Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Double logarithmic stability estimate in the identification of a scalar potential by a partial elliptic Dirichlet-to-Neumann map

We examine the stability issue in the inverse problem of determining a scalar potential appearing in the stationary Schr{\"o}dinger equation in a bounded domain, from a partial elliptic Dirichlet-to-Neumann map. Namely, the Dirichlet data is imposed on the shadowed face of the boundary of the domain and the Neumann data is measured on its illuminated face. We establish a log log stability estimate for the L2-norm (resp. the H minus 1-norm) of bounded (resp. L2) potentials whose difference is lying in any Sobolev space of order positive order.
Adoption of E-hailing Applications: A Comparative Study between Female and Male Users in Thailand

E-hailing, a process of ordering a taxi via mobile devices, has become popular in Thailand recently. This study focuses on applying Diffusion of Innovations Theory and Technology Acceptance Model in examining the factors affecting adoption of e-hailing applications in Thailand. The objective of this comparative study is to find significant factors influencing female and male users to adopt E-hailing applications. The hypotheses are constructed to test the influence of five factors on consumers’ attitude. This study uses a survey to collect data from 200 female and 200 male users who have experienced using e-hailing applications. The results indicate that the relative advantages and ease of use have an influence towards the adoption of e-hailing applications in both genders. Interestingly, social influence and physical security influence the adoption of e-hailing applications for among male users only.
Environmental Factors, Neighbourhood Deprivation, And Under-Five Mortality In Nigeria: An Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis

Aim: to examine the impact of state-level access to basic environmental services and neighbourhood deprivation on under-five mortality rate Methods: Using data from most recent Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey for a sample of 6029 live births between 1999 and 2003 and exploratory spatial data analyses, the study analyzed the state-level association between environmental, neighbourhood deprivation and under-five mortality rate. Results: The spatial distribution of rates of under-five mortality rate was non-random and clustered with a Moran's I = 0.654 (p = .001). Spatial clustering suggested that North-east and North-west can be group as under-five mortality "hot-spot", and Southwest, South-south, and South-east can be group as under-five mortality "cold-spot". The results outlined seemingly consistent finding that access to safe water, proper sanitation, and low pollution cooking fuel are important factors that can increase the chances of child survival. Conclusion: The maps could be used by policy makers for targeting development efforts at a glance for resource allocation and scaling up preventive efforts to achieve Millennium Development Goal, MDG-4 to reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality and MDG-7 to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Multifaceted geographically differentiated intervention may represent a potentially effective approach for addressing issues related to child survival.
Inflationary Thresholds, Financial Development and Economic Growth: New Evidence from Two West African Countries

Abstract This paper examines the role of inflationary threshold effects in the finance-growth relationship for Ghana and Nigeria. Ghana and Nigeria are relatively homogenous in terms of financial development, economic growth, and inflationary history and therefore provide an acceptable choice for this empirical analysis. Due to lack of data availability, the sample spans the period 1964–2011 for Ghana and 1961–2011 for Nigeria. Using appropriately specified threshold regressions, we found inflationary thresholds in both countries during the study periods. Specifically, the inflationary threshold range for Ghana is 10.73 %–29.83 %. For Nigeria, the inflationary threshold range is 10.07 %–19.25 %. By estimating the threshold regressions, we found financial development to have positive and significant effect on economic growth during low and moderate inflationary regimes; and insignificant effect on growth during high inflationary regimes, for both countries. In particular, financial development impact greatly on growth in Ghana when the rate of inflation is below a threshold of 10.73 % but dissipates when inflation rate reaches and exceeds 29.83 %. Similarly, financial development impact greatly on growth in Nigeria when the rate of inflation is below a threshold of 10.07 % but dissipates when inflation rate reaches and exceeds 19.25 %. The results imply that policymakers in these countries should take inflation into account when devising policies to promote financial development with the aim of generating economic growth. For without low or moderate inflation rates, such policies will not achieve their intended purposes.
Nonclinical Safety Evaluation of a Transforming Growth Factor β Receptor I Kinase Inhibitor in Fischer 344 Rats and Beagle Dogs

Abstract Objective: The transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) pathway regulates diverse cellular functions and plays a prominent role in diseases such as cancer, autoimmune disorders and cardiovascular disease. LY2157299 monohydrate (LY2157299) is a potent and selective inhibitor of TGF-β receptor I kinase that is under clinical evaluation for the treatment of advanced cancer. Methods: This paper characterizes the toxicity profile of LY2157299 in Fischer 344 rats and beagle dogs for up to six months of daily oral dosing. LY2157299 is well tolerated in the rat and dog for up to one month of daily dosing at doses of 150 and 20 mg/kg, respectively. Results: In the rat, LY2157299 is well tolerated after three months of 2 weeks on/2 weeks off intermittent dosing schedule at 50 mg/kg. Chronic (≥3 months) oral administration results in multiple target organ toxicities involving the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, immune, bone/cartilage, reproductive, and renal systems. Conclusion: Defining the appropriate dose and schedule led to a better understanding of how to define safety margins and thus enable the clinical investigation of LY2157299 in cancer patients.
Why did some firms perform better in the global financial crisis?

