Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A panel vector error correction approach to forecasting demand in regional construction markets

Reliable forecasting as to the level of aggregate demand for construction is of vital importance to developers, builders and policymakers. Previous construction demand forecasting studies mainly focused on temporal estimating using national aggregate data. The construction market can be better represented by a group of interconnected regions or local markets rather than a national aggregate, and yet regional forecasting techniques have rarely been applied. Furthermore, limited research has applied regional variations in construction markets to construction demand modelling and forecasting. A new comprehensive method is used, a panel vector error correction approach, to forecast regional construction demand using Australia’s state-level data. The links between regional construction demand and general economic indicators are investigated by panel cointegration and causality analysis. The empirical results suggest that both long-run and causal links are found between regional construction demand and construction price, state income, population, unemployment rates and interest rates. The panel vector error correction model can provide reliable and robust forecasting with less than 10% of the mean absolute percentage error for a medium-term trend of regional construction demand and outperforms the conventional forecasting models (panel multiple regression and time series multiple regression model). The key macroeconomic factors of construction demand variations across regions in Australia are also presented. The findings and robust econometric techniques used are valuable to construction economists in examining future construction markets at a regional level.
Some more polluted than others: unequal cumulative industrial hazard burdens in the Philadelphia MSA, USA

The aim of this study was to quantify inequities in environmental hazard burdening in the 357 towns and 12 city planning analysis areas in the nine-county Philadelphia Metropolitan Statistical Area. Points were assigned to 14 types of hazards, including Superfund sites, hazardous waste facilities, landfills, trash transfer stations, waste tyres, incinerators, power plants, polluting factories, and sewage and sludge treatment facilities. When points were summed, 39 communities were in the 90th percentile for total hazard points. Risk ratios were calculated for community characteristics. The risk of extensive hazard burdening was significantly greater for communities bordering the Delaware River and for communities with more than 3% minority residents, more vacant housing units, and adults without a high school diploma. Risks were significantly lower for the most affluent communities. Results point to the need to reform environmental laws at the state level to prevent the concentration of environmental hazards in vulnerable communities.
The effect of nickel microalloying on thermal fatigue reliability and microstructure of SAC105 and SAC205 solders

This study explores the effect of a nickel (Ni) microalloy addition on the thermal fatigue performance and microstructure of two low Ag content, Pb-free solder alloys, Sn-1.0Ag-0.5Cu (SAC105) and Sn-2.0Ag-0.5Cu (SAC205). The alloy performance was evaluated using two different area array component test vehicles, an 84-pin chip scale package (CSP) and a 192-pin fine pitch ball grid array (BGA). The baseline alloy microstructures were characterized using polarized light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy with backscattered electron imaging for phase identification. Thermal fatigue performance was assessed with accelerated thermal cycling (ATC) using four temperature cycling profiles with distinct temperature ranges (ΔT) and temperature extremes. Additionally, each temperature profile used a standard 10 minute dwell time or an extended 60 minute dwell time. A microalloy addition of 0.05% Ni was found to alter the base microstructures of the SAC 105 and SAC205 alloys. Generally, the Ni addition improved the thermal fatigue life but the improvement was not consistent in both alloys, both components, and across all thermal cycling profiles. The most consistent response was with the 84CTBGA component, which showed improved reliability with the Ni addition in all of the thermal cycles.
Waistlines and Ratings of Executives: Does Executive Status Overcome Obesity Stigma?

Top executives hold positions that convey power, prestige, and competence as predicted by status characteristics theory. Nevertheless, the impressions generated through this status characteristic may be vulnerable when executives also possess characteristics that reflect a devalued social identity, such as obesity. Data from health examinations and multisource evaluation surveys of 757 CEOs, vice presidents, and upper managers suggest that the observable cue of umbilical waist circumference is negatively associated with evaluations of leaders across hierarchical levels, even after controlling for Body Mass Index, physical activity, personality, and demographic characteristics. Thus, hierarchically based status characteristics are insufficient in overcoming the stigma of obesity: even CEOs are subject to the pernicious effects of obesity stigma. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Happiness and Health: Two Paradoxes

Abstract This paper aims to establish systematic relationships between the two rapidly growing research streams on the socio‐economic determinants of happiness and health. Although they have been pursued quite independently by different communities of researchers, empirical evidence points to very similar underlying causal mechanisms. In particular, in both cases per capita income seems to play a major role only up to a very low threshold, beyond which relative income and other relational factors become crucial for happiness and health. On the basis of these structural analogies, we argue that a process of cross‐fertilisation between these two research streams would contribute to their development by clarifying the relationship between happiness, health and their determinants. Finally, we observe that the two literatures have converging policy implications: measures meant to reduce poverty and inequality and invest in social and environmental capital may improve both health and happiness of the individuals.
Coordination and variability in the elite female tennis serve

