Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimating Consumption Plans for Recursive Utility by Maximum Entropy Methods

We derive and estimate the optimal disbursement from an infinitely-lived charitable trust with an Epstein-Zin-Weil utility function, given general Markovian returns to wealth. We analyze two special cases: where spending is a power function of last period's wealth and the endowment uses 'payout smoothing'. Via nonlinear least squares, we estimate the optimal spending rate and the elasticity of intertemporal substitution for a trust with a typical diversified portfolio and for a portfolio of hedge funds. Finally, we use maximum entropy methods to characterize the returns distribution of a trust whose spending plan conforms with the optimality condition.
Using pectoral fin rays as a non-lethal aging structure for smallmouth bass: precision with otolith age estimates and the importance of reader experience

We evaluated the potential utility of pectoral fin rays as non-lethal aging structures for smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu). We compared age estimates among three reading pairs and against sectioned sagittal otolith age estimates for precision. Reading pair bias was not detected, although the highest rates of age estimate agreement occurred between reading pairs with high and moderate aging experience. Precision of otolith and fin ray age estimates were equivalent based on between-structure comparisons of average percent error and coefficient of variation. However, fin rays underestimated fish age compared to otoliths for older fish, especially when aged by less-experienced readers. Pectoral fin rays may provide a non-lethal alternative to otoliths for aging smallmouth bass, particularly for younger fish (≤age 4) or when experienced readers conduct aging. Additional evaluations of fin rays as smallmouth bass aging structures are needed, including validation using known-age fish and documentation of consistent annulus formation throughout a fish's life.
Power Amplification and Selectivity in the Cochlear Amplifier

This paper presents a new model that describes the physical phenomena occurring in an individual Outer Hair Cell (OHC) in the human hearing organ (Cochlea). The new model employs the concept of parametric amplification and piezoelectricity. As a consequence, the proposed model may explain in a natural way many as yet unresolved problems about the mechanisms of: 1) power amplification, 2) nonlinearity, 3) fine tuning, or 4) high sensitivity that take place in the human hearing organ. Mathematical analysis of the model is performed. The equivalent electrical circuits of an individual OHC are established. The high selectivity of the OHC parametric amplifier is analyzed by solving the resulting Mathieu and Ince differential equations. An analytical formula for the power gain in the OHC’s parametric amplifier has been developed. The proposed model has direct physical interpretation and all its elements have their physical counterparts in the actual structure of the cochlea. The numerical values of the individual elements of the electrical equivalent circuits are consistent with the experimental physiological data. It is anticipated that the proposed new model may contribute in future improvements of human cochlear implants as well as in development of new digital audio standards.
Increasing the cost efficiency of e‐fulfilment using shared reception boxes

Recent research into last mile e‐grocery logistics has revealed that goods reception mode is one of the key issues for the operational efficiency of home deliveries. Hitherto, the research has considered home delivery concepts using attended reception and concepts enabling unattended reception based on customer‐specific reception boxes and delivery boxes. Customer‐specific reception boxes are installed in the consumer’s home yard or garage, while delivery boxes are insulated boxes that are returned to the retailer. Focuses on a third possible concept for unattended deliveries, namely shared reception boxes. Due to shared usage, the utilisation level of the facility is higher than in the case of customer‐specific unattended reception concepts. Analyses the operational cost levels of home delivery concepts using both attended and unattended reception, using real point‐of‐sales data and vehicle routing tools. The results show that transportation costs using the shared reception box concept are 55‐66 per cent lower in comparison with the current standard concept with attended reception and two‐hour delivery time windows. On the basis of our analysis, the cost reduction alone justifies the two‐to‐five‐year payback period of the investment required, even if there is only a fairly small number of deliveries per day. Surprisingly, the payback period is longer when customer density increases.
Financial deepening and economic growth

