Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tertiary education for the knowledge society: OECD thematic review of tertiary education: synthesis report

The main purpose of the OECD’s ‘Thematic review of tertiary education’ is to provide policy makers with information and analysis to assist them in formulating and implementing policies to achieve national social and economic objectives through tertiary education. Its key objectives are to: synthesise research-based evidence on the impact of tertiary education policies and disseminate this knowledge among participating countries; identify innovative and successful policy initiatives and practices; facilitate exchanges of lessons and experiences among countries; and identify future policy options. The review, which involved 24 countries (Australia, Belgium - Flemish Community, Chile, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), ‘examines how the organisation, management and delivery of tertiary education can help countries achieve their economic and social objectives’. Volume one contains the following chapters: Introduction: The focus on tertiary education; Setting the stage: impact, trends and challenges of tertiary education; Setting the right course: steering tertiary education; Matching funding strategies with national priorities. Volume two contains: Assuring and improving quality; Achieving equity; Enhancing the role of tertiary education in research and innovation; The academic career: adapting to change. Volume three contains: Strengthening ties with the labour market; Internationalisation: shaping strategies in the national context; What next? : policy design and implementation. The appendices are: How the review was conducted; Structure of tertiary education systems; Improving the knowledge base.
Technical College Responsiveness: Learner Destinations and Labour Market Environments in South Africa

In South Africa the technical college sector has often been characterised by critics as performing poorly in terms of labour market placement of graduates. Three studies were commissioned by the Joint Education Trust (now JET Education Services) and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) to address the issue of the responsiveness of technical colleges to labour market conditions. This book presents the findings of the three studies. Technical college responsiveness is gauged through a multiple focus on the perceptions of graduates, colleges and employers and local labour conditions. As well, the findings are set in a broader context of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) elsewhere in Africa, in the UK and in Australia.
Image denoising algorithm based on adversarial learning using joint loss function

A generative adversarial network denoising algorithm which uses a combination of three kinds of loss functions was proposed to avoid the loss of image details in the denoising process. The mean square error loss function was used to make the denoising results similar to the original images, the perceptual loss function was used to understand the image semantic information, and the adversarial learning loss function was used to make images more realistic. The algorithm used the deep residual network, the densely connected convolutional network and a wide and shallow network as the component in the replaceable module of the network. The results show that the three networks tested can make images more detailed and have better peak signal to noise ratio while removing image noise. Among them, the wide and shallow network which uses fewer layers, larger convolution kernels and more feature maps achieves the best result.
Is Oil Price Still Driving Inflation?

In this paper, we empirically investigate the effects of oil price changes on inflation over the period 1991-2016 for eight industrial countries: the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, and the UK. In doing so, we use an oil-augmented Phillips curve with unobserved components and we consider time-varying coefficients. The results show that even over a period of low and stable inflation, oil prices play a significant role in the dynamics of inflation. In all the countries except Germany, oil pass-through into inflation increased from the early 2000s up until the global financial crisis. In the United States it has nearly doubled in the last fifteen years. These findings suggest that central banks must continue to monitor oil prices closely.
Event-related potential studies of explicit retrieval from memory

In six studies, Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) were employed to investigate the neural basis of conscious (explicit) retrieval from long term memory. The studies provide the first detailed reports of ERP effects associated with explicit retrieval on tests of word-stem (e.g. TRE ) cued recall and stem completion. The relationship between the cued recall ERP effects and those previously observed on other tests of memory was also investigated. This was done by directly contrasting ERP correlates of explicit retrieval on the cued recall and recognition memory tasks. Two features of the cued recall and recognition memory ERP effects were found to be highly similar: ERP effects for each task were comprised of parietally and frontally distributed components which differed, as a function of task, only in two respects. First, the parietal effect for cued recall appeared to be somewhat delayed in onset latency relative to that for recognition memory. Second, the hemispheric asymmetry of the frontal effect for cued recall was less marked than that for recognition memory. The two ERP components were interpreted in terms of processes contributing to the recollection of previous episodes in which words were presented for study. A basic distinction between retrieval and post-retrieval processes was invoked to provide a functional account for the two components. The parietal component was related to retrieval processing associated with ‘old/new’ judgements. The frontal component was related to post-retrieval processing of retrieved information, which may be more under strategic control, and therefore sensitive to factors extrinsic to those affecting retrieval success per se. In conjunction with the findings of other ERP studies of long term memory, the present results suggest that similar electrophysiological and cognitive processes may be involved in retrieval and post-retrieval processing on a wide range of memory tasks. It is proposed that, under certain conditions, a common feature of these tasks may be the requirement to engage working memory, to monitor explicit retrieval processing.
Vulnerability of resource users in Louisiana’s oyster fishery to environmental hazards

