Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reliability And Factorial Validity Of Power Tests For Handball Players

The main purpose of this study was to define reliability and factorial validity of four field specific handball tests used for the assessment of explosive (throwing) power of elite handball players. The subjects were 18 top level Croatian national handball players. The participants were tested during the middle of the competitive season. Three throws were measured for each test (R4M, R6M, R9MRS and R9MJS). The reliability was assessed through the AVR, ICC and Cronbach’s α coefficients, and the validity through the correlations obtained by the principal components factor analysis. The R6M, R9MRS and R9MJS tests had high reliability coefficients (α = 0.93, 0.93 and 0.91). The principal components analysis extracted one statistically significant component. The R4M test had the lowest correlation with the component (r = 0.52), and the other three tests had correlation coefficients between 0.88 and 0.93. The results of the study proved that the most reliable and appropriate tests to assess the explosive (throwing) power of handball players are the R6M and R6MRS tests.
MULTINOMIAL (FINITE BETHE) TREES AND THE NUMERICAL PRICING OF AMERICAN-STYLE OPTIONS

Accurate valuation of nancial instruments via ecien t computational methods is among the most important and challenging problem in the modern nancial industry. Will be presenting numerical estimates for the price of American options based in a simulation algorithm presented by Broadie, M. and Glasserman, P. (1997), Journal of Economic Dy- namics and Control, 21, 1323-1352. The approach is based on multinomial tree methods and provides two estimates, one biased high and one biased low, unbiased converging to the true price of the option. Our implementation shows agreement with the pricing of a put Ameri- can option valued via the other pricing tecniques, including the binomial tree approach. A discussion related to the accuracy of each estimate price and the number of branches in the tree is also presented.
Eigenvalue Problems for a Cooperative System with a Large Parameter

Abstract We consider the principal eigenvalue of a cooperative system of elliptic boundary value problems as a parameter tends to infinity. The main aim is to introduce a new approach to deal with the limit problem by focusing on the resolvent operator corresponding to the system rather than the eigenvalue problem itself. This allows the consistent use of elementary properties of bilinear forms and the semi-groups they induce. At the same time we weaken assumptions in related work.
Asian American Mental Health Care: With a Special Focus On the Chinese Population

The Chinese population has a high prevalence of mental illness, but the treatment gap is high; identifying the barriers to mental health services utilization can improve access and promote better mental health care. Very few empirical studies systematically examined the barriers to help-seeking in the Chinese population. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to review the literature on the utilization of mental health services by the Asian American population in order to understand the barriers in seeking professional mental health care among the Chinese. As part of this study, a mix method research survey comprising 10 demographic questions and 26 multidimensional questions pertaining to barriers for accessing mental health services was conducted. This survey combined open-ended and closed-ended questions. The results revealed that people of Chinese descent are less likely to use mental health services due to the critical influence of its culturally-oriented values and beliefs in perceptions of mental health issues and help-seeking behaviors. The practical implications include more culturally appropriate services, changing policy, and addressing stigma through interventions. Since it is a pilot study focus on preliminary data collection with a small sample to test out the survey questionnaire, so further studies with a larger sample population of Chinese especially in China should be carried out to better examine the barriers to mental health services by the former.
The drivers of growth and innovation in Swedish metropolitan cities since the 1980 ’ s by Mårten Viberg : martenviberg

Metropolitan cities are increasingly becoming the undisputed centers of growth and innovation. This thesis investigates the driving forces of urban growth and innovation in the Swedish metropolitan cities from the 1980’s and onwards through a mixed method case study. The theories of Richard Florida, Enrico Moretti and Edward Glaeser are used to form three hypotheses of how cities attract high-skill people and achieve urban growth and innovation. The results suggest that Moretti’s theories of large successful innovative companies as the drivers of growth and innovation fits the development in Stockholm and Göteborg: the Ericsson company in Stockholm, and Volvo in Göteborg. Malmö-Lund achieved growth and innovation through its human capital potential and its diverse industries, which fits Glaeser’s theories.
Health-care access and utilization among rural households in Nigeria

