Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Unreluctant Litigant? An Empirical Analysis of Japan’s Turn to Litigation

This paper analyzes the rapid increase in civil litigation in Japan during the 1990s in light of existing theories of Japanese litigiousness. Using a unique set of prefecture‐level data, it demonstrates that the 1990s increase in litigation is best attributed to two factors: the expansion in institutional capacity for litigation traced to procedural reforms and an expansion in the bar, and structural changes in the Japanese economy related to the postbubble slowdown in growth. The paper contributes to three literatures. First, it builds on earlier institutionally oriented research on civil litigation in Japan by John Haley and Mark Ramseyer by providing new data and detail about the institutional barriers to litigation. Second, it contributes to the literature on the relationship between economic change and litigation more generally. Finally, it contributes to the empirical and comparative literature on litigation rates by providing evidence about the determinants of litigation in one country.
Solid immersion lenses for enhancing the optical resolution of thermal and electroluminescence mapping of GaN-on-SiC transistors

Solid immersion lenses (SILs) are shown to greatly enhance optical spatial resolution when measuring AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs), taking advantage of the high refractive index of the SiC substrates commonly used for these devices. Solid immersion lenses can be applied to techniques such as electroluminescence emission microscopy and Raman thermography, aiding the development device physics models. Focused ion beam milling is used to fabricate solid immersion lenses in SiC substrates with a numerical aperture of 1.3. A lateral spatial resolution of 300 nm is demonstrated at an emission wavelength of 700 nm, and an axial spatial resolution of 1.7 ± 0.3 μm at a laser wavelength of 532 nm is demonstrated; this is an improvement of 2.5× and 5×, respectively, when compared with a conventional 0.5 numerical aperture objective lens without a SIL. These results highlight the benefit of applying the solid immersion lenses technique to the optical characterization of GaN HEMTs. Further improvements may be gained through aberration compensation and increasing the SIL numerical aperture.
Wavelet analysis of a large sample of AGN at high radio frequencies

Aims. We have studied the characteristic timescales of 80 AGNs at 22, 37 and 90 GHz examining the properties of the wavelet method and comparing them to traditional Fourier-based methods commonly used in astronomy. Methods. We used the continuous wavelet transform with the Morlet wavelet to study the characteristic timescales. We also gain information when the timescale is present in the flux curve and if it is persistent or not. Results. Our results show that the sources are not periodic and changes in the timescales over a long time are common. The property of wavelets to be able to distinguish when the timescale has been present is superior to the Fourier-based methods. Therefore we consider it appropriate to use wavelets when the quasi-periodicities in AGNs are studied.
On the theory of Frobenius extensions and its application to Lie superalgebras

By using an approach to the theory of Frobenius extensions that emphasizes notions related to associative forms, we obtain results concerning the trace and corestriction mappings and transitivity. These are employed to show that the extension of enveloping algebras determined by a subalgebra of a Lie superalgebra is a Frobenius extension, and to study certain questions in representation theory
Exploring Maps at Different Orientations and Effects on Blind Users

Maps have been used to facilitate travellers in wayfinding and they are normally read at different orientations. A multimodal map has been introduced to enable blind people to learn maps. However, such maps usually enable them to explore maps in a fixed orientation. The effect of exploring maps in such way on user cognitive maps and sense of directions is unknown. Therefore, this paper investigates the effect on blind people’s cognitive maps and their sense of directions. Results showed that in the rotatable condition, some blind people have the ability to build accurate cognitive maps of the tested maps as accurate as in the static condition. Blind people were found able to point to the direction accurately in the rotatable condition than in the static condition. This was supported by their scores when reconstructing maps. However, there were no correlations found between user sense of directions and their pointing accuracy.
The Impact of Reading for Pleasure on Georgian University EFL Students' Reading Comprehension (IBSU Case).

Reading is one of the most significant skills, particularly for EFL students. Many students today do not have the reading skills needed to do effective work in their courses. This paper explores reading for pleasure, its importance and impact on reading comprehension. Pleasure reading helps students to communicate, listen and, most importantly, to express themselves freely and it also allows them to acquire specific language skills. That is why reading for pleasure is definitely important. An experimental study using reading for pleasure was carried out at international Black Sea University for eight weeks with 42 English Philology freshman students. The experimental group was given texts for their selection: newspaper articles and graded readers on various topics which students were interested in, while the control group has just read the reading excerpts and texts which are given in their course book. The duration of the experiment was 8 weeks. Preand post-tests were implemented to determine the degree of improvement of students’ reading comprehension skills. The experimental group showed better improvement of comprehension skills. The study demonstrated a measurable positive effect of reading for pleasure on students’ language acquisition.
Impact of NO x and OH on secondary organic aerosol formation from β -pinene photooxidation

