Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The dynamics of poverty in South Africa

We analyse the determinants of South Africans moving into and out of poverty over the first four waves of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) for the years 2008 to 2014/2015. The first descriptive sections of the study focus on the balanced panel of NIDS respondents and find that a relatively high poverty exit rate was accompanied by a substantial proportion of the population being trapped in severe poverty. The roles of demographic versus income changes over time reveal that changing household composition is the largest trigger of poverty entry and exit, and that increasing income from government grants is the main trigger precipitating poverty exit for about one quarter of our sample. We then estimate an endogenous switching model that controls for initial conditions and selective attrition on the full sample of respondents in order to better understand what traps South Africans in poverty. We find that ignoring the correlations between the unobservables affecting initial conditions, sample retention and poverty transitions can lead to substantially biased results, and that there is significant genuine state dependence underlying poverty dynamics. This has important policy implications, as preventing people from falling into poverty in the first place is likely to yield greater returns that targeting the individual correlates of poverty directly.
ASSESSMENT OF GENETIC DIVERSITY BETWEEN VACCINIUM CORYMBOSUM L. CULTIVARS USING RAPD AND ISSR MARKERS

In the present study genetic diversity between 19 bl ueberry cultivars was evaluated using Randomly Ampli fied Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Inter Simple Sequence R epeat (ISSR) markers. In total, nine selected RAPD primers produced 89% polymorphic fragments, where as leven ISSR primers – 82%. Resolving power value of the RAPD primers ranged from 2.40 to 7. 19, whilst ISSR from 1.90 to 5.78. The similarity coefficients estimated on the basis of the two types of marker systems were very similar, on average amounting to 0.58 for RAPD and 0.60 for ISSR analysis . Cluster analysis based on RAPD markers showed that the 19 accessions can be classified into 6 gro ups. Taking into account corresponding levels of average genetic similarity (0.59) it is possible to identif y three main clusters based on ISSR analysis. The R APD as well as ISSR markers revealed the existence of genet ic differentiation between accessions, which can be exploited in hybridization programs of this species .
Effect of Varying Concentrations of Ethanol and Lime Extracts Pre - treatments on the Aflatoxins and Chemical Quality Characteristics of Stored Irvingia Seeds

In this study the effects of different concentrations of ethanol and lime extracts pre- treatments on the aflatoxins contamination and quality characteristics of stored Irvingia seeds were investigated. The quantity of total aflatoxins produced by Aspergillus flavus ((FR33818)) on stored Irvingia seeds was determined using ELISA method. Aspergillus flavus used for this study was identified by ITS rDNA sequence analysis by CABI identification services UK. The results showed that the aflatoxins contaminations and the overall quality characteristics of the Irvingia seeds were influenced by the pre-treatments applied. No aflatoxins were produced at the different concentrations of the ethanol and lime extracts used for the first two month of the storage period. However aflatoxins were produced from the third month but the concentrations in the stored Irvingia seeds decreased with increasing concentrations of the pre-treatments applied except for sample pre-treated with 70% ethanol that recorded no aflatoxins throughout the study period. The pre-treatments applied also significantly improved the chemical qualities of the seeds when compared with the control sample. Thus the finding of this study showed that 70% ethanol and lime extracts concentrations could be used to improve the shelf-life and other quality characteristics of stored Irvingia seeds. Keywords: Aflatoxins, Aspergillus flavus , Ethanol, Lime extracts, Pre-treatments
PRICING OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PRODUCTS WITH DOUBLY STOCHASTIC MARKOV CHAINS

This paper provides a new approach for modeling and calculating premiums for unemployment insurance products. The innovative modeling concept consists of combining the benchmark approach with its real-world pricing formula and Markov chain techniques in a doubly stochastic setting. We describe individual insurance claims based on a special type of unemployment insurance contracts, which are offered on the private insurance market. The pricing formulas are first given in a general setting and then specified under the assumption that the individual employment-unemployment process of an employee follows a time-homogeneous doubly stochastic Markov chain. In this framework, formulas for the premiums are provided depending on the ℙ-numeraire portfolio of the benchmark approach. Under a simple assumption on the ℙ-numeraire portfolio, the model is tested on its sensitivities to several parameters. With the same specification the model's employment and unemployment intensities are estimated on public data of the Federal Employment Office in Germany.
Design and Synthesis of Chiral Triazolium and Thiazolium Salts Incorporating Hydrogen-Bonding Motifs as Organocatalysts