This study examined healthcare access and utilization among rural households in Ogun state, Southwestern Nigeria. Primary data were collected through the use of structured questionnaires. Multistage sampling technique was employed for the selection of 200 rural households. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and health care accessibility index. The results show that the mean age of the respondents was 46 years with an average household size of 8 members. Majority of the respondents (43.5%) had no formal education and farming is the main occupation of respondents. Fifty-eight percent of the respondents have access to health care services while only 42.50% utilized these services. Most of the respondents (40.5%) travel a distance of 5-9 km before accessing health care facilities. Accessibility indices reveal unequal access to modern health facilities in the study area. Therefore this study recommends that rural development policies should promote the creation of enabling environment to enhance participation and equitable accessibility in modern health care delivery across the rural areas in the country. Key words: Healthcare, utilization, rural households, Nigeria.
UNVERSITÉ DU QUÉBEC À MONTRÉAL IMPORTANCE OF FALLEN COARSE WOODY DEBRIS TO THE DIVERSITY OF SAPROXYLIC DIPTERA IN THE BOREAL MIXEDWOOD FORESTS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA THESIS PRESENTED AS A PARTIAL REQUIREMENT FOR THE MASTERS IN BIOLOGY BY ANNIE HIBBERT

Baseline data regarding the associations of saproxylic species with coarse woody debris (CWD) properties are needed to refine coarse-filter conservation efforts and management in the boreal forest. In order to veritY whether our current understanding of saproxylic insect requirements ref1ect the needs of a wide spectrum of species, we measured the use of coarse woody debris by Diptera an abundant but less studied group. More specifically, we measured the effect of log diameter, wood decay (wood density g/cm) and tree host species on the abundance, species richness and community structure of saproxylic Diptera. We used emergence tents in situ to collect adult Diptera from 70 cm length portions of aspen (Populus tremuloides Michaux., N=46) and black spruce (Picea mariana (Miller.), N=47) logs of different diameters and stages of decay (wood density glcm) in boreal mixedwood forests in eastern North America. Collection from late May to August in 2006 and early May to August in 2007 yielded a total of 6753 individuals and a total of 227 taxa. Most taxa were rarely collected as 121 taxa or 53% were represented by one individual over two years of collection. A total of 2119 individuals (51 taxa) were present in 5% or more of sampled logs. The five most abundant families collected were Sciaridae (1850 individuals), Cecidomyiidae (I539 individuals), Ceratopogonidae, (816 individuals), Phoridae (801 individuals) and Mycetophylidae (749 individuals). The Mycetophilidae was the most species rich family with a total of 178 taxa. Overall dipteran abundance and species richness was negatively related to wood density in spruce indicating that coarse woody debris (CWD) becomes increasingly valuable as decay progresses for most saproxylic Diptera. Mycetophages and saprophages were the most dominant guilds and we revealed that although the amount of variation explained by our variables was small, increasing diameter and increasing decay has a positive affect on their abundance in spruce. Overall, assemblages changed along with changes in wood density in spruce. The same pattern was revealed when the mycetophagous guild was analyzed separately. Saprophagous guild assemblages changed along with changes in wood density in both tree host species. The preponderance of rare and aggregated taxa and the high assemblage dissimilarity between individual logs in our study suggests' saproxylic Diptera emerging from fallen CWD may be highly microhabitat specifie.
Steric and Solvent Effect in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Utilizing Phenothiazine-Based Dyes

