Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Explaining regional differences in self-employment rates in Spain

There are interesting differences in self-employment rates among countries and also among regions within the same country. There is a multiplicity of reasons to explain the evolution of self-employment and the differences among countries and/or regions. However, unemployment and the distribution of employment (by sex, age, level of education and by sector) are the usual explanatory factors. Spain has one of the highest self-employment rates in the context of Europe (over 20%). During the period 1986-2005 it increased by almost a million people. We notice that the growth was higher in 1993-2005 than in 1986-1992, corresponding to the evolution of the Spanish economy with the highest period of job creation from 1995 onwards. There are interesting regional differences among the autonomous communities. In 1986 the self-employment rate ranged from 14.5% to 24.5%. This variety was maintained during the analysed period and the majority of the regions also kept their position. The aim of this paper is to explain the regional differences in the self-employment rates of the Spanish autonomous communities. We have data for the seventeen Spanish autonomous communities from 1986 to 2008. The dependent variable in the models is the self-employment rate. In order to estimate the determinants of differences in regional self-employment rates we include in our model variables that reflect the labour market conditions and also institutional factors. The previous literature on self-employment suggests several potential explanatory variables: unemployment rate, proportion of long-term unemployed, demographic and industrial composition of the labour force Preliminary results show the relevance of the educational level of the workforce as well as the significance of the labour market situation (good conditions of the labour market -a high employment rate or a small proportion of fixed-term contracts- contribute to reduce the self-employment ratio).
Amounts of Fluoride Recharge in Three Glass Ionomer Luting Agents in Different Times

Purpose : In order to decrease the risk of dental caries and improve exposure of the teeth to fluoride, glass ionomer cements were introduced in restorative dentistry. Since fluoride releases from some dental materials, the gradual reuptake ability of fluoride in these cements is important in the long-term. In this study we intended to compare the amount of fluoride release in three common glass ionomer cements (FUJI 1, SDS, and FUJI PLUS) at 1,3,7,14 and 28 days. Methods : First, 24 disc shaped samples were fabricated from FUJI 1, SDS and FUJI PLUS glass ionomer cements. The discs were, then, drained from fluoride ions in a period of 56 days. Discs were randomly selected and, then, divided into control and experimental groups. In the experimental groups, each sample was dried and exposed to Colgate Total 1000 ppm fluoride toothpaste; afterwards, they were washed and stored in distilled water at 37°C. Amounts of fluoride ion release were evaluated at 1, 3,7,14 and 28 days for all the experimental samples. In the control groups, the same procedure was done but with no exposure to fluoride. Differences in the release of fluoride ion from the tested products were evaluated using two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the mixed model. A P- value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results : There were statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups in all three materials during the 28-day experiment. The amount of fluoride release increased from day 1 to 7 and then decreased up to day 28. On days 1, 3 and 7, SDS had the largest and Fuji I had the lowest amount of fluoride release and on days 14 and 28 the largest amount of fluoride release was seen in FUJI PLUS, SDS and FUJI I, respectively. Conclusion : SDS as a newly released and less expensive glass ionomer can release fluoride ions as effectively as FUJI PLUS. All glass ionomer cements evaluated in this study may be effectively recharged with fluoride ions in order to effectively release them in time to aid tooth remineralization.
Inventory and Transformation Hedging Effectiveness in Corn Crushing

In response to the development of the U.S. ethanol industry, the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) launched the ethanol futures contract in March 2005. This contract is promoted by the CBOT as allowing ethanol producers to hedge corn crushing using strategies similar to those used in soybean crushing. The similarities end, however, when the lack of short-term correlation between corn and ethanol prices is compared to the strong correlation between soybean and soy product prices. This contrast motivates the examination of the price risk management capabilities of the CBOT’s ethanol futures contract. Standard hedging methodology is applied to weekly cash and futures price data from March 23, 2005 through March 7, 2007. Findings include (1) for two- to eight-week hedging horizons, the ethanol futures contract effectively hedges ethanol inventory price risk. The effectiveness of the hedge increases with the hedging horizon. Thus, ethanol producers and brokers can use the ethanol futures market to reduce the price risk of holding ethanol inventories. (2) Contrary to anecdotal evidence, ethanol futures are not significantly inferior to gasoline futures for hedging ethanol price risk and for a four-week hedge they are significantly superior to gasoline futures. Thus, ethanol producers and brokers get greater price risk protection from hedging with ethanol futures than with gasoline futures. (3) The corn crushing hedge, utilizing corn and ethanol futures contracts, is an effective means to “lock in” a processing margin. The effectiveness of this hedge increases as the hedging horizon increases. Finally, to understand the processing hedge, the corn crush hedge and the soybean crush hedge were compared. I found that (4) the price risk of corn crushing is greater than that of soybean crushing and the effectiveness of corn crush hedging exceeds that of soybean crush hedging. This difference is explained by the high correlations in the soybean complex.
Scientific opinion on the acute health risks related to the presence of cyanogenic glycosides in raw apricot kernels and products derived from raw apricot kernels

