Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A study on the international students’ perception and norms in Taiwan

Trends in Taiwan higher education reflect traditional East Asian patterns, which show a substantial numbers of university students from Taiwan studying in the United States and Britain. In a recent worldwide student mobility report, findings suggest that an increased flow of international students coming from the United States and European countries to the Asia Pacific Rim is at an all time high. However, if the number of inbound international students’ is subtracted with the number of outgoing Asian students, results are still not that promising. Hence, in order to increase the influx of international students in Taiwan, a deeper understanding of their perceptions and norms should be undertaken. This article details a quantitative study conducted during the 2009–2010 academic year in Taiwan. In scope it details an empirical study exploring the dispositions of international students in terms of their academic and social spheres. The use of quantitative method provided clarity and extended critical interpretations of the issues and dilemmas surrounding the international student experience in Taiwan.
Efficiency of Mexico's regional innovation systems: an evaluation applying data envelopment analysis (DEA)

The aim of this study is to measure the relative technical efficiency of Mexico´s regional innovation systems, as defined by its 32 states. Furthermore, there is an interest to establish the relationship between the amount of resources for each regional innovation system (RIS) and its performance in terms of technical efficiency. To this effect, the following hypothesis has been established: Mexican RIS may show similar technical efficiency levels regardless of their relative size, or in other words, the amount of resources and capacities available for each case. By using data envelopment analysis and selected indicators of input and output of the systems, three efficiency scores are calculated for the country's 32 states: overall efficiency, efficiency of patents generation and efficiency of scientific papers production. Additionally, a cluster analysis was performed with the efficiency results based on the index focused on output efficiency obtained in the previous step, and identified five distinct groups. Finally, the results led to the conclusion of the non-existence of a positive relation between the amount of resources of an innovation system and its productivity efficiency.
The cultural economy of cleantech: environmental discourse and the emergence of a new technology sector

The paper analyses the discursive definition of the cleantech sector over the period 2000–10. It develops a dialogue between a cultural economy approach to sectoral development and recent research on the role of discourse in defining discursive arenas of environmental concern. The cleantech sector’s rapid emergence in less than a decade can be seen as an example of the development of the cultural economy of an economic sector, defined in part through discursive logics and strategies performed by networks of actors constituted by firms, executives and policy professionals as well as non-governmental organisations and industry bodies. The paper conceptualises cleantech as a socio-technical sector that has developed through mechanisms that have established a dynamic sectoral identity as well as legitimacy around the way in which cleantech has been defined by networks of actors. The process of sectoral definition has, in turn, been based on the establishment of discursive logics that justify and make sense of the cleantech sector for investor firms and governments alike. Three discursive strands are thus identified and examined in the paper: the depiction of cleantech as the next paradigmatic technology revolution, the concept of cleantech as market-driven and the idea of cleantech as a ‘technical fix’ or solution to climate crisis.
A Real Options Approach to Evaluating New Nuclear Power Plants

Although nuclear power plants are being built in Asia, they have not been ordered in the U.S. since the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island. For many reasons, new attention is being given to light water reactors. Currently- operating nuclear power plants in the U.S. were built under rate-of-return regulation. Now, new nuclear power plants must compete in power markets. This paper models the net present value of building an Advanced Boiling Water Reactor in Texas using a real options approach to determine the risk premium associated with net revenue uncertainty. It finds that a cost of about $1,200 per kilowatt-electric (including financing costs) for advanced light water nuclear power plants could trigger new orders. On the other hand, owner-operators might be willing to pay higher prices for nuclear megawatts if methods for mitigating price, cost, and capacity risk through contracts or real assets could be found.
Workplace Relationships, Attitudes, and Organizational Justice: A Hospitality Shift Worker Contextual Perspective

Few studies have examined the effect of organizational justice on workplace relationships and attitudes of shift workers. This study uses a full four factor model of organizational justice to investigate justice perceptions of shift workers in the specific hospitality context of employees in registered clubs. Using a social exchange perspective of the employment relationship, responses from 501 employees in three clubs were analysed. Inconsistent results were found across the three clubs on employees’ workplace relationships including leader-member exchange and perceived organizational support and their work attitudes of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and their intention to quit. The inconsistent results may be explained by contextual differences including the nature of the industry and work patterns. The findings provide weak support for past justice studies, raising concern about the generalizability of current organizational justice research to both shift workers and the hospitality industry.
Health, violent crimes, murder and inflation: public health phenomena -