Three phenothiazine-based dyes have been prepared and utilized as dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The effects of dye-adsorption solvent on the performances of dye-sensitized solar cells based on phenothiazine dyes were investigated in this study. The highest conversion efficiency of 3.78% was obtained using ethanol (EtOH) and 2.53% for tetrahydrofuran (THF), respectively, as dye-adsorption solvents. Cell performance using EtOH as a dye-adsorption solvent showed relatively higher performance than that using THF. Electrochemical and photochemical tests of phenothiazine dyes in solution and adsorbed on the TiO2 surface showed less dye loading and coverage on the TiO2 surface during adsorption in the case of THF, which decreased the solar cell performance of the DSSC using THF as adsorption solvent compared with using EtOH as adsorption solvent. Meanwhile, the steric effect of phenothiazine-based (PT1–3) dyes was also investigated. Dye with longer and branched aliphatic chain in the order of PT1, PT2, and PT3 showed an increased resistance of the recombination reaction and electron lifetime, thereby increasing and enhancing the overall cell performance because of the sterically hindered conformation of the phenothiazines.
Regional and global trends in sulfate aerosol since the 1980s

In the last two decades anthropogenic SO2 emissions have decreased across Europe and North America but have increased across Asia. Long‐term surface observations suggest that atmospheric sulfate concentrations have followed trends in sulfur emissions more closely across Asia, than across the USA and Europe. We use a global model of chemistry and aerosol to understand changes in the regional sulfur budget between 1985 and 2000. For every 1% decrease in SO2 emissions over Europe and the USA the modelled sulfate column burden decreased by 0.65%, while over Asia a 1% increase in SO2 resulted in a 0.88% increase in sulfate. The different responses can be explained by the availability of oxidant in cloud. We find that because emissions have moved southward to latitudes where in‐cloud oxidation is less oxidant limited, the 12% reduction in global SO2 emissions between 1985 and 2000 caused only a 3% decrease in global sulfate.
Tangential thickness of manifolds

A notion of tangential thickness of a manifold is introduced. An extensive calculation within the class of lens and fake lens spaces leads to a classification of such manifolds with thickness 1, 3 or 2 k , for k⩾1 . On the other hand, calculations of tangential thickness in terms of the dimension of the manifold and the rank of the fundamental group show very interesting and quite surprising correlations between these invariants.
Minerals, Toxic Heavy Metals, and Antioxidant Properties of Honeys from Bangladesh

The study reports on major and trace elements as well as antioxidant properties of honey samples from Bangladesh. Four major cationic elements, seven trace elements, and three heavy metals were determined in the 12 honey samples using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Nutritional values in these honey samples were further investigated according to their antioxidant properties. The content of major elements was in the range of 62.75–616.58, 579.48–2219.43, 69.42–632.25, and 0.13–1.20 mg/kg for sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium, respectively. The trace elements varied in the range of 0.41–28, 0.12–3.54, 1.54–2.85, 0.29–0.59, 0.02–0.35, and 0.01–0.06 mg/kg for iron, zinc, copper, nickel, cobalt, and cadmium, respectively. Among the heavy metals, only lead (0.17–2.19 mg/kg) was detected. The results of antioxidant analysis based on phenolics, flavonoids, ascorbic acid, reducing sugar, and proteins (as nonphenolic antioxidants) revealed that multifloral raw honey samples contain significantly higher levels of reducing agents than monofloral and commercial brand honeys. The study provides a useful insight on the minerals, heavy metals, and antioxidant properties of honey samples commonly consumed in Bangladesh and found to be rich source of antioxidants and minerals. Some samples might pose some risk to the health due to lead contamination.
HATS-8b: A LOW-DENSITY TRANSITING SUPER-NEPTUNE