The benzoin condensation is the first reported example of organocatalysis, and has been studied and used in organic synthesis for over 200 years. Originally catalysed by the cyanide anion, the reaction can also proceed with thiamine as a catalyst. Since then, many Nheterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysts have been developed for use in umpolung reactions between aldehydes and a range of coupling partners. However, stereoselectivity of the new chiral centre is difficult to control: current existing methods employ steric hindrance of catalysts to influence this, potentially at the cost of slower reaction times.To date, there are very few examples of NHC catalysts incorporating hydrogen-bonding motifs to exploit attractive forces in influencing stereochemistry in these reactions. An overview of asymmetric organocatalysis and their different modes of action have been detailed. The structures of NHC catalysts and their mechanisms are discussed, and the reactions which are catalysed by these salts reviewed. Current shortcomings are addressed, and both the project and new catalyst designs are proposed. Synthetic routes to new triazolium and thiazolium salt catalysts with unreported chiral backbones are discussed. These involve 1,2-diamine derived salts, 1,4-diamine derived salts, amino acid-derived triazolium salts, and a bicyclic triazolium salt with a piperidine backbone. Representative catalysts from each of these categories were synthesised and the catalytic ability of the NHC salts in umpolung reactions investigated. All of the catalysts are demonstrated to be effective at obtaining yield and ee in the Stetter reaction. These catalysts are critically analysed, future work proposed.
Different OEE Approaches Analysıs of Applicability in Printing Sector

Total Productive Maintenance is one of the application techniques, which is a widely accepted form of lean management system, at business and production management. OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) technique is used in Total Productive Maintenance for assessing equipments' being used efficiently or not in any organizations and applications. In this study, testing the applicability of two different OEE approaches and comparing the obtained results in the daily newspaper printing having a unique working conditions are aimed. In the application part of the study, traditional OEE calculation method and OEE calculations with a new approach was made in a printing press which performs the publication of the largest circulation newspapers in Turkey. Datas were collected during six months and calculations were made with two mentioned methods for each day in which the datas were collected. The evaluation about the applicability of two OEE approaches in the printing sector was made according to the obtained results after the calculations being made.
Determinants of IPO Valuation in Saudi Arabian Companies

Pricing IPO is one of the most controversial topics in the Saudi stock market, which led many analysts and traders to demand that the CMA should issue rules that regulate the pricing of IPO. Therefore, this study addresses the determinants of IPO premium in the Saudi market by testing the impacts of some factors on the pricing of IPO. In specific, the study addresses the relationship between the premium and all of: (1) the book value of the issuing company; (2) profitability of the issuing company; (3) the debt ratio of the issuing company; (4) the external auditor of the issuing company.The results indicate the absence of any effect of the carrying value of the premium. This result is contrary to the expectations and reverses the results of our literature reviews in this area. Concerning the relationship of earnings per share, the study finds a positive impact on the IPOs premium in the Saudi market. This result is consistent with previous studies which confirmed that the company's valuation and determined premium are significantly affected by the profitability of the firms. With regard to the impact of the debt ratio, the study finds that IPOs premium is not affected by the debt ratio. Finally, it is clear from the study that there is an adverse effect of the external auditor on the IPOs premium in the Saudi market. This means that the premium value is reduced when the external auditor is one of the Big 4. This finding can be explained by the fact that large audit firms have professional commitments, which make them behave more conservative when auditing the financial statements of the issuing companies.
The Role of Services in the Structure of Production and Trade: Stylized Facts from a Cross-Country Analysis *

We examine the role of services in the structure of production and trade. Working with a cross-country sample of 17 social accounting matrices, we develop stylized facts relating upstream and downstream service linkages to incomes and the input-output structure of production. Expansion of services is related to expansion of private sector intermediate services, and to increased demand in manufacturing for service inputs. This growth in demand is more closely related to changes in the structure of production rather than to outsourcing or splintering processes. The embodied service component of exports is also strongly linked to the level of development.
PR ] 1 1 D ec 2 01 7 Central limit theorem for linear spectral statistics of deformed Wigner matrices Hong

We consider large-dimensional Hermitian random matrices of the form W = M + θV where M is a Wigner matrix and V is a random or deterministic, real, diagonal matrix whose entries are independent of M . For a large class of diagonal matrices V , we prove that the fluctuations of linear spectral statistics of W for analytic test function can be decomposed into that of M and of V , and that each of those weakly converges to a Gaussian distribution. We also calculate the formulae for the means and variances of the limiting distribution.
Response of Bosmina size structure to the acidification and recovery of lakes near Sudbury, Canada

