Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Economic Inequality in Imperial and Modern Russia in the Context of Political Instability

Contemporary Russia is among some of the most unequal countries. After the fall of the Soviet Union, economic inequality has rapidly increased, and social discontent is rising as demonstrated by the continuous protests that culminated in opposition rallies during March 2017. Despite these events, political stability characterizes the current conditions of the Russian regime. What are the forces maintaining the stability of the government in an environment of rising economic inequality and social unrest? In order to answer this question, the current thesis studies the Imperial period that saw a regime change through the Revolution of 1917. By comparing these periods and applying the theory of inequality and political instability on both periods, this thesis hopes to shed light on the issue at hand. Since there is an abundance of research on economic inequality in modern Russia, but very scarce information on this aspect in the Tsarist era, an additional measure of inequality is constructed in the form of factory workers’ labor income shares of the total national income. Contrary to the conventional knowledge, this thesis identifies that inequality between the working class and the elites might have been at a slightly higher level in the Imperial period compared to the present as measured by labor income shares of factory workers in total national income. Despite this, economic inequality in contemporary Russia is extraordinary and inspires the question of what differs the current conditions from the conditions in the Tsarist era. This study looks at state capacity, the stabilizing effect of the middle class, and the ostensible equality of opportunity as potential explanations of this matter. Additionally, it aims at extending our understanding of the interplay between the forces of economic inequality and political instability and elucidating the factors affecting political instability in different times. (Less)
R&D-Marketing Integration and Performance—Evidence Provided by Agricultural Science and Technology Enterprises

R&D-marketing integration is an important factor of technological innovation success. This study explores the relationships among R&D-marketing integration, business performance, and social performance in the context of Chinese agricultural science and technology enterprises. The findings suggest that the integration of R&D-marketing has a positive effect both on business performance and social performance, and that business performance serves as a mediator in the relationship between the integration of R&D-marketing and social performance. This study provides empirical evidence for the research in the relationships between the integration of R&D and enterprise performance and contributes to the policy-making on the technological innovation.
MonoMax Suture: A New Long-Term Absorbable Monofilament Suture Made from Poly-4-Hydroxybutyrate

A long-term absorbable monofilament suture was developed using poly-4-hydroxybutyrate (P4HB) made from a biosynthetically produced homopolymer of the natural metabolite 4-hydroxybutyrate. The suture, called MonoMax, has prolonged strength retention. At 12 weeks, a size 3-0 MonoMax suture retains approximately 50% of its initial tensile strength in vivo and is substantially degraded in one year with minimal tissue reaction. In contrast, PDS II monofilament suture (Ethicon, Inc., Somerville, NJ) has no residual strength in vivo after 12 weeks. In vivo, the MonoMax suture is hydrolyzed primarily by bulk hydrolysis, and is then degraded via the Krebs cycle. MonoMax is substantially more compliant than other monofilament sutures, and incorporates an element of elasticity. Its tensile modulus of 0.48 GPa is approximately one-third of the value of the PDS II fiber providing an exceptionally flexible and pliable fiber with excellent knot strength and security. These features are further enhanced by the fiber's elasticity, which also improves knot security and may help prevent wound dehiscence. Because of its performance advantages, this suture may find clinical utility in applications where prolonged strength retention, and greater flexibility are required, particularly in procedures like abdominal wall closure where wound dehiscence is still a significant post-surgical complication.
A study of thyroid function in premenopausal and postmenopausal women of Dibrugarh town, Assam, India

Background: Ageing process can cause some changes in body system controlling mechanism. Consequently thyroid hormone levels may show variations reflected by TSH level in elderly people, more so in females.Methods: Serum TSH level were measured in 304 apparently healthy females of Dibrugarh town, Assam. Unbound T3 and T4 were measured if TSH level was abnormal. TSH levels were compared among different age groups.Results: The prevalence of hypothyroidism was found to be 8.2% in premenopausal and 12.7% in postmenopausal women. There were more cases of subclinical hypothyroidism than clinical hypothyroidism. Difference of Mean± SEM of TSH level in these two groups was significant though there was no correlation between age and TSH level.Conclusions: The study reveals decreasing thyroid function in postmenopausal female population of Dibrugarh town.
Priming Effects on Commitment to Help and on Real Helping Behavior