Introduction: The Jamaican Ministry of Health published a report which showed that in 2006, the direct health care cost of violence was approximately Jamaican $2 billion. Despite this reality, there is a paucity of empirical studies on health crimes in the nation – the study of crimes statistics from a health perspective. Objectives: This paper 1) evaluates the role of inflation on murder as well as violent crimes, 2) examines the influence of murder on violent crimes, and 3) how illness impacts on the murder rate. Methods: The current study utilizes published data to carry-out its analyses. The data were collated from Jamaica Government Publications, namely Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions, Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica, and Bank of Jamaica. Results: Between 1988 and 2011, the average numbers of violent crimes were 17,301 with 1,042 people murdered. A strong negative statistical association existed between lnviolent crimes and murder (P < 0.0001); weak direct relationships were found between lnviolent crime and inflation (P = 0.014) and low inverse correlation between lnmurder and inflation (P = 0.011). Of the two variables that were used to examine logmurder, only lninflation was statistical correlation with lnmurder (P = 0.033), with the factor accounting for 36.5% of the variability in lnmurder. An inverse statistical correlation emerged between lnviolent crimes and lninflation (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: Inflation is a public health challenge in Jamaica as it has two separate and distinct effects on murder and violent crime, which is problematic for policy makers.
An Analysis of Risk, Insurance, and Actuarial Research: Citations From 1996 to 2000

This article evaluates the relative significance of research published in 16 risk, insurance, and actuarial journals by examining the frequency of citations in these risk, insurance, and actuarial journals and 16 of the leading finance journals during the years 1996 through 2000. First, the article provides the frequency with which each sample risk, insurance, and actuarial journal cites itself and the other sample journals so as to communicate the degree to which each journal's published research has had an influence on the other sample journals. Then the article divides the 16 journals into two groups: (1) the risk and insurance journal group, and (2) the actuarial journal group, and ranks them within their group based on their total number of citations, including and excluding self-citations. A ranking within each group is based on the journals' influence on a per article published basis. Finally, this study observes and reports on the most frequently cited articles from the sample risk, insurance, and actuarial journals. Copyright 2003 The Journal of Risk and Insurance.
Valuation of food safety in meat – a review of stated preference studies

Abstract The present paper aims at providing an overview of the existing knowledge of consumer valuation of food safety and quality in meat. The paper reviews 35 stated preference studies. It was not possible to establish a clear ranking of meat characteristics due to large variations in the willingness-to-pay estimates across studies and very few studies that allowed within-study rankings. However, we found that product dependency and (self) selection biases are issues of particular relevance for understanding the variations in consumer valuation of food safety characteristics. Consequently, these topics are, especially, of concern when benefits are transferred among studies and across products. In addition, we found that improving the presentation of the information provided to respondents in the surveys is a simple first step towards improving the transparency (and the impact) of stated preference studies. Related to another dimension of information provision, we found only very few studies and no clear picture of how consumer valuations of meat safety might be affected by information. There is a need for more stated preference studies of meat safety and quality that focus on ranking of attributes as well as on identifying the effect of information – and we suggest increased use of survey designs that allow within-sample comparisons.
The Capital Budgeting Process: Incentives and Information

We study the capital allocation process within firms. Observed budgeting processes are explained as a response to decentralized information and incentive problems. It is shown that these imperfections can result in underinvestment when capital productivity is high and overinvestment when it is low. We also investigate how the budgeting process may be expected to vary with firm or division characteristics such as investment opportunities and the technology for information transfer.
Quantitative measurement of haptic perception

Development and evaluation of teleoperators and haptic virtual environment technologies require objective quantitative measures of haptic quality. In this paper a theoretical framework and experimental procedures are introduced for quantitative assessment of haptic perception. Human haptic perception of objects is distorted and uncertain as well. Perceptual distortion is defined to be a systematic bias of perception with respect to an objective standard. Perceptual uncertainty is defined to be a measure of statistical distribution of percepts. A set of mathematical tools is presented to quantify perceptual distortion and uncertainty. Two experiments are presented which apply these tools to investigate the fundamental structure of human haptic perception. <<ETX>>
Measuring Synchronization and Convergence of Business Cycles for the Euro Area, UK and US

This paper investigates business cycle relations among different economies in the Euro area. Cyclical dynamics are explicitly modelled as part of a time series model. We introduce mechanisms that allow for increasing or diminishing phase shifts and for time-varying association patterns in different cycles. Standard Kalman filter techniques are used to estimate the parameters simultaneously by maximum likelihood. The empirical illustrations are based on gross domestic product (GDP) series of seven European countries that are compared with the GDP series of the Euro area and that of the US. The original integrated time series are band-pass filtered. We find that there is an increasing resemblance between the business cycle fluctuations of the European countries analysed and those of the Euro area, although with varying patterns. Copyright 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the Department of Economics, University of Oxford.
Market Intermediaries’ Willingness to Pay for Apple, Peach, Cherry, and Strawberry Quality Attributes