Abstract We explore what firm and macroeconomic factors assisted Chinese firms to resist the global financial crisis. We find that firms with higher top ten shareholder ratios or firms that are older exhibited saliently higher performance during the crisis, but performed poorly during the non-crisis period. Firm size has a notably negative impact on firm performance. Firms audited by the Big Four accounting firms have a significantly negative correlation with performance. During the crisis, stock markets became less efficient in incorporating firm-specific information into stock prices, signifying that the determinants of firm performance vary across non-crisis and crisis periods.
Crowdsourcing Project Management to the ‘ Open ’ Community Haytham Siala

The aim of this article is to contribute both theoretically and methodically to the project management discipline in the context of information systems. This article provides a “multidisciplinary” summary of the current literature that focuses on the socio-technical issues and theories surrounding the crowdsourcing phenomenon. One of the objectives of this exploratory literature review is to present the reader with practical considerations about crowdsourcing as a project management technique and a conceptual model that can help ‘shortlist’ candidates that are ‘appropriate’ for a crowdsourced project task. There are proponents and opponents of the ‘crowdsourcing’ approach but real-life case studies of crowdsourcing companies such as freelancer.com have demonstrated that crowdsourcing can be a success and findings from some seminal articles indicate that crowdsourcing could result in expediting the completion of a project; reducing a project’s overall costs; and higher user satisfaction levels towards the project’s final deliverable.
Exploring the boundaries between individual and collective land use management in a CPR system: the PAE Chico Mendes (Acre, Brazil)

The economic modernization of the Amazon fostered by the Brazilian military government during the 1960s and 1970s was largely realized without taking into consideration the presence of local households which lived from the extraction of forest products (mainly non-timber). When they began to be expulsed, a political resistance, often guided by the Catholic Church, appeared as well as the creation of unions based on traditional identities, especially that of rubber tappers. During the 1980s, these unions made a strategic alliance with the ecologist movement which started to consider traditional populations, whose lifestyle depended on the forest, as allies for the protection of the Amazon rainforest. The movement gained a decisive momentum at the end of the decade by putting forward new proposals of land tenure for traditional populations, grounded on collective land rights. This strategy has been very efficient during the 1990s and 2000s, during which about 1,300,000 km of rainforest were set apart and reserved for the use of “traditional communities” under a variety of legal status. But it has also led to mix under the same “collective” etiquette and principles a number of different ways of using and managing land and natural resources. This assumption however should be nuanced by a careful analysis of the resource management systems existing in each case, for they are in general complex and mix varying proportions of individual and collective decisions. The aim of this paper is to explore this question using the example of the Chico Mendes agroextractive settlement (PAE-CM), inhabited by about 100 rubber tapper families and symbolic of the political struggle of traditional populations in the Amazon for being the home of the rubber tapper leader Chico Mendes assassinated in 2 Francois-Michel Le Tourneau and Bastien Beaufort 1988. Applying Ostrom “design principles”, we try to catch what are the local institutional arrangements and to see if they suggest collective or individual management, and what the boundaries between both categories are. As a conclusion, we find that the PAE-CM’s system is much less collective than expected, and also very much controlled by external authorities, in a logic pretty much away from the idea of a CPR system. This finding is useful to understand the shortcomings in the actual management of the PAE but also to foresee difficulties which will probably arise in the management of many of the areas which have gained collective land rights or collective management statutes in the Amazon.
Investigating the Factors Influence Adoption of Internet Banking in Malaysia: Adopters Perspective

The main purpose of this research is to investigate the factors that influence adopters to take up the Internet banking services in Malaysia. The sampling units in this survey are the adopters of Internet banking who were using it for at least six months. A total of 116 useable questionnaires was coded and analyzed by using SPSS software. Statistical methods like descriptive analysis, factor analysis and regression analysis were used in this research. The regression results showed that Complexity, Security and Ccustomer Experience were the influencing factors of Internet banking services. However, Individual Characteristics was found to be partially influencing the adopters in their decision to adopt the Internet banking facilities.
Response of African Catfish, Clarias gariepinus; (Burchell, 1822) to Diets of African Yam Bean, Sphenostylis stenocarpa Subjected to Two Processing Methods

