Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Economic and social effects of the dynamics of public expenditure at a state university

Our interest in developing this scientific approach has started from the impact that Higher Education has on the social and economic growth which positively affects employability and labour market mobility. In this respect, from the analysis carried out on the dynamics of public expenditure at a State university, we have concluded that it coincides with the evolution at national level, therefore it is necessary that the current economic conditions pay attention to increasing the efficiency of costs on education, Romanian Higher Education is expected and it should play a fundamental role in asserting a national society of knowledge and learning.
ORCONECTES LIMOSUS COLONISES NEW AREAS FAST ALONG THE DANUBE IN HUNGARY

Introduced species are one of the most important anthropogenic impacts on freshwater ecosystems with many direct and indirect effects on native taxa. Among other invasive groups, such as plants, mussels and fish, several alien Decapoda species have also spread successfully in Europe in the last 110 years. In Hungary three native (Astacus astacus, Astacus leptodactylus, Austropotamobius torrentium) and three alien Decapoda species, namely Orconectes limosus, Pacifastacus leniusculus and Eriocheir sinensis are known to be present. O. limosus, which had been tried for use in crayfish farming in the 1950s, was the first to occur in the country’s natural waters. Initially it was found in the Danube at river km 1,653 at Budapest in 1985. Since then, it has been spreading fast and populations have reached high abundances. By 1998, it was already in the Gemenc section of the river colonising five 50 km × 50 km UTM squares. In the early 2000s it was also found at Mohacs (and further downstream in Croatia), in canals in the Great Hungarian Plain and in the River Ipoly, which added three new 50 km × 50 km UTM squares to its previously known distribution area in the Carpathian Basin. On the basis of the available records from the past 20 years, the downstream colonisation speed of this decapod was calculated to be more than 13 km yr –1 , but if its presence at Kopacsi ret/Kopacki rit in Croatia is also taken into consideration, it is over 16 km yr –1 . It is unknown, however, how much this process was helped by deliberate introductions, if at all. Besides the main watercourse of Hungary, O. limosus is also common in its lowland tributaries and spreading towards Lake Balaton along the Sio canal. However, it has not been recorded entering mountain streams in the Danube Bend, where A. torrentium lives, which is important for the conservation of that native species. If O. limosus spreads with the same speed and distribution pattern in the Carpathian Basin, it may colonise large rivers such as the River Tisza, their lowland tributaries and canals in the near future. Based on the present situation, O. limosus is likely to threaten A. astacus populations especially in the southern part of Transdanubia, perhaps leading to the elimination of some populations, but less likely to affect A. torrentium living in the mountains of the Danube Bend.
Domestic and international border effects : state size matters

International borders hinder trade flows. Similarly, studies have found that domestic borders between U.S. states also appear to deter trade. We investigate the sensitivity of international and domestic border effects to the economic size of individual states. We consider a unique data set of exports from individual U.S. states to foreign countries and combine it with trade flows between U.S. states. We find that the larger the U.S. state, the smaller its international border effect and the smaller its domestic border effect. In addition, when states are aggregated into larger U.S. Census divisions, both the international and the domestic border effects become smaller. We use a general equilibrium gravity model to show that aggregation systematically leads to smaller estimated border effects such that all else being equal, larger regions are associated with smaller border effects. Our results cast doubt on the interpretation of border effects as typically estimated in the literature. JEL classification: F10, F15, R12
Awareness of Students on the Usefulness of ICT Toolsin Education: Case of EMU

The importance of technology and its adoption has widely turned out to be a norm in the conventional classroom for both teachers and learners. Preliminary researches have shown that educational institutions have adopted Information Communication Technology (ICT) in their teaching/learning process. There are many researches that have been conducted to find out the level of students’ awareness on the use of ICT tools, and the factors affecting ICT diffusion on the part of the students’ education. The study was conducted at the Information Technology (IT) Department of Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) in Northern Cyprus. The significance of this research focused on investigating EMU IT students’ awareness on the use of ICT tools in education by considering factors like skills in usage of ICT tools, purpose of usage etc., based on various variables like age, gender and class levels of the participants. The study also elaborates the basic trends of ICT, and the sync between ICT and education for pedagogical development. Data were elicited from 120 participants through the use of a questionnaire containing 54 ICT related questions and five openended interview questions. The analyses showed that there is a significant difference between male and female respondents on their awareness of the use of ICT tools, where female students proved to be more active on the adoption of such tools. In addition, a significant difference was also observed between students’ age where the younger students displayed to be more active in the usage of such ICT tool.
Can learning to read and write change the brain organization? An electrophysiological study