Years of research on bystander apathy have demonstrated that the physical presence of others can reduce the tendency to help individuals needing assistance. Recent research on the implicit bystander effect has suggested that simply imagining the presence of others can lead to less helping behavior on a subsequent unrelated task. The present study was designed to contribute to previous findings on the implicit bystander effect by demonstrating these effects on commitment to help and on real helping behavior, rather than simply on intentions to help. Studies 1a and 1b demonstrate that merely priming participants with the construct of being in a group at Time 1 created significantly less commitment to future helping on a subsequent task at Time 2. Study 2 aimed to extend this effect to behavioral measures and verified that participants exposed to a group prime helped less than those who were exposed to a single-person prime. The implications of these findings for the literature on the bystander effect are discussed.
What Factors Affect the Oslo Stock Exchange

This paper analyzes return patterns and determinants at the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE) in the period 1980--2006. We find that a three-factor model containing the market, a size factor and a liquidity factor provides a reasonable fit for the cross-section of Norwegian stock returns. As expected, oil prices significantly affect cash flows of most industry sectors at the OSE. Oil is, however, not a priced risk factor in the Norwegian stock market. As the case in many other countries, we find that macroeconomic variables affect stock prices, but since we find only weak evidence of these variables being priced in the market, the most reasonable channel for these effects is through company cash flows.
Bias Correction for Global Ensemble Forecast

The main task of this study is to introduce a statistical postprocessing algorithm to reduce the bias in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) ensemble forecasts before they are merged to form a joint ensemble within the North American Ensemble Forecast System (NAEFS). This statistical postprocessing method applies a Kalman filter type algorithm to accumulate the decaying averaging bias and produces bias-corrected ensembles for 35 variables. NCEP implemented this bias-correction technique in 2006. NAEFS is a joint operational multimodel ensemble forecast system that combines NCEP and MSC ensemble forecasts after bias correction. According to operational statistical verification, both the NCEP and MSC bias-corrected ensemble forecast products are enhanced significantly. In addition to the operational calibration technique, three other experiments were designed to assess and mitigate ensemble biases on the model grid: a decaying averaging bias calibration method with short samples, a climate mean bias calibration method, and a bias calibration method using dependent data. Preliminary results show that the decaying averaging method works well for the first few days. After removing the decaying averaging bias, the calibrated NCEP operational ensemble has improved probabilistic performance for all measures until day 5. The reforecast ensembles from the Earth System Research Laboratory’s Physical Sciences Division with and without the climate mean bias correction were also examined. A comparison between the operational and the bias-corrected reforecast ensembles shows that the climate mean bias correction can add value, especially for week-2 probability forecasts.
Life Course Changes of Children and Well-Being of Parents.

How do children's life course transitions affect the well-being of their parents? Using a large panel survey among parents with longitudinal information on 2 randomly chosen children, the authors analyzed the effects of children's union formation, parenthood, and union dissolution on changes in depressive symptoms of parents. Negative effects were found for children's divorce, and positive effects were found for children's marriage and parenthood. Mothers suffered more from a child's divorce or separation than fathers. Effects depended in part on the parent's traditional family norms, pointing to a normative explanation of life course effects. Little evidence was found for explanations in terms of altruism or selfish motivations. In a more general sense, this article supports the notion of linked lives suggested by the life course perspective. This research provides stronger support for this notion than the few previous studies that have examined it.
Density, microfibril angle and modulus of elasticity as indicators of intra-ring checking in Pinus radiata wood.

Intra-ring checking (checking) is a wood quality defect that can develop sometimes in Pinus radiata D.Don (radiata pine) wood during the drying process. The aim of this small study was to examine various mechanical properties of intra-ring-checked wood to determine how they differed from non-checked wood. This would help understand which of these mechanical properties (if any) might make wood susceptible to checking. Three mechanical properties of wood (density, microÞ bril angle (MFA) and modulus of elasticity (MOE)) were examined in oven-dried radiata pine disks that displayed different degrees of checking. These measurements were made using SilviScan-2 equipment. MicroÞ bril angle was also examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD) while MOE data was also obtained using a modiÞ ed version of a Fullam micro-test stage. None of the data obtained for any of the mechanical properties showed signiÞ cant differences relative to checking. However, some trends could be observed that helped draw some conclusions about the mechanical properties observed in checked and non-checked wood. The checked wood samples had a lower density than the nonchecked wood samples by SilviScan-2 analysis. When measured by XRD, the MFA of checked wood was higher than that of non-checked wood. However, when measured by SilviScan-2, the MFA of checked wood and nonchecked wood did not show such clear differences. There was also no signiÞ cant difference in the MOE of checked and non-checked wood obtained by either SilviScan-2 or by Fullam micro-test stage equipment. In summary, the three properties measured were insufÞ cient predictors of checking in this small set of radiata pine samples.
DETECTION OF XYLELLA FASTIDIOSA IN OLIVE TREES BY MOLECULAR AND SEROLOGICAL METHODS