The core of Shapley–Shubik games and general equilibrium models with a Venn diagram is applied for a theory on the role of real finance in economic growth among advanced economies. Then the dynamic computable general equilibrium (DCGE) models for Germany, France, the UK, Japan and the USA are constructed to assess the validity of the over-financing hypothesis that has reappeared after the financial crisis of 2008. Actual financial deepening ratios observed in the nonconsolidated balance sheet of the OECD exceeded by factors of 3.5, 2.4, 5.1, 11.6 and 4.8 than the optimal financial deepening ratios implied by DCGE models, respectively, in these countries because of excessive leveraging and bubbles up to 19 times of GDP which were responsible for this great recession. Containing such massive fluctuations for macroeconomic stability and growth in these economies are not possible in conventional fiscal and monetary policy models and require a DCGE analysis like this along with adoption of separating equilibrium strategy in line of Miller–Stiglitz–Roth mechanisms to avoid problem of asymmetric information in the process of financial intermediation so that the gaps between actual and optimal ratios of financial deepening remain as small as possible.
Analysing the Causes of Unrest in Southern Provinces and Its Impact on Democratization of Thailand

The southern region of Thailand consisted 5 changwat or provinces namely: Pattani, Songkhla, Narathiwat, Yala and Satun. The majority of the population i.e. 94% called Malay Muslims who speaks Yawi. Historically Pattani was a part of Malaysia, annexed and divided into 3 changwat: Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat by Siam (Thailand) in 1902. This region is the center of insurgency and violence which intensified in 2004 caused more than 6000 deaths and 10000 left injured and aggravated security issues throughout the country. Afterwards the mishandling of the issue by Thaksin administration with a hardline approach and the mistrust among the Malay Muslims towards Thai Buddhist state left the region in chaos. Though the country is prone to coup culture and political instability, the southern violence presents a unique opportunity to analyze the causes of the insurgency which re occurred at a time when Thailand was considered as democratic having people’s constitution of 1997 in force. The last elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra astounded everybody by declaring the start of a peace exchange with key political figures of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional- a separatist group, yet the discourse came to halt after 3 meetings. In 2014 another blow accompanied with overthrow of Shinawatra government by military coup after which junta set up safety efforts on June 22, 2014 in an effort to tackle the situation in the region. From then onwards the political eventual fate of Deep South is by all accounts unverifiable. The article examines why the democratization has failed to curb the violence and what are the reasons behind the dissatisfaction among Malay Muslims which force them to claim a separate identity and an autonomous region based on religious or ethnic ground. Keywords: Violence, Insurgency, Thainess, Resistance, Democratization, Human Rights
Regime Switching in a New Keynesian Phillips Curve with Non-zero Steady-state Inflation Rate

The main topic of this paper is to challenge the rational nature of the agents' expectations and the structural effectiveness of the behaviorally micro-based New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC). Building on previous results, we model this trade-off between the U.S inflation rate and a Unit Labor Cost-based measure of the real activity through a Markov Switching Intercept and Heteroscedastic - Vectorial AutoRegressive (MSIH-VAR) specification. This specification allows the adequate capture of the rationality in the agents' expectations process. It underlies a finite number of expected inflation rate regimes, which highlight the agents' adaptive beliefs on the achievements of these regimes. Moreover, the results confirm the structural stability of the NKPC over the inflation rate regimes as its deep parameters seem to be unaffected by the regimes switching.
The characteristics of billows generated by internal solitary waves

The spatial and temporal development of shear-induced overturning billows associated with breaking internal solitary waves is studied by means of a combined laboratory and numerical investigation. The waves are generated in the laboratory by a lock exchange mechanism and they are simulated numerically via a contour-advective semi-Lagrangian method. The properties of individual billows (maximum height attained, time of collapse, growth rate, speed, wavelength, Thorpe scale) are determined in each case, and the billow interaction processes are studied and classified. For broad flat waves, similar characteristics are seen to those in parallel shear flow, but, for waves not at the conjugate flow limit, billow characteristics are affected by the spatially varying wave-induced shear flow. Wave steepness and wave amplitude are shown to have a crucial influence on determining the type of interaction that occurs between billows and whether billow overturning can be arrested. Examples are given in which billows (i) evolve independently of one another, (ii) pair with one another, (iii) engulf/entrain one another and (iv) fail to completely overturn. It is shown that the vertical extent a billow can attain (and the associated Thorpe scale of the billow) is dependent on wave amplitude but that its value saturates once a given amplitude is reached. It is interesting to note that this amplitude is less than the conjugate flow limit amplitude. The number of billows that form on a wave is shown to be dependent on wavelength; shorter waves support fewer but larger billows than their long-wave counterparts for a given stratification.
Black-foot disease of grapevine: an update on taxonomy, epidemiology and management strategies