It has been suggested that learning how to read and write during childhood influences the functional organization of the adult human brain. In the present study, cortical evoked potentials (ERPs) to a probe click stimulus were used to assess the extent of activation of the two cerebral hemispheres during a verbal memory task in literate and illiterate subjects. Left‐hemisphere attenuation during the experimental condition was found in both groups. These findings suggest that for the illiterate subjects, left hemisphere predominantly mediates language processing. However, during the verbal memory task, significant intrahemispheric differences between groups were found at parieto‐temporal areas. Results seem to indicate that learning how to read and write demands an intrahemispheric specialization with an important activation of parieto‐temporal areas. These data support the view that the brains of illiterate subjects show patterns of activation that are different from those of literate subjects, thus refle.
Does the low frequency variability of mesoscale dynamics explain a part of the phytoplankton and zooplankton spectral variability?

Observational studies of the last 20 years have revealed a spatial distribution of phytoplankton characterized by a wavenumber spectrum whose slope ranges between k−1 and k−3 (with k being the wavenumber), over horizontal scales ranging from 10 to 100 km. This strong spectral variability can be due either to the physics and/or to the biology. We show in this note that the low frequency variability (LFV) linked to the mesoscale dynamics may explain a significant part of the observed variability. Our numerical results also suggest that the difference between the phytoplankton and zooplankton spectral slopes can depend on the dynamical LFV.
INTOXICATED WITNESSES TO IPV: The Effects of Alcohol Intoxication and Repeated Interviewing on Perceived Aggression

Title: Intoxicated witnesses to IPV: the effects of alcohol intoxication and repeated interviewing on perceived aggression. Author: Johan Green Supervisor: Anneli Larsson Examiner: Abby Peterson Type of thesis: Master thesis in Criminology, 30 higher education credits Date: VT 2018 Aims and objectives: Many witnesses law-practitioners deal with are intoxicated, especially witnesses to violent crime such as intimate partner violence. There is little research, however, regarding how alcohol influences witnesses’ perception of aggression and how interview strategy can moderate this influence. This study examined to what extent alcohol intoxication and time of interview affected perceived aggression in an intimate partner violence scenario. Method and data: One hundred and thirty-five (n = 135) participants were randomly allocated into one of three groups based on blood alcohol content (BAC); a non-alcohol group, a moderate alcohol group (BAC = 0,04 – 0,08) or a high alcohol group (BAC = 0,08 – 0,15). Participants consumed drinks either containing juice and vodka or only juice in a laboratory setting after which they witnessed a film depicting a staged IPV scenario. The interview condition was operationalized by interviewing fifty percent of the participants twice; once in direct association to the film and again one week later. The other fifty percent were only interviewed after a one-week delay. Results: Results indicated that during the direct interview, moderately intoxicated witnesses rated neutral demeanor in the film as more hostile and physical aggression as less severe compared to sober witnesses. During the repeated interview, the ratings of intoxicated and sober witnesses did not differ. Highly intoxicated participants did not differ from the sober during the direct interview but suffered memory loss during the delayed interview and rated aggression as less severe. The repeated interview resulted in a more stable aggression assessment than the delayed, highlighting the import of repeated interviewing for intoxicated witnesses. Criminological relevance and future research are discussed.
Dependence of static dielectric constant of silicon on resistivity at room temperature

The static dielectric constant of the heavily doped silicon at room temperature is considered. By using phosphorus as an example, the existing expression for the static dielectric constant at low temperatures is recast into a form suitable for the application at room temperature. This is done by taking into account the contribution of non-ionized impurities at room temperature to the static dielectric constant behavior.
Persistence of Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) lekking areas depends on forest cover and fine-grain fragmentation of boreal forest landscapes

We studied the effects of habitat loss, fragmentation and their interaction on the persis-tence of Capercaillie lekking areas at three study areas in Finland. We inspected a total of 381 leks twice with an interval of 10–30 years, and classified them as persisting versus ceased leks. We attempted to explain the persistence of Capercaillie leks with forest cover and fine-grain fragmentation at two spatial scales (within 1,000 m and 3,000 m from the leks) by using satellite-image based forest-inventory data. We statistically removed the effect of forest cover from the measure of fragmentation, and used information-theoreti-cal model selection to evaluate a set of logistic regression analyses. Fine-grain forest frag-mentation had a positive effect on lek persistence. Forest cover positively affected lek per-sistence only when considering the landscapes surrounding the leks (within 3,000 m radius). In addition, we found a significant negative interaction between forest cover and fragmentation. Under conditions of low forest cover, patch configuration may become in-creasingly important for the persistence of lekking areas. According to our results, the most effective management strategies for Capercaillie lekking areas include maximizing the amount of forest around the lekking areas, and encouraging mosaic-like variability of the forest.
The Transformation Process of Cocoa Farmers Groups to Agro-industry Groups in Indonesia: a Soft System Methodology Approach

