies in the current infrastructure delivery model of the South African government. Major causes identified include factors such as delays in payments, poor planning, subsiding levels of professional ethics and standards exercised by professionals in the built environment, and so forth. The study also made some recommendations from the research findings. Clearly the infrastructure delivery model requires a new trajectory in tackling the under-development and triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and slow economic growth.
Application of SWAT Model to the Olifants Basin: Calibration, Validation and Uncertainty Analysis

The application of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to the Olifants Basin in South Africa was the focus of our study with emphasis on calibration, validation and uncertainty analysis. The Basin was discretized into 23 sub-basins and 226 Hydrologic Response Units (HRUs) using 3 arc second (90 m × 90 m) pixel resolution SRTM DEM with stream gauge B7H015 as the Basin outlet. Observed stream flow data at B7H015 were used for model calibration (1988-2001) and validation (2002-2013) using the split sample approach. Relative global sensitivity analysis using SUFI-2 algorithm was used to determine sensitive parameters to stream flow for calibration of the model. Performance efficiency of the Olifants SWAT model was assessed using Nash-Sutcliffe (NSE), coefficient of determination (R2), Percent Bias (PBIAS) and Root Mean Square Error-Observation Standard deviation Ratio (RSR). Sensitivity analysis revealed in decreasing order of significance, runoff curve number (CN2), alpha bank factor (ALPHA_BNK), soil evaporation compensation factor (ESCO), soil available water capacity (SOIL_AWC, mm H2O/mm soil), groundwater delay (GW_ DELAY, days) and groundwater “revap” coefficient (GW_REVAP) to be the most sensitive parameters to stream flow. Analysis of the model during the calibration period gave the following statistics; NSE = 0.88; R2 = 0.89; PBIAS = -11.49%; RSR = 0.34. On the other hand, statistics during the validation period were NSE = 0.67; R2 = 0.79; PBIAS = -20.69%; RSR = 0.57. The observed statistics indicate the applicability of the SWAT model in simulating the hydrology of the Olifants Basin and therefore can be used as a Decision Support Tool (DST) by water managers and other relevant decisions making bodies to influence policy directions on the management of watershed processes especially water resources.
Do Mothers’ Opinions Matter in Teens’ Sexual Activity?

Using the Add Health data (N = 9,530 dyads), this study explores sexual socialization in the family using the theory of reasoned action by assessing how mothers’ opinions are associated with their children’s sexual behavior. Findings suggest that the more sexually liberal teens think their mothers are, the more likely the teens are to have higher numbers of sex partners. Talking about sex and having a strong connection between mothers and teens contribute to sexual norm transmission. The more talk about sex there is within the dyad, the more likely the teen is to have had sex. The stronger the connection between mothers and teens, the less likely the teen is to have had sex. Finally, for boys, verbal communication with their mothers is more important in sexual norm transmission; and for girls, having a good connection in the dyad is more important.
Examining the administration of work sanctions on the frontlines of the welfare system

Financial penalties, or sanctions, are a core mechanism for enforcing the work requirements of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and helping clients achieve self-sufficiency. This study's objective is to examine whether sanctions are being administered consistent with policy goals of encouraging work. Copyright (c) 2006 Southwestern Social Science Association.
Contrasting uses of balanced scorecards: case studies at two UK companies

This article considers two contrasting applications of the balanced scorecard, at EDF Energy and Tesco, where the scorecard is called a steering wheel. A distinction is drawn between a strategic scorecard based on vision and a performance management scorecard based on mission and values. This difference makes the associated balanced scorecards useful to management in different ways. Our model demonstrates how different balanced scorecard approaches can complement each other for effective strategic management. This conceptualization is consistent with a perceived general tendency for large multinationals to use values to strategically manage from the center organization-wide core competences. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
New Results on the Impact of the Minimum Wage on Irish Firms

The National Minimum Wage was introduced in Ireland on 1 April 2000. The Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment (DoETE) commissioned The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) to conduct a survey of firms to assess the immediate impact, in late 2000/early 2001, and the results were reported in Nolan, O’Neill and Williams (2002). In 2002, the DoETE commissioned another survey aimed at monitoring the ongoing impact of the minimum wage in the private sector, which was carried out between September and November 2002. Here we present the key results from that survey, and use them to assess the on-going impact of the minimum wage on Irish firms.2 1.
NEMO on the shelf: assessment of the Iberia-Biscay-Ireland configuration

Abstract. This work describes the design and validation of a high-resolution (1/36°) ocean forecasting model over the "Iberian–Biscay–Irish" (IBI) area. The system has been set-up using the NEMO model (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean). New developments have been incorporated in NEMO to make it suitable to open- as well as coastal-ocean modelling. In this paper, we pursue three main objectives: (1) to give an overview of the model configuration used for the simulations; (2) to give a broad-brush account of one particular aspect of this work, namely consistency verification; this type of validation is conducted upstream of the implementation of the system before it is used for production and routinely validated; it is meant to guide model development in identifying gross deficiencies in the modelling of several key physical processes; and (3) to show that such a regional modelling system has potential as a complement to patchy observations (an integrated approach) to give information on non-observed physical quantities and to provide links between observations by identifying broader-scale patterns and processes. We concentrate on the year 2008. We first provide domain-wide consistency verification results in terms of barotropic tides, transports, sea surface temperature and stratification. We then focus on two dynamical subregions: the Celtic shelves and the Bay of Biscay slope and deep regions. The model–data consistency is checked for variables and processes such as tidal currents, tidal fronts, internal tides and residual elevation. We also examine the representation in the model of a seasonal pattern of the Bay of Biscay circulation: the warm extension of the Iberian Poleward Current along the northern Spanish coast (Navidad event) in the winter of 2007–2008.
Vision system for autonomous navigation

This paper addresses the problem of vision based navigation in structured environments using homography. The approach makes a Manhattan World assumption and uses vanishing point to extract the approximate floor and wall planes. This preliminary segmentation of the image helps in the visual odometry pipeline by providing an approximate hypothesis for planes which are tracked over multiple frames to calculate motion trajectory of the camera. RanSaC based approach is used to calculate the vanishing point. A similar approach is used to calculate homography by tracking key-point over consecutive frames. The obtained homography model is compared with the homography models of planes detected through Vanishing Point based segmentation of image of a structured environment into its planar elements. This comparison provided with information about the camera motion and pose. The proposed method was applied to a dataset and the results compared against the ground truth.