HATS-8b is a low density transiting super-Neptune discovered as part of the HATSouth project. The planet orbits its solar-like G-dwarf host (V = 14.03 ± 0.10 ? > , T eff ? > = 5679 ± 50 ? > K) with a period of 3.5839 ? > days. HATS-8b is the third lowest-mass transiting exoplanet to be discovered from a wide-field ground-based search, and with a mass of 0.138 ± 0.019 ? > M J ? > it is approximately halfway between the masses of Neptune and Saturn. However, HATS-8b has a radius of 0.873 - 0.075 + 0.123 ? > R J ? > , resulting in a bulk density of just 0.259 ± 0.091 ? > g cm - 3 ? > . The metallicity of the host star is super-solar ( [ Fe / H ] ? > = 0.210 ± 0.080 ? > ), providing evidence against the idea that low-density exoplanets form from metal-poor environments. The low density and large radius of HATS-8b results in an atmospheric scale height of almost 1000 km, and in addition to this there is an excellent reference star of nearly equal magnitude at just 19″ separation in the sky. These factors make HATS-8b an exciting target for future atmospheric characterization studies, particularly for long-slit transmission spectroscopy.
Mechanisms Setting the Strength of Orographic Rossby Waves across a Wide Range of Climates in a Moist Idealized GCM

Orographic stationary Rossby waves are an important influence on the large-scale circulation of the atmosphere, especially in Northern Hemisphere winter. Changes in stationary waves with global warming have the potential to modify patterns of surface temperature and precipitation. This paper presents an analysis of the forcing of stationary waves by midlatitude orography across a wide range of climates in a moist idealized GCM, where latent heating and transient eddies are allowed to feed back on the stationary-eddy dynamics. The stationary-eddy amplitude depends to leading order on the surface winds impinging on the orography, resulting in different climate change responses for mountains at different latitudes. Latent heating is found to damp orographic stationary waves, whereas transient eddies are found to reinforce them. As the climate warms, the damping by latent heating becomes more effective while the reinforcement by transient eddies becomes less effective, leading to an overall reduction in orographic stationary wave amplitude. These effects overwhelm the influences of a reduced meridional temperature gradient and increased dry static stability, both of which increase the sensitivity of the free troposphere to orographic forcing. Together with a reduction in the midlatitude meridional temperature gradient, the weakening of orographic stationary waves leads to reduced zonal asymmetry of temperature and net precipitation in warm, moist climates. While circulation changes in this idealized model cannot be expected to agree quantitatively with changes in the real world, the key physical processes identified are broadly relevant.
ON ACTION OF LAU ALGEBRAS ON VON NEUMANN ALGEBRAS

Abstract. Let G be a von Neumann algebraic locally compact quan-tum group, in the sense of Kustermans and Vaes. In this paper, as aconsequence of a notion of amenability for actions of Lau algebras, weshow that Gb, the dual of G, is co-amenable if and only if there is a statem∈L ∞ (Gb) ∗ which is invariant under a left module action of L 1 (G) onL ∞ (Gb) ∗ . This is the quantum group version of a result by Stokke [17]. We also characterize amenable action of Lau algebras by several proper-ties such as ﬁxed point property. This yields in particular, a ﬁxed pointcharacterization of amenable groups and H-amenable representation ofgroups. 1. IntroductionA Banach algebra Ais called a Lau algebra if the dual space A ∗ of Ais a W ∗ -algebra and the identity element of A ∗ is a multiplicative linear functional onA. The subject of this large class of Banach algebras originated by Lau in [7]. The class of Lau algebras includes the predual of a Hopf von Neumann algebra,the group algebra L 1 (G), the Measure algebra M(G), the Fourier algebra A(G)and the Fourier-stieltjes algebra B(G) of a locally compact topological groupGas deﬁned in [3]. A Lau algebra Ais called left amenable if there exists astate m∈ A
A Slotted Lotus Shaped Microstrip Antenna based an EBG Structure

