Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Urban peripheries : The political dynamics of planning projects

In fragmented agglomerations, urban development in peripheral areas tends to express the hegemony of the core city over its suburbs. Nevertheless, this paper demonstrates that despite deep-rooted political conflicts, inter-municipal cooperation can still take place in the context of cross-border development. I argue that cross-border development has a political and economic logic that is driven by a different power configuration in the metropolis: cross-border coalitions. These coalitions emerge when the redevelopment of areas around municipal borders provides an opportunity for political interests to strengthen their electoral alliances and for business interests to exploit possibilities of growth. This paper investigates urban development in Paris North East, an area on the periphery of Paris that crosses municipal boundaries. It examines how a coalition of public and private actors is cooperating based on the shared benefits they can derive from developments in this area. The case study captures the complex political and economic dynamics driving inter-municipal cooperation by examining the role of local political coalitions, their link with planning agencies and the behavior of emergent metropolitan entrepreneurs. Chapter published in Environment and Planning A, volume 44, pp. 1875-1895, 2012.
Equity Rights Issue and Dilutive Effect: Evidence from Italian Listed Companies

This article studies the stock price reaction to Seasoned Equity Offerings (SEOs) through the right issue technique, for Italian listed companies in the period between 2007 and 2016. A few days before the starting date of the capital increase operation, investors are provided with a complete information set of the final characteristics of the equity offerings. The study investigates whether this further information is price sensitive. An event study analysis is performed around two price sensitive dates: the “announcement date” of the equity issue and the “communication date” of its final characteristics. It also focuses on the reasons underlying the offer and on the industry effect. The findings show a significant negative abnormal return at the communication date for the full sample and for companies collecting financial resources for “Corporate Finance Transaction”, for "Capital Adequacy" and for “Restructuring”. A negative market reaction for all sectors is observed as well. Eventually, the article examines the possible causes underlying the negative stock price reaction at the communication date. The results suggest that the dilutive effect is the main explanation to the stock price overreaction.
Who is Portrayed in Second Life: Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? The Extent of Congruence Between Real Life and Virtual Identity

Virtual social environments opened the door to individual experiences that may not be feasible or possible in real physical settings; in turn bringing to question the applicability of certain more traditional theories to digital environments. Addressing some of this gap in the available literature, in the current study, we compare virtual and real life identities simultaneously, as well as explore the impact of selfconsciousness on virtual identity. Our results indicate that while some of the overall trends are similar between identities constructed in the physical world and those constructed in virtual settings, different identity elements and dimensions tend to be emphasized to different degrees. Furthermore, we find evidence for the role of private in addition to public self-consciousness as influencing virtual existence. In other words, in addition to the general emphasis concerning the role of socially influenced external elements in the formulation of virtual identities, the current study highlights the importance of more internalized and individual level attitudes and perceptions, including one’s inner thoughts, emotions, and perspectives. Implications and future directions are discussed.
Invasive mangroves alter macrofaunal community structure and facilitate opportunistic exotics.

Mangroves were introduced to the Hawaiian Islands in 1902, providing an unusual opportunity to examine the impacts of introduced vascular plants on coastal ecosystems. Despite >100 yr residence in Hawaii, little is known regarding how mangroves alter coastal ecosystem structure. We conducted a case study of 2 Rhizophora mangle habitats in Hawaii, comparing habitat parameters and macrofaunal community structure in introduced mangroves and nearby control sandflats at a similar tidal elevation. Mangrove sediments had finer sediments and higher organic carbon concentrations and porewater salinities than sandflats. Emergent mangrove roots were colonized by the introduced barnacles Chthamalus proteus, Balanus reticulatus, and B. amphitrite and the introduced sponges Suberites zeteki, Sigmadocia caerulea, and Gelloides fibrosa. Higher densities of non-native macrofauna were found in mangrove transects than in sandflat controls, indicating that invasive mangroves facilitate the persistence of non-native fauna in Hawaii. Mangrove habitats also had higher macrofaunal species richness and diversity, as well as greater dominance by subsurface deposit feeders. Introduced mangroves substantially altered benthic community structure, in part by enhancing the structural complexity of the Hawaiian coastal environment. Because macrobenthos provide a variety of ecosystem services, e.g. serving as prey for fish and birds and promoting detrital decomposition, mangrove-induced changes in sediment community composition will likely have farreaching consequences in Hawaii. Similar consequences of mangrove invasion are likely in other regions, as mangrove habitats expand with climate warming and increased coastal sedimentation.
USING POSTER PRESENTATIONS TO FACILITATE PRESERVICE EFL TEACHER LEARNING Poster Sunumların İngilizce Öğretmen Adaylarının Öğrenme Süreçlerinde Kolaylaştırıcı Olarak Kullanılması