SUMMARY Xylella fastidiosa has recently been identified in the Apulian province of Lecce (south-eastern Italy) in olive trees affected by a devastating disease denoted Olive Quick Decline Syndrome (OQDS), that appeared suddenly in 2010. Symptoms of OQDS consist of withering and desiccation of scattered terminal shoots, which rapidly expands to the rest of the canopy, and results in the collapse and death of the tree. The identification of X. fastidiosa in OQDS-affected trees represents the first confirmed detection of this bacterium in the European Union (EU), but its exact role in the aetiology of this disease is yet to be determined. Since X. fastidiosa is a regulated quarantine pathogen in the EU, upon request of the Apulian Plant Protection Service, surveys were initiated in order to delineate the contaminated area. To this effect, diagnostic protocols based on ELISA and conventional PCR for X. fastidiosa detection in olive samples were compared and validated via an interlaboratory ring-test in which three accredited laboratories, all located in Italy, participated. Both procedures proved to be equally effective but, due to the simplicity of sample preparation, ELISA was chosen for the large-scale X. fastidiosa monitoring programme now in progress.
Did forest islands drive the diversity of warningly coloured butterflies? Biotic drift and the shifting balance

Species of the South American butterfly genus Heliconius have undergone remarkably wide racial divergence in their patterns, and most of the resulting races are muellerian mimics. As warning coloration normally imposes stabilizing selection on the pattern, this divergence is much in need of explanation. Two models have been suggested. Brown, Sheppard and Turner proposed that the divergence results from ‘mimetic capture’, the switching of patterns between adaptive peaks generated by changes in the overall composition of the local biota (‘biotic drift’) and hence of the mimicry rings to which each species belongs; these changes have in turn been generated by long term patterns of species extinction in island refuges as biota became progressively isolated and contiguous during contraction and expansion of the rain forest during the Pleistocene. An alternative model, proposed by Mallet, is that truly novel colour patterns became established by mutation and random drift, then spreading to become predominant in local areas; subsequently the novel patterns spread over wide areas by the migration of dines. Under this application of Wright’s shifting balance model, refuges are not necessary for divergence, and muellerian mimicry evolves after divergence rather than being the driving force for race formation. Although our respective models appear diametrically opposed, the hypotheses are difficult to distinguish and there are broad areas of agreement; in both models there is an initial stochastic event, followed by natural selection for mimicry, and both will operate either in parapatry or allopatry. The diversity of warning patterns is better explained by the shifting balance model, but there are alternative selectionist explanations such as sexual selection.
Post-l1-penalized estimators in high-dimensional linear regression models

In this paper we study post-penalized estimators which apply ordinary, unpenalized linear regression to the model selected by first-step penalized estimators, typically LASSO. It is well known that LASSO can estimate the regression function at nearly the oracle rate, and is thus hard to improve upon. We show that post-LASSO performs at least as well as LASSO in terms of the rate of convergence, and has the advantage of a smaller bias. Remarkably, this performance occurs even if the LASSO-based model selection 'fails' in the sense of missing some components of the 'true' regression model. By the 'true' model we mean here the best s-dimensional approximation to the regression function chosen by the oracle. Furthermore, post-LASSO can perform strictly better than LASSO, in the sense of a strictly faster rate of convergence, if the LASSO-based model selection correctly includes all components of the 'true' model as a subset and also achieves a sufficient sparsity. In the extreme case, when LASSO perfectly selects the 'true' model, the post-LASSO estimator becomes the oracle estimator. An important ingredient in our analysis is a new sparsity bound on the dimension of the model selected by LASSO which guarantees that this dimension is at most of the same order as the dimension of the 'true' model. Our rate results are non-asymptotic and hold in both parametric and nonparametric models. Moreover, our analysis is not limited to the LASSO estimator in the first step, but also applies to other estimators, for example, the trimmed LASSO, Dantzig selector, or any other estimator with good rates and good sparsity. Our analysis covers both traditional trimming and a new practical, completely data-driven trimming scheme that induces maximal sparsity subject to maintaining a certain goodness-of-fit. The latter scheme has theoretical guarantees similar to those of LASSO or post-LASSO, but it dominates these procedures as well as traditional trimming in a wide variety of experiments.
Redistribution of ice nuclei between cloud and rain droplets: Parameterization and application to deep convective clouds

