Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trivariate copulas for characterisation of droughts

Australian agriculture is at serious risk from drought, and water resource infrastructure and management can mitigate the effects. The consequences of droughts depend on their intensity, duration and severity. These variables are correlated and the dependence structure is here described by copulas. Copulas are multivariate uniform distributions which allow for the dependence structure to be modelled independently of the marginal distributions. Trivariate Gaussian and Gumbel copulas are fitted to the data from a rainfall district in NSW. We assess the goodness of fit of the data to the different forms using several criteria. The data are best described by a Gumbel copula and three parameter Weibull marginal distributions. References P. Embrechets, F. Lindskog and A. J. McNeil. Modelling dependence with copulas and applications to risk management. In: Rachev S. T. , editor. Handbook of heavy tailed distributions in finance. Amsterdam, North--Holland: Elsevier, 2003. A-C Favre, S. E. Adlouni, L. Perreault, N. Thiemonge and B. Bobee. Multivariate hydrological frequency analysis using copulas. Water Resources Research , 2004, 40 , W01101. doi:10.1029/2003WR002456 C. Genest and J. MacKay. The joy of copulas: bivariate distributions with uniform marginals. The American Statistician , 1986, 40 (4), 280--283. C. Genest and A-C Favre. Everything you always wanted to know about copula modeling but were afraid to ask. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering , 2006, 12 (4), 347--368. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0699(2007)12:4(347) S. Grimaldi and F. Serinaldi. Asymmetric copula in multivariate flood frequency analysis. Advances in Water Resources , 2006, 29 , 1155--1167. doi:10.1016/j.advwatres. 2005.09. 005 H. Joe. Multivariate models and dependence concepts . New York: Chapman and Hall, 1997. T. B. McKee, N. J. Doesken and J. Kliest. The relationship of drought frequency and duration to time scales. In Proceeding of the 8th Conference on Applied Climatology , 17--22 January 1993, Anaheim, CA, American Meteorological Society: Boston, MA, USA, 179--184. R Development Core Team. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing . R Foundation for Statistical Computing. 2007. http://www.R-project.org J. T. Shiau. Fitting Drought Duration and Severity with Two-Dimensional Copulas. Water Resources Management , 2006, 20 , 795--815. doi:10.1007/s11269-005-9008-9 A. Sklar. Fonctions de repartitions a $n$ dimensions et leurs marges. Publications de l'Institut de Statistique de l'Universite de Paris , 1959, 8 , 229--231. The Australian. El Nino bad news for drought-stricken east . The Australian, 14th September. Accessed 19th September. http://www.theaustralian. news.com. au/printpage/0,5942,2041027 L. Zhang and V. P. Singh. Bivariate Flood Frequency Analysis using Copula Method. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering , 2006, 11 (2), 150--164. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0699(2006)11:2(150)
House Prices Drive Current Accounts: Evidence from Property Tax Variations

We study the causal link between house prices and current accounts. Across time and countries, we find a very large and significant impact of house prices on current accounts. In order to rule out endogeneity concerns, we instrument house prices for a panel of countries, using property tax variations. A 10% instrumented appreciation in house prices leads to a deterioration in the current account of 1.7% of GDP. These results are very robust to the inclusion of the determinants of current accounts. Following a house price increase, private savings decrease, through wealth effects rather than consumer-finance based mechanisms, while non-residential investment rises through a relaxation of financing constraints for firms.
The relationship between perceived ethnic discrimination and ethnic identity exploration as mediated by ethnic identity crisis

4 Introduction 6 Purposes of this study 9 Identity development in adolescence 10 Erikson's identity theory 11 Marcia's identity statuses 12 Ethnic identity development 15 The importance of ethnic identity development 20 Unaccompanied refugee minors in Norway 25 Unaccompanied refugee minors and mental health 29 Impact of perceived ethnic discrimination 34 Unaccompanied refugee minors in and identity challenges 41 Hypothesis for investigation 46 Mediation model 49 Methods 49 Subjects 50 Instruments 51 Procedure 55 Statistical analysis 56. Results 56 Analyses of mediation 58
Retro-pubic vascular anomalies: a study of abnormal obturator vessels

Variations in the vascular pattern are common in the retro-pubic region. These anomalies are chiefly concerned with the origin and course of the obturator vessels; especially the venous channels. The present study is an effort to observe the incidences of abnormalities of these vessels for their significance in several clinical contexts. The study investigates the frequencies of (a) the presence of abnormal obturator vessels (vasa corona mortis), (b) the occurrence of abnormal obturator veins (venous corona mortis) and (c) the different patterns of the origin of the abnormal obturator arteries. It is important to note that although the percentages of occurrences of these anomalies found in the study are different from previous reports, they are nevertheless significant owing to their obvious clinical implications.
Diversity Science: Why and How Difference Makes a Difference

