Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Corporate Debt Structure and Economic Recoveries

This paper analyzes the business cycle behavior of the corporate debt structure and its interaction with economic recovery. The debt structure is measured as the share of bonds in the total credit to non-financial corporations for a quarterly panel of countries over the period 1989–2013. We first show that the substitution of loans for bonds in recoveries is a regular property of business cycles. Secondly, we provide evidence that economies with high bond share and important bond-loan substitution recover from the recessions faster. This identified link between corporate debt structure and business cycles is robust to the inclusion of traditional factors which shape recessions and recovery such as the size and the quality of financial markets, the occurrence of bank crisis, the dynamics of credit, and the distribution of firm size.
The known unknowns of governance

Empirical researchers interested in how governance shapes various aspects of economic development frequently use the Worldwide Governance indicators (WGI). These variables come in the form of an estimate along with a standard error reflecting the uncertainty of this estimate. Existing empirical work simply uses the estimates as an explanatory variable and discards the information provided by the standard errors. In this paper, we argue that the appropriate practice should be to take into account the uncertainty around the WGI estimates through the use of multiple imputation. We investigate the importance of our proposed approach by revisiting in three applications the results of recently published studies. These applications cover the impact of governance on (i) capital flows; (ii) international trade; (iii) income levels around the world. We generally find that the estimated effects of governance are highly sensitive to the use of multiple imputation. We also show that model misspecification is a concern for the results of our reference studies. We conclude that the effects of governance are hard to establish once we take into account uncertainty around both the WGI estimates and the correct model specification.
Organizational change and the meaning of time

This paper probes into the social process of sense making in changing organizations, trying to observe how participant individuals interpret contextual events and configure their notion of time. This notion of time then interacts with the dynamics of the lives of individuals and contributes to the adaptation to the new reality they are facing. The study was conducted in eight organizations and data were collected by means of 133 in-depth interviews with participants in the change processes. Results indicate that individuals establish a reference to central events in their attempt to make sense out of changes and in their effort to adapt to the new situation. In accordance with Lewis and Weigert (1981), the results also indicate the dominance of institutional time over interaction time as well as over self time. Finally, the results suggest that such configurations of time are influenced by official organizational rhetoric and by actions in change management
The impact of aquatic therapy on the agility of a non-ambulatory patient with Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive disease. The inability to walk is common in early adolescence, and with the restriction to a wheelchair at this stage of the disease, the wheelchair becomes the patient’s only form of locomotion. Their agility in the wheelchair is a key factor for the functional independence of these individuals. Objective: The objective of this study was to verify the impact of aquatic therapy on non-ambulatory children with DMD. Method: This study has a prospective, interventional, clinical character. The patient underwent ten sessions of aquatic therapy as an intervention, using the following assessment tools: EgenKlassifikation scale, zigzag agility test, oxygen saturation (SatO2), respiratory rate (RR), forced vital capacity (FVC), tidal volume (TV), minute volume (MV), peak cough flow (PCF), and maximal inspiratory (PImax) and maximal expiratory (PEmax) pressures. The intervention protocol of aquatic therapy was defined focusing on the agility in maneuvering the wheelchair. Results: Improvement in agility was observed in moving wheelchair, maintenance of the EK scale score, and a decrease in TV, MV, and PCF. Conclusion: The results showed that for this patient, aquatic therapy may intervene positively in his mobile agility in the wheelchair.
Disorder-induced Majorana metal in interacting non-Abelian anyon systems

Microsoft Research, Station Q, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106(Dated: July 18, 2011)We demonstrate that a thermal metal of Majorana fermions forms in a two-dimensional system of interactingnon-Abelian (Ising) anyons in the presence of moderate disorder. This bulk metallic phase arises in the = 5=2quantum Hall state when disorder pins the anyonic quasiparticles. More generally, it naturally occurs for variousproposed systems supporting Majorana fermion zero modes when disorder induces the random pinning of aﬁnite density of vortices. This includes all two-dimensional topological superconductors in so-called symmetryclass D. A distinct experimental signature of the thermal metal phase is the presence of bulk heat transport downto zero temperature.
The distinction between geomagnetic excursions and reversals