Knowledge of vulnerability provides the foundation for developing actions that minimize impacts on people while maximizing the sustainability of ecosystem goods and services. As a result, it is becoming increasingly important to determine how resource-dependent people are vulnerable to environmental hazards. This idea is particularly true in coastal Louisiana, USA, where the current era of rapid land loss has the potential to undermine oyster fisheries. However, little is known about how such environmental change might differentially affect resource users and stakeholders. We examined social components of vulnerability to environmental hazards using indicators of susceptibility and adaptive capacity within the oyster fishery of Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. Specifically, we used structured interviews to compare three resource-user roles: oyster fishers, oyster fishers/lease owners, and oyster lease owners only. Results indicated that oyster fishers/lease owners were highly dependent and thus susceptible to changes in the fishery because of high levels of occupational identity. These same people, however, were the most adaptable to change, which was reflected in their willingness to learn about new practices and evolve over time. Higher susceptibility in this group was offset by an increased ability to adapt, cope, and respond to changes in the environment. In contrast to these findings, oyster fishers that did not own any portion of a lease or business in which they operated were bad at coping with change and frequently held negative or fatalistic views on financial planning. These attributes made them the most vulnerable to environmental hazards. Overall, the most vulnerable participants in the Terrebonne Parish oyster fishery were those with low to moderate levels of personal and financial buffers and trust, coupled with high occupational identity and a low motivation to change. Local policy actions that target these attributes are likely to be the best entry points to reducing the vulnerability of stakeholders to hazards.
Sustainable Public Procurement: The Impact of Ability, Motivation, and Opportunity on the Implementation of Different Types of Sustainable Public Procurement

Public organisations develop sustainable public procurement (SPP) policies to compel suppliers to contribute to societal goals. Studies show that the ability, motivation, and opportunity that procurers have to procure in a sustainable manner affect the uptake of SPP. Most studies into SPP examine these factors only in the context of one type of SPP (e.g., green procurement). The goal of this paper is therefore to examine the relationship between ability, motivation, and opportunity and six types of SPP: (1) green public procurement, (2) social return on investment, (3) circular economy, (4) bio-based public procurement, (5) innovation-oriented public procurement and (6) international social criteria. An online survey was administered amongst procurers working in Dutch public organisations. The research shows that ability, motivation, and opportunity affect Green Public Procurement (GPP). Opportunity did affect green public procurement, innovation-oriented public procurement and circular economy, but not the other types of SPP. We were unable to identify an antecedent of more social types of SPP in this research. This research shows that findings based on GPP cannot be directly generalized to other types of SPP, and that there is a need for research into the antecedents of social types of SPP.
Edge-Preserving Reference Sample Filtering and Mode-Dependent Interpolation for Intra-Prediction

High Efficiency Video Coding is the latest video compression standard, which achieves the best coding performance up until now. Specifically, intra prediction is a tool that removes spatial redundancy in a single frame and then a predictor is generated from its neighboring reference samples based on a specific interpolation scheme. In this paper, we propose an edge-preserving intra reference sample filtering method using a bilateral filter, which is implemented as hardware-friendly. Two parameters of the bilateral filter are modeled by block size and mean amplitude of the pixel intensity. In addition, a mode-dependent interpolation scheme is proposed, which takes the directionality of angular predictions into account. The experimental results show that a BD rate-reduction of 0.63% can be achieved for all intra configurations by combining the two methods. We also demonstrate that the subjective quality of the reconstructed frames can be improved.
Testing the Static Trade-Off Theory of Capital Structure: A Corporate Governance Perspective

In this paper we explore the static trade-off theory of capital structure under different governance structures. We find that good governance firms have leverage ratios that are higher (forty-seven percent) than poor governance firms per unit of profit. Evidence also suggests that while the leverage ratio for good governance firms has a narrower range and adjusts with changes in profit, the same is not true for poor governance firms. Direct test of the theory finds that good governance firms exhibit a positive relationship between profits and leverage, while poor governance firms show an inverse relationship. Further tests provide evidence for the varying use of tangible assets and size in leverage increasing activities for the two classifications of firms. The results of the paper demonstrate that the mixed results of prior studies notwithstanding, leverage is increasing in profits when controlled for agency problems, and shareholder-controlled firms exhibit the results predicted by the theory.
Sources of Banking Sector Development: Case of Pakistan