Development of cocoa agro-industry groups have been conducted by the government of Indonesia, but the growth has not been well planned. Establishment of the agro-industrial cocoa group is a form of cocoa downstream policies undertaken by the government, but the formation process is not well ordered. Cocoa processing group has existed, but still weak in institutional. It required a study how to establish an agro-industry group of cocoa. This study uses soft system methodology as the backbone for building a model of growth and development of an agro-industry group of cocoa. Results of a study using a soft systems methodology-approach has identified three (3) parts that constitute the system of purposeful human activity which relevant to problematic situations in the growth of the group agroindustrial cocoa, namely: (1) Growth group agroindustrial cocoa from the groups that existed in community; (2) Ranking of cocoa agro-industry group based on the needs and advancement of technology in the context of technology incentives; and; and (3) institutional patterns of internal (management, transaction systems) in order to strengthen institutional cocoa agro-industry group. This study also resulted in a conceptual model which is then compared with real world conditions and then developed into a growth model of agro-industrial group based technology incentives from the government.
Quantum principle of sensing gravitational waves: From the zero-point fluctuations to the cosmological stochastic background of spacetime

We carry out a theoretical investigation on the collective dynamics of an ensemble of correlated atoms, subject to both vacuum fluctuations of spacetime and stochastic gravitational waves. A general approach is taken with the derivation of a quantum master equation capable of describing arbitrary confined nonrelativistic matter systems in an open quantum gravitational environment. It enables us to relate the spectral function for gravitational waves and the distribution function for quantum gravitational fluctuations and to indeed introduce a new spectral function for the zero-point fluctuations of spacetime. The formulation is applied to two-level identical bosonic atoms in an off-resonant high-Q cavity that effectively inhibits undesirable electromagnetic delays, leading to a gravitational transition mechanism through certain quadrupole moment operators. The overall relaxation rate before reaching equilibrium is found to generally scale collectively with the number N of atoms. However, we are also able to identify certain states of which the decay and excitation rates with stochastic gravitational waves and vacuum spacetime fluctuations amplify more significantly with a factor of N². Using such favorable states as a means of measuring both conventional stochastic gravitational waves and novel zero-point spacetime fluctuations, we determine the theoretical lower bounds for the respective spectral functions. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings on future observations of gravitational waves of a wider spectral window than currently accessible. Especially, the possible sensing of the zero-point fluctuations of spacetime could provide an opportunity to generate initial evidence and further guidance of quantum gravity.
Minimizing Teacher Transfer Requests: A Study of Suba District Secondary Schools, Kenya.

Teacher transfer requests interfere with the stability and continuity of teaching thereby causing low student performance. The purpose of the study was to investigate how teacher transfer requests can be minimized. The study employed a descriptive survey design. The population of the study included 16 head teachers, 126 teachers and the provincial staffing officer. The sample had 13 head teachers, 98 teachers and the provincial staffing officer after 30% of the stratified population were involved in the pilot. The 3 strata were rural location, urban location and the school located within the Islands, which had diverse working conditions. However, 29 (30%) of the teachers were randomly sampled for interviews. The data were collected using questionnaires as well as interview schedules. The study revealed that teacher transfer requests could be reduced if transport and communication to schools was improved; electricity and houses were made available to teachers; teachers employed from the locality and posted next to their families, class sizes were reduced, teacher induction and mentoring programs encouraged, retention bonuses instituted and teachers involved in decision making at school level. The study recommended that the government should provide electricity and improve accessibility in Suba district by improving roads; school boards should facilitate the availability of housing facilities to teachers. More teachers should be employed through decentralized system to reduce student teacher ratio. The head teachers and school managements should adopt induction programs to support new teachers and provide retention bonuses for teachers to make them want to stay longer. Key words: Teacher transfer, mobility, retention.
Evaluation and association mapping of agronomic traits for drought tolerance in sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]