In model studies of aerosol‐dependent immersion freezing in clouds, a common assumption is that each ice nucleating aerosol particle corresponds to exactly one cloud droplet. In contrast, the immersion freezing of larger drops—“rain”—is usually represented by a liquid volume‐dependent approach, making the parameterizations of rain freezing independent of specific aerosol types and concentrations. This may lead to inconsistencies when aerosol effects on clouds and precipitation shall be investigated, since raindrops consist of the cloud droplets—and corresponding aerosol particles—that have been involved in drop‐drop‐collisions. Here we introduce an extension to a two‐moment microphysical scheme in order to account explicitly for particle accumulation in raindrops by tracking the rates of selfcollection, autoconversion, and accretion. This provides a direct link between ice nuclei and the primary formation of large precipitating ice particles. A new parameterization scheme of drop freezing is presented to consider multiple ice nuclei within one drop and effective drop cooling rates. In our test cases of deep convective clouds, we find that at altitudes which are most relevant for immersion freezing, the majority of potential ice nuclei have been converted from cloud droplets into raindrops. Compared to the standard treatment of freezing in our model, the less efficient mineral dust‐based freezing results in higher rainwater contents in the convective core, affecting both rain and hail precipitation. The aerosol‐dependent treatment of rain freezing can reverse the signs of simulated precipitation sensitivities to ice nuclei perturbations.
Assemblage Characteristics and Habitat Specificity of Carabid Beetles in a Japanese Alpine-Subalpine Zone

In lowland areas of the world and high-altitude European mountains, the species compositions, body sizes, and wing forms of carabid beetles are known to change according to vegetation structures. However, little is known regarding the assemblage structure and habitat associations of carabid beetles in Japanese alpine-subalpine areas. We surveyed carabid beetles in four habitats (snow beds, alpine meadows, Pinus scrub, and fell-fields) in the alpine-subalpine zone on Mt. Hakusan, Japan. We surveyed carabid beetles six times between mid-July and late September. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) revealed three distinct carabid beetle assemblages in snow beds and alpine meadows, Pinus scrub, and fell-fields. The carabid beetle assemblages in the four habitats consisted predominantly of small and/or wingless species with differential spatiotemporal variability in abundance. Biota-environment (BIO-ENV) analyses showed that the percentage coverage by Pinus scrub, soil water content, and ground surface temperature were among the most significant variables affecting carabid beetle compositions. Given their small sizes and reduced wings, which are characteristic traits for limited mobility, and high-level habitat specificity, carabid beetles in the alpine-subalpine zone may serve as an important target group to monitor the impacts of global environmental change on mountain ecosystems.
The fragmentation of the global climate governance architecture

The term fragmentation implies that policy domains are marked by a patchwork of public and private institutions that differ in their character, constituencies, spatial scope, subject matter, and objectives. While the degree of fragmentation varies across issue areas and their respective architectures, global climate politics is characterized by an advanced state of institutional diversity. In recent years, scholars have increasingly addressed this emerging phenomenon of international relations. The article finds that the predominant focus of these studies has been on dyadic overlaps, i.e., interlinkages between two institutions, and less on the overarching level of entire architectures and their degree of fragmentation. This goes in particular for research on the global climate change architecture. Many studies have attended to the relationship between the United Nations climate regime and other institutions: multilateral technology partnerships, regimes regulating other environmental domains like ozone or biological diversity, and regimes from non‐environmental issue areas like the world trade regime. However, a cross‐cutting account of these overlaps which addresses the overall implications of institutional fragmentation on climate change is still missing. As possible areas for further research the article identifies: consequences of fragmentation (e.g., a new division of labor or increased inter‐institutional conflict), fragmentation management and conditions of its effectiveness; theory‐driven analyses on the reasons of fragmentation within and across policy domains. WIREs Clim Change 2011 2 255–270 DOI: 10.1002/wcc.104