Abstract Enhancing the understanding of coordination and variability in the tennis serve may be of interest to coaches as they work with players to improve performance. The current study examined coordinated joint rotations and variability in the lower limbs, trunk, serving arm and ball location in the elite female tennis serve. Pre-pubescent, pubescent and adult players performed maximal effort flat serves while a 22-camera 500 Hz motion analysis system captured three-dimensional body kinematics. Coordinated joint rotations in the lower limbs and trunk appeared most consistent at the time players left the ground, suggesting that they coordinate the proximal elements of the kinematic chain to ensure that they leave the ground at a consistent time, in a consistent posture. Variability in the two degrees of freedom at the elbow became significantly greater closer to impact in adults, possibly illustrating the mechanical adjustments (compensation) these players employed to manage the changing impact location from serve to serve. Despite the variable ball toss, the temporal composition of the serve was highly consistent and supports previous assertions that players use the location of the ball to regulate their movement. Future work should consider these associations in other populations, while coaches may use the current findings to improve female serve performance.
How can social networking sites help build customer loyalty? An empirical investigation

Social networking sites (SNSs) have been viewed as a useful tool that can be utilised to sustain customer loyalty. However, few studies have examined how SNSs can help build customers' loyalty. Building on past literature, this study developed a theoretical model to explain how SNSs can help build customer loyalty. The proposed model was tested empirically using data collected from 221 Facebook users who were customers of a famous convenience store in Taiwan. The results reveal that satisfaction with the vendor and trust in the vendor affect customer loyalty significantly. The results also show that satisfaction with the website has a positive effect on satisfaction with the vendor and trust in the website, which in turn affects trust in the vendor. Finally, the results indicate that utilitarian value, hedonic value, and social value have significant influences on satisfaction with the website, while utilitarian value exerts positive effects on trust in the website. Implications for theory and practice research are discussed.
Female Genital Cutting and Long-Term Health Consequences – Nationally Representative Estimates across 13 Countries

Abstract Using cross-sectional data from 13 African countries, I compare long-term health outcomes across cut and uncut women. This study is the first to use nationally representative data. Consistent with medical research, no evidence of general health impairments or decreased fertility induced by female genital cutting (FGC) is found; rather cut women have more children. The most pronounced long-term health impairments are a 24 per cent increase in the odds of contracting sexually transmitted infections and a 15 per cent increase in genital problems. Concomitantly, the odds that a cut woman will marry before an uncut woman are 13 per cent.
Early Estimate of the Effectiveness of Quadrivalent Meningococcal Conjugate Vaccine

Background: In January 2005, a quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MenACWYD) was licensed for use in the United States. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends MenACWYD for all adolescents 11 to 18 years of age and others at increased risk for meningococcal disease. Methods: Reports of breakthrough meningococcal disease after vaccination with MenACWYD were collected. A simulation approach was used to estimate the expected number of cases in vaccinated persons. Results: Between 2005 and 2008, 14 breakthrough cases, including 3 deaths occurred. At a vaccine effectiveness (VE) of 90%, 7 breakthrough cases would be expected (range, 1–17); at VE of 85%, 11 cases (range, 2–30); at VE of 80%, 15 cases (range, 5–28); and at VE of 75%, 18 cases (range, 7–32) would be expected. The probability of the ≥14 observed cases occurring was 2.9% at VE of 90%, 29.3% at VE of 85%, 66.1% at VE of 80%, and 83.0% at VE of 75%. Conclusions: This report provides an early estimate of MenACWYD effectiveness within 3 to 4 years after vaccination, and suggests that MenACWYD effectiveness is 80% to 85%, similar to the VE reported for meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine.
GLYCINE UPTAKE IN RAT CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM SLICES AND HOMOGENATES: EVIDENCE FOR DIFFERENT UPTAKE SYSTEMS IN SPINAL CORD AND CEREBRAL CORTEX

Abstract— Evidence is presented that glycine is taken up by two different transport systems in rat CNS tissue slices; one system has relatively low affinity for glycine (Km= 300 μm) and predominates in cerebral cortex, cerebellum and mid‐brain, the other has a higher affinity for glycine (Km= 40 μm) and is detectable only in spinal cord, medulla and pons. The low affinity transport system appears to be shared by other small neutral amino acids, whereas the high affinity system is very specific for glycine. Both transport systems were shown to be present in particles in homogenates of CNS tissue by incubation with glycine in vitro, and subcellular fractionation studies suggested that synaptosomes were partly responsible for such uptake. Various substances were tested as inhibitors of the high affinity uptake system for glycine in spinal cord slices; the most potent inhibitors were p‐chloro‐mercuriphenylsulphonate, N‐ethylmaleimide, chlorpromazine, imipramine, desipramine, hydrazinoacetic acid and haloperidol. No competitive inhibitors of the high affinity glycine uptake were found. It is suggested that the high affinity transport system is associated with inhibitory synapses where glycine is a transmitter.
White-Collar Crime Writ Small: A Case Study of Bagels, Donuts, and the Honor System

