Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The mystique of macro‐boycotting behaviour: a conceptual framework

In spite of the aim of the World Trade Organization and other international organizations to foster international trade and development by lessening protectionism agendas worldwide, there has been a rise in consumer boycotting behaviour at a macro level involving campaigns directed against foreign products from countries embroiled in conflicts in international relations, rather than against products from individual companies perceived to have engaged in a domestic egregious act. While campaigning at this level is becoming a more effective tool for consumer protest, as it negatively affects both the boycotted countries’ macroeconomics and companies’ micro-competitiveness, consumer motivations to participate in macro-level boycotts has so far been overlooked in the boycotting literature. This paper examines consumers’ behavioural intentions to participate in macro-boycotting campaigns within the context of an Arab country, which has recently witnessed a number of campaigns of this nature. Using the theory of planned behaviour the findings of an exploratory qualitative study of Egyptian consumers offer insights into the motives and barriers to individual macro-boycott participation. Findings are discussed together with managerial implications.
Statistical analysis and optimal design for cluster randomized trials

In many intervention studies, therapy outcome evaluations, and educational field trials, random treatment assignment of clusters rather than persons is desirable for political feasibility, logistics, or ecological validity. However, cluster randomized designs are widely regarded as lacking statistical precision. This article considers when and to what extent using a pretreatment covariate can increase experimental precision. To answer this question, the author first optimizes allocation of resources within and between clusters for the no-covariate case. Optimal sample sizes at each level depend on variation within and between clusters and on the cost of sampling at each level. Next, the author considers optimal allocation when a covariate is added. In this case, the explanatory power of the covariate at each level becomes highly relevant for choosing optimal sample sizes. A key conclusion is that statistical analysis that fully uses information about the covariate-outcome relationship can substantially increase the efficiency of the cluster randomized trial, especially when the cost of sampling clusters is high and the covariate accounts for substantial variation between clusters. Recent multilevel studies indicate that these conditions are common.
THE IMPACT OF FIRM AND ENTREPRENEURIAL CHARACTERISTICS ON ACCESS TO DEBT FINANCE BY SMES IN KING WILLIAMS TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

SMEs contribute positively to economic growth, employment and poverty alleviation in South Africa. However, the failure rate of SMEs is very high in South Africa. One of the factors limiting the survival and growth of SMEs in South Africa is non-availability of debt financing. This study investigates the impact of firm and entrepreneurial characteristics on access to debt finance by SMEs in South Africa. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaire in a survey. The statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and logistic regression. The results indicate that firm and entrepreneurial characteristics impact on access to debt finance by SMEs. The study recommends that SMEs owners/managers should be investment ready by providing collateral, attend seminars and training programs to improve on their managerial competence.
Observed and simulated trophic index (TRIX) values for the Adriatic Sea basin

Abstract. The main scope of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive is to achieve good environmental status (GES) of the EU's marine waters by 2020, in order to protect the marine environment more effectively. The trophic index (TRIX) was developed by Vollenweider in 1998 for the coastal area of Emilia-Romagna (northern Adriatic Sea) and was used by the Italian legislation to characterize the trophic state of coastal waters. We compared the TRIX index calculated from in situ data (“in situ TRIX”) with the corresponding index simulated with a coupled physics and biogeochemical numerical model (“model TRIX”) implemented in the overall Adriatic Sea. The comparison between in situ and simulated data was carried out for a data time series on the Emilia-Romagna coastal strip. This study shows the compatibility of the model with the in situ TRIX and the importance of the length of the time series in order to get robust index estimates. The model TRIX is finally calculated for the whole Adriatic Sea, showing trophic index differences across the Adriatic coastal areas.
Does short selling discipline managerial empire building