Abstract. In this study, the NOx dependence of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from photooxidation of the biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) β-pinene was comprehensively investigated in the Julich Plant Atmosphere Chamber. Consistent with the results of previous NOx studies we found increases of SOA yields with increasing [NOx] at low-NOx conditions ([NOx]0 10 ppbC ppb−1). Furthermore, increasing [NOx] at high-NOx conditions ([NOx]0 > 30 ppb, [BVOC]0 ∕ [NOx]0 ∼ 10 to ∼ 2.6 ppbC ppb−1) suppressed the SOA yield. The increase of SOA yield at low-NOx conditions was attributed to an increase of OH concentration, most probably by OH recycling in NO + HO2 → NO2 + OH reaction. Separate measurements without NOx addition but with different OH primary production rates confirmed the OH dependence of SOA yields. After removing the effect of OH concentration on SOA mass growth by keeping the OH concentration constant, SOA yields only decreased with increasing [NOx]. Measuring the NOx dependence of SOA yields at lower [NO] ∕ [NO2] ratio showed less pronounced increase in both OH concentration and SOA yield. This result was consistent with our assumption of OH recycling by NO and to SOA yields being dependent on OH concentrations. Our results furthermore indicated that NOx dependencies vary for different NOx compositions. A substantial fraction of the NOx-induced decrease of SOA yields at high-NOx conditions was caused by NOx-induced suppression of new particle formation (NPF), which subsequently limits the particle surface where low volatiles condense. This was shown by probing the NOx dependence of SOA formation in the presence of seed particles. After eliminating the effect of NOx-induced suppression of NPF and NOx-induced changes of OH concentrations, the remaining effect of NOx on the SOA yield from β-pinene photooxidation was moderate. Compared to β-pinene, the SOA formation from α-pinene photooxidation was only suppressed by increasing NOx. However, basic mechanisms of the NOx impacts were the same as that of β-pinene.
ASIRAS airborne radar resolves internal annual layers in the dry‐snow zone of Greenland

We present data from the European Space Agency's Airborne SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter System (ASIRAS), flown during the CryoVex 2004 field calibration/validation campaign, and new, high‐resolution depth profiles of snow density measured in the field by neutron scattering. We combine these data to calculate the depth of internal reflecting horizons in the ASIRAS data. The high resolution density data allow us to identify annual layers in the snow density profile, and correlate their peaks with the reflecting horizons. We use the thickness of the annual layers combined with the density profile to determine the spatial and temporal pattern of snow accumulation along the radar track, for a period of 6 years from 1995–2002. Our mean‐annual accumulation rate is 0.47 ± 0.09 ma−1 water equivalent, in agreement with the value determined from a core taken in this location in 1992. Similarly, our inter‐annual variability shows the same trends as recent model estimates over the entire ice sheet. Because ASIRAS was designed to mimic as closely as possible the characteristics of the SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter (SIRAL), the principal payload of CryoSat, the detection of internal layering with ASIRAS illuminates the possibility of detecting internal layers with a space‐borne radar, and thus the possible application of this technique to the dry‐snow zones of Antarctica, Greenland, and smaller ice bodies.
Risk assessment of transgenic cotton against non-target whiteflies, thrips, jassids and aphids under field conditions in Pakistan

Transgenic cotton showing resistance against target insects pests was found successful in Pakistan. It showed more resistance against lepidopteran insects pests. In this research we conducted field experiments in which sucking insect pests including white flies, thips, jassids, aphids were observed for population dynamics in Bt cotton as compared to non-Bt cotton. Transgenic cotton varieties included FHLalazar, FH142, FH118 were used as compared to NIAB2008 as non-Bt cotton. Sampling method used in this research was a plastic bag method in which three different leaves were collected from the same plant. And different samples were collected in Bt cotton as compared to non-Bt cotton fields. Results showed that no difference was found in population dynamics of white flies, thrips, jassids and aphids. Although some numerical differences were found in its population dynamics and densities but non significant difference was observed in Bt cotton as compared to non-Bt cotton. Results showed that Bt cotton not showing any ecological issue regarding non-target pests in Bt cotton ecosystem.
PERCEPTION OF CARING BEHAVIOURS AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG NURSES WORKING IN GONDAR UNIVERSITY AND FELEGE-HIWOT REFERRAL HOSPITALS, NORTHWEST ETHIOPIA: A CROSS- SECTIONAL STUDY