SUMMARY Two recent studies of the geomagnetic ¢eld in the last 1 Myr have found 14 excursions, large changes in direction lasting 5^10 kyr each, six of which are established as global phenomena by correlation between diierent sites. The older picture of the geomagnetic ¢eld enjoying long periods of stable polarity may not therefore be correct; instead, the ¢eld appears to suier many dramatic changes in direction and concomitant reduction in intensity for 10^20 per cent of the time. During excursions the ¢eld may reverse in the liquid outer core, which has timescales of 500 yr or less, but not in the solid inner core, where the ¢eld must change by diiusion with a timescale of 3 kyr. This timescale is consistent with the remarkably uniform duration of well-dated excursions. The disparity of dynamical timescales between the inner and outer cores, a factor of 10, is consistent with the 10 excursions between full reversals.
Numerical computation of solitons for optical systems

In this paper, we present numerical methods for the determination of solitons, that consist in spatially localized stationary states of nonlinear scalar equations or coupled systems arising in nonlinear optics. We first use the well-known shooting method in order to find excited states (characterized by the number k of nodes) for the classical nonlinear Schrodinger equation. Asymptotics can then be derived in the limits of either large k are large nonlinear exponents σ . In a second part, we compute solitons for a nonlinear system governing the propagation of two coupled waves in a quadratic media in any spatial dimension, starting from one-dimensional states obtained with a shooting method and considering the dimension as a continuation parameter. Finally, we investigate the case of three wave mixing, for which the shooting method is not relevant.
Structural policies and productivity: Evidence from Portuguese firms

This paper provides empirical evidence on links between the productivity of Portuguese firms and a number of policy variables in Portugal. The analysis is based on a census of Portuguese manufacturing companies, covering more than 40,000 firms between 2006 and 2011. The results suggest that a number of these variables matter for firm performance, including the number of procedures required to start a business, a more extensive coverage of collective wage bargaining agreements, the tax burden, tax compliance costs and the number of procedures required to enforce a contract. Politiques structurelles et productivite : Resultats empiriques du Portugal Ce document presente des resultats empiriques sur la productivite des entreprises au Portugal et une serie de variables de politiques. L’analyse est basee sur plus de 40 000 entreprises Portugaises entre 2006 et 2011. Les resultats suggerent une influence significative de ces politiques sur la productivite des entreprises, notamment pour le nombre de procedures requises pour creer une entreprise, l’extension administrative des accords de negociations salariales, les impots et leur complexite ainsi que le nombre de procedures requises pour executer un contrat.
Angular correlation function of 1.5 million luminous red galaxies: clustering evolution and a search for baryon acoustic oscillations

