Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Formal Contracts Without Courts . Scoring Suppliers To Build Trust ∗

Relevant empirical findings point at the actual use in business contracting of explicit (but imperfectly enforceable) formal contracts alongside substantial informal dimensions in the relationship. In this paper we formally show the supporting role that formal contracts play for relational interactions. Contractual documents, even in the extreme case when the parties know they are not meant to be enforced in reality, may have an important and positive influence on reputational or reciprocity-based sanctions firms may impose to sustain cooperation. We demonstrate that setting compliance with certain tasks in a formal document reduces the cost of reputational punishments that firms may need to inflict in order to ensure the right incentives. We also show that formal contracts impact the way in which reputational punishments will be structured: Formal contracts optimally induce a more eschewed pattern of sanctioning, compared to a benchmark case in which no formal document setting observable tasks exists. Thus, when dealing with its counterparties a firm will be, when the relational contract comes together with a formal one, less forgiving with those counterparties who have not performed the tasks under the formal contract, and more forgiving with those other ones who have not infringed the provisions of the formal document. We extend the basic setting to imperfect-but positive-enforcement and explore optimal investment in setting explicit tasks in the contractual document. JEL classification numbers: K13, K23, L51, H24. ∗We are grateful to Lisa Bernstein, Patrick Bolton, Matthias Falm, Robert Gibbons, William Hubbard, W. Bentley MacLeod, Eric Posner, Tano Santos, Marta Troya, participants at the ALEA 2015 Annual Conference at Columbia Law School, Barcelona Jocs, the Jornadas de Economia Industrial 2015, Simposio de Análisis Económico 2015, Comparative Law and Economic Forum 2016 in Taipei, 2nd Workshop on Relational Contracts (2016) in Madrid, and participants at seminars at the Norwegian School of Economics, University of Zurich, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, University of Cologne, and University of Chicago Law School. The usual disclaimers apply. †Department of Economics, Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Barcelona GSE. E-mail: juanjo.ganuza@upf.edu. Juan-José Ganuza gratefully acknowledges the support of the Barcelona GSE Research, the government of Catalonia, and the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science through project ECO2014-59225-P. ‡Department of Law, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. E-mail: fernando.gomez@upf.edu. Fernando Gomez acknowledges the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under project DER 2010-15624, and of ICREA, an agency of the Government of Catalonia.
Changes in acidification, sugars and mineral composition of cocoa pulp during fermentation of pulp pre-conditioned cocoa (Theobroma cacao) beans.

Changes in acidification, sugars and mineral composition of cocoa pulp during fermentation of pulp pre-conditioned cocoa (Theobroma cacao) beans were investigated using a 4 x 3 full factorial experimental design with pod storage and fermentation time as principal factors. pH, non-volatile (titratable) acidity, reducing sugars, total solids and mineral composition of cocoa pulp were studied using standard analytical methods. pH of the pulp increased with increasing pod storage and fermentation with consequential decrease in non-volatile acidity. Contrary, both pod storage and fermentation decreased the reducing sugars and total solids of the pulp. The most abundant mineral in unfermented cocoa pulp was calcium, followed by potassium and sodium with values of 316.92 mg/100 g, 255.12 mg/100 g and 103.26 mg/100 g respectively. Zinc was the mineral with the least concentration of 1.04 mg/100 g, whilst iron and magnesium had appreciable values of 4.26 mg/100 g and 32.52 mg/100 g respectively. Pod storage and fermentation however showed variable effects on the studied minerals. Pod storage caused reductions in acidity, fermentable sugars and some minerals in cocoa pulp during fermentation.
Crowdfunding: A Review and Research Agenda