ABSTRACT This study uses discrete choice experiments to determine the valuation that individual market intermediaries (e.g., packers, shippers, marketers, and processors) place on targeted fruit quality traits in apple, peach, cherry, and strawberry for both the fresh and processing market. In general, market intermediaries assigned the greatest value to fruit quality traits that would enhance their profitability through increased consumer appeal, increased marketing time windows, or more efficient processing. These results should inform decisions among fruit marketing intermediary enterprises and contribute knowledge to breeding programs to ensure breeding efforts are focused and relevant to the industry and consumers’ needs and desires.
INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTIFICATION AND WORK ENGAGEMENT AND THE ROLE OF SUPERVISOR SUPPORT

** Abstract: Although organizational identification has gained a reasonable attention and researchers investigated the relation of organizational identification with various outcomes, there is no study that investigates its possible relationship with work engagement. The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between organizational identification and work engagement. Social support in the organizational context has a positive influence on several attitudes and behaviors of employees. Especially, when employees receive a support from a key actor in the workplace, they reciprocate through positive outcomes. With this in mind, supervisor support is examined whether it moderates the relationship between organizational identification and work engagement. Questionnaire was used as a data collection method and sample consisted of 212 employees working in private sector in Istanbul, Turkey. Results showed that employees who identify with their organization have high levels of work engagement. Support received from supervisor is found to have a moderating role in this relationship.
Method of estimating the maximum penetration level of wind power using transient frequency deviation index based on COI frequency

Among the significant renewable resources, wind power has acquired the spotlight, due to the quick development in wind energy conversion technology. However, the penetration level of wind power cannot be increased randomly for maximum power generation primarily because the wind farms cannot always provide a precise amount of power similar to the conventional synchronous generators. Since the frequency is the most affected by the penetration of wind power due to the variable nature and the less inertia of these turbines, it is necessary to estimate the maximum level of wind energy that can maintain a nominal frequency and does not affect the frequency stability of the power system. In this paper, new procedures to determine the maximum wind penetration level using transient frequency deviation index (TFDI) and based on the center of inertia frequency are presented. The results of procedures are established through the dynamic simulation of WSCC 9-bus test system. By using this method, the critical wind level can be assessed while the system preserves acceptable operation frequency.
Explaining Credit Default Swap Spreads by Means of Realized Jumps and Volatilities in the Energy Market

This paper studies the relationship between credit default swap (CDS) spreads for the Energy sector and oil futures dynamics. Using data on light sweet crude oil futures from 2004 to 2013, which contains a crisis period, we examine the importance of volatility and jumps extracted from the futures in explaining CDS spread changes. The analysis is performed at an index level and by rating group; as well as for the pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis periods. Our findings are consistent with Merton's theoretical framework. At an index level, futures jumps are important when explaining CDS spread changes, with negative jumps having higher impact during the crisis. The continuous volatility part is significant and positive, indicating that futures volatility conveys relevant information for the CDS market. As for the analysis per rating group, negative jumps have an increasing importance as the credit rating deteriorates and during the crisis period, while the results for positive jumps and futures volatility are mixed. Overall, the relation between the CDS market and the futures market is stronger during volatile periods and strengthened after the Global Financial Crisis.
Analysis of Long-term Outcomes of 3200 Liver Transplantations Over Two Decades: A Single-Center Experience

