Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Private School Vouchers and Student Achievement: An Evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program

In 1990, Wisconsin became the first state in the country to provide vouchers to low income students to attend non-sectarian private schools. In this paper, I use a variety of estimation strategies and samples to estimate the effect of the program on math and reading scores. First, since schools selected students randomly from among their applicants if the school was oversubscribed, I compare the academic achievement of students who were selected to those who were not selected. Second, I present instrumental variables estimates of the effectiveness of private schools (relative to public schools) using the initial selection as an instrumental variable for attendance at a private school. Finally, I used a fixed-effects strategy to compare students enrolled in the private schools to a sample of students from the Milwaukee public schools. I find that the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program appears to have had a positive effect on the math achievement of those who attended a private school; but had no benefits for reading scores. I have found the results to be fairly robust to data imputations and sample attrition, however these limitations should be kept in mind when interpreting the results.
La société civile au service de l’alphabétisation au Maroc. Quel engagement pour quels résultats ?

Avec plus d’un tiers de la population adulte declaree analphabete, le Maroc fait face a un analphabetisme de masse qui pese lourdement sur son developpement economique et social. Afin de relever ce defi, les pouvoirs publics ont cherche a diversifier l’offre, notamment en impliquant la societe civile. Base sur une recherche empirique, cet article traite de l’efficacite comparee des ONG par rapport aux autres principaux operateurs de l’alphabetisation. Les resultats mettent en evidence les caracteristiques individuelles et contextuelles les plus favorables a l’alphabetisation. La strategie du « faire-faire » doit etre consolidee par une politique volontariste de professionnalisation du secteur, en stabilisant le corps des formateurs et en instituant un pilotage de proximite base sur des indicateurs perennes de qualite, tant au niveau des apprentissages acquis qu’a celui de leur durabilite, de leurs usages et de leurs impacts.
Validation of extended theory of reasoned action to predict mobile phone money usage

Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), postulated by social psychologist, has been established to be relevant in guiding Information Systems studies. The theory resulted from attitude research using the Expectancy Value Models. Therefore, TRA can be more effective if extended with additional determinants/constructs of systems use. The purpose of this study was to validate the additional constructs expected to strengthen TRA. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in compilation of this paper. Additional determinants have therefore been validated using correlation and are illustrated in this article to demonstrate their effects on technology use in an Information Systems discourse. To achieve this, the authors used the findings from a study that was conducted in setting that presented rural urban characteristics, varied social economic characteristic as well as the varied age sets. The paper puts clearly the possibility of applying the theory of reasoned action in an information systems discourse, with additional constructs, giving birth to the Extended Theory of Reasoned Action.
Effective optical depth as a means of simplifying radiation-conduction analysis

Analysis of any heat transfer problem that includes thermal radiation with absorption and emission is always complicated by the “action-at-a-distance” nature of thermal radiation. This implies that the entire temperature field has to be determined simultaneously rather than focusing on a single location and the immediate neighborhood about that location as in a conduction-only problem. This paper introduces the concept of the effective optical depth (EOD) which limits the range about a location over which a solution is conducted rather than solving the entire temperature field at once. In this study, we investigate the error introduced in the solution of a planar, gray, radiation-conduction heat transfer problem with black and grey boundaries for a range of EOD/optical thickness ratio from 0.01 to 10 and conduction-radiation parameter from 0.01 to 10. In general, the accuracy of the predicted temperature profiles and total heat flux was within a few percentage points and was observed to be as high as 10% for small EOD/optical thickness ratios. Computational times using the finite element method were estimated to be 12.5% or less using the EOD as compared to solving the entire temperature field for each element. This savings in computational time may justify the small errors introduced by using the EOD approximation. Nomenclature A – Area, m 2
The effect of mood on attention to global and local characteristics of music

The effect of mood on global and local processing was studied in 60 undergraduate psychology students, half of which were randomly assigned to a positive condition and the other half to a negative condition. Each participant carried out same-different judgements on pairs of melodies that were either the same, or altered globally or locally. Key findings included significant differences in performance for all melodies; however despite a trend for enhanced local processing in a negative mood compared to a positive mood, the effect of mood on global and local processing failed to reach statistical significance. These findings suggest that mood may not have a strong influence on processing in auditory perception.
Doctoral Students' Sense of Relational Agency in Their Scholarly Communities.