In response to biotic and abiotic cues, the cladoceran genus Bosmina can undergo changes in body size and appendage length and shape over successive generations. To improve our understanding of the environmental controls on Bosmina size structure, we used paleolimnological techniques to examine Bosmina size responses to the extreme acidification and metal contamination, and then subsequent chemical recovery, of lakes in the vicinity of mining and smelting operations near Sudbury, Canada. During the acidification period, Bosmina antennule and carapace length significantly increased in three of the five study lakes, while mucro length significantly decreased in four of the five lakes. However, despite the recent return to pre-impact pH levels, the size structure of the present-day Bosmina community still differs from the pre-impact size distributions. We suggest that the continued dominance of the food webs by small invertebrate predators ( e.g. , cyclopoid copepods) is responsible for the persistent changes to Bosmina size structure.
Evaluation of antimicrobial activity of extracts of fresh and spoiled Spinacia oleracea against some mammalian pathogens

Many medicinal herbs have beneficial health effects. These have been used as flavoring agents in food, to prevent food from deterioration and antimicrobials against pathogenic microorganisms. The present study investigated the antimicrobial activity of aqueous, ethanolic, n-hexane and sonicated n-hexane extracts of fresh and spoiled spinach,
Dynamic Models for Diesel NOx and CO2

Dynamic modelling of engine emissions is important because it promises significant improvements over static modelling for engine calibration through reduced testing and development times. Volterra series and neural network dynamic model structures were trained using transient data from an engine test stand under sinusoidal excitations and the predictive power over the New European Drive Cycle (NEDC) cycle was assessed for a EURO IV specification Diesel engine. Models were identified for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions concentrations based on engine speed, torque, injection timing, EGR rate and fuel injection pressure. The fit R 2 values for CO2 emissions for Volterra series and Neural networks were 0.92 and 0.99 respectively; for NOx emissions these were 0.92and 0.998. Although this suggests better flexibility from the Neural network to represent the nonlinearity there were large variations in predictive power resulting from the partially random nature of model training. Also, close observation of the model predictions suggested higher accuracy for the Volterra series for most of the cycle, but that this model suffered from fewer, large prediction errors compared to smaller but more frequent errors from the neural network. Keywords— Design of Experiments, Dynamic Models, Neural Networks, Volterra Series.
Author ' s personal copy Perceptual adaptation to non-native speech

This study investigated talker-dependent and talker-independent perceptual adaptation to foreign-accent English. Experiment 1 investigated talker-dependent adaptation by comparing native English listeners’ recognition accuracy for Chinese-accented English across single and multiple talker presentation conditions. Results showed that the native listeners adapted to the foreign-accented speech over the course of the single talker presentation condition with some variation in the rate and extent of this adaptation depending on the baseline sentence intelligibility of the foreign-accented talker. Experiment 2 investigated talker-independent perceptual adaptation to Chinese-accented English by exposing native English listeners to Chinese-accented English and then testing their perception of English produced by a novel Chinese-accented talker. Results showed that, if exposed to multiple talkers of Chineseaccented English during training, native English listeners could achieve talker-independent adaptation to Chinese-accented English. Taken together, these findings provide evidence for highly flexible speech perception processes that can adapt to speech that deviates substantially from the pronunciation norms in the native talker community along multiple acoustic-pho-
MathePraxis – connecting first-year mathematics with engineering applications

First-year engineering students often complain about their mathematics courses as the significance of the difficult and abstract calculus to their field of study remains unclear. We report on the project MathePraxis, a feasibility study which was designed as a means to give first-year students some impression about the use of mathematics in real practice. We aim to increase the motivation and retention rates among engineering students by connecting the contents of the first-year mathematics lectures with practical applications. We developed three projects, two of which are described in this article: an inverted pendulum considered as a model for the automated control within a Segway and a study on the optimal design of a ribbed cooler. In this article, we briefly present the mathematical content of the projects and report on their implementation.
Length-weight relationship of horse mackerel Trachurus mediterraneus Aleev, 1956 from Bulgarian Black Sea coast

Abstract This study was conducted to determine length-weight relationship of horse mackerel Trachurus mediterraneus (Aleev, 1956) from Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Length and weight of fish were measured during May-December 2009, then converted into logarithmic values. The coefficient of determination (r2) of different samples showed high degree of correlation between legth and weight, 0.8571, 0.9716, and 0.9994 for female, male and both sexes, respectively.
EXPRESSION OF CARTILAGE OLIGOMERIC MATRIX PROTEIN IN ARTICULAR CARTILAGE IN RESPONSE TO BONE MORPHOGENETIC PROTEIN-7 AND TUMOUR NECROSIS FACTOR s cKM