We present the angular correlation function measured from photometric samples comprising 1562 800 luminous red galaxies (LRGs). Three LRG samples were extracted from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) imaging data, based on colour-cut selections at redshifts, z approximate to 0.35, 0.55 and 0.7 as calibrated by the spectroscopic surveys, SDSS-LRG, 2dF-SDSS LRG and QSO (quasi-stellar object) (2SLAQ) and the AA Omega-LRG survey. The galaxy samples cover approximate to 7600 deg(2) of sky, probing a total cosmic volume of approximate to 5.5 h(-3) Gpc(3). The small- and intermediate-scale correlation functions generally show significant deviations from a single power-law fit with a well-detected break at approximate to 1 h(-1) Mpc, consistent with the transition scale between the one-and two-halo terms in halo occupation models. For galaxy separations 1-20 h(-1) Mpc and at fixed luminosity, we see virtually no evolution of the clustering with redshift and the data are consistent with a simple high peaks biasing model where the comoving LRG space density is constant with z. At fixed z, the LRG clustering amplitude increases with luminosity in accordance with the simple high peaks model, with a typical LRG dark matter halo mass 10(13)-10(14) h(-1) M-circle dot. For r < 1 h(-1) Mpc, the evolution is slightly faster and the clustering decreases towards high redshift consistent with a virialized clustering model. However, assuming the halo occupation distribution (HOD) and Lambda cold dark matter (Lambda CDM) halo merger frameworks, similar to 2-3 per cent/Gyr of the LRGs are required to merge in order to explain the small scales clustering evolution, consistent with previous results.At large scales, our result shows good agreement with the SDSS-LRG result of Eisenstein et al. but we find an apparent excess clustering signal beyond the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) scale. Angular power spectrum analyses of similar LRG samples also detect a similar apparent large-scale clustering excess but more data are required to check for this feature in independent galaxy data sets. Certainly, if the Lambda CDM model were correct then we would have to conclude that this excess was caused by systematics at the level of Delta w approximate to 0.001-0.0015 in the photometric AA Omega-LRG sample.
A FRAMEWORK FOR VOXEL-BASED GLOBAL SCALE MODELING OF URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract. The generation of 3D city models is a very active field of research. Modeling environments as point clouds may be fast, but has disadvantages. These are easily solvable by using volumetric representations, especially when considering selective data acquisition, change detection and fast changing environments. Therefore, this paper proposes a framework for the volumetric modeling and visualization of large scale urban environments. Beside an architecture and the right mix of algorithms for the task, two compression strategies for volumetric models as well as a data quality based approach for the import of range measurements are proposed. The capabilities of the framework are shown on a mobile laser scanning dataset of the Technical University of Munich. Furthermore the loss of the compression techniques is evaluated and their memory consumption is compared to that of raw point clouds. The presented results show that generation, storage and real-time rendering of even large urban models are feasible, even with off-the-shelf hardware.
Within‐colony transmission and the cost of a mutualistic bacterium in the leaf‐cutting ant Acromyrmex octospinosus

Summary 1 Stable mutualistic interactions require the long-term alignment of fitness interests of participating species. This condition is fulfilled when the benefits of the relationship exceed the costs for all partners. 2 One apparent stabilizing factor in mutualisms is the vertical (parent to offspring) transmission of symbionts, as this tends to reduce the expression of virulent traits and reproductive conflicts. This study examines the cost and mode of transmission of a mutualistic Streptomyces bacterium that grows on the cuticle of leaf-cutting ants and produces antibiotics against a specialized fungal parasite of the ant fungus gardens. 3 It is shown that ant respiration rates are elevated by 10–20% when the bacterium is present on their cuticle. This increase is due to direct respiration of the bacterium and possible excess respiration by the ants. Although these two factors cannot be separated, it is clear that the total increase gives a reasonable quantification of the metabolic costs incurred by the Streptomyces symbiont. 4 Ants that actively maintain Streptomyces cultures on their cuticle tend to consume more of their mutualistic fungus garden than controls and this excess consumption increases with the amount of Streptomyces bacteria present. 5 Scanning electron microscopy showed that the mutualistic bacterium is not present on major workers immediately following eclosion, indicating that the bacterium is not transferred to callow workers until later. 6 The results of an experiment simulating within-colony transmission to callow workers suggest that the bacterium is predominantly transmitted from older to newly eclosed major workers, but that transmission may also occur via the fungus garden. The presence of Streptomyces bacteria in the fungus garden implies that rare events of horizontal transmission of the fungal cultivar of attine ants may also imply horizontal transmission of strains of the mutualistic bacterium.
Balancing Usability and Aesthetic Elements in Universities’ Website: A Systematic Review