This paper aims to explore whether the use of poster presentations facilitates learning when students try to put theoretical knowledge of ELT methodology into practice. The study was conducted with second year undergraduate students of English Language Teaching Department in Buca Education Faculty, at Dokuz Eylul University in 2016-2017 academic year. There were two separate classes and 84 participants in total. The participants were asked to prepare a lesson plan with warm-up, pre-, while-, and postlearning activities based on a type of language teaching method and display it in poster presentations. The data was derived from observation field notes and notes taken during focus group discussions. The recorded data was analysed via content analysis. Applying content analysis, three main themes were identified as contributions of poster presentations to learning and teaching, difficulties experienced by the participants and suggestions given by the participants to overcome difficulties in poster presentations. The results of the study indicated that using poster presentations facilitated learning and teaching since it gave learners a chance to put theory into practice. Poster presentations helped learners work collaboratively in groups, overcome anxiety and gain more self-confidence while presenting. In addition to this, poster presentations improved creativity, promoted learner autonomy, and inspired learners for their future teaching career.
Causal pathways of intergenerational poverty transmission in selected EU countries

Το άρθρο διeρeυνά eάν, μe ποιο τρόπο και σe ποιο βαθμό η οικογένeια προέλeυσης eπηρeάζeι τον κίνδυνο φτώχeιας των απογόνων σe eπιλeγμένeς χώρeς της EE που αντιπροσωπeύουν διαφορeτικά συστήματα κοινωνικής προστασίας. Κάνοντας χρήση logit μοντέλων και αξιοποιώντας μικροδeδομένα από την EUSILC, η ανάλυση αναδeικνύeι τη σημασία της κοινωνικής προστασίας για την αναχαίτιση της διαγeνeακής μeταβίβασης της φτώχeιας. Η Δανία μe το σοσιαλδημοκρατικό κράτος πρόνοιας eίναι η πιο eπιτυχημένη στην άμβλυνση της eπίδρασης της οικογένeιας προέλeυσης στον κίνδυνο φτώχeιας των παιδιών, ακολουθούμeνη από την Γαλλία που αντιπροσωπeύeι το συντηρητικό-κορπορατιστικό καθeστώς eυημeρίας. Λιγότeρο αποτeλeσματικές σe αυτό το ζήτημα eμφανίζονται η Eλλάδα και η Μeγάλη Βρeτανία που αντιπροσωπeύουν το νοτιοeυρωπαϊκό και το φιλeλeύθeρο σύστημα κοινωνικής προστασίας αντίστοιχα.
Adaptive Social Learning

The paper investigates social-learning when the information structure is not commonly known. Individuals repeatedly interact in social-learning settings with distinct information structures. In each round of interaction, they use their experience gained in past rounds to draw inferences from their predecessors’ current decisions. Such adaptation yields rational behavior in the long-run if and only if individuals distinguish social-learning settings and receive rich feedback after each round. Limited feedback may lead individuals to imitate uninformed predecessors. Moreover, adaptation across social-learning settings renders Bayes’ rule payoff-inferior compared to non-Bayesian belief updating rules and suggests that belief-updating rules are heterogeneous in the population.
Helicobacter pylori infection and transmission in Africa: Household hygiene and water sources are plausible factors exacerbating spread