Banking sector development is one of the key elements benchmarking economic growth. Several empirical studies for several instances have indicated a positive relationship between banking sector development and economic growth. This study intends to examine the sources of banking sector development of Pakistan, using capital formation, interest rate, trade deficit, general price level and remittances as the proposed indicators. There is a lack of studies which investigated the impact of investment and trade deficit on banking sector development. The empirical data for the study is taken from world development indicators for 38 years. For the reliable estimates, ARDL cointegration technique has been used to estimate the long run determinants of banking sector development. Domestic credit to private sector has been used as a proxy for the banking sector development because of its market orientation. The results show that increase in the investment, imports and general price level leads to increase in the provision of domestic credit which leads to banking sector development.
How the introduction of stock repurchases affects dividend payouts under a full imputation system

This study investigates whether the introduction of repurchases in 2000 affects the payout policy of TWSE (Taiwan Stock Exchange)-listed firms. For this purpose, we adopt Lintner’s (1956) model for both cash dividends and total payouts to examine the perfect substitute effect. The introduction of dividend imputation and stock repurchases does increase total payout ratios. We find that cash dividends are stickier than total payouts in Lintner’s model. Under a full imputation system as well as a tax-free capital gain environment, TWSE-listed firms do not substitute stock repurchases for dividends. Additionally, Taiwan stock market is classified as having poor legal shareholder protection market that is attributed to the dividend substitute model (La Porta et al., 2000). However, our finding is consistent with the dividend outcome model that firms with strong corporate governance have higher dividend payouts than firms with weak corporate governance.
International Agricultural Education from 1975 to Present: A Research Synthesis.

With the increasing interdependence of international agriculture, agricultural education has, and will, continue to play a significant role in the success of all nations’ agriculture. The purpose of this research synthesis was to examine the literature on international agricultural education since 1975 to identify major research themes and determine if the transformative learning process is present. Inclusion criteria for this synthesis included a) publish date after 1975 in a peerreviewed journal, b) address international agricultural education, c) demonstrate at least one stage of transformative learning, and d) be identified through search strategies. Seventy-one articles were identified. Themes in current research included studies on education abroad, explorations of other nations’ agricultural education systems, globalization of American curriculum, and extension efforts abroad. The most common stage of transformative learning present in articles was the critical assessment of assumptions. Recommendations include further research on the impact of international experiences on secondary agriculture teachers and to increase the use of the transformative learning theory (Mezirow, 1991) as a theoretical lens in international agricultural education research.
The Threats of North Korea’s Missile and Visitors’ International Conference Choice Behavior

The popularity of hosting international conferences has increased, as their positive economic and social effects are now widely recognized. The Korean government selected the international conference industry as one of the new industry engines in propelling the economy. This study examines the factors of participation in international conferences from the value perspective. To this end, a value-based adoption model (VAM) is employed to test our research model using empirical data. A total of 192 questionnaires which were acquired from International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) 2017 in Seoul were coded for analysis. The research findings reveal that technical support, program usefulness, and perceived threats are predictors of perceived value with significant positive influence and, moreover, the perceived threats are affected by media exposure of North Korea missile threats. Perceived value is found to exert significant effects on revisit intention. The major contribution of the paper is to discuss both the practical and theoretical implications, providing information to destination marketers, and employing VAM in international conferences research.
Modelling the barriers of Lean Six Sigma for Indian micro-small medium enterprises