Amygdalin is the major cyanogenic glycoside present in apricot kernels and is degraded to cyanide by chewing or grinding. Cyanide is of high acute toxicity in humans. The lethal dose is reported to be 0.5–3.5 mg/kg body weight (bw). An acute reference dose (ARfD) of 20 lg/kg bw was derived from an exposure of 0.105 mg/kg bw associated with a non-toxic blood cyanide level of 20 micro mol (lM), and applying an uncertainty factor of 1.5 to account for toxicokinetic and of 3.16 to account for toxicodynamic inter-individual differences. In the absence of consumption data and thus using highest intakes of kernels promoted (10 and 60 kernels/day for the general population and cancer patients, respectively), exposures exceeded the ARfD 17–413 and 3–71 times in toddlers and adults, respectively. The estimated maximum quantity of apricot kernels (or raw apricot material) that can be consumed without exceeding the ARfD is 0.06 and 0.37 g in toddlers and adults, respectively. Thus the ARfD would be exceeded already by consumption of one small kernel in toddlers, while adults could consume three small kernels. However, consumption of less than half of a large kernel could already exceed the ARfD in adults. © 2016 European Food Safety Authority. EFSA Journal published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd on behalf of European Food Safety Authority.
Occasional and Persistent Innovators in Poland : an Empirical Study of Obstacles to Innovation and Their Complementarities

This paper investigates barriers to innovation perceived by innovating firms and complementarities between such barriers. The study analyses two periods: 2002– –2004 and 2004–2006, covered by two Community Innovation Surveys (CIS): CIS4 and CIS5, respectively. We distinguish two groups of innovating firms – those which introduced innovations in both CIS4 and CIS5, and those which introduced innovation in either CIS4 or CIS5. We label the former group persistent innovators, and the latter – occasional innovators. We use a multivariate (factor and cluster) analysis covering binary correlations, Principal Component Analysis, probit model and correlations of disturbances. Two types of explanatory variables describing firms’ characteristics and innovation inputs used are considered. The paper shows that there are considerable differences in sensitivities to the perception of innovation barriers and in complementarities among barriers between persistent and occasional innovators. In the case of occasional innovators, a kind of innovation barrier chain is observed. This has an impact on differences in the frequency of innovation activities between the two groups of innovators and results in diversification of innovators.
On the usefulness and limits of a geographic perspective in dialectology: Arabic and Berber examples

Abstract Spoken Arabic and Berber show great variety in their pronunciation, as evidenced by dialectology studies. Some researchers have attempted to illustrate this variety using maps of the data collected. In this article, my goal will be to commend their work, but also to highlight the difficulties which arise when a purely geographic perspective is adopted. The choice of discriminant in relation to the possible variation mechanisms will also be broached, as, for the languages under study, spatial dissemination only partially explains the linguistic differences and similarities.
PRODUCT DESIGN FOR IMPROVED MATERIAL FLOW—A MULTI-STOREY TIMBER HOUSING PROJECT

Understanding of construction has evolved to include a deeper understanding of its mechanics; in addition to traditional on-site work involving the manufacturing of building products - industrial construction. One of the most important aspects of any industrial process is flow of materials and resources. Using empirical data from a unique multi-storey timber housing project, this paper aims at building a better understanding of how product design affects flow of materials in housing construction. Even though a high degree of pre fabrication was used in the project, the amount of complementary site work caused delays, complaints, and a slow learning cycle. A standardisation process was used to shift product 'know-how' from person to product, resulting in increased flow and a reduction of errors. Prefabrication was not the sole solution to the encountered problems, but the controlled and ordered environment in prefabrication provided solutions at early stages. Instead of working towards solving the main production issues, the management was instead observed working with minor changes (first-aid solutions) to control flow. If industrialised multi-storey timber housing construction is to be successful, product design decisions should be thought through, thoroughly, from start to finish using standardisation as a guiding star.
Consolidation Modeling of Oil Sands Fine Tailings: History Matching