For more than a decade, an MIT-trained economist has meticulously recorded the results of nearly 75,000 deliveries of bagels and donuts to corporate offices. These bagels and donuts are left in workplaces in the morning, along with a list of prices and a lockbox. Office workers purchase the products on the honor system. Later that day, the uneaten goods and the lock box are collected and the relevant data for each office are recorded in a spreadsheet. These data provide a unique opportunity for understanding the extent to which individuals behave honestly in this setting and the factors that influence the level of honesty. An analysis of the discrepancy between the prices of the goods consumed and the actual payments deposited in the lock box yields a number of insights. First, the base payment rate is quite high. On average, payments represent almost 90 percent of the posted price. In a model of pure self-interest, one would expect very low payment rates, because there would seem to be many opportunities for individuals to take the products with almost no chance of their nonpayment being detected. Moderating the tendency to take the products without paying is the fact that low payment rates will increase the probability the delivery company stops serving the company. Paying for one’s bagels and donuts, viewed in this light, is a public good for other office workers. Thus, one might expect a strong negative relationship between office size and payment rates, which is not present in the data. Rather, the data appear more consistent with a model in which there are internal, nonpecuniary costs associated with stealing the bagels and donuts, i.e., people overwhelmingly pay for the products because it would be wrong not to do so. The observed payment rates are systematically related to a variety of observable factors. For instance, payment rates fall in response to increases in the posted price. This is consistent with the increase in financial costs pushing some marginal consumers to be willing to sustain the moral cost associated with not stealing the goods or paying less than full price. Payment rates are higher when many of the bagels and donuts go uneaten, suggesting that the marginal consumer pays a lower share of the posted price than the inframarginal consumer. Purchasers of donuts appear to be more likely to pay less than the full price. There is a sharp and persistent increase in the payment rate following the September 11 terrorist attacks.
International arbitrage pricing theory : an empirical investigation

The Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) of Ross [23; 24], later refined and extended by Connor [8], Huberman [15], Huberman et al. [16], Dybvig [11], Stambaugh [29], Chamberlin and Rothchild [4], Grinblatt and Titman [14], Ingersoll [17], Chen, Roll, and Ross [5] among others, has attracted considerable attention as a testable alternative to the Sharpe [26]-Lintner [20]-Mossin [21] Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). ' The APT resembles the CAPM in the sense that both are linear models where the CAPM is a single factor (market) model while the APT assumes that m unobservable factors drive the security prices through time. The pricing equation of the APT is developed by imposing the "no arbitrage condition," resulting in a linear relationship between expected return and systematic risk. Similar to the extensions of the single currency CAPM to a multicurrency environment, Solnik [27] extended the APT to the international capital markets, leading to the International Arbitrage Pricing Theory (IAPT). 2 Since the IAPT provides a theoretical framework to investigate the existence of factors that generate returns, and to check whether these factors are "priced" in the international capital markets, it is possible to empirically test the validity of the IAPT jointly with the hypothesis that the international capital markets are integrated. The purpose of this study is to develop and empirically test these hypotheses and it is organized as follows. Section II provides a brief discussion of the IAPT. Section III describes the testable hypotheses implied by the IAPT and the data and the methodology utilized in this study to test these hypotheses. Empirical results obtained are reported in section IV and section V concludes the paper.
A new strain of Paenibacillus lentimorbus isolated from larvae of the oriental beetle, Blitopertha orientalis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), in Chiba Prefecture, Japan

In the summer of 1997, larvae of the oriental beetle, Blitopertha orientalis, with milky disease were collected from a turf field in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Characteristic footprint-shaped sporangia containing a spore and a parasporal body were isolated from the larval hemolymph. Examination of the bacteriological characteristics of this strain revealed that it was unable to grow in 2% NaCl, was susceptible to vancomycin, and had two plasmids, of about 9.8 and 5.5 kb. The sequence of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene (16S rDNA) of this strain was more homologous with that of Paenibacillus (Bacillus) lentimorbus ATCC 14707T than those of the most famous, traditional American culture, Paenibacillus (Bacillus) popilliae ATCC 14706T and NRRL B-4081. From homology of the 16S rDNA, this strain was identified as P. lentimorbus, and named strain ‘Semadara’. The sequence of strain Semadara was highly homologous with those of three Japanese isolates of B. popilliae. Strain Semadara also infected four other scarabaeids: Anomala cuprea, Anomala rufocuprea, Phyllopertha diversa, and Popillia japonica. When second or third stadium larvae of each of the four scarabaeids were inoculated with sporangia of strain Semadara at a concentration of 1.5×108 sporangia/cup, most of the larvae died 2–4 weeks after inoculation.
The PR Premium