Website is the first line of interactions between the universities and the patrons may it be the students, staff or the public. The usage of internet within universities has increased in this few years. More formal interactions are done through the universities websites or portals. Due to the increased use of the universities website, it has resulted in the importance of proper web design to ensure that the universities have an effective website. Thus, it is important that the design of the website be properly done to ensure effective use of the website and properly reflects the image of the Universities. One of the challenges in designing an effective website is ensuring good web usability and pleasing web aesthetics. Using SLR (Systematic Literature Review), this paper gathers the area of study regarding overall description of a quality website, website usability, web usability measurement, website aesthetics, web aesthetic measurements and to know whether there is the research regarding relationship between web usability and web aesthetics. This study was based on 658 papers gathered from the online library such as IEEE, ACM, Science Direct and Emerald Insight by using a search strategy that has been constructed in the research method. After the filtering process was done based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, only 78 relevant papers are chosen as the body of knowledge of this study.
DETERMINANTS OF MAIZE MARKETING DECISIONS FOR SMALLHOLDER HOUSEHOLDS IN TANZANIA

Smallholder farmers in Tanzania remain susceptible to food insecurity and poverty. To combat these challenges, the country and development organizations have turned to agriculture. In particular, value chains have been identified as a point of interest. Specifically, the maize value chain is of critical importance since maize is the staple crop of the country as well as the staple carbohydrate in the Tanzanian diet. Markets are beneficial because they enable households to specialize in agricultural production according to their comparative advantage. Specifically, markets have been shown to be one tool for increasing welfare, measured through the proxy income. The objective of this thesis is to identify the determinants of a household’s decision to participate in the maize market as well as identify the determinants of a household’s decision regarding how much maize to sell in a given market. This research examines formal and informal market participation among 908 households during the 2008 long rainy season. Probit models were estimated to determine market participation for the formal, informal, and aggregate sale market levels. A Heckman OLS model was used to further analyze the value sold by the household in a given market. Econometric results indicate that “quantity harvested” positively and significantly impacts market participation decisions as well as value sold decisions. The variable “maleheaded households” was positive and significant in the formal market while the variable showed no significant impact in the informal market participation model. Both “radio ownership” and “mobile telephone ownership” proved to be positive and significant in the formal model while only the ownership of a radio was significant in the informal market. Additionally it was found that for the formal market participation decision, “bicycle ownership” was positive and significant. Overall, it appears that households participate in the informal market as a way to meet cash needs since farmers were not price-responsive. However, in the formal market farmers were found to be very price-responsive, following neo-classical economic theory.
Retrospective study on gastrointestinal tract tumors in humans in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria

A retrospective study of gastrointestinal tract (GIT) tumors of humans in Zaria was carried out to determine the prevalence rates. Of the 124 human cases recorded in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) Zaria, 39 (31.45%) had upper GIT tumors while 42 (33.87%) had tumors located in the lower GIT. All age groups were affected. The risk for developing tumors increased with age in cases studied. The affected age groups varied from 0.75 to 89 years with median of 44.5 years. Males were over represented with sex ratio of 1.5:1. Adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas were predominant.
The effects of different egg yolk concentrations used with soy bean lecithin-based extender on semen quality to freeze bull semen.

Gerec ve Yontem: Her bir Simental bogadan alinan ejakulatlar (n=12) uc esit miktara ayrildi ve sirasiyla %5 (B5), %10 (B10) SYS eklenmis ve hic SYS (B0) icermeyen soya lesitin temelli sulandirici ile sulandirildi. Ardindan standart protokollere gore donduruldu ve cozduruldu. Spermatozoa kryocanliligi, in vitro cozum sonu motilite (CASA), akrozomal ve diger anormallikler ve plasma membran butunlugu (HOST) yonunden degerlendirildi.
Heterogeneous photochemistry of imidazole-2-carboxaldehyde: HO2 radical formation and aerosol growth