Crowdfunding is an alternative model for project financing, where a large and dispersed audience participates through relatively small financial contributions, in exchange for physical, financial or social rewards. It is usually done via Internet-based platforms that act as a bridge between the crowd and the projects. Over the last few years, academic scholars have explored this topic, both empirically and theoretically. However, the mixed findings and array of theories used have come to warrant a critical review of past works. To this end, we perform a systematic literature review on crowdfunding and seek to extract (1) the key management theories that have been applied in the context of crowdfunding and how these have been extended, and (2) the principal factors contributing to success for the different crowdfunding models, where success entails accomplishment of both fundraising and timely repayment. In the process, we offer a comprehensive definition of crowdfunding and identify avenues for future research based on the gaps and conflicting results in the literature.
Solving Rank-Structured Sylvester and Lyapunov Equations

We consider the problem of efficiently solving Sylvester and Lyapunov equations of medium and large scale, in case of rank-structured data, i.e., when the coefficient matrices and the right-hand side have low-rank off-diagonal blocks. This comprises problems with banded data, recently studied in [22,32], which often arise in the discretization of elliptic PDEs. We show that, under suitable assumptions, the quasiseparable structure is guaranteed to be numerically present in the solution, and explicit novel estimates of the numerical rank of the off-diagonal blocks are provided. Efficient solution schemes that rely on the technology of hierarchical matrices are described, and several numerical experiments confirm the applicability and efficiency of the approaches. We develop a MATLAB toolbox that allows easy replication of the experiments and a ready-to-use interface for the solvers. The performances of the different approaches are compared, and we show that the new methods described are efficient on several classes of relevant problems.
Effects of Co-administration of Phytase and NSPase on Broiler Performance and Bone Ash

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of varying levels of phytase with and without NSPase inclusion on broiler performance when supplemented in corn/soy bean meal diets low in available phosphorus. The objective was to determine if NSPase inclusion enhances phytase activity in relation to growth parameters and bone ash in broilers reared in batteries through 14 days of age. Four diets with selected available phosphorus levels of 0.15, 0.20%, 0.25% and 0.30% were included in the experimental design to develop a dose response curve to calculate phosphorus release from experimental treatments. An addition six treatments were included that included three levels of phytase (150, 200 and 250 FTU/kg) with and without NSPase inclusion in a diet containing 0.15% available phosphorus. Evaluated parameters included body weight, feed conversion ratio and bone ash percentage. Body weight and bone ash percentage were positively influence with increases in available phosphorus levels. Phytase inclusion positively influenced growth performance and bone ash percentage. Broilers fed the 200 and 250 FTU/kg phytase inclusion levels outperformed the broilers fed the 150 FTU/kg inclusion level. Addition of NSPase with 150 FTU/kg phytase resulted in increased broiler body weight as compared to the 150 FTU/kg phytase diet alone. Using regression equations determined from dose response treatments for body weight, bone ash (mg) and bone ash percentage, NSPase inclusion increase phosphorus release at the 150 FTU/kg level from a 0.06% to 0.09%. These data indicate that NSPase inclusion may increase phytase effectiveness when co-administered during early stages of growth.
Approaching Mechanization of Plant Micropropagation

ABSTRACT, Investigations of materials and methods for growing plant tissue in a continual-flow, liquid nutrient medium as an alternative to semisolid agar medium have been made. Enhanced growth of plant tissue on microporous polypropylene membranes floating on a liquid nutrient has been demonstrated. Moreover, in vitro plantlets on the microporous membrane are free from entanglement with the support matrix and readily available to mechanized handling. Trained growth of plantlets through polypropylene netting shows potential for mechanization by mass handling (separation, singulation, and transfer) of plant tissue cultures.
Mobile Intercloud System with Blockchain Yik

In this paper, we present a mobile intercloud system with blockchain by combining cloud computing, mobile computing and blockchain-based computing. Each mobile terminal is associated with a virtual terminal for performing mobile cloud computing and other functions. Virtual terminals, as well as data, programs and applications, can be moved across clouds. Furthermore, blockchains can be set up among virtual terminals for sharing data and files in a distributed manner (i.e., without using common servers). A prototype system focusing on the blockchain component has been developed. Performance analysis for the blockchain component is presented, which provides valuable insights into the development of the mobile intercloud system.
The Perception of and Adaptation to Climate Change in Africa