This article proposes that addressing the complex ethnic and racial issues of the 21st century will require a diversity science. A diversity science will consider how people create, interpret, and maintain group differences among individuals, as well as the psychological and societal consequences of these distinctions. A diversity science will recognize that these significant social distinctions (in the case of this article, race and ethnicity) are not simply natural, neutral, or abstract. Instead they are created and re-created in the process of everyday social interactions that are grounded in historically derived ideas and beliefs about difference and in a set of practices and institutions that reflect these ideas and beliefs and that therefore shape psychological experience and behavior. According to this “sociocultural” framework, psychological experience and behavior, in turn, reinforce particular cultural and structural realities. As an initial step toward a diversity science, this article reviews the roots and consequences of two examples of how to think about difference, color blindness and multiculturalism. Through this sociocultural lens, intergroup behaviors can be understood as more than just products of individual prejudice. This article also proposes that a comprehensive diversity science requires a critical examination of majority group perspectives, minority group perspectives, and their dynamic interaction beyond the typical Black–White binary. Such a diversity science has the potential to help meaningfully inform race-related policy.
Determining Factors Affecting Audit Opinion: Evidence from Turkey

Abstract: The main objective of this study is to construct a model based on financial and non-financial variables to identify factors affecting audit opinions. To examine the usefulness of financial and non-financial variables in distinguishing between firms with an unqualified audit opinion and firms with an adverse audit opinion, the relationship that exists between independent variables and the type of audit opinion is investigated through logit model. The findings of empirical analysis shed light on the relationship between firm specific factors and the type of audit opinion. The results of logit analysis suggest that an unqualified audit opinion is issued for firms that have a higher liquidity, profitability, operational efficiency, growth rate, percentage of outside board members and low debt to total asset ratio. The results of empirical analysis demonstrate that financial and non-financial variables can be significantly useful in distinguishing between firms with an unqualified audit opinion and firms with an adverse audit opinion. Additionally, the inclusion of non-financial variables, age and the percentage of outside board members, significantly improves the performance of empirical model. Keywords: Audit opinion, Financial and non-financial variables, Going- concern assumption JEL: M40, M41
Copula-based downscaling of spatial rainfall: a proof of concept

Abstract. Fine-scale rainfall data is important for many hydrological applications. However, often the only data available is at a coarse scale. To bridge this gap in resolution, stochastic disaggregation methods can be used. Such methods generally assume that the distribution of the field is stationary, i.e. the distribution for the entire (fine-scale) field is the same as the distribution of a smaller region within the field. This assumption is generally incorrect and we provide a proof of concept of a method to estimate the distribution of a smaller region. In this method, a copula is used to construct a bivariate distribution describing the relation between the scales. This distribution is then used to estimate the distribution of the fine-scale rainfall within a single coarse-scale pixel, by conditioning on the coarse-scale rainfall depth.
An Update on rBST – Human Safety and Animal Efficiency and Welfare

Recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST), the first recombinant protein approved for use in production animals, has received unprecedented scrutiny. In the US this included the traditional evaluation by FDA as well as public hearings, science evaluations and legislative reviews (Bauman, 1992). It has been 20 years since the introduction of rbST ( POSILAC ®) into the dairy industry of several countries, and to date in the US an estimated 35 million dairy cows have received Posilac supplements, the commercial formulation of rbST (personal communication, R. Cady, Elanco).
The Biochemical Composition And Correlation Estimates For Grain Quality In Maize

In the present study the nutritional characteristics of corn hybrids ( Zea mays L .) were determinated in order to identify different correlations between them. The experimental material comprised 19 varieties of seeds created at ARDS Turda, Romania. In the agricultural year of 2011/2012 an experiment was conducted in Cluj,Napoca, Romania, with the objective to determin the quality level of maize hybrids and realtionships between traits. Significance between individual means was identified using the Pearson’s multiple range test. Mean differences were considered significant at p<0.05. Positively correlation existed between ash content and protein content and test weight as well as between protein content and 1000 kernels weight among tested corn hybrids. Negatively correlation existed between grain starch and protein content as well as starch and ash content.
Transferable drug-resistant coliforms in fish exposed to sewage