Abstract. The multiphase chemistry of glyoxal is a source of secondary organic aerosol (SOA), including its light-absorbing product imidazole-2-carboxaldehyde (IC). IC is a photosensitizer that can contribute to additional aerosol ageing and growth when its excited triplet state oxidizes hydrocarbons (reactive uptake) via H-transfer chemistry. We have conducted a series of photochemical coated-wall flow tube (CWFT) experiments using films of IC and citric acid (CA), an organic proxy and H donor in the condensed phase. The formation rate of gas-phase HO2 radicals (PHO2) was measured indirectly by converting gas-phase NO into NO2. We report on experiments that relied on measurements of NO2 formation, NO loss and HONO formation. PHO2 was found to be a linear function of (1) the [IC] × [CA] concentration product and (2) the photon actinic flux. Additionally, (3) a more complex function of relative humidity (25 %
Corn Response to Nitrogen Timing and Rate under Strip Tillage and Low-Yield Environment in Southeastern Coastal Plains

Problem statement: Insufficient rainfall under low yield environment may affect nitrogen management, plant growth indices and grain yields of corn (Zea mays L.). Approach: The objective of this study was to determine the effects of two N application timings (all at planting and as split application with N applied at planting and V6 stage) and five N fertilizer rates (0, 45, 90, 135 and 180 kg N ha−1) on strip-tilled, dryland corn growth and yields under low-yield environmental conditions near Blackville SC, from 2007-2009. Plant growth measurements included plant height, ear height, relative chlorophyll content (SPAD), Leaf Area Index (LAI) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Results: Plant LAI at V8, NDVI at V8 and R1, SPAD at R1, plant height at V8 and grain yield generally increased with increasing N application rates. Due to most likely insufficient precipitation, the N application timing did not affect corn growth or yield. Despite relatively low grain yields, corn yield was increased by 1.6 Mg ha−1 with increasing N application rate of 100 kg ha−1. Grain yield was positively correlated with plant leaf area index (LAI) at R1 (r = 0.27, p≤0.05) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) at V8 and R1 (r = 0.33 and 0.29, p≤0.01, respectively) and plant height at V8 stage (r = 0.42, p≤0.001). With N applied at planting, there was a 0.55 and 0.49 Mg ha−1 yield increase with 0.1 increases in plant NDVI at V8 and R1, respectively. Conclusion: Under strip tillage and low yield environment conditions, plant growth and yields may not be affected by timing of N application mainly due to insufficient rainfall. Plant NDVI (for treatments with all N applied at planting) at V8 and R1 can help to estimate potential of corn grain yield, which may be reduced due to low nitrogen use efficiency.
Kinetics of reactive oxygen species produced by rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ) leukocytes and the effect of the antioxidant astaxanthin

Reactive oxygen species contribute to kill of microorganisms. Their activity is usually measured by their capacity to reduce nitroblue tetrazolium into formazan. The incubation time to allow nitroblue tetrazolium reduction by reactive oxygen species usually ranges from 30 to 60 min. The aim of our study was to determine the kinetics of formazan formation, to determine the shortest incubation time possible, and to find if astaxanthin negatively affects the availability of reactive oxygen species (and defense mechanisms of fish). The blood/nitroblue tetrazolium method is based on nitroblue tetrazolium reduction into formazan by reactive oxygen species present in blood. Formazan can be spectrophotometrically measured, allowing quantification of reactive oxygen species. Reactive oxygen species were measured in blood samples from 30 trout intramuscularly injected with astaxanthin (0.3 mg/100 g of fish) (experimental group) and 30 non-injected trout (controls). Results indicated that in trout non-treated with astaxanthin, the plateau of formazan production was reached after 20 min of incubation. Trout intramuscularly injected with astaxanthin showed the following: on Day 1 after astaxanthin injection, the kinetics were slower but finally reached a plateau similar to astaxanthin-free trouts, and by Day 11 the plateau was significantly higher after 60 min incubation. In conclusion, the kinetics curves here reported allow reducing incubation time of the method to only 20 min in antioxidant-free trout and, on the other hand, our results also revealed that astaxanthin can be used to improve flesh colour in salmonids without affecting reactive oxygen species availability and therefore the defense mechanisms of trout.