Black-foot is one of the most destructive grapevine trunk diseases in nurseries and young vineyards, causing necrotic root lesions, wood necrosis of the rootstock base, and a gradual decline and death of grapevines. Causal agents of the disease are included into the genera Campylocarpon, “ Cylindrocarpon ”, Cylindrocladiella and Ilyonectria . Recent taxonomical studies of Neonectria and related genera with “ Cylindrocarpon ”-like anamorphs based on morphological and phylogenetic studies, divided Neonectria into five genera. Thus, the current taxonomical po sition and classification of the causal agents of black-foot disease, mainly “ Cylindrocarpon ”/ Ilyonectria , comprises one of the main topics of this review. The review also provides an update on geographical distribution, epidemiol ogy and management strategies of the disease.
Capital Structure and Firms’ Performance: Evidence from Vietnam’s Stock Exchange

Our paper examines what impact capital structure has on firms’ performance in selected firms listed on HCMC Stock Exchange. The data is collected from 147 listed companies during the period from 2006 to 2014. The study not only checks the impact the level of leverage has on firms’ performance, which is found to be negative in this study, but it also uses the short-term and long-term debt ratios to see the effect of debt maturity. However, there is no difference whether it is short-term or long-term. Tangibility is found to be negative with a very high proportion on average. With the suggestion that companies might invest too much in fixed assets and there is a lack of efficiency, this could be the alert for firms to improve their management process. Size and growth are found to be positive, since larger firms have lower costs of bankruptcy and higher growth rates associate with higher performance. Moreover, the study also adds the effects of industry and macroeconomics, and the result shows a correlation between the two factors and firms’ performance.
Evaluation of Golden Proportion of Maxillary Anterior Teeth in Different Morphological Facial Types in A Sample of Class I Normal Occlusion (Photographic, Cross Sectional Study)

Since the face is the most visible part of human anatomy and the maxillary anterior teeth hold a significant effect during smiling, this study aims to evaluate the golden proportion of the maxillary anterior teeth in different morphological facial types and detect possible gender differences in a sample of class I normal occlusion. The sample consisted of 82 Iraqi adults (40 males and 42 females) aged (18-25) years. Each individual was clinically examined, frontal facial and intraoral photographic records were performed for each individual; the facial index from facial measurements and golden proportion from dental measurements were calculated. Descriptive statistics were obtained for the measured variables for both genders and independentsamples t-test was performed to evaluate the genders difference and pearson coefficient used to correlate the facial index and golden proportion of maxillary anterior teeth.the results revealed that the leptoprosopic type comprised 78% of the sample and 20% of the sample was of mesoprosopic type, whereas the remaining 2% of euryprosopic type was excluded from the study. The results showed a high significant gender difference in facial measurements and non-significant gender difference in dental measurements, the golden proportion of maxillary anterior teeth did not present in the different facial types, and there was a non-significant facial type difference in golden proportion; therefore the golden proportion did not depend on gender and facial form.
Cytochrome P450 1A1 and Glutathione S-Transferase Pi 1 Mutations in Pharyngeal and Laryngeal Carcinoma