The literature emphasizes the importance of integrating doctoral students into scholarly communities and practices at the very beginning of their studies. Although the importance of student participation in a scholarly community has been recognized empirical evidence concerning the quality of participation that promotes such engagement is scarce. This study focuses on exploring doctoral students’ sense of relational agency in terms of their scholarly communities and how this is related to study persistence and experienced socio-psychological well-being. Altogether 669 doctoral candidates from three faculties (humanities, medicine, and behavioural sciences) from a large research-intensive Finnish University completed a doctoral student survey. The results showed that a minority of the students perceived themselves as active relational agents in terms of their scholarly communities. However, students who perceived themselves as active relational agents experienced less lack of interest in their studies, less negative emotions, and less often considered abandoning their studies than students who perceived themselves as passive objects in their communities.
MANET: Vulnerabilities, Challenges, Attacks, Application

Mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) is one of the most promising fields for research and development of wireless network. As the popularity of mobile device and wireless networks significantly increased over the past years, wireless ad-hoc networks has now become one of the most vibrant and active field of communication and networks. Due to severe challenges, the special features of MANET bring this technology great opportunistic together. This paper describes the fundamental problems of ad hoc network by giving its related research background including the concept, features, status, and vulnerabilities of MANET. This paper presents an overview and the study of the routing protocols. Also include the several challenging issues, emerging application and the future trends of MANET.
Differences between e-commerce buyers and non-buyers in Colombia: The moderating effect of educational level and socioeconomic status on electronic purchase intention

Este estudio explora las diferencias entre compradores y no compradores en la adopcion de la intencion de compra electronica en Colombia. Basado en la Teoria Unificada de Aceptacion y Uso de la Tecnologia (UTAUT), se establece un modelo teorico que incluye cinco variables: Expectativas de Rendimiento, Expectativas de Esfuerzo, Influencia Social, Condiciones Facilitantes y Riesgo. Los resultados empiricos obtenidos de una muestra final de 1.836 encuestas, resaltan la alta importancia de las Expectativas de Rendimiento que puede dar este canal comercial para ambos grupos, asi mismo la Influencia Social es otro factor determinante de la compra electronica. Asi mismo, se realizo un estudio exploratorio del efecto moderador del nivel de estudios y nivel socioeconomico para cada grupo, encontrandose fuertes indicios de influencia de estas variables demograficas, lo cual permite suponer como conclusion de gran aporte para este pais, que el acceso a la compra electronica esta relacionada fuertemente con el estatus social
Quality and safety of milk from farm to dairy product