Abstract . In this study, the thermotolerent fecal coliform (Th FC) bacterial population (n = 81) in a waste-fed aquaculture system was examined for multiple antibiotic resistance and the possession of transferable drug resistance factors (R factors). Multiple antibiotic resistant (MAR) coliforms were found to be common in the sewage-fed pond environment, with 83% of the screened MAR isolates harboring plasmids of > 10 kilo base pair (kb). The transfer of resistance was confirmed by mating experiments in 92% of plasmid-positive MAR coliforms with a nalidixic acid (NA) resistant strain, Escherichia coli ATCC (American Tissue Type Cell Culture) 14948 recipient in the presence of DNase (Deoxyribonuclease). Antibiotic resistance profiles of some mated progenies (70.83%) indicated that transfer was unidirectional. DNase-treated cell-free supernatants did not transform, which excluded transduction. A DNase-resistant conjugation-like mechanism probably plays a major role in the transfer of resistance factors. Physical evidence of transmissible resistance factors in fish suggests a potential health risk to humans and animals, including farmed fish.
Best friend's and family members’ smoking habits and parental divorce during childhood are associated with smoking in adulthood

Aims Smoking initiation during childhood or adolescence is strongly associated with friends’ smoking. Likewise, adverse living conditions increase the likelihood of future deviant behaviour. We examine whether smoking by a best friend and family members during school years as well as adverse childhood experiences are associated with smoking in adulthood. Data and Design We have analysed the responses of Finnish working-aged respondents in 1998 (N=25901) and 2003 (N=20773) to questions on the smoking status of friends and family members during school years as well as their answers on a six-item scale of childhood adversities. A case-control study design was used to compare current cigarette smokers (1998 and 2003) to non-smokers (1998 and 2003). Results If a best friend during school years was a smoker, the subject s odds ratio (OR) of being a smoker in adulthood was 4.43 among females and 3.91 among males compared to those with a non-smoking best friend in multivariate models adjusted for smoking by family members during school years and by six childhood adversities. These associations did not differ by age. Smoking in adulthood was associated with childhood adversities, most strongly with parental divorce or separation during the subjects’ school years. Conclusion Smoking by a best friend and parental divorce or separation during school years appears to be a strong factor of smoking in later life.
THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF LICENTIATE OF ENGINEERING Managing construction challenges: Viability of a dynamic capabilities approach for the public client

Construction clients in the public sector face a large number of challenges in designing, procuring and managing construction projects in a manner that is conducive to the organization’s overall goals. In particular, clients have faced challenges in delivering projects that satisfied the projects’ goals with respect to cost overruns, delays and sustainable construction. The role of the client in managing these challenges has more recently been emphasized with a growing number of studies and governmental reports calling for the development of the client’s capabilities. This thesis examines the capabilities of the construction client through a dynamic capabilities framework, particularly with respect to the activities of sensing, seizing and transforming. Furthermore, the thesis explores whether the concept of dynamic capabilities is a viable approach for understanding how to manage the clients’ capabilities in a way that ensures that construction-related challenges are addressed. The thesis is based primarily on a case study of a large public construction client located in Sweden. Findings are presented in three appended papers. The thesis concludes with a discussion on the viability of using a dynamic capabilities framework in the specific case described in this thesis. It is argued that the concept of dynamic capabilities is inadequate for capturing the specific context in which public client organizations operate. Suggestions for alternative approaches to understanding the management and development of capabilities are then discussed.
Modelling of the aerosol size distribution over the Baltic Sea

The results of applying empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) to decomposition and approximation of aerosol size spectral distribution are presented. The experimental measurements were done during two research cruises in the Baltic Sea and during a coastal experiment in Lubiatowo in 1994. The main finding is that aerosol size distribution can be presented as a superposition of a slowly varying background of dust-like particles and a further distribution of sea-spray-sized particles multiplied by amplitude functions reflecting the contribution of marine aerosols. The amplitude is dependent on wind speed, wind direction and fetch. Decrease in aerosol size distribution amplitude with increasing wind speed was found when air fetch over the sea exceeded 400 km. The opposite tendency of increase in aerosol size distribution amplitude was found when air fetch over the water was not longer than 50 km.
Nonlinear Baroclinic Dynamics of Surface Cyclones Crossing a Zonal Jet

Mechanisms leading a synoptic surface cyclone to cross an upper-level zonal jet and its subsequent deepening are investigated using a two-layer model on a b plane. The baroclinic interaction of a low-level circular cyclonic perturbation with an upper-level one is first studied in vertical and horizontal cyclonic or anticyclonic uniform shears. A first nonlinear effect acting on the shape and energetics of the perturbations is analyzed. If the background shear is anticyclonic, the perturbations are stretched horizontally; they lose energy barotropically but gain it baroclinically by a well-maintained westward tilt with height. Conversely, if the shear is cyclonic, perturbations remain quite isotropic, but they do not keep a favorable vertical tilt with time and the baroclinic interaction is thus only transient. The latitudinal motion of the perturbations also results from a nonlinear effect. It is found to depend strongly on the background potential vorticity (PV) gradient. This effect is a baroclinic equivalent of the so-called nonlinear barotropic ‘‘b drift’’ and combines the nonlinear advection and vertical stretching terms. These results are confirmed when the anomalies are initially located south of a confined westerly jet. The poleward shift of the lower cyclonic anomaly occurs faster when the vertically averaged PV gradient is strongly positive, which happens when the jet has a large barotropic component. The lower anomaly crosses the jet from the warm to the cold side and deepens afterward. After a detailed description of this regeneration process with the help of an energy budget, it is shown that linear dynamics are not able to reproduce such behavior.
Responses and response evaluation of immune checkpoint inhibitors in lymphoma