In the current case control study, 94 pharyngeal, 67 laryngeal cancer cases and 150 cancer free controls were screened via PCR-SSCP assay. Mean ages of pharyngeal, laryngeal cancer patients and control was 48.14 (± 16.7), 48.56 (± 17.4) and 46 (± 17.69) years respectively. Results revealed two novel mutations in CYP1A1 gene, a substitution mutation of A2842C resulting in missense tyrosine to serine formation and frameshift mutation due to insertion of thymidine at nucleotide 2842 resulting in 495 nucleotide sequences to alter. It was found that 3.2% pharyngeal and 2.98% laryngeal cancer patients had these mutations in CYP1A1. In GSTP1 gene exon 7, an A2848T substitution causes a leucine to leucine formation whereas G2849A substitution causes alanine to threonine formation at amino acid 166 and 167 respectively. These exonic mutations were found in 7.4% pharyngeal cancer and 9% laryngeal cancer patients. Two intronic deletions of C at nucleotide 1074 and 1466 were found in 1% pharyngeal and laryngeal cancer patients. Accumulation of mutations in CYP1A1 and GSTP1 genes seem to be associated with increased risk of pharyngeal and laryngeal cancer development.
Genetic diversity and population structure of the endangered argan tree (Argania spinosa L. Skeels) in morocco as revealed by SSR markers: Implication for conservation

Argania spinosa L. is an endangered tree of great socio-economic and ecological value in Morocco. In this study, thirteen nuclear SSR primer pairs were used to assess the genetic diversity and structure of 24 natural populations, including 240 individuals, representing 4 geographic regions. A total of 245 alleles were detected with an average of 18.5 per locus ranging from 6 to 35. The polymorphism information content (PIC) was in the range of (0.487-0.936) showing the good discriminating power of the SSR loci used. The observed and the expected heterozygosity across all populations and loci ranged from 0.372 to 0.777 and from 0.486 to 0.735, respectively. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that the main variation existed within populations (78%) rather than among populations (12%). The Mantel test displayed no significant correlation between the geographic distance and the genetic distances for all populations. The STRUCTURE analysis and UPGMA clustering grouped 240 samples from 24 populations into two subgroups. Implications of the results for argan tree conservations are also discussed in this paper.
Enhanced Lipid Extraction from Unbroken Microalgal Cells Using Enzymes

The marine microalga Nannochloropsis sp. was chosen as a model organism to investigate the feasibility of using cell wall-degrading enzymes to enhance the recovery of intracellular lipids. An enzyme cocktail containing galactomannanase, 1,4-β-cellobiosidase and β-glucosidase as main components was prepared from commercial enzyme preparations. The effects of pretreatment time (P), enzyme dosage (D), pH and temperature (T) on the amount of extracted lipids were investigated using response surface methodology. Under the best conditions (P = 90 min, D = 1.3 mg g–1, pH = 5, T = 36 °C) over 70 % of the lipids present in the microalga were recovered. SEM and TEM characterization of enzyme-treated microalgae showed extensive cell damage with significant disruption of the cell wall and release of algal material. Overall, the results obtained strongly support the use of commercial enzyme preparations to improve lipid recovery from microalgae and provide useful information on the influence of process conditions on the treatment efficiency.
Teaching versus Research: the Role of Internal Financing Rules in Multi-Department Universities

In this paper, we combine the multi-department structure which characterises universities with the multitasking nature of the academic's incentive problem. We show by mean of an example that a conglomerate structure in the university may actually be instrumental in inducing high efforts from the academic in its two basic activities. Accordingly, depending on the shape of its preference, the university may implement various combinations of teaching and research outputs by altering the incentive package it offers to academics.
COMPARISON OF SCREENING METHODS FOR THE EVALUATION OF OLIVE RESISTANCE TO VERTICILLIUM DAHLIAE KLEB.