Drought is the major sorghum production constraint in Ethopia which necessitates the identification of sorghum genotypes that carry genes (quantitative trait locus, QTL) associated with drought tolerance thereby developing drought tolerant sorghum varieties. The objectives of this study were to identify drought tolerant sorghum genotypes, map chromosomal regions (QTLs) associated with agronomically important traits and identify simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers tightly linked with these QTLs. One hundred and sixty (160) sorghum genotypes (152 landraces and 8 released varieties) were genotyped with 39 SSRs markers and evaluated in the field at Kobo in the off-season using an alpha lattice design replicated three times. Phenotypic data including days to 50% flowering, plant height, panicle weight, grain weight, grain weight per panicle, panicle harvest index, one thousand grain weight and number of grains per panicle were collected. Analysis of variance showed highly significant (P 0.2 for 33 evaluated loci pairs. Population structure analysis showed that there were four distinct clusters in the studied materials. A total of 10 marker-trait associations were identified using seven different SSR markers. The percentage of the total variation explained by the markers ranged from 2.6% (Xtxp114 with THGT) to 17.76% (Xtxp145 with PHT). The seven SSR markers (xcup53, bSbCIR223, Xtxp114, mSbCIR248, Xtxp145, Xtxp278, and gbsp123) were located on chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8, respectively, each chromosome harboring one marker. Most of the identified markers were localized in chromosomal positions that have been previously reported as positions for drought tolerance-related traits, supporting the present findings. The results of this study can serve as initial effort for the association mapping studies in sorghum particularly in Ethiopia as the associated SSR markers are potential candidates for marker-assisted selection to improve drought tolerance in sorghum. However, as this study is the first attempt in the identification of QTLs for drought tolerance using association mapping, the identified QTLs need to be validated in independent or related populations and in different environments before their use in marker-assisted selection. Key words: Association mapping, drought, population structure, quantitative trait locus (QTLs), sorghum, simple sequence repeat (SSR).
Women Education in Nigeria: Barriers and Distance Learning Strategies as Panacea

Education is an instrument for the liberation of mind. In Nigeria, there are millions of women who do not have access to formal tertiary education and this is becoming worrisome to education stakeholders. The study investigates the significance of women access to University Education in Nigeria. Two null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a survey research design. The participants consisted of a sample size of 250 Distance Education Students of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). A 20 items self - designed instrument titled: "Flexibility and Accessibility to Technology Questionnaire"(FATQ) was developed, validated and yielded a reliability coefficient value of 0.78. The data collected was subjected to t-test statistical analysis. The result of hypothesis one showed that the flexibility of distance education will promote women access to education. The result of the finding in hypothesis two revealed that access to technologies will influence women enrolment in the programme. The study recommends that government should make concerted effort to bridge the gap between educational opportunities for both male and female, which can be achieved by spending more on provision of information technology infrastructures and to support distance education deliverance in Nigeria. Internet facilities should be provided in the rural areas so that women that are working in the rural area can enrol for continuing education programmes. Counselling services should be established for married women who need guidance on how to combine marriage with education. Keywords: Distance learning; Technologies; Women; Flexibility; Access
Non-Hermitian spectra and Anderson localization

The spectrum of exponents of the transfer matrix provides the localization lengths of Anderson's model for a particle in a lattice with disordered potential. I show that a duality identity for determinants and Jensen's identity for subharmonic functions give a formula for the spectrum in terms of eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian with non-Hermitian boundary conditions. The formula is exact; it involves an average over a Bloch phase, rather than disorder. A preliminary investigation into non-Hermitian spectra of Anderson's model in D = 1, 2 and into the smallest exponent is presented.
Protective Factors for the Development of Psycho-pathological Symptoms in Young Victims of Community Violence

The objective of the present investigation was to identify the role of life purpose, noetic goals and resilience in the mental health of young victims of community violence. 1,500 students from four universities in northern and central Mexico participated in the study, 988 were women and 512 men, with an average age of 20.8 years. The results indicate high rates of direct and indirect victimization and high psychological distress without development of psycho-pathological symptoms. Linear regression by stepwise indicated that the three variables studied serve as protective elements for the mental health of young victims of community violence.
Input Efficiency of Financial Services Sector: A Non-Parametric Analysis of Banking and Insurance Sectors of Pakistan

Purpose In an attempt to enrich the literature of the efficiency of financial services sector with holistic perspective, this study aims to empirically investigate the input efficiency of banking and insurance sectors with further probe into Islamic segments of these sectors in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach This study measures the technical, allocative, cost, and scale efficiencies of banking and insurance firms in our sample using the non-parametric frontier method, data envelopment analysis (DEA). Findings The findings show that, on average, the allocative efficiency of the overall Islamic financial services sector has increased during the period of study and has also remained well above their conventional counterparts. The study also revealed that, insurance sector is more technically efficient than banking sector. Finally, the study also found that overall efficiency of financial sector can also be improved by exchanging experts between two sectors. Originality/value The results of this research study provide empirical findings as to how two segments of Financial Services Sectors had fared in the competitive environment from 2007 to 2015.