The use of a finite strain consolidation theory to predict compression behaviour of oil sands fine tailings does not provide a good agreement with experimental data. To search for a possible explanation of this discrepancy, history matching was performed by three approaches namely a pre-consolidation, a creep compression and a hydraulic conductivity layering consolidation. Results indicate that the pre-consolidation and creep methods provide negligible improvement while the layering approach gives the best prediction not only for interface prediction but also for void ratio, excess pore pressure and effective stress profiles. Examination of modeling parameters suggests that the hydraulic conductivity increases upward. This led to a hypothesis that channeling might cause the deviation of the conduction property of the slurry. For this oil sands fine tailings, it is concluded that the conventional approach can lead to a large error, considerations of a pre-consolidation and creep compression do not improve prediction and a channeling phenomena could be a major reason of the discrepancy observed between the theory and the experiment. RESUME L'utilisation d'une theorie finie de consolidation de contrainte de prevoir le comportement de compression des produits de queue fins de sables d'huile ne fournit pas a une bonne concordance des donnees experimentales. Pour rechercher une explication possible de cette anomalie, l'assortiment d'histoire a ete effectue par trois approches notamment une pre-consolidation, une compression de fluage et une consolidation posante de conductivite hydraulique. Les resultats indiquent que les methodes de pre-consolidation et de fluage fournissent l'amelioration negligeable tandis que l'approche posante donne la meilleure prevision pas seulement pour la prevision d'interface mais egalement pour le rapport vide, pression excessive de pore et des profils efficaces d'effort. L'examen de modeler des parametres suggere que la conductivite hydraulique augmente vers le haut. Ceci a mene a une hypothese que creuser des rigoles pourrait causer la deviation de la propriete de conduction de la boue. Pour cette huile ponce les produits de queue fins, on le conclut que l'approche conventionnelle peut mener a une grande erreur, des considerations d'une pre-consolidation et la compression de fluage n'ameliorent pas la prevision et les phenomenes creusants des rigoles pourraient etre une raison importante de l'anomalie observee entre la theorie et l'experience.
Peak and post–peak development of UHT metamorphism at Mather Peninsula, Rauer Islands: Zircon and monazite U–Th–Pb and REE chemistry constraints

*National Institute of Polar Research, Tachikawa, Tokyo 190–8518, Japan **Department of Polar Science, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Tachikawa, Tokyo 190–8518, Japan ***School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JW, Scotland, UK Department of Geology and Paleontology, National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba 305–0005, Japan Department of Applied Geology, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6845, Australia §Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Continuity and change: employers' training practices and partnerships with training providers

This study provides a comprehensive picture of the way in which employers navigate the Australian training system and establish partnerships with registered training organisations (RTOs). In terms of evolution over the last 20 years three key factors emerge: (1) while the take-up of nationally recognised training by employers has not increased substantially, this type of training is being used in different ways; (2) the nature of the partnerships between RTOs and employers has changed, from a relationship based on fee-for-service provision to one based on long-term mutual collaboration; and (3) a change in the role of the training function and training staff in organisations has been observed.
Annual variability and regulation of methane and sulfate fluxes in Baltic Sea estuarine sediments

Abstract. Marine methane emissions originate largely from near-shore coastal systems, but emission estimates are often not based on temporally well-resolved data or sufficient understanding of the variability of methane consumption and production processes in the underlying sediment. The objectives of our investigation were to explore the effects of seasonal temperature, changes in benthic oxygen concentration, and historical eutrophication on sediment methane concentrations and benthic fluxes at two type localities for open-water coastal versus eutrophic, estuarine sediment in the Baltic Sea. Benthic fluxes of methane and oxygen and sediment pore-water concentrations of dissolved sulfate, methane, and 35S-sulfate reduction rates were obtained over a 12-month period from April 2012 to April 2013. Benthic methane fluxes varied by factors of 5 and 12 at the offshore coastal site and the eutrophic estuarine station, respectively, ranging from 0.1 mmol m−2 d−1 in winter at an open coastal site to 2.6 mmol m−2 d−1 in late summer in the inner eutrophic estuary. Total oxygen uptake (TOU) and 35S-sulfate reduction rates (SRRs) correlated with methane fluxes showing low rates in the winter and high rates in the summer. The highest pore-water methane concentrations also varied by factors of 6 and 10 over the sampling period with the lowest values in the winter and highest values in late summer–early autumn. The highest pore-water methane concentrations were 5.7 mM a few centimeters below the sediment surface, but they never exceeded the in situ saturation concentration. Of the total sulfate reduction, 21–24 % was coupled to anaerobic methane oxidation, lowering methane concentrations below the sediment surface far below the saturation concentration. The data imply that bubble emission likely plays no or only a minor role in methane emissions in these sediments. The changes in pore-water methane concentrations over the observation period were too large to be explained by temporal changes in methane formation and methane oxidation rates due to temperature alone. Additional factors such as regional and local hydrostatic pressure changes and coastal submarine groundwater flow may also affect the vertical and lateral transport of methane.
Financial literacy as a prerequisite for citizens' economic security: development of a measurement instrument