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a microaerophilic motile curve rod that inhabits the gastric mucosa of the human stomach. The organism chronically infects billions of people worldwide and is one of the most genetically diverse of bacterial species. Infection with the bacterium which leads to chronic gastritis, peptic ulceration, gastric cancers and gastric malt lymphoma has been reported to follow a pattern linked to geographic and socio-demographic factors. Studies have documented a higher prevalence in Africa than elsewhere although the pathological outcomes do not correlate with infection. H. pylori transmission pathways are still vague, but the risks of transmission include precarious hygiene standards, over-crowding and contaminated environment and water sources amongst others. The possible routes of transmission include oral-oral, faecal-oral and person- to -person, either with or without transitional transmission steps during episodes of diarrhoea or gastro-oral contact in the event of vomiting. Use of contaminated water including municipal tap water has also been suspected to have a high impact in the transmission of the organism. To generate the data presented in this paper, we conducted an internet based search on relevant literature pertaining to H. pylori epidemiology in general and Africa in particular. Sites such as Pubmed, AJOL, Scopus and Goggle scholar were mainly used. This paper therefore attempts to appraise the role of household hygiene and water sources in the transmission of this organism in the developing world context.
Age Differences in Everyday Stressor-Related Negative Affect: A Coordinated Analysis

Advancing age is often characterized by preserved or even enhanced emotion regulation, which is thought to manifest in terms of age-related reductions in the within-person association between stressors and negative affect. Existing research from ecological momentary assessment and end-of-day daily diary studies examining such age-related benefits have yielded mixed results, potentially due to differences in samples, design, and measurement of everyday stressors and negative affect. We conducted a coordinated analysis of 5 ecological momentary assessments and 2 end-of-day daily diary studies to examine adult age differences in the within-person association between everyday stressors and negative affect. Reported stressor occurrences are robustly associated with higher negative affect, regardless of study design and sample characteristics. Across studies, interactions between age and everyday stressors predicting negative affect revealed a pattern of age-related decreases in the stressor–negative affect association, but this interaction was only significant for 2 studies. Further, examination of statistical power of the included studies suggests that, despite differences in the number of repeated assessments, power to detect within-person stressor–negative affect associations is quite good. In contrast, despite possessing wider age ranges, observed age differences were relatively small in magnitude, and studies are potentially underpowered to detect age differences in these within-person associations. We discuss the importance of study design, interval of repeated assessments and number of participants for examining age differences in everyday stressors and negative affect, as well as the virtue of coordinated analyses for detecting consistent direction of associations, but inconsistent patterns of statistical significance.
Long-Distance Interval Training following Pre-Cooling with an Ice Vest

This study evaluated how preparing for an interval workout, while wearing a cooling vest, affects core temperature (Tc), heart rate (HR), and interval time in long-distance runners. Nineteen male collegiate cross-country runners exercised under two different conditions: (a) wearing a Nike PreCool™ ice vest for one hour prior to the workout (30 minutes resting with the vest and 30 minutes while performing their warm-up); and (b) a control condition utilizing a traditional warm-up. Subjects performed 8 × 1000 m intervals. HR and Tc were measured prior to warm-up, immediately before the first interval, and after each interval. Tc measured before the first interval was significantly lower in the vest condition (difference = 0.37° ± 0.2°C). Differences persisted through the sixth interval. Differences in HR and interval times were nonsignificant between conditions for all intervals Wearing an ice vest prior to and during warm-up effectively lowers Tc during long-distance interval training.
Preparation of Nimodipine Loaded Microspheres: Evaluation of Parameters