Objective:Few studies have evaluated long-term outcomes after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). This work analyzes the experience of nearly 2 decades by the same team in a single center. Outcomes of OLT and factors affecting survival were analyzed. Methods:Retrospective analysis of 3200 consecutive OLTs that were performed at our institution, between February 1984 and December 31, 2001. Results:Of 2662 recipients, 578 (21.7%) and 659 (24.7%) were pediatric and urgent patients, respectively. Overall 1-, 5-, 10-, and 15-year patient and graft survival estimates were 81%, 72%, 68%, 64% and 73%, 64%, 59%, 55%, respectively. Patient survival significantly improved in the second (1992–2001) versus the era I (1984–1991) of transplantation (P < 0.001). Similarly, graft survival was better in the era II of transplantation (P < 0.02). However, biliary and infectious complications increased in era II. When OLT indications were considered, best recipient survival was obtained in children with biliary atresia (82%, 79%, and 78% at 1, 5, and 10 years, respectively), while malignant disease in adult patients resulted in the worst outcomes of 68% and 43% at 1 and 5 years, post-OLT. Further, patients <18 years and nonurgent recipients exhibited superior survival when compared with recipients >18 years (P < 0.001) or urgent patients (P < 0.001). Of 13 donor and recipient variables, era of OLT, recipient age, urgent status, donor age, donor length of hospital stay, etiology of liver disease, retransplantation, warm and cold ischemia, but not graft type (whole, split, living-donor), significantly impacted patient survival. Conclusions:Long-term benefits of OLT are greatest in pediatric and nonurgent patients. Multiple factors involving the recipient, etiology of liver disease, donor characteristics, operative variables, and surgical experience influence long-term survival outcomes. By balancing and matching these factors with a given recipient, optimum results can be achieved.
Effects of Quantitative Easing on Asia: Capital Flows and Financial Markets

This paper studies the effects of US quantitative easing (QE) on Asia by examining capital flows and financial markets. After the global financial crisis (GFC), Asian economies with more open and developed capital markets experienced greater swings in capital inflows. In particular, large capital flows manifest more in portfolio investment and other investment such as bank loans than in foreign direct investment. Empirical analysis shows QE, QE1 in particular, significantly contributed to the rebounding of capital inflows to the region after the onset of the crisis by lowering domestic yield rates as well as CDS premiums. Although the currency value responses differed across countries, it appears that economies with stable exchange rates roughly coincide with those in which house prices have been rising, suggesting that monetary easing of advanced countries have affected Asian countries through either appreciation of currency values or increases in the prices of housing.
MECHANISM OF ANTIFERTILITY IN MALE RATS TREATED WITH 3-MONOCHLORO-1,2-PROPANEDIOL (3-MCPD)

3-Monochloro-1,2-propanediol (3-MCPD) is a food contaminant that is often found in foods containing acid-hydrolyzed (AH) protein, like seasonings and savory food products. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of 3-MCPD on male fertility, sperm, and hormonal levels and its antifertility mechanism. In vivo male fertility testing was performed to observe the adverse effects of 3-MCPD on the functioning of the male reproductive system and pregnancy outcome. 3-MCPD (0.01–5 mg/kg) was administered daily by gavage to Sprague-Dawley (SD) male rats for 4 wk. At the end of the pretreatment period, male rats were mated overnight with untreated females. Males successfully inducing pregnancy were sacrificed to assess sperm parameters, reproductive organ histopathology, and spermatogenesis. The resulting pregnant females were sacrificed on 20 of gestation to evaluate pregnancy outcome. The paternal administration of 3-MCPD (5 mg/kg) was found to result in adverse effects on male fertility and pregnancy outcome without inducing remarkable histopathological changes in testes and epididymides. Additionally, 3-MCPD (5 mg/kg) significantly reduced sperm motility, copulation, fertility indices, and the number of live fetuses showed steep dose-response curves. 3-MCPD did not affect spermatogenesis or induce hormonal changes in the blood and testes of male rats. An in vitro hormone assay using primary isolated Leydig cells showed no significant changes in related hormone levels after 3-MCPD treatment. To evaluate the effects of 3-MCPD on apoptotic induction and H+-ATPase levels in the testis and epididymis, 10 or 100 mg/kg of 3-MCPD was administered by gavage to male rats and testes and epididymides were examined at 3, 6, 12, and 24 h later. Apoptosis was not detected in the testes of animals treated with 100 mg/kg 3-MCPD. However, the level of H+-ATPase in the cauda epididymis was reduced by 3-MCPD treatment. These results indicate that 3-MCPD induced a spermatotoxic effect, which was mediated by reduced H+-ATPase expression in the cauda epididymis, and suggest that an altered pH level in the cauda epididymis might lead to a disruption of sperm maturation and the acquisition of motility.
The Effects of Income and Skill Utilization on the Underemployed's Self-Esteem, Mental Health, and Life Satisfaction

This longitudinal study examined the effects of underemployment on psychological well-being (i.e., self-esteem, mental health, and life satisfaction) using a sample of 99 unemployed and 153 reemployed individuals in South Korea. Underemployment was determined by wage and skill utilization. The results indicated that when underemployment was determined by wage change, the underemployed showed a more favorable mental health level and more life satisfaction than the unemployed. However, when determined by wage difference, the underemployed were similar to the unemployed. For skill utilization-based underemployment, no difference was observed between the underemployed and the unemployed. The implications for future research are discussed.