Neutrophils (PMN cells) constitute one of the main cell types in milk. Increased PMN level is an indication of mastitis. An ELISA method has been developed to determine PMN levels in milk. This may allow (in addition to somatic cell count [SCC]) selection of infected quarters at drying off, thereby allowing antibiotic therapy to be limited to those quarters. PMN counts may also be used to select milk for processing. Little information is available on the contribution of different somatic cells in milk to cheesemaking efficiency. The overall objective of this study was to establish the influence of the quality of raw milk, as determined by somatic cell level and type, on milk biochemistry and cheese quality. The work firstly included modification to a method for an enzyme immunoassay, which could enumerate milk PMN. Subsequently, the impact of somatic cell and PMN content on biochemistry of individual udder quarter milks and simulated bulk cow milks, and quality of cheese manufactured from such milks was investigated. The somatic cell and PMN content of bulk herd milks was also investigated. The modification to the test of O’Sullivan et al (1992) allowed the accurate measurement of PMN levels in milk. The strong relationship or correlation between SCC and PMN of 92% in the individual quarter milks has confirmed previous preliminary data. This is important since PMN in conjunction with SCC may now provide a more reliable method of selecting milks for processing. The reduction in casein at elevated SCC and PMN levels may have resulted in the trend towards deteriorated milk coagulation properties. A very heterogeneous selection of proteolysis patterns was observed in the miniature cheeses. This substantial difference in proteolytic activity in milk from different quarters had not been observed previously. Enzymes associated with the cells in high SCC milk were retained in the cheese curd and thus, contributed to proteolysis during ripening. Addition of low volumes of high SCC milk had an obvious impact on proteolysis patterns and cheese ripening. However, such trends were generally less clear with increasing PMN milk than those observed for addition of high SCC milk. The poor correlation between SCC and PMN obtained in both cow and herd bulk milks, compared to the correlation in quarter milks was probably due to the mixing of high and low SCC milks from either quarters or cows. Thus, the true effect of PMN may not be observed in bulk herd milk but may still have an adverse effect on milk quality. Whether elevated bulk milk SCC and PMN level is due to milk from a smaller number of cows with extremely high SCC/PMN being included with milk from a predominantly healthy herd, or, to large numbers of cows with sub-clinical infections, probably contributes to variation in the effects of SCC/PMN on dairy products.
The effect of Marmara earthquake on financial institutions

Bu calismanin amaci, “olay calismasi” yontemi kullanmak suretiyle, IMKB’de islem gormekte olan finansal sektor hisselerinin getirileri uzerinde, buyuk Marmara depreminin yarattigi etkiyi olcebilmektir. Sonuclar, depremin bu hisseler uzerinde kayda deger buyuklukte negatif bir “artik getiri” olusturduguna isaret etmektedir. Inceleme kapsamindaki tum sigorta sektoru hisselerinde yuksek anlamlilik duzeyinde negatif “artik getiriler” gozlenmistir. Bankacilik sektoru hisselerinde de negatif “artik getiriler” gozlenmis olmakla birlikte, anlamlilik duzeyleri daha dusuk bulunmustur.
PLANT GROWTH PROMOTING AND ANTAGONISTIC TRAITS OF INDIGENOUS FLUORESCENT PSEUDOMONAS SPP. ISOLATED FROM WHEAT RHIZOSPHERE AND A. HALIMUS ENDOSPHERE

Fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. are an important group of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). They increase the growth of their host plant directly or indirectly. In this study, 3 Fluorescent pseudomonads were isolated from the wheat rhizosphere and one from the endophyte of the halophyte Atriplex halimus. Based on biochemical, physiological reactions and 16S rRNA gene sequences, the isolates were identified as Pseudomonas putida AF2, P. aeruginosa RB5, P. fluorescens RB13 and P. aeruginosa EH4. These strains and P. fluorescens CHA0 were screened for their PGPR activities. All the strains solubilized phosphate with a maximum of 187.9 μg / ml. P. fluorescens CHA0 produced a significant amount (88.37μg/ml) of IAA. The siderophores production by all the strains was proved and the percent of production varied from 38 to 46. The strains produced HCN, protease and amylase. Mycelial growth of F. oxysporum and A. alternata was strongly reduced in the presence of antagonistic fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. , with the inhibition rate varying between 25 to 38% and 17 to 27%, respectively. On the basis of excellent growth promoter, biocontrol activities, the fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. tested could be applied as inoculants of wheat for sustainable agriculture in salty soils.
BETTER INFERENCES FROM POPULATION-DYNAMICS EXPERIMENTS USING MONTE CARLO STATE-SPACE LIKELIHOOD METHODS