Three inoculation methods for screening olive germplasm for resistance to Verticillium dahliae Kleb. were compared: (i) dipping soil-free washed roots into inoculum (WRI); (ii) dipping root balls with soil into inoculum (RBI); (iii) direct introduction of the inoculum into a stem incision (SII). The effectiveness of the methods was compared in their capacity to differentiate levels of resistance/susceptibility to Verticillium wilt in olive germplasm. Genetically homogeneous clones of the olive cvs Frantoio, Coratina and Leccino, which have different degrees of resistance/susceptibility to wilt, were inoculated with one defoliating and two nondefoliating V. dahliae pathotypes. Results indicate that the three screening methods had different sensitivity in identifying variable levels of olive resistance to Verticillium wilt. Inoculation of washed roots (WRI) was the most drastic and may be used to identify higher levels of resistance (such as that of cv. Frantoio), but was not sensitive enough to detect lower levels of resistance. Inoculation of root balls with soil (RBI) was less destructive and allowed detection of lower resistance expression (such as that of cv. Coratina), not detected by WRI. Stem incision inoculation (SII) failed to discriminate between resistant (cvs Frantoio and Coratina) and susceptible (cv. Leccino) germplasm.
The Internet in English language teaching in Oman

With the advent of Basic Education in the Sultanate of Oman, use of the internet has been integrated into the curriculum. Learning Resource Centres (LRCs) and Computer Labs (CLs) now feature in school design and children are encouraged to learn about developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), including e-mail and the Internet (ELCD, 2001). ICT is both taught separately (from Grade 5) and integrated into the teaching of other subjects. With regard to English, web page design and construction, research strategies using web browsers, animation and multimedia presentations of research findings are some ways of integrating ICT into the curriculum that visiting consultants, e.g. Gordon (2003), have recommended. Training in ICT is part of both pre-service and in-service teacher training.
Antagonistic activity of endophytic microorganisms against rhizome rot disease of turmeric

Rhizome rot caused by Pythium aphanidematum is one of the major constraints for the cultivation of turmeric in Andhra Pradesh and cent per cent crop loss has been estimated in susceptible varieties. Biocontrol using endophytic microorganisms is one of alternative control methods to support agriculture sustainability. The objective of these experiments are to isolate endophytes from rhizomes of healthy turmeric plants from 16 locations of Andhra Pradesh and to estimate their biocontrol potential against the rhizome rot pathogen. Among 154 endophytic isolates obtained, 12 out of 79 bacteria, 16 out of 68 fungi, and four out of seven actinomycetes were antagonistic to Pythium aphanidematum in vitro. Several bacterial isolates belonging to four bacterial genera viz., Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella and Citrobacter were obtained and identified using standard biochemical methods. Of the bacterial endophytes isolated in the study, only 50% of the isolates showed antagonistic activity against Pythium aphanidermatum, the pathogen causing rhizome rot disease in turmeric. Bacterial metabolites like siderophore, hydrogen cyanide, indole acetic acid and salicylic acid in the culture media were studied. The result showed that comparatively the maximum quantity of siderophore (53.6%), hydrogen cyanide (45%), and salicylic acid (48.7%) was produced by Pseudomonas and indole acetic acid (48.2%) by Bacillus. Among the isolated endophytes, Pseudomonas was found to exhibit superior antagonistic activity against the test pathogen.
Effect of maize grain treatment on ruminal fermentation and the site and extent of starch digestion in cows

Four non lactating cows with rumen and duodenal T-cannules were used in the 2 × 2 Latin square experiment to study the effect of crushed or ground maize grain on ruminal fermentation and on starch outflow from the rumen, ruminal and postruminal starch digestibility. Cows were fed diets consisting of, %: forage 70, maize grain crushed or ground 27, soyabean meal 2 and Vitamix S 1, on dry matter basis. Maize treatment did not affect ruminal fermentation. Total VFA concentration was somewhat increased when the animals were fed ground maize (P>0.1). Effective starch degradability was higher (P<0.01) for ground (70.7%) than for crushed maize (65.1%). Starch passage into the duodenum was higher (P<0.01) when crushed than ground maize was fed (33.5 vs 21.2%). Postruminal digestibility of starch entering the duodenum was high for both diets (82.2 vs 85.5%; P<0.01). Apparent total GIT digestibility of starch was affected by grain processing (P<0.05).