The survival and growth of lymphoma cells relies on suppression of antitumor immunity through interactions between the tumor microenvironment and lymphoma cells. These are mediated by a network of inhibitory and stimulatory receptors that deliver signals as part of the maintenance of peripheral tolerance. The most studied pathway is the B7-1/B7-2:CD28/CTLA-4 (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4) pathway. Different molecules of this pathway are upregulated in lymphoma contributing to T-cell exhaustion and anergy and allowing tumor escape from the immune mechanisms. Additional activating and inhibitory signals modulate this pathway, and the inhibitory signal provided by the PD-L1/PD-L2:PD-1 (programmed cell death 1) axis has been found to be particularly important. PD-1 inhibitors promote immune activation and have recently been approved for the treatment of classical Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) that has relapsed after autologous stem-cell transplantation (SCT) and treatment with brentuximab vedotin. The clinical trials that led to their approval showed objective response (OR) rates over 70% and responses were durable. Less impressive responses have been described in non-HL due to the differences in the biology and composition of tumor microenvironment of these two types of lymphoma. Recently the response criteria were redesigned to reflect immune changes in the tumors caused by the medications used. Ongoing and future studies are focusing on the development of biomarkers for response assessment.
Using Ferrous Ion for the Reductive Degradation of Hexavalent Chromium

This paper discusses the toxicity and mobility of chromium species. And it presents the extent and kinetics of reductive remediation of hexavalent chromium, Cr+ using ferrous ion, Fe2+. Molar ratios of 1:3 and 1:6 of Cr (VI) to Fe (II) were used. Integral method of data analysis showed reaction followed second-order kinetics with R square values near unity. Reaction was initially fast but with a rapid precipitation attributed to Cr (III)-Fe (III) in previous studies. This colloidal precipitate ultimately stops the reaction, which explains while conversion efficiency increases with increased molar ratio of Cr (VI) to Fe (II). The impact of pH was investigated by adjusting the Cr (VI)-Fe (II) medium to pH 2.78, 5.24, 7.00, 9.00 and 11.96 using predetermined drops of acid or base. Reaction was more rapid under alkaline conditions with higher extent of degradation consistent with previous research. In soil system, mass transfer limitation was hardly noticed as high extent of reduction was recorded relative to aqueous phase. The high solubility of Cr (VI) aided the release into the aqueous media for reduction by ferrous sulfate.
Taiwanese Sixth Graders’ Achievement Goals and Their Motivation, Strategy Use, and Grades: An Examination of the Multiple Goal Perspective

Using the trichotomous framework of achievement goals, in the present study I investigated the effects of different combinations of achievement goals on Taiwanese sixth graders’ motivation, strategy use, and performance. 242 students completed a self‐report survey assessing their achievement goal orientations and a range of outcomes including intrinsic motivation, self‐handicapping, and the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies. I collected students’ grades from school records at the end of the semester. Results suggested that mastery goals were positively associated with Taiwanese students’ motivation, cognitive engagement, and grades, regardless of their level of performance‐approach orientation. Also, results validated the theoretical distinction within performance goals proposed by recently revised goal theory, that is, that performance‐approach and performance‐avoidance goals may lead to different consequences for motivation, cognition, and achievement. Specifically, performance‐approach goals were adaptive in terms of children’s use of cognitive strategies and their grades, whereas performance‐avoidance goals were related to students’ maladaptive motivation, namely, self‐handicapping. Implications for education and future research are discussed.
Analysis of Informal Obstacles to Cross-Border Economic Activity in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

The barriers to trade in developing countries constitute one of the major obstacles to economic development and growth. This study aims at addressing the issues surrounding the prevalence of informal trade barriers in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. While it appears to be logical that the strongest economies of Central Asia should increase trade volume with neighboring countries, in reality the potential for intensifying cross-border trade is barely being realized. This paper attempts to shed light on trade barriers in key industries in both countries, including manufacturing, transport, and agriculture. As can be seen from this study, these industries experience different types of restrictions and varying degrees of state intervention in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The paper places special emphasis on informal barriers and the tools companies use to overcome those barriers. The paper is based on a survey of a total of 108 companies in both countries and the output of a roundtable discussion in Kazakhstan with representatives of companies and other experts in the above-mentioned industries.