The purpose of this study was to prepare and characterize nimodipine loaded microspheres using ethyl cellulose (EC) as a carrier polymer through an emulsion solvent evaporation method. These evaluations characterized the pattern of drug release from prepared microspheres. Nimodipin loaded microspheres were prepared using an emulsification solvent evaporation method. The effect of process variables such as stirring rate, drug polymer ratio in the organic phase, the viscosity of the dispersed phase and the emulsifier concentration, on the morphology of microspheres, particle size distribution, drug content and in vitro release profile of nimodipine were investigated. The prepared microspheres were spherical with smooth surface. The mean diameter of microspheres decreased with increasing the concentration of the emulsifier in the continuous phase and stirring rate of the medium. However, increasing the viscosity of the dispersed organic phase increased the particle size of microspheres. Both the drug and polymer concentration in the organic phase increased the entrapment of nimodipine in ethyl cellulose microspheres. Drug content of the microspheres was lowered by increasing the viscosity of the dispersed phase and increasing the concentration of poly vinyl alcohol. The rate of drug release from microspheres was directly influenced by the drug to polymer ratio, as any increase in this ratio allowed the higher release rates from microspheres. The higher the polymer concentration the lower was the rate of drug release from microspheres.
Looking for activity cycles in late-type Kepler stars using time-frequency analysis

We analyse light curves covering four years of 39 fast-rotating ($P_\mathrm{rot}< 1d$) late-type active stars from the Kepler database. Using time-frequency analysis (Short-Term Fourier-Transform), we find hints for activity cycles of 300-900 days at 9 targets from the changing typical latitude of the starspots, which, with the differential rotation of the stellar surface change the observed rotation period over the activity cycle. We also give a lowest estimation for the shear parameter of the differential rotation, which is ~0.001 for the cycling targets. These results populate the less studied, short period end of the rotation-cycle length relation.
Competing ideologies of linguistic authority amongst new speakers in contemporary Galicia

Abstract While in many indigenous minority-language situations traditional native speaker communities are in decline, new speakers are emerging in the context of revitalization policies. Such policies, however, can have unforeseen consequences and lead to tensions between newcomers and existing speakers over questions of ownership, legitimacy, and authenticity. This article examines these tensions in the case of Galician in northwestern Spain, where “new speakers” have emerged in the context of revitalization policies since the 1980s. The subsequent spread of the language outside traditional Galician strongholds and into what were predominantly Spanish spaces complicates the traditional ideology about sociolinguistic authenticity and ownership and raises questions about who are the legitimate speakers of Galician, who has authority, and the potential tensions that such questions generate. To illustrate the tensions and paradoxes that new and native speakers face in this postrevitalization context, we draw on three discussion groups consisting of sixteen young Galicians. (New speakers, authority, authenticity, minority languages, Galician)*
Lottery judgments: A philosophical and experimental study

Abstract In this paper, we present the results of two surveys that investigate subjects’ judgments about what can be known or justifiably believed about lottery outcomes on the basis of statistical evidence, testimonial evidence, and “mixed” evidence, while considering possible anchoring and priming effects. We discuss these results in light of seven distinct hypotheses that capture various claims made by philosophers about lay people’s lottery judgments. We conclude by summarizing the main findings, pointing to future research, and comparing our findings to recent studies by Turri and Friedman.
Sequential Extraction of Cu, Cd, Pb and Zn from Soil Around Industrial Waste Dump Sites in Kaduna Environ using Simple and Sequential Procudures

The presence of heavy metals in soil around industrial wastes dump sites restricts their use for agricultural purpose. This study attempts to extract Cu, Cd, Pb and Zn from soils around some selected industrial wastes dump sites in Kaduna. Four dump sites were identified namely Kudenda, Kakuri, Gonigora and Dirkaniya. Some agronomic parameters necessary to characterize a soil were determined. The simple sequential procedure was use for the extraction. It was confirmed from the study that the metal content of these metals did not exceed the limit by European standard. Keywords : Cu, Cd, Pb, and Zn, extraction, dump sites.
The advantage of Decision Support System for managing spring barley disease in Estonia