The level of citizens’ financial knowledge has a great impact on financial well-being of individuals and society. In this regard public authorities in many countries initiated a process of development and implementation of National strategies to enhance financial literacy level. The initial step of developing a national strategy is evaluation of current situation. Thus, financial literacy measuring issues are frequently debated in the academic and public environment. The goal of the current research is to develop a measurement instrument to evaluate the level of financial knowledge of Latvian citizens. The present paper reflects the results of the authors’ conducted survey based on the sample of 169 respondents. A set of 12 questions on financial matters was developed to detect perceived importance and complexity of financial literacy components, as well as to get financial literacy selfassessment scores. Data was processed by means of SPSS, applying such methods, as analysis of means, analysis of frequencies and independent samples t-test. Received results assist to precise the content and wording of questions to be included into the questionnaire for evaluation financial literacy level of Latvian citizens1.
Early enteral nutrition compared to outcome in critically ill trauma patients at a level one trauma centre

Abstract Objectives: The benefit of an early enteral nutrition start in critical ill patients is widely accepted. However, limited published data focus on trauma patients. This study aimed to investigate the effect of early enteral nutrition initiation on length of stay and mortality in an intensive care unit (ICU), as well as explore if enteral nutrition initiation could serve as a prognostic marker in trauma patients. Design: This was a retrospective audit of a prospective ethics-approved database (University of KwaZulu-Natal Biomedical Research Ethics Committee No BE207–09) which compared enteral nutrition to outcome. Setting: The setting was a level 1 trauma ICU in Durban, South Africa. Subjects: The subjects were critically ill trauma patients. Outcome measures: Demographic data, enteral nutrition timing, feed tolerance, and the outcome of early versus late initiation of enteral feeding were the outcome measures. Results: Nine hundred and fifty-two patients were included. Eight hundred and ninety-eight received enteral nutrition and were divided into three subgroups (tertiles T1-T3) according to their Injury Severity Score (ISS). The statistical analysis demonstrated that an early enteral nutrition start had a significant positive effect on both length of stay (13.7 vs. 16.4 days, p-value 0.00315) and mortality (9.5 % vs. 20.7 % p-value 0.0062). A multiple logistic regression model was developed, using multiple variables, to test the factors that affected the outcome. There was a significant effect on length of stay with an early enteral nutrition start in patients with a low to medium ISS (T1), and a highly significant effect on mortality in patients with a low to medium, and high, ISS (T1 and T2). Early initiation of enteral nutrition is strongly favoured in regression analyses. Conclusion: Patients in the trauma ICU benefit from an early enteral nutrition. The model used featuring the three independent variables, i.e. the day on which enteral nutrition is commenced, age and ISS, may serve as a prognostic marker with regard to length of stay and mortality in the ICU.
POLLEN FERTILITY AND FEMALE FLOWER ANATOMY OF MICROPROPAGATED COCONUT PALMS

The increasing demand in México for disease resistant coconut palms (Cocos nucifera L.) requires massive multiplication of improved or selected genotypes. This could be achieved through micropropagation. A reproducible micropropagation protocol via somatic embryogenesis, based on the use of plumule explants has been previously reported. The present study reports the pollen fertility and female flower structure of palms obtained from micropropagation and planted in the field. After two years under nursery conditions and two and half years in the field, the palms showed development of reproductive organs. When compared with sexually propagated palms, there were no differences in the number of inflorescences, number of female flowers and rachillae per inflorescence, pollen grains number, its viability and percentage of germination. Ovary anatomy of micropropagated palms was similar to those of seed palms. This is the first report on coconut micropropagated palms that reached sexual maturity in the field. These results show the potential of coconut micropropagation to produce true-to-type palms.
What Promotes Japanese Regional Banks to Disclose Credit Ratings Voluntarily

This paper examines what types of Japanese regional banks are more likely to obtain credit ratings at the present time when disclosures by financial institutions are becoming more and more important. We found that banks in more competitive markets, those that have larger assets, and those whose bad ratio is lower are more likely to disclose credit ratings. It was also revealed that regional banks in the same region (prefecture) as other banks that go bankrupt often feel it necessary to actively demonstrate their own solidness in the market by obtaining foreign credit ratings. We also analyzed whether regional banks that disclose more credit ratings succeed in obtaining financing from depositors. Our results indicate that regional banks that obtain more credit ratings, in particular foreign ratings, succeed in increasing their bank balances.