Caring occur every time a nurse contact with a client and expressed through in concrete nursing acts and behaviours. Studies on the nurse’s about their perception of caring behaviours regularly investigated to improve the quality of nursing care. However in Ethiopia no single study conducted on nurses’ caring behaviours. This study assessed nurses’ perception towards caring behaviours and associated factors in Gondar University and Felege-Hiwot referral hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia. Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted among 387 nurses from February 01 to 20, 2014. Data were collected by using pretested and structured self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive and summary statistics were employed. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression model was fitted to identify associated factors with perception of caring behaviours in nurses. An adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was computed to determine the level of significance. The proportion of nurses who had high perception caring behaviours was found to be 68.2%. Relatively, most of the respondents (80.4 %) highly perceived the technical -professional aspect of caring behaviours as their caring than the psychosocial caring behaviour aspects (58.7%). Work experience 6-10 years and above (AOR[95%CI] 4.68[1.70-12.89]), Job satisfaction with: personal satisfaction(AOR[95%CI]4.03[1.53-10.60),professional satisfaction (AOR[95%CI] 2.83[1.074.99]), adequate staffing and support (AOR[95%CI] 2.82[1.30-6.13]), positive nurse doctor relationship (AOR[95%CI] 3.09[1.46-6.52]) had significant association with nurses perception towards nursing caring behaviours. The proportion of nurses who had high perception caring behaviours was found to be lower. This study indicates those associated factors had its own effect with caring behaviours. Therefore enhance nurses’ satisfaction with their job and develop positive practice environment to improve the nurses’ caring behaviours. Moreover caring behaviours may be influenced by many variable further nursing researches by using both quantitative and qualitative study recommend.
Role of Comparative Psychology in the Development of Effective Environmental Enrichment Strategies to Improve Poultry Welfare

Environmental enrichment can improve poultry welfare and productivity by decreasing harmful behaviours, like fear or feather pecking. Having shown that chickens used an environment more when it was enriched, we then identified specific preferences in order to design more effective enrichment. First, we found that televised stimuli were attractive to chickens, that their regular presentation reduced fear, and that the images should incorporate movement, brightness, colour, and moderate complexity. Projecting them onto the walls might be a practicable strategy. Second, farmers reported that playing the radio reduced aggression, improved the birds’ health and increased productivity; this is also one of the easiest ways of enriching the farmers’ environment. Third, our findings that the presence of a familiar odourant reduced chicks’ fear of novel places, birds and food suggest that olfactory therapy could minimize certain behavioural problems. Finally, providing chickens with bunches of string promoted foraging and exploration, sustained lengthy interest, and reduced potentially injurious inter-bird pecking and feather damage in the laboratory and at a commercial farm. Clearly, extraneous stimulation is important to chickens. The provision of appropriate visual, auditory, olfactory and tactile enrichment is likely to improve their quality of life.
Maximum Velocity for Matter in Relation to the Schwarzschild Radius Predicts Zero Time Dilation for Quasars

This is a short note on a new way to describe Haug's newly introduced maximum velocity for matter in relation to the Schwarzschild radius. This leads to a probabilistic Schwarzschild radius for elementary particles with mass smaller than the Planck mass. In addition, our maximum velocity, when linked to the Schwarzschild radius, seems to predict that particles just at that radius cannot move. This implies that radiation from the Schwarzschild radius not can undergo velocity time dilation. Our maximum velocity of matter, therefore, seems to predict no time dilation, even in high Z quasars, as has surprisingly been observed recently.
Quantification of Organic Porosity and Water Accessibility in Marcellus Shale Using Neutron Scattering

Pores within organic matter (OM) are a significant contributor to the total pore system in gas shales. These pores contribute most of the storage capacity in gas shales. Here we present a novel approach to characterize the OM pore structure (including the porosity, specific surface area, pore size distribution, and water accessibility) in Marcellus shale. By using ultrasmall and small-angle neutron scattering, and by exploiting the contrast matching of the shale matrix with suitable mixtures of deuterated and protonated water, both total and water-accessible porosity were measured on centimeter-sized samples from two boreholes from the nanometer to micrometer scale with good statistical coverage. Samples were also measured after combustion at 450 °C. Analysis of scattering data from these procedures allowed quantification of OM porosity and water accessibility. OM hosts 24–47% of the total porosity for both organic-rich and -poor samples. This porosity occupies as much as 29% of the OM volume. In contrast.
Efficient Coarse-to-Fine Non-Local Module for the Detection of Small Objects

An image is not just a collection of objects, but rather a graph where each object is related to other objects through spatial and semantic relations. Using relational reasoning modules, such as the non-local module \cite{wang2017non}, can therefore improve object detection. Current schemes apply such dedicated modules either to a specific layer of the bottom-up stream, or between already-detected objects. We show that the relational process can be better modeled in a coarse-to-fine manner and present a novel framework, applying a non-local module sequentially to increasing resolution feature maps along the top-down stream. In this way, information can naturally passed from larger objects to smaller related ones. Applying the module to fine feature maps further allows the information to pass between the small objects themselves, exploiting repetitions of instances of the same class. In practice, due to the expensive memory utilization of the non-local module, it is infeasible to apply the module as currently used to high-resolution feature maps. We redesigned the non local module, improved it in terms of memory and number of operations, allowing it to be placed anywhere along the network. We further incorporated relative spatial information into the module, in a manner that can be incorporated into our efficient implementation. We show the effectiveness of our scheme by improving the results of detecting small objects on COCO by 1-2 AP points over Faster and Mask RCNN and by 1 AP over using non-local module on the bottom-up stream.
Use of In Situ and Airborne Reflectance for Scaling-Up Spectral Discrimination of Coral Reef Macroalgae from Species to Communities