Response of Clarias gariepinus to diets of African yam bean ( Sphenostylis stenocarpa ) (AYB) subjected to two processing methods was assessed. Mature AYB was boiled, fermented and processed into meals. Seven diets were formulated to contain 44.07 ±0.48% crude protein and 19.03±0.05 kJ g -1 gross energy respectively. Fishmeal in the diets was substituted with each of the two processed AYB meals at 40%, 45% and 50% levels. Nine fingerlings (initial average weight 1.36±0.02g) were stocked per experimental tank. Experimental diets were fed to triplicate groups of catfish fingerlings at 10% body weight for 56 days. Results showed that specific growth rate (SGR) and protein production value (PPV) were highest at 45% replacement of fermented AYB (3.32±0.20; 49.30±17.94) compared to control (3.17±0.44; 38.89±12.49). Mean values for haematological parameters (PCV, HB, WBC and RBC) significantly increased (P<0.05) above the initial status and control group. Haematological values for fish fed 40% inclusion level of fermented and boiled AYB were the highest. This study shows that AYB processed by fermentation and boiling were effective in enhancing fish growth. However, based on SGR and PPV results Fermented AYB should not be used in Clarias gariepinus diets beyond 45%inclusion level. Key Words : African Catfish, Alternative Protein Sources, African Yam Beans, Haematology
Adaptation and Comparison of Machine Learning Methods for Geomorphological Mapping and Terrace Prediction: A Case Study of the Buffalo River, Arkansas

ii Acknowledgements . iii List of Tables . vi List of Figures . vii List of Abbreviations . viii 1 – Introduction . 1 Segmentation and Classification of the Landscape . 2 Significance of Investigation of Supervised Machine Learning Techniques . 3 Research Questions . 5 Case Study—Mapping Potential Fluvial Terraces along the Buffalo River, Arkansas, and its Major Tributaries . 6 Study Area . 6 Terraces and the Geomorphology of Bedrock Channels . 8 2 – Background . 11 Geomorphometry . 11 Modelling Land Surfaces . 11 Land Surface Parameters . 13 Classification.17 Supervised Machine Learning . 19
Proactive behaviour as a mediator of the relationship between career management and career satisfaction

ABSTRACT This study aims to quantify the relationship between career management, proactive behaviour and career satisfaction. A survey method was employed to gather self-report questionnaires from employees who work at a state Islamic agency in Peninsular Malaysia. The outcomes of the SmartPLS path model analysis showed two important findings. First, the relationship between job autonomy and proactive behaviour was positively and significantly correlated with career satisfaction. Second, the relationship between transformational leadership and proactive behaviour was positively and significantly correlated with career satisfaction. This finding confirms that proactive behaviour does act as an effective mediating variable in the relationship between career management and career satisfaction in the organizational sample. Further, this study provides discussion, implications, limitations and suggestions for future studies. Keywords: Career management; proactive behaviour; career satisfaction; SmartPLS ABSTRAK Kajian ini mengkaji hubungan di antara pengurusan kerjaya, tingkahlaku proaktif dan kepuasan kerjaya. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah kajiselidik untuk mengumpul maklumat dari pekerja yang bertugas di sebuah jabatan agama Islam negeri di Semenanjung Malaysia. Dapatan dari SmartPLS Path Model Analysis menunjukkan dua dapatan penting: Pertama, perhubungan di antara autonomi kerja dan tingkahlaku proaktif mempunyai kaitan yang positif dan signifikan dengan kepuasan kerjaya. Kedua, perhubungan di antara kepimpinan transformasi dan tingkahlaku proaktif mempunyai kaitan yang positif dan signifikan dengan kepuasan kerjaya. Dapatan ini mengesahkan bahawa tingkahlaku proaktif bertindak sebagai pemboleh ubah pengantara yang berkesan dalam perhubungan di antara pengurusan kerjaya dan kepuasan kerjaya di dalam organisasi kajian. Seterusnya, kajian ini menyediakan perbincangan, limitasi kajian dan cadangan untuk kajian akan datang. Kata kunci: Pengurusan kerjaya; tingkahlaku proaktif; kepuasan kerjaya; SmartPLS
Model calculations of the effects of present and future emissions of air pollutants from shipping in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea

Land-based emissions of air pollutants in Europe have steadily decreased over the past two decades, and this decrease is expected to continue. Within the same time span emissions from shipping have increased in EU ports and in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, defined as SECAs (sulfur emission control areas), although recently sulfur emissions, and subsequently particle emissions, have decreased. The maximum allowed sulfur content in marine fuels in EU ports is now 0.1%, as required by the European Union sulfur directive. In the SECAs the maximum fuel content of sulfur is currently 1% (the global average is about 2.4%). This will be reduced to 0.1% from 2015, following the new International Maritime Organization (IMO) rules. In order to assess the effects of ship emissions in and around the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, regional model calculations with the EMEP air pollution model have been made on a 1/4° longitude × 1/8° latitude resolution, using ship emissions in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea that are based on accurate ship positioning data. The effects on depositions and air pollution and the resulting number of years of life lost (YOLLs) have been calculated by comparing model calculations with and without ship emissions in the two sea areas. In 2010 stricter regulations for sulfur emissions were implemented in the two sea areas, reducing the maximum sulfur content allowed in marine fuels from 1.5 to 1%. In addition ships were required to use fuels with 0.1 % sulfur in EU harbours. The calculations have been made with emissions representative of 2009 and 2011, i.e. before and after the implementation of the stricter controls on sulfur emissions from 2010. The calculations with present emissions show that per person, an additional 0.1-0.2 years of life lost is estimated in areas close to the major ship tracks with current emission levels. Comparisons of model calculations with emissions before and after the implementation of stricter emission control on sulfur show a general decrease in calculated particle concentration. At the same time, however, an increase in ship activity has resulted in higher emissions of other components, and subsequently air concentrations, in particular of NOx, especially in and around several major ports. Additional model calculations have been made with land-based and ship emissions representative of year 2030. Following a decrease in emissions from all sectors, air quality is expected to improve, and depositions to be reduced. Particles from shipping are expected to decrease as a result of emission controls in the SECAs. Further controls of NOx emissions from shipping are not decided, and calculations are presented with and without such controls.
Latent Drivers of Landscape Transformation in Eastern Europe: Past, Present and Future

Land-use changes in Europe have been influenced by social forces including economic, demographic, political, technological and cultural factors. Contributing to a refined conceptualization of multifaceted processes of landscape transformation in the European continent, the present study proposes an extensive review of land-use trends in Eastern Europe, focusing on past, present and future conditions that may characterize latent drivers of change. Three time periods with a specific institutional, political and socioeconomic context reflecting distinct processes of land-use change were identified including: (i) the rapid transition to a centralized political system since the early 1950s (up to the late 1980s); (ii) a progressive transition from communist regimes to parliamentary democracy in 1989–1990 (up to the early 2000s); and (iii) the subsequent accession of individual countries to the European Union (2004–2007) up to nowadays. The most recent land-use trends are increasingly influenced by European directives on the environment, while national policies continue to shape economic development in member states.
Non-Performing Loans, Moral Hazard & Supervisory Authority: The Italian Banking System

This paper aims to identify the existence of an opportunistic form of behaviour – i.e. moral hazard – within the Italian banking sector. Applying a fixed effect threshold panel analysis approach to a dataset of 298 Italian banks from 2006 to 2014, we investigate whether banks’ lending behaviour is sensitive to high levels of NPLs (Non-Performing Loans) and whether banks, with higher NPLs, tend to adopt a more aggressive and riskier lending strateg y. We also empirically test the hypothesis that the supervisory activity of the Italian banking authority – through credit risk sanctions – is effective in providing incentives for banks to limit their risky lending strategy. Banks, with significant previous losses and significant levels of gross non-performing loans, can reduce the NPLs ratio temporarily by making additional loans due to the dilution effect. However, bank managers may have to accept riskier positions to obtain additional loans potentially generating higher future losses. The empirical results show that banks may be affected by moral hazard problems, but we find no effect of the enforcement action on reducing it. To account for endogeneity, robustness tests are also conducted as part of the study.
Experimental Investigation on the Influence of Yaw Angle on the Inlet Performance at Mach 7

[Abstract] This paper presents the results of an extensive measurement campaign that was conducted with an two-dimensional hypersonic inlet in the Hypersonic Windtunnel H2K at the German Aerospace Center in Cologne in order to study the effects of angle of yaw on the inlet performance. Both the external and internal flow paths of the inlet have been analyzed. Conducted measurements include static and Pitot pressure measurements, shadowgraph imagery, IR-thermography, Mach number and mass flow measurements. To simulate the behaviour of the inlet at different operating points, a throttle was used to impose different backpressures on the inlet.
Resilience, Wisdom, and Life Satisfaction in Elderly Living with Families and in Old-Age Homes

The issues concerning old age are increasing in developing countries. To have broader understanding of the current scenario in Pakistani society, the study investigated the relationship between resilience, wisdom, and life satisfaction among elderly adults living with their families and living in old-age homes. The sample consisted of 212 elderly adults with age ranging from 50 to 90 years (M = 61.93, SD = 9.85). Employing the technique of snowball and purposive sampling, data was collected from individuals living with their families (n = 124) and in old-age homes (n = 88). Urdu versions of Ego Resiliency Scale-89 (Aslam, 2007), Self-Assessed Wisdom Scale (Arzeen and Haq, 2013) and Satisfaction with Life Scale (Siddiq, 2001) were used to assess study variables. The findings showed that resilience and wisdom were positively