This paper explores the discipline effect of short selling on managerial empire building. Employing short-selling data from 2002-2011, we document a negative association between the stock lending supply and the subsequent abnormal capital investment. We also find a positive association between the lending supply and the mergers and acquisitions announcement returns of acquiring firms. Firms with higher lending supplies also have higher Tobin’s Q in the subsequent year. In addition, the discipline effect is stronger for firms with higher managers’ wealth-performance sensitivity and with lower financial constraints, and for stock-financing acquisition deals. Alleviating the endogeneity concern, our multivariate difference-in-difference analysis shows that the lending supply is a more effective discipline force for firms that are in the Regulation SHO-Pilot Program during 2005 to 2007. JEL classification: G10, G20, G30.
Mobile Banking Adoption in Nigeria

Several studies have affirmed that the adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is culturally inclined. Mobile banking is an ICT application considered to be of vital use among people in various countries who are likely to have dissimilar cultural backgrounds. Research into the use and adoption of mobile banking has shown varied findings in different countries across the globe. This can be attributed to the diversity of the cultural landscape in different countries. The development of mobile banking in a country is likely to be determined by some characteristic factors which are unique to that country. This study conducted a cross‐sectional survey through a judgmental sampling procedure. The respondents were mobile banking customers that consisted of students, and workers from diverse fields of employment. A total of 231 questionnaires as well as interviews were collected from the sampled population of mobile banking customers. The data were analysed through statistics and qualitative techniques. This article explores the factors that influence adoption of mobile banking in Nigeria. The results show that culture is the most important factor influencing the adoption behaviour of users of mobile banking in Nigeria.
EquationsandNomogramfor the Relationshipof HumanBloodP50to 2,3-Diphosphoglycerate, C02, andH

We describe a new method for tonometry of small amounts of blood (up to 0.25 mL) at known Po2 Pco2 and temperature, in small, reusable, closed Pyrex flasks. Equilibrated blood is analyzed for oxygen saturation, pH, and organic phosphate concentration with standard techniques, and its (the Po2at which hemoglobin is half-saturated with oxygen) is determined with full control of all the variables known to affect it. The SD in the measurement of P50 is 0.044 kPa (0.33 mmHg). We made 63 determinations of P50 on normal human blood under different conditions of pH and Pco2 and with different concentrations of 2,3diphosphoglycerate and AlP. Empirical equations and a nomogram were derived, which allow the calculation of P50 from known values of Pco2 pH, and [2,3-DPG]/[Hb4] molar ratio with a SD of 97 and 114 Pa (0.73 and 0.86 mmHg), respectively.
TEMPLATE SYNTHESIS OF NANOWIRES IN POROUS POLYCARBONATE MEMBRANES: ELECTROCHEMISTRY AND MORPHOLOGY

The potentiostatic electrochemical template synthesis of nanowires (Ni, Co, Cu, Au, and polyporrole) in polycarbonate track-etched membranes with nominal pore diameters dN between 10 and 200 nm is studied. Along the wire the cross section is found to vary: the wire diameter, which is argued to directly reflect the pore diameter, is observed (for all deposits) to be substantially larger in the middle than at both ends. Therefore, the pores are not cylindrical with constant cross-section, in general, but appear to be “cigarlike”. Inside the membrane, the pores are wider by up to a factor 3. Comparing the potentiostatically measured current-time characteristics obtained during wire growth for different pore dimensions, a pore-size dependence of the diffusion coefficient D for the metal ions is found: D = 2.5, 1.5, and 0.7 × 10-6 cm2/s for dN = 80, 30, and 10 nm, respectively.
Do Idiomatic Constructions Always Aid Language Learning?

Kaschak and Saffran (2006) reported that the presence of an idiomatic syntactic construction (i.e., a construction whose structure violates the rules that govern the structure of the other sentences in the language) in training had a positive effect on participants' ability to acquire the phrase structure of an artificial language, but only when the idiomatic construction was given a distinctive prosodic feature. The present study extends this finding by exploring whether the distinctive meanings that accompany idiomatic constructions also influence their effect on language learning. We report two experiments in which Kaschak and Saffran's paradigm is replicated with one important change: whereas the previous study provided participants with only auditory training, the current studies added a visual reference world (i.e., semantics) to the training. Our experiments failed to reproduce the beneficial effects of the idiomatic construction on the acquisition of the phrase structure of the language. This result places important limitations on the role that idiomatic constructions play in language acquisition.
Congruence between voters and representatives in preferences for social policies in Spain