In principle, a priori knowledge of organism-scale spectral signatures for key ecological end-members is a basic requirement for identifying coral reef benthic communities using hyper- spectral remotely-sensed imagery. Spectral signatures of end-members are now relatively well known for predominant reef taxa (coral, algae) and for the background of the living communities (e.g. sediments). What remains unclear is whether the criteria for spectral discrimination between end- members at the millimeter or centimeter scale remain valid when attempting to process images at several meters resolution. In other words, is it possible to scale-up spectral criteria of identification from species/organisms to communities? We address this issue with in situ and 'compact airborne spectrometer imager' (CASI) hyperspectral measurements of the tropical marine flora of 2 South Pacific Ocean coral reefs. Targets were the dominant algal species and communities encountered in the shallow (0 to 3 m) barrier and fringing reefs of Moorea Island and the outer margin of the rim of Rangiroa Atoll (French Polynesia). Stepwise wavelength selection and linear discriminant analysis highlighted the key non-redundant wavelengths necessary to achieve good separation between the predefined ecological groups. Comparison of the wavelengths identified from in situ and airborne measurements allowed definition of a subset of common wavelengths that were robust to changes in spatial scale and still provided excellent discrimination and classification accuracy between the eco- logical groups. These results suggest that continuous spectral signatures acquired in situ at the centi- meter scale can be used to select key discrete wavelengths for remote-sensing observations of com- munities at the meter scale despite the spatial heterogeneity in benthic cover and the resulting spectral mixing.
Dividend & Repurchase Disclosures and their Effect on Cumulative Abnormal Returns

This study attempts to discover differences and similarities between the effect of dividend disclosures and the effect of repurchase disclosures. We explore the relationship between these disclosures and cumulative abnormal return. This is done through an event study in which the disclosures are the events, and a non-parametric test to check whether findings are robust. Additionally, we attempt to explain the CARs resulting from the disclosures through an OLS regression, using payout change, free cash flow and information asymmetry as predictor variables. The results show a significant relationship between CAR and dividend disclosures, but no significant relationship between CAR and repurchase disclosures. The median dividend disclosure CAR does not differ significantly from the median repurchase disclosure CAR. The CAR was not successfully explained by our predictor variables, possibly due to the chosen proxies. Future research could replicate the study while incorporating more accurate proxies to explain the CAR from payout disclosures better.
10. Airborne Particles

Edward Derbyshire, Claire J. Horwell, Timothy P. Jones and Teresa D. Tetley Centre for Quaternary Research, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience, Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Science Laboratories, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Main Building, Cardiff University, Cardiff Wales, CF10 3YE Section of Pharmacology and Toxicology, National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London SW3 6LY Corresponding author, email ed4gsl@sky.com
A simulation study on modifying reservoir operation rules : tradeoffs between flood mitigation and water supply

A simulation model was used to evaluate two proposed reservoir operation rules in Bhumibol and Sirikit reservoirs in the Chao Phraya River Basin. H08, an integrated hydrology and water resources model, was combined with CaMa-Flood, a river routing model considering inundation dynamics, to simulate the impacts of reservoir operation on the river basin. Simulated reservoir inflows were used as input to the reservoir operation module coupled with H08. The inclusion of CaMa-Flood in the system allows the assessment of impacts of reservoir operation on inundation within the entire river basin. It was found that hedging significantly reduces the occurrence of the reservoir emptying during dry seasons. A low linear storage constraint, set three months before the onset of the rainy season, significantly reduces the reservoir overflows. The simulation framework developed would be useful in designing optimal reservoir operation rules that are effective for mitigating both flood and drought damages.
Performance : Comparison between VQR and ASN Methodologies

The aim of this article is to investigate whether there are important differences between the evaluation procedures adopted by the Italian Ministry of Education, University, and Research in the evaluation of scientific research. The two procedures, one for the periodic exercise of the evaluation of scientific research activities and the other to verify the possession of the requisites necessary to be employed as a professor at a university, have different purposes and have been implemented with different evaluation approaches. Analysing sample data extracted from the well-known Scopus database, we replicate the assessment methodologies, obtaining some interesting results. The two procedures identify the same departments of excellence and draw similar rankings. The two evaluation criteria are not so far apart in the identification of the departments of excellence. Through the use of coloured maps, we then identify that the distribution of the departments of excellence in the national territory favours the northern regions.