The objective of this paper is to study intensively the design of a printed slotted patch based lotus shape structure mounted on a dielectric substrate backed with an electromagnetic band Gap (EBG) layer for wideband applications. The dielectric substrate is made of a Roger RT/duroid®5880 layer. An EBG layer is introduced on the back profile of the substrate to provide a high gain bandwidth product over wide frequency bands. The antenna is fed with a novel coplanar waveguide (CPW) structure of a flared geometry; therefore, the ground plane is mounted on the same substrate surface with the patch structure. A conductive trace is introduced at the substrate back from the bottom connected to the CPW through two shoring plates to remove the effects of the EBG layer on the feed structure. The EBG performance and the antenna design methodology are discussed using analytical analyses and numerical parametric studies, respectively. The numerical simulation is conducted using CST MWS Finally; the optimal antenna design is fabricated and measured for validation to be compared to the simulated results.
Bilingualism and Social Cognitive Development: the Effect of Dual-Language Acquisition on Nonverbal Communication

Consistent with Piaget and Vygotsky‟s theories that recognized a close relationship between language and cognitive development, previous studies have consistently found evidence of accelerated cognitive development among children who have operated daily in two languages since birth. Native bilingual children have outperformed their monolingual peers on a range of nonverbal cognitive tasks, including theory of mind (ToM) and other measures of social cognition, and there is evidence that these advantages are maintained throughout the lifespan. However, the social cognitive aspect of bilingualism has been only briefly explored and limited to child populations. Based on previous research, the present study hypothesized that native bilingual adults would continue to display superior social cognition in relation to monolinguals. Furthermore, the possibility that non-native bilinguals could also experience cognitive benefits was explored. Participants were 59 undergraduates ranging from 18 to 23 years of age who were either monolingual, native bilingual, childhood bilingual (early L2), or bilingual since adolescence (late L2). Participants were measured on their accuracy in recognizing emotion from subtle facial expressions before and after watching a training video. Results showed that native bilinguals had significant advantage over monolinguals and a slight advantage over non-native bilinguals in both the pre-test and post-test. It was concluded that, as a direct result of their language experience, native bilingual adults maintained their childhood advantage in social cognition. Further research should focus on individuals with varying degrees of non-native bilingualism to investigate which aspect of dual-language acquisition enhances cognitive
Extraction and properties of starches from the non-traditional vegetables Yam and Taro

The objective of this study was to assess the chemical, physical, morphological, crystalline and thermal properties of starch from two non-traditional vegetables, yam and taro. The analyses included proximate composition percent, amylose and mineral content, water absorption capacity, absolute density, morphological properties, X-ray diffractometry, thermal properties, pasting properties and infrared spectrum. The extracted starch exhibited a high purity level with low lipid, fiber and ash contents. The electron micrographs suggested that the taro starch granules were smaller than the yam starch granules. The results for the experimental conditions used in this study indicated that the studied starches differed, especially the amylose content, granule size and crystallinity degree and the pattern of the starches. Due to the high amylose content of yam starch, this type of starch can be used for film preparation, whereas the taro starch can be used as a fat substitute due to its small granule size.
New product testing and the utilization of user expertise: Evidence from the Pharmaceutical industry

A significant and often neglected obstacle in new product development is the testing and approval process in the late stages of development. The testing process has primarily been observed as an in-house decision process, however, in many industries products undergo extensive testing before market launch where external stakeholders play a key role. Users are often integrated in testing of new product candidates, and supply valuable knowledge to developers by testing the new product in natural business settings. As especially high-tech products are closely linked to related services and usage patterns, utilization of users input to not only product functionality, but also the related services and usage patterns are relevant. This study contributes to the literature on these crucial phases of late stage product development, by exploring developers’ utilization of the knowledge and experiences generated by users in product testing. Further, the important user network in high-tech product testing may likely be globally dispersed, and the mean of communicating between user and producer in the testing process are therefore tested. A dataset of 395 site-representatives are applied to study the knowledge generated and shared by medical sites and Pharmaceutical producers in late stage product development. The results show, that information regarding usage patterns and product related services are more difficult to transfer between user and developer, than issues directly related to the product. Further, with a dispersed user network a positive effect is observed on the mean to communicate directly as issues occur. The effect of virtual communication is therefore stronger than traditional face-to-face interaction patterns.