Public opinion in some countries are persistently highly supportive of redistribution, while policy outcomes do not always adjust over time. According to the literature on political congruence this might the consequence of a biased representation of policy preferences in the political process, as the preferences of high socio-economic status are expected to be better represented than the preferences of low statuses. To shed some light on this puzzle we analyze congruence in preferences for social policies in Spain. We use data from two complementary surveys gathering data on preferences for citizens and members of parliament (MPs). We have found a high degree of congruence in political preferences between citizens and representatives. Secondly, although the preferences of the well-educated groups are better represented in the case of preferences for taxation, it cannot be argued that there is a pro-rich bias in MPs’ preferences. We have found also a framing effect, according to which, congruence between parties and electorates vary across domains of preferences.
Opinions on the Impacts of the TEOG System from Teachers Whose Courses are not Included in the TEOG Exam

Bu calismanin amaci, dersi TEOG sinavi kapsaminda olmayan ortaokul ogretmenlerinin; ogrencileri, okul yoneticileri ve velilerle iliskileri ile derslerinin ogretim ve degerlendirme boyutlarini, TEOG sinavinin nasil etkiledigine iliskin goruslerini belirlemektir. Arastirma, Ankara’nin merkezinde ve tumu devlet okulu statusunde yedi okuldaki toplam 35 gorsel sanatlar, beden egitimi, teknoloji ve tasarim ve muzik dersi ogretmeni ile gerceklestirilmistir. Ogretmen gorusleri bes acik uclu soru ve ogretmenlere ait demografik ve mesleki bazi ozellikleri iceren bir anket formu ile alinmistir. Verilerin analizi nitel veri analizi yontemlerinden icerik analizi teknigi ile yapilmistir. Arastirmanin sonucunda; ogretmenlerin goruslerine gore; TEOG sinavi kapsaminda yer almadigi icin, ogrenciler, okul yoneticileri ve veliler gorsel sanatlar, teknoloji ve tasarim, muzik ve beden egitimi derslerini onemsiz gormektedirler. Bu durum ogretmenlerle ogrenciler, okul yoneticileri ve velilerin iliskilerini olumsuz yonde etkilemektedir. Ayrica sinavin sinif ici ogretim ve degerlendirme etkinliklerini de olumsuz yonde etkiledigi, ogretmenlerin objektif degerlendirme yapamadiklarini ve ogrenciler, idareciler ve velilerin kendilerinden yuksek not bekletisi veya talebi icinde olduklarini belirtmislerdir.
Exponential attractors and finite-dimensional reduction for non-autonomous dynamical systems*

We suggest in this paper a new explicit algorithm allowing us to construct exponential attractors which are uniformly Hölder continuous with respect to the variation of the dynamical system in some natural large class. Moreover, we extend this construction to non-autonomous dynamical systems (dynamical processes) treating in that case the exponential attractor as a uniformly exponentially attracting, finite-dimensional and time-dependent set in the phase space. In particular, this result shows that, for a wide class of non-autonomous equations of mathematical physics, the limit dynamics remains finite dimensional no matter how complicated the dependence of the external forces on time is. We illustrate the main results of this paper on the model example of a non-autonomous reaction–diffusion system in a bounded domain.
LONG-DISTANCE WIND DISPERSAL OF TREE SEEDS

Long-distance seed dispersal figures prominently in most plant conservation biology arguments, yet we possess little more than anecdotes concerning the relationship among deposition (seeds/m2), source strength (seeds/m2), and distance. In this paper we derive two simple models for long-distance deposition. The models are tested at the scale of 100- 1600 m from the source and found to be within 5-fold of the observed deposition. There is no discernable decline in deposition for the range 300- 1600 m. While we hesitate to extend model predictions to greater distances, both the models and the empirical results allow us to assert that rare wind-dispersed species in woodlots (dispersal distance around 1 km) are effectively isolated from one another at the temporal scale of 1000 years.
Behaviour of FRP Confined Concrete Cylinders: Experimental Investigation and Strength Model