The objective of this paper is to determine the ability of farmers in Africa to detect climate change, and to ascertain how they have adapted to whatever climate change they believe has occurred. The paper also asks farmers whether they perceive any barriers to adaptation and attempts to determine the characteristics of those farmers who, despite claiming to have witnessed climate change, have not yet responded to it. The study is based on a large-scale survey of agriculturalists in 11 African countries. The survey reveals that significant numbers of farmers believe that temperatures have already increased and that precipitation has declined. Those with the greatest experience of farming are more likely to notice climate change. Further, neighboring farmers tell a consistent story. There are important differences in the propensity of farmers living in different locations to adapt and there may be institutional impediments to adaptation in some countries. Although large numbers of farmers perceive no barriers to adaptation, those that do perceive them tend to cite their poverty and inability to borrow. Few if any farmers mentioned lack of appropriate seed, security of tenure, or market accessibility as problems. Those farmers who perceive climate change but fail to respond may require particular incentives or assistance to do what is ultimately in their own best interests. Although experienced farmers are more likely to perceive climate change, it is educated farmers who are more likely to respond by making at least one adaptation.
Market-Based Assets and Shareholder Value: A Framework for Analysis

The authors develop a conceptual framework of the marketing–finance interface and discuss its implications for the theory and practice of marketing. The framework proposes that marketing is concerned with the task of developing and managing market-based assets, or assets that arise from the commingling of the firm with entities in its external environment. Examples of market-based assets include customer relationships, channel relationships, and partner relationships. Market-based assets, in turn, increase shareholder value by accelerating and enhancing cash flows, lowering the volatility and vulnerability of cash flows, and increasing the residual value of cash flows.
THE HIGH BACKGROUND RADIATION AREA IN RAMSAR IRAN: GEOLOGY, NORM, BIOLOGY, LNT, AND POSSIBLE REGULATORY FUN

The city of Ramsar Iran hosts some of the highest natural radiation levels on earth, and over 2000 people are exposed to radiation doses ranging from 1 to 26 rem per year. Curiously, inhabitants of this region seem to have no greater incidence of cancer than those in neighboring areas of normal background radiation levels, and preliminary studies suggest their blood cells experience fewer induced chromosomal abnormalities when exposed to 150 rem ''challenge'' doses of radiation than do the blood cells of their neighbors. This paper will briefly describe the unique geology that gives Ramsar its extraordinarily high background radiation levels. It will then summarize the studies performed to date and will conclude by suggesting ways to incorporate these findings (if they are borne out by further testing) into future radiation protection standards.
Progress in Studies on Phytochemistry and Biological Activity of Folium Eriobotryae

Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl. is widely planted as a fruit tree, specifically in China and Japan, and its dried leaves (Folium Eriobotryae) is commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine. Many compounds including essential oil, triterpenes, sesquiterpenes, flavonoids, tannins and megastigmane glycosides have been isolated from Folium Eriobotryae, and showed anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic, anti-oxidant, anti-tumor, antiviral, cytotoxic and antimutagenic properties. In the present paper we review the research results on phytochemical constituents and biological activities of Folium Eriobotryae in the hope that it would be helpful to better understand and use traditional Chinese medicine.
LC /MS ANALYSIS OF AUCUBIN AND CATALPOL OF SOME VERONICA SPECIES