A Decision Support System (DSS) I-Taimekaitse focusing on use of timely applied and reduced fungicide rates in control of cereal diseases has been tested in field trials since 2003. We compared the conventional treatment and the DSS-based spray practices in 18 field trials in five agricultural locations over 7-year period. Efficacy of the control of net blotch caused by Pyrenophora teres (Drechsler, am Drechlera teres Sacc. Shoem), the main fungal disease in spring barley has been tested to determine the economic advantage of DSS use. Compared with the conventional spray practices, the advantage I-Taimekaitse resulted in reduction of application doses by 30 to 60% of the registered rate. According to I-Taimekaitse, the fungicides were applied mainly between heading and flowering growth stages (GS 55–65), whereas traditional routine spraying is commonly made at booting (GS 37–49). The experiment clarifies the cost-benefit of using DSS-based approach in barley disease management with average yield increase above the control in 12.8% and above the conventional treatment in 14.1%. I-Taimekaitse gave competitive disease control and average yield output reduction compared with conventional practice by 9%. In general the Treatment Frequency Index applied in conventional treatment was 0.65 and in DSS 0.41. Although the cost of treatment expense in DSS was 20% less compared with conventional practice, the performance of conventional used spray practices was outstanding in economic return.
Local Linkages: The Interdependence of Foreign and Domestic Firms

This paper investigates the interdependence of foreign and domestic firms’ local linkage decisions and the extent to which they respond differently to variations in export intensity and productivity originating from each of the two groups of firms. Our empirical analysis, based on Irish data, uncovers an interesting asymmetric pattern in the local linkage dynamics of foreign and domestic firms. We find that local linkages of domestic firms tend to evolve independently of their foreign counterpart, and that they react almost instantaneously to exogenous events such as increases in export intensity or productivity. Local linkages of foreign firms, by contrast, react gradually to exogenous events and the impact works through the reverberating dynamics of the lagged linkages of both foreign and domestic firms. The Irish experience is instructive to policymakers in emerging markets who are naturally interested in the best way to maximize the value of FDI, in terms of benefits the latter brings about for sustainable economic development.
Cryogenic oxygen jet response to transverse acoustic excitation with the first transverse and the first combined longitudinal-transverse modes

The intact length of the dense oxygen core from an oxygen-hydrogen shear coaxial rocket injector was measured. The measurements were made in a rectangular rocket combustor with optical access and acoustic forcing. The combustor was operated at chamber pressures of 40 and 60 bar, with either ambient temperature or cryogenic hydrogen. The multielement injection spray is subjected to forced transverse gas oscillations of two different acoustic resonance modes; the first transverse (1T) mode at 4200 Hz and the first combined longitudinal-transverse (1L1T) at 5500 Hz. Intact core length is measured from high-speed shadowgraph imaging. The dependence of intact core length with increasing acoustic amplitude is compared for the two modes of excitation.
A Study of 13315 Papanicolau Smear Diagnoses in Shohada Hospital

ObjectiveThis study aimed to review Papanicolaou (Pap) smears in patients of Shohada hospital in Tehran. Materials and methods Materials and methods Materials and methods Materials and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out and a database search of all Pap smear reports from 1995 to 2005 at cytopathology department was reviewed. The abnormal Pap smear reports based on the Bethesda System were assessed. ResultsA total of 13315 Pap smear reports were reviewed from patients aging 20 to 79 years old. Totally 6065 (45.55%) cases had diagnosis of ‘negative’, 293(2.21%) smears were labeled as ‘inadequate’, and 6799 (51.06%) reports had ‘Benign cellular changes’. There were 158(1.18%) abnormal Pap smears consisting of 84 (53.18%) SIL with undetermined grade (ASC-US), 28(17.73%) low grade SIL (LSIL), 17(10.75%) high grade SIL (HSIL), 27(17.08%) carcinoma and 2(1.26%) atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance (AGUS). Overall incidence of the cervical cancer among these samples was 0.2%. Benign cellular changes numbered 6799(51.06%), of which 5365 (78.9%) smears demonstrated infectious processes. Conclu sion sion sion: The number of abnormal pap smears in this study is less than western countries, but is comparable with Middle East and Islamic regions. More prospective studies are recommended.