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the barriers of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and develop the interrelationship among them using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and Matriced Impact Croises Multiplication Appliquee a un Classement (MICMAC). Design/methodology/approach Using systematic literature review and expert’s opinions, 26 LSS barriers have been extracted and finalized through statistical analysis, that is importance-index analysis and corrected item minus total correlation methods. The statistical analysis of purified 22 LSS barriers has been carried out and consistency of finalized barriers has been checked through reliability statistical test in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software. Finally, the contextual relationship among finalized LSS barriers is developed using ISM and MICMAC approach. Findings The ISM model indicates that insufficient management commitment and involvement, lack of resources, lack of training and education, lack of strategic thinking, lack of training funds are strategic factors; improper project selection, poor selection of employee for belt training, lack of total employee involvement, lack of awareness of about LSS are prudent factors; unclear vision, high implementation cost, resistance to culture change, weak supplier linkage, poor alignment between company’s goal and customer demand are burst factors. Furthermore, MICMAC analysis is splitting the LSSBs in four clusters according to their driving power and dependency. These results provide a clear mind-set to engineering manager for focusing more on LSS barriers according to their driving power and dependency. Research limitations/implications There may be biasness in making pairwise comparison matrix of barriers due to involvement of expert’s opinion as human error. Practical implications The outcome of this paper provides robust practical implication for LSS researchers and practitioners. The researcher and practitioners must consciously concentrate on the identified LSSBs more conventionally during LSS implementation, and they need to plan strategically to avoid any implementation failure. Originality/value For successful implementation of LSS in any organization, it is necessary and permeable to make strategy for controlling LSS barriers at initial stage. So this paper is a leading attempt to highlight main LSS barriers and interrelate them using ISM and MICMAC approach. It provides a clear path for tackling LSS barriers to engineering managers, researchers and consultants.
Dynamic Responses of Major Equity Markets to the US Fear Index

This study examines the reaction of four major equity markets of the world to the US equity market fear index, i.e., the Chicago Board of Trade Volatility Index (VIX). The VIX is designed to perform as a leading indicator of the volatility in equity markets. Our paper examines the daily data for the period of 2013 through 2018. We find that during this period there were three significant breaks in the data. Impulse responses from the structural vector autoregressive model estimation show that, in the first and second subperiods that cover from 6/2013 through 5/2016, equity market volatility in the US, UK, France, and Germany responded to structural shocks to the VIX. Nonlinear Granger causality tests confirm these findings. However, in the post Brexit-vote era, equity indices neither react to VIX structural shocks nor are caused by these shocks.
Multi-Scale Assessment of Relationships between Fragmentation of Riparian Forests and Biological Conditions in Streams

Due to anthropogenic activities within watersheds and riparian areas, stream water quality and ecological communities have been significantly affected by degradation of watershed and stream environments. One critical indicator of anthropogenic activities within watersheds and riparian areas is forest fragmentation, which has been directly linked to poor water quality and ecosystem health in streams. However, the true nature of the relationship between forest fragmentation and stream ecosystem health has not been fully elucidated due to its complex underlying mechanism. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of riparian fragmented forest with biological indicators including diatoms, macroinvertebrates, and fish. In addition, we investigated variations in these relationships over multiple riparian scales. Fragmentation metrics, including the number of forest patches (NP), proportion of riparian forest (PLAND), largest riparian forest patch ratio (LPI), and spatial proximity of riparian forest patches (DIVISION), were used to quantify the degree of fragmentation of riparian forests, and the trophic diatom index (TDI), benthic macroinvertebrates index (BMI), and fish assessment index (FAI) were used to represent the biological condition of diatoms, macroinvertebrates, and fish in streams. PLAND and LPI showed positive relationships with TDI, BMI, and FAI, whereas NP and DIVISION were negatively associated with biological indicators at multiple scales. Biological conditions in streams were clearly better when riparian forests were less fragmented. The relationships of NP and PLAND with biological indicators were stronger at a larger riparian scale, whereas relationships of LPI and DIVISION with biological indicators were weaker at a large scale. These results suggest that a much larger spatial range of riparian forests should be considered in forest management and restoration to enhance the biological condition of streams.
Self-directed language learning in a mobile-assisted, out-of-class context: do students walk the talk?

Abstract Can mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) foster self-directed learning outside the classroom? This article examines informal, out-of-class engagement with a MALL tool: Duolingo. After being invited to use Duolingo, 118 higher education language students agreed to have their activity in the application tracked. In addition to the data collected from the Duolingo dashboard, questionnaires, as well as semi-structured interviews, were implemented. Results viewed from Garrison’s dimensions of self-directed learning (motivation, self-management and self-monitoring) reveal inconsistencies between what students think about the app and what they do with it. Questionnaires suggest that Duolingo can encourage out-of-class learning through fun activities, but interviews reveal a lack of sustained motivation, self-monitoring and self-management reflected in the low usage of the application. Tracking data reveals that students lack the time for out-of-class MALL during course weeks and are more active during holidays. The results highlight the importance of a context in which users are encouraged to take responsibility for their learning. However, most students will, besides encouragement, also need training and support for their self-directed learning.