A comparative study was performed on 12 species of the genus Veronica L. (Plantaginaceae sensu APG 2003, formerly Scrophulariaceae) namely Veronica persica, V. bachofenii, V. urticifolia, V. agrestis, V. austriaca, V. chamaedrys, V. officinalis, V. orchidea, V. spicata, V. beccabunga, V. hederifolia, V. prostrata. In these species we have determined the aucubin and catalpol content by using a HPLC analysis with mass spectrometry detection. The content of aucubin is varying from 799.8 μg% in Veronica persica to 43.4 μg% in Veronica beccabunga. The highest content of catalpol is found in Veronica spicata (318.8 μg%) and the lowest in Veronica beccabunga (27.6 μg%), respectively. Rezumat S-a efectuat un studiu comparativ pentru 12 specii ale genului Veronica L. (Plantaginaceae după APG 2003, înainte Scrophulariaceae): Veronica persica, V. bachofenii, V. urticifolia, V. agrestis, V. austriaca, V. chamaedrys, V. officinalis, V. orchidea, V. spicata, V. beccabunga, V. hederifolia, V. prostrata. Scopul lucrării a fost determinarea cantitativă prin analiză HPLC cuplată cu spectrometrie de masă a aucubinei şi catalpolului. Conţinutul de aucubină variază în speciile cercetate de la 799,8 μg% pentru Veronica persica, la 43,4 μg% pentru Veronica beccabunga. Conţinutul de catalpol variază de la 318,8 μg% pentru Veronica spicata la 27,6 μg% pentru Veronica beccabunga.
Evaluating the Impact of the Post-2008 Employment Subsidy Program in Turkey

This paper investigates the employment effects of a targeted subsidy scheme implemented in Turkey following the 2008 crisis. The Turkish government started a subsidy program in 2008 to generate new employment for younger men and all women, which are the relatively disadvantaged groups in the Turkish labor markets. The program puts men of age 18-29 and all women into the treatment group, while men of age 30 and above are placed into the control group. We use a nationally representative micro-level dataset and a difference-in-differences approach to estimate the causal effect of this program. On aggregate, the subsidy program seems to be ineffective in increasing the employment probabilities of those individuals in the target group. However, when heterogeneity is accounted for by dividing the treatment group into several sub-groups, we observe that the program has been notably effective on some of those sub-groups. In particular, the increase in employment probability is high for older women, while a weaker positive effect is observed for younger women and almost no effect is detected for younger men. The effect on older women is subject to further heterogeneity: the program has increased the employment probabilities of low-educated and/or low-skill older women rather than the high-educated and/or high-skill ones.
A Review of Test Equating Methods with a Special Focus on IRT-Based Approaches

The overall aim of this work is to review test equating methods with a particularly detailed description of item response theory (IRT) equating. Test score equating is used to compare different test scores from different test forms. Several methods have been developed to conduct equating: traditional methods, kernel method, and IRT equating. We synthetically explain the traditional equating methods which include mean equating, linear equating and equipercentile equating and which have been developed under all the possible data collection designs. We also briefly describe the idea of the kernel method: this is a unified approach to test equating for which recent interesting developments have been proposed. Then we focus on IRT equating, by describing old and new methods: in particular, we define IRT observed-score kernel equating and IRT observed-score equating using covariates, as well as other recent proposals in this field. We conclude the review by describing strengths and weaknesses of the different discussed approaches and by identifying future research topics.
QSAR and the Prediction of T-Cell Epitopes

Quantitative structure - activity relationships (QSAR) is a well established ligand-based approach to drug de- sign. It correlates changes in the chemical structure of a series of compounds with changes in their biological activities. Peptides of equal length which bind to a certain protein are an excellent target for QSAR. In the present review, we sum- marize our experience in QSAR studies of peptides acting as T-cell epitopes. T-cell epitopes are protein fragments pre- sented on the cell surface which afford the immune system the opportunity to detect and respond to both intracellular and extracellular pathogens. Epitope-based vaccines are a new generation of vaccines with lower side effects. The process of antigen presentation, which includes proteasome cleavage, TAP and MHC binding, has been modeled and analyzed by QSAR. Derived QSAR models are highly predictive, allowing us to design and test in vitro MHC superbinders. All mod- els have been implemented in servers for in silico prediction of MHC binders and T-cell epitopes. In practice, better initial in silico prediction leads to improved subsequent experimental research on epitope-based vaccines.
Synchrony-Induced Switching Behavior of Spike Pattern Attractors Created by Spike-Timing-Dependent Plasticity