The present paper is devoted to investigate the behaviour of FRP confined concrete cylinders subjected under axial compressive loading. A total of 54 FRP confined concrete cylinders with 2 types of FRP composite wrap, Carbone fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) and glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP), were tested under monotonic axial compression. The effects of several parameters such as unconfined concrete strength, type of FRP composite and number of FRP layers are investigated. Three different concrete mixes were examined, with a compressive strengths average of 26, 40 and 60MPa. The effective circumferential FRP failure strain and the effect of the effective lateral confining pressure were investigated. Peak axial compressive strength and corresponding strain of unconfined and FRP confined concrete cylinders were compared. The obtained results show that the CFRP reinforced cylinders provide a significant increase in ultimate compression stress compared to the GFRP reinforced ones. A new model is presented to predict the compressive axial strength and corresponding strain of FRP confined columns.
In Search of the Transmission Mechanism of Fiscal Policy in the Euro Area

This paper applies the DSGE-VAR methodology to assess the size of fiscal multipliers in the data and the relative contributions of two transmission mechanisms of government spending shocks, namely hand-to-mouth consumers and Edgeworth complementarity. Econometric experiments show that a DSGE model with Edgeworth complementarity is a better representation of the transmission mechanism of fiscal policy as it yields dynamic responses close to those obtained with the flexible DSGE-VAR model (i.e. an impact output multiplier larger than one and a crowding-in of private consumption). The estimated share of hand-to-mouth consumers is too small to replicate the positive response of private consumption.
Masticatory Efficiency of Complete Dentures Constructed by different Denture Base Materials

Introduction: one of the primary function of the complete denture is to restore masticatory function in the people who have lost their natural teeth, studies have reported that the values for maximum biting force in patient wearing complete dentures were only one-fifth to onesixth the values reached by dentate subjects however, problems such as discomfort and difficulty in chewing certain foods are generally reported by its wearers as a result of a reduced masticatory efficiency, which ranges from 16% to 50%, when compared to dentate subjects the question arises-do the primary stress-bearing areas actually dissipate the functional forces, or are these forces conveyed elsewhere by the intervening non rigid acrylic base material? The electromyography has been observed in various investigations that there is a linear relationship between direct force measurement and electromyography activity potential. The aim of the study: The study aims to clinically evaluate the masticatory efficiency of the flexible complete denture and the conventional complete denture. Martials and methods: for the purpose of the study 7 male completely edentulous patients between the ages 45-55 years selected. For each patient two set of complete dentures was fabricated, the First one is flexible denture and the second one is conventional acrylic denture. Surface electrodes from electromyography unit were placed in the region of right and left anterior temporalisand masseter muscles and electromyography activity was recorded. Quantitative parameters were assessed. Quantitative parameter is bite force by electromyography evaluation which was measured after insertion. Result and discussion: Qualitative data were described using number and percent. Quantitative data were described using range (minimum and maximum), mean, standard deviation and median. Significance of the obtained results was judged at the 5% level. Conclusion; The EMG activity of the masseter muscle higher in flexible denture base than conventional acrylic denture base during clenching on preformed silicon index, and when chewing soft and hard food after two months. The anterior temporalis muscle showed higher activity in flexible denture base than conventional acrylic denture base during clenching on preformed silicon index, when chewing soft food and hard food.
Soluble Transferrin Receptor levels of Apparently Healthy Adults in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: soluble transferrin receptor is an early marker of tissue iron deficiency before onset of anaemia. sTfR is one of the diagnostic markers for iron deficiency anaemia. Iron deficiency anaemia is one of the most prevalent causes of anaemia in our environment. However, there is no established reference range for this diagnostic marker sTfR in our environment. OBJECTIVES: To determine the soluble transferrin receptor levels in apparently normal adults in Port Harcourt Nigeria, determine the reference value of sTfR in the study population. METHODS: This is a descriptive cross sectional study conducted at the university of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. One hundred and fiftyparticipants who satisfied the inclusion criteria were enrolled for this study. Full blood count and sTfR concentration were assayed on anticoagulated blood samples using a 3-part auto analyzer (Sysmex –KX2IN ® ) and Human sTfR ELISA kit by BioVendor respectively. The results were analysed using SPSS version 21. P value <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: The mean sTfR concentration of the study population was 0.89±0.46ug/mL with a range of 0.3- 3.05ug/ml. The mean value of sTfR for males and females were 0.92±0.49ug/ml and 0.82±0.37ug/ml and the mean sTfR levels did not differ significantly for age and sex. CONCLUSION: The reference value of sTfR concentration in healthy adults in Port Harcourt was established as 0.3-3.05ug/ml. This study found no statistically significant relationship of sTfR between the different sexes and ages. DOI: 10.21276/APALM.1238
Synthesis, Structural and Optical Characterization of CdS and ZnS Quantum Dots

Due to their electronic and fascinating optical properties, semiconductor quantum dots based on luminescence properties of II VI group’s elements have gained considerable attention to research community[1-5]. Because of their fundamental role in basic research and technological applications, synthesis and characterization of discrete nanostructures is of significant importance[6]. Regarding their particle applications, it is a generally recognized fact that large surface to volume ratio that the nano structure spossess enhanced surface effects resulting novel phenomena. Accordingly, Nano building materials such as ZnO nanowires, GaN nanowires, ZnS nanoparticles, CdS nanoparticles and Carbon nanotubes are intensively investigated[5,6]. At the nanoparticles sizes of semiconductors, some of the physical properties noticeably differ from those of the corresponding bulk materials, for instance, the energy gap increases and the optical spectrum is shifted toward the short-wavelength region[7]. Cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoparticles possess various applications in display devices, solar cells and as photocatalyst[8,9]. Resent research on nanoparticles has shown that they could stand as potential candidates for electronic and optoelectronic applications. It is worth mentioning too, that synthesis, characterization and studies of optical properties of cadmium sulfide have been researched, analyzed and described by several research groups[10-13]. CdS is a wide band gap semiconducting material having bandgap energy of 2.42 eV and it’s widely used because of its size dependent photo physical and non-linear optical properties etc.[14-16] Zinc sulfide (ZnS) is an important II-VI group semiJournal of Nanotechnology and Materials Science
ALISTA: Analytic Weights Are As Good As Learned Weights in LISTA

Deep neural networks based on unfolding an iterative algorithm, for example, LISTA (learned iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm), have been an empirical success for sparse signal recovery. The weights of these neural networks are currently determined by data-driven “black-box” training. In this work, we propose Analytic LISTA (ALISTA), where the weight matrix in LISTA is computed as the solution to a data-free optimization problem, leaving only the stepsize and threshold parameters to data-driven learning. This significantly simplifies the training. Specifically, the data-free optimization problem is based on coherence minimization. We show our ALISTA retains the optimal linear convergence proved in (Chen et al., 2018) and has a performance comparable to LISTA. Furthermore, we extend ALISTA to convolutional linear operators, again determined in a data-free manner. We also propose a feed-forward framework that combines the data-free optimization and ALISTA networks from end to end, one that can be jointly trained to gain robustness to small perturbations in the encoding model.
Nonlocal electrodynamics of rotating systems

The nonlocal electrodynamics of uniformly rotating systems is presented and its predictions are discussed. In this case, due to paucity of adequate experimental data, the nonlocal theory cannot be directly confronted with observation at present. The approach adopted here is therefore based on the correspondence principle: the nonrelativistic quantum physics of electrons in circular ''orbits'' is studied. The helicity dependence of the photoeffect from the circular states of atomic hydrogen is explored as well as the resonant absorption of a photon by an electron in a circular ''orbit'' about a uniform magnetic field. Qualitative agreement of the predictions of the classical nonlocal electrodynamics with quantum-mechanical results is demonstrated in the correspondence regime.