Press releases (PR) are the most common and popular way for a firm to publicize its news. The annual number of PR varies substantially among firms, from just a few to hundreds. This work documents a gap in stock's returns between firms that publish low and high number of PR per annum in favor of the former. This gap was found for both the year of publication and the following one and its magnitude is 7–8% and 5–6%, respectively. This gap remains intact even after controlling for firm characteristics such as beta, market capitalization and more. I call this gap the “PR Premium. ”
Papular pseudolymphoma of adults as a variant of acral pseudolymphomatous angiokeratoma of children (APACHE)

In 1988 Ramsay et al. reported about a case series of unilateral acral red papules (1–4 mm in diameter) in 5 children aged 2–13 years. The papules were persistent and showed collarette scale. In 4 of the 5 cases the feet were affected; in the other the papules were found on both hands. Dermatohistopathology showed a dense lymphohistiocytic infiltrate with plasma cells in the upper dermis as can be found in pseudolymphomas, as well as thickened capillaries. The authors coined the name acral pseudolymphomatous angiokeratoma of children and its acronym APACHE. Etiologically a vascular nevus was considered possible [1]. A 58-year-old man presented with non-pruritic papules on the back of both feet. The lesions had persisted for two years but no new papules had appeared. Clinical examination revealed scattered as well as clustered smooth red papules (2–3 mm in diameter) (Figures 1, 2). Dermatohistopathology showed a subepithelial lymphocytic infiltrate with slight vasodilatation (Figure 3). The infiltrate consisted of mainly CD3+ T cells, expressing CD4 and CD8 in equal proportions with only very few CD20+ B cells. Laboratory examination revealed no abnormalities in total and differential blood count, protein electrophoresis and Borrelia serology. Treatment with doxycycline 2 × 100 mg per day for 2 weeks achieved no clinical improvement. Clinical letter The clinical picture with multiple persistent angiomatous papules in acral localization as well as the histopathological findings is typical for APACHE. In our case, however, the lesions appeared in an adult man. It would seem illogical to make a diagnosis whose name specially refers to childhood. Variations on the clinical picture regarding both localization and age have been described previously. Dayrit et al. reviewed the literature to identify a group of patients deviating from the classical clinical APACHE findings. Apart from single lesions and linear distribution, the dermatosis also was found in non-acral sites and in adulthood [2]. Moreover, different opinions concerning the histopathogenesis had an influence on the terminology of the dermatosis. Initially, Ramsay et al. thought that vascular tumors (angiokeratomas) and an associated nevoid disorder might be the origin of the disease [1]. Currently, the majority of the authors supports an inflammatory origin and believes APACHE to be a variant
Physical clogging of soil filters under constant flow rate versus constant head

In this study, the differences in soil filter clogging are evaluated under two operating conditions: constant head and constant flow rate. Whereas filters placed around well screens and leachate collection systems are subjected to a constant flow rate, filters in earth dams and pavement drainage systems operate under constant or slightly varying heads. In this study, the experiments revealed similar permeability reductions with respect to time in both cases; however, the permeability reduction under the condition of constant head occurred in much fewer pore volumes than under the condition of constant flow rate. Self-filtration appeared to be greater under the condition of constant head. The physical clogging model developed for the conditions of constant flow rate and constant head showed good qualitative agreement with experimental observations.Key words: particle, clogging, filter, constant, head, flow.
Evolutionary Estimation of Macro-Level Diffusion Models Using Genetic Algorithms: An Alternative to Nonlinear Least Squares

In this paper, we provide theoretical arguments and empirical evidence for how Genetic Algorithms (GA) can be used for efficient estimation of macro-level diffusion models. Using simulations we find that GA and Sequential Search-Based-Nonlinear Least Squares (SSB-NLS) provide comparable parameter estimates when the data including peak sales are being used, for a range of error variances, and true parameter values commonly encountered in the literature. From empirical analyses we find that the forecasting performance of the GA estimates is better than that of SSB-NLS, Augmented Filter, Hierarchical Bayes, and Kalman Filter when only pre-peak sales data is available for estimation. When sales data until the peak time period are available for estimation, SSB-NLS is able to obtain parameter estimates when the starting values provided are the estimates from using GA. The estimates from GA are not biased and do not change in a systematic fashion when post-peak sales data are used, whereas the estimates from SSB-NLS are biased and change in a systematic fashion. Summarizing, we find that GA may be better suited for diffusion model estimation under the three conditions where SSB-NLS has been found to have problems.