In experimental population ecology, there is often a gap between realistic models used to hypothesize about population dynamics and statistical models used to analyze data. Ecologists routinely conduct experiments where the data from each replicate are short time series of estimated population abundances structured by stage, species, and/or other information, and the conventional test for treatment effects uses a general linear model (GLM) such as analysis of variance (ANOVA). However, GLMs do not incorporate demographic relationships between abundances through time. An alternative is to use population-dynamics models as frameworks for statistical hypothesis testing. This approach requires general methods for fitting structured population models that can incorporate both process noise (stochastic dynamics) and observation error (inaccurate data). This paper presents such methods and compares them to GLMs for testing population-dynamics hypotheses from experiments. The methods are Monte Carlo state-space l.
PUNISHMENT IN ADHD AND DEPRESSION i Sensitivity to reward and punishment in relation to symptoms of adult ADHD and depression in a non-clinical sample

The present study examined reward and punishment sensitivity using a signal-detection task that gave either equal frequencies of rewards and unequal frequencies of punishments (punishment sensitivity) or unequal frequencies of rewards and equal frequencies of punishments (reward sensitivity). Participants were from a non-clinical population but were screened using scales of adult attention deficit/hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) symptoms. In Experiment 1, participants screened as Adult ADHD displayed significantly higher reward sensitivity than controls, but there were no differences between participants screened as mildly or moderately-or-above depressed and controls. There were no significant differences in punishment sensitivity between Adult ADHD or MDD groups and controls. Experiment 2 modified the task to reduce inherent bias, and scales of reward and punishment sensitivity (BIS/BAS Scales from Carver & White, 1994) were included to compare to the scales of ADHD and MDD. Participants screened with MDD displayed significantly higher reward sensitivity than controls. Their punishment sensitivity was also lower than controls, but this difference was not significant. Participants screened with Adult ADHD displayed higher reward sensitivity, but this difference was not significant. There were no differences between the Adult ADHD participants and controls’ punishment sensitivity. Across both experiments, ADHD and MDD symptoms were correlated, and there was an unexpectedly high numbers of participants screened as Adult ADHD or depressed. Scores on the BIS/BAS scales did not correlate with response bias on the task, and only weakly correlated with ADHD and MDD symptoms. The present study provides some evidence that ADHD and MDD may be related to reward and punishment sensitivity abnormalities; but a clinical sample may be necessary to show strong effects. REWARD & PUNISHMENT IN ADHD AND DEPRESSION iv Table of
EXAMPLES OF THE EFFECT OF MAGNETIC SOIL ENVIRONMENTS ON TIME DOMAIN ELECTROMAGNETIC DATA

During September 2004 a field study was carried out on the Hawa iian Island of Kaho’olawe to explore various aspects of the effect of magnetic soils on time domain electromagnetic (TEM) measurements. This field work was in support of two Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program funded research projects (UX1355 and UX1414) whose goals are to investigate the source and spatial variability of magnetic soil anomalies, to create a methodology for modelling the response of magnetic soils, and to develop TEM data collection techniques that can better discriminate between the response of magnetic soils and unexploded ordnance (UXO). Detailed electromagnetic surveys were carried out at a test site on the island. The data from the surveys verify the commonly held belief that magnetic variations in the soil can complicate the identification of UXO. However, the data a lso show that short wavelength variations in the TEM response due to micro-topographic variations and coil orientation effects can generate responses that could mask a UXO and/or result in a false positive. An overview of the surveys, a discussion of preliminary results and some practical recommendations for surveying in magnetic soil environments will be presented.
Influences of Problem Posing Method and Conventional Method on Problem-Solving Ability in High-School Student

This research is in the background by base of flexible level of student during a process of learning, which is still happening in the field. Base responsive level of student can be seen as the result of economic test value class XII IPS Year lesson 2017/2018. The purpose of this research is to know the difference of problem-solving ability using problem posing method with the conventional methods in SMAN 1 Parongpong Regency West Bandung. Approach in this research is quantitative with quasi experiment method. The result of the data analysis shows that there are differences of problem-solving ability of students using problem posing method with the conventional methods of the subject of market economics (demand, supply, and price of equilibrium) Based on the result from this research, it is suggested to use problem posing method to improve problem-
An Examination of Sudden Warming Events Associated with Cold Fronts in Iowa