Although context-dependent spike synchronization among populations of neurons has been experimentally observed, its functional role remains controversial. In this modeling study, we demonstrate that in a network of spiking neurons organized according to spike-timing-dependent plasticity, an increase in the degree of synchrony of a uniform input can cause transitions between memorized activity patterns in the order presented during learning. Furthermore, context-dependent transitions from a single pattern to multiple patterns can be induced under appropriate learning conditions. These findings suggest one possible functional role of neuronal synchrony in controlling the flow of information by altering the dynamics of the network.
DOES INSURANCE PROMOTE ECONOMIC GROWTH: THE EVIDENCE FROM EX-YUGOSLAVIA REGION

The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of insurance on economic growth and interaction of insurance and banking in promoting economic growth in exYugoslavia region. We use the country-specific fixed effects models for panel data for the period 2004-2008 allowing each cross-sectional unit to have a different intercept term serving as an unobserved random variable that is potentially correlated with the observed regressors. The research results show that insurers provide positive effect on economic growth both as providers of insurance risk management and indemnification and as institutional investors. These results could be useful for regional governments that seek to improve economic growth as they suggest the need for implementation of stimulative policies for the development of insurance industry.
Implementation of Video Compression Standards in Digital Television

In this paper, a video compression standard used in digital television systems is discussed. Basic concepts of video compression and principles of lossy and lossless compression are given. Techniques of video compression (intraframe and interframe compression), the type of frames and principles of the bit rate compression are discussed. Characteristics of standard-definition television (SDTV), high-definition television (HDTV) and ultra-high-definition television (UHDTV) are given. The principles of the MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) compression standards are analyzed. Overview of basic standards of video compression and the impact of compression on the quality of TV images and the number of TV channels in the multiplexes of terrestrial and satellite digital TV transmission are shown. This work is divided into six sections.
3D resolution in computationally reconstructed integral photography

In this research we have proposed a new definition for three-dimensional (3-D) integral imaging resolution. The general concept of two-dimensional (2-D) resolution used also for 3-D is failed to describe the 3-D resolvability completely. Thus, the researches focused on resolution improvement in 3-D integral imaging systems, didn't investigate thoroughly the effect of their method on the 3-D quality. The effect has only been shown on the 2-D resolution of each lateral reconstructed image. The newly introduced 3-D resolution concept has been demonstrated based on ray patterns, the cross-section between them and the sampling points. Consequently the effect of resulting sampling points in 3-D resolvability has been discussed in different lateral planes. Simulations has been performed which confirm the theoretical statements.
Potential Effects Of Pyrethrin Incorporated In Sucrose Baits Against Phlebotomus Duboscqi Neveu Lemaire (diptera: Psychodidae) In Leishmaniasis Control Strategies

Background: Due to challenges of controlling leishmaniasis in Kenya through the vector, the efficacy of pyrethrin EC (Pymos 0.6% W/V) a mosquito adulticide was evaluated against Phlebotomus duboscqi while incorporated in sucrose as a possible complementary method. Methods: Pyrethrin was prepared into concentrations of 0.08, 0.25and 0.5 mg/ml using 10% sucrose. Ten male and female sand flies were each aspirated into jars and fed separately with the prepared solutions using cotton wool pads placed atop experimental jars and mortality monitored each day. The experiments were replicated three times. Results: Significant mortality (P< 0.05) for both sexes was observed. The concentration of 0.08mg/ml gave low adult mortality in 24 hours but amplified with time. In the 0.25 bioassay, mortality of females were 10 (33.3%) and males had 21 (70%) in 24 hours. The LD50 for females and males tied at 0.1 mg/ml in 48 hours of exposure. The concentration of 0.25 mg/ml was ideal at 48 hours of feeding where majority of the sand flies succumbed to the insecticide. There were significant mortality differences (P <0.05) between the concentrations but no significant difference (P>0.05) was observed in male and female mortality at 48 hours of exposure however. Although we cannot rule out sand fly mortality due to contact with the test material, the results of this study however suggest that control strategies using low-dose pyrethrin-sugar combinations as baits may be effective against phlebotomine sand flies and other sugar feeding pests of medical importance.