Introduction: The extracellular matrix of articular cartilage consists of collagens, proteoglycans and noncollageneous proteins. Cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) is a non-collagenous protein isolated from articular cartilage. It is localised in articular cartilage and the proliferative and hypertrophic zones of the epiphyseal growth plate. Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the role of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP-7) and tumour necrosis factor (TNF-α) on expression of COMP in articular cartilage. Methods: Stifle joints (n=12) from three month-old calves were obtained from a local abattoir. Articular chondrocytes were isolated from three distinct zones of cartilage and cultured as monolayers in a serum-free chemically defined medium. Results: BMP-7 increased COMP accumulation in dose and time dependent manner. TNF-α was however found to significantly reduce COMP accumulation Conclusion: BMP-7 was shown to be important regulators of the COMP gene in different zones of articular cartilage KEyWords Articular cartilage, bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP-7), tumour necrosis factor (TNF-α), cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) Figure 1: The morphology of cartilage (Vinther et al., 2003).
Differences in Disease-Free Survival and Acute Toxicity between African-American and non-Latino White Men with Localized Prostate Cancer Treated with Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy

Purpose To determine whether differences exist in biochemical disease-free survival (BDFS) and acute toxicity between African-American (AA) and non-Latino white (NLW) men with prostate cancer treated with intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Methods and Materials Between January 2000 and January 2008, 129 AA and 591 NLW men with clinically localized prostate cancer were treated with IMRT. Median follow up was 26.6 months for both groups. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to compute rates of biochemical disease free survival. Chi-square analysis was used to compute rates of acute toxicity. Results No difference was found in three year biochemical disease free survival (BDFS) rates between AA vs. NLW men, p= 0.71. Three year BDFS rates were 92% for NLW men vs. 89% for AA men. Multivariate analysis showed that race was not an important predictor of BDFS (p=0.88), while the variables PSA (p=0.003) and Gleason score (p=0.01) were. AA men had a significantly lower rate of gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity of grade 2 than NLW men (p=0.014), 6% vs. 13%, respectively. Conclusions Our study shows no difference in BDFS rates between AA and NLW men treated with IMRT. AA men had a lower rate of grade 2 GI toxicity than NLW men.
Split application of molybdic fertilizer at the reproductive stage of common bean increases the molybdenum content in seed

We evaluated the effects of split molybdenum (Mo) application at the reproductive stage of the common bean on seed Mo content (SMoC) and seed quality in two trials in the Zona da Mata region, Minas Gerais. Plants were sprayed with 100 or 600 g Mo ha -1 at the V4 stage. The higher dose was also split into 100(V4)+500(R5), 100(V4)+500(R7), 100(V4)+250(R5)+250(R7), and 100(V4)+150(R5)+350(R7). SMoC from plants sprayed with 600 g (five treatments) was 3.7- or 62-fold higher than those sprayed with 100 g, with seeds from the former treatments exhibiting slightly poorer quality. Application of 100 g at V4 + 500 g at the reproductive stage (four treatments) increased SMoC 1.6- or 2.7-fold compared with SMoC from plants sprayed with 600 g at V4. Split application of 500 g with two sprays increased SMoC by 11% (p = 0.257) or 16% (p = 0.013) compared with one spray of 500 g. SMoC can be higher with Mo applied at R7 (pod formation) instead of at R5 (pre-flowering), without impairing seed quality. Thus, split Mo application between the R5 and R7 stages of the common bean saves molybdic fertilizer to produce Mo-rich seeds, with only a slight decrease in seed quality.
The Role of Organizational Culture on Spiritual Leadership, Human Capital, and Employee Loyalty

This study is proposed to examine the causal effect of organizational culture, spiritual leadership, human capital, and employee loyalty. Specifically, this study applied organizational culture dimension that was developed by Denison who has classified organizational culture into two focuses, external and internal focus, also based on its characteristics, they are stable and flexible. This study also applied spiritual leadership that was developed by Fry (2003). Based on the relevant literatures that are used, this study developed structural model of those four variables. This model then was analyzed by applying Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Data collection was conducted by applying survey methods that was spreading questionnaires to 291 nurses at 10 private hospitals in Denpasar, Bali proportionally by simple random sampling. The result reveals that organizational culture does not influence employee loyalty directly. This can be explained due the organizational culture that was developed by private hospital in Denpasar tends to be external focus. This external focus culture is adaptive and flexible to consumer needs that are supported by clear vision and objectives. Therefore, this organizational culture cannot directly influence employee loyalty as internal stakeholders, unless there are other factors that facilitate organizational culture through complete mediation, they are spiritual leadership and human capital. Instead of that, this study also conveys that spiritual leadership fully mediates organizational culture in influencing human capital. Human capital partially mediatedspiritual leadership in influencing employee loyalty. Hence, this study concludes that human capital is crucial factors in that mediating organizational culture and spiritual leadership in influencing employee loyalty. This finding of this study contributes importance implication theoretically and practically on human resources development and organizational behavior. Keywords: organizational culture, spiritual leadership, human capital, employee loyalty