Abrupt temperature increases have been documented accompanying the passage of some cold fronts. These warming events can raise the temperature by as much as 4C in mere minutes, and can sometimes last hours. Previous studies in Oklahoma, focused primarily on nocturnal periods, have indicated that these events are caused by strong winds associated with frontal passage mixing warm, elevated air down to the surface. This study examined front-associated warming events, both nocturnal and diurnal, at five airports in Iowa from 2014 to 2016. Strong warming events were found to be rare and restricted mostly to nighttime hours. Altogether, 11.2% of cold fronts during this period produced at least one warming event. Fall months recorded the most events, and had the highest frequency of warming when normalized for total frontal passages. A coarse spatial analysis also found that warming events were more common in north-central Iowa. Comparisons between warming events and control periods revealed that warming generally occurred in the presence of weaker initial winds and stronger low-level thermal inversions. These results align with previous studies indicating that shallow inversions play a role in development of these events. They also show that while daytime warming events are rare, they do exist. Spatial results also suggest possible topographic influences, given the prevalence of warming events over Iowa’s flatter, more open areas. ______________________________________________________________________________
Corporate Governance Quality and Cost of Equity in Financial Companies

There are many studies demonstrating how good corporate governance positively affects the economic-financial performance of companies, but few which examine the relationship between corporate governance and cost of equity capital. These mainly focus on multiple industries, and suggest that there are positive shareholder value implications for firms with stronger corporate governance mechanisms. This paper investigates the relationship between the quality of governance and the cost of equity in financial companies. It finds that financial companies with the best governance (both "internal" and "external") are associated with a higher cost of equity capital.
THE PROSODY PRODUCED BY SPANISH-ENGLISH BILINGUALS: A PRELIMINAY INVESTIGATIO AND IMPLICATIONS FOR SENTENCE PROCESSING

This investigation compares the prosody produced in Spanish and English by bilinguals and monolinguals, in utterances of target sentences containing the RC attachment ambiguity. The bilingual data approach the monolingual patterns in some aspects of both phrasing and intonation, but depart from the monolingual patterns in others. Phrasing pattern differences are most likely sourced in performance limitations, while differences in intonation patterns are attributable to underlying competence repositories. The implications of these findings for bilingual sentence processing research will be discussed.
WOODY NECROMASS STOCK IN MIXED OMBROPHILOUS FOREST USING DIFFERENT SAMPLING METHODS

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to quantify the necromass stock in a Mixed Ombrophilous Forest (MOF) fragment in the National Forest of Irati, State of Paraná, Brazil. Two sampling methods were tested: FA1, consisting of a fixed area (FA) approach with sample units measuring 2,500 m2 (50 m × 50 m); and FA2, consisting of fixed area sampling units measuring 500 m2 (10 m × 50 m) and line intercept sampling (LI) using 50 m lines. Data were collected on permanent sample plots installed in the area, consisting of 25 square blocks of 1 ha. Fallen dead wood pieces with a diameter = 10 cm were used in the analysis. The dead wood was classified into three degrees of decomposition, and masses were calculated as the corresponding density at each class. The tested sampling methods were evaluated using coefficient of variation and relative sampling error, and the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the results between the methods. Volume size of fallen dead wood did not statistically differ between the methods, but variation in necromass volume was lower in the FA1 method, whereas the FA2 method had a smaller sampling error. Overall sampling error ranged from 23.4-27.92%; lowering the sampling error to 15% would require a high sampling intensity (FA1: 42 area units [a.u.], FA2: 99 a.u., and LI: 236 a.u.). Total necromass weights amounted to 4.67 Mg.ha-1 (FA1); 5.16 Mg.ha-1 (FA2) and 4.58 Mg.ha-1 (IL), and carbon stock estimates were 2.00 Mg.C. ha-1 (FA1); 2.20 Mg.C. ha-1 (FA2) and 1.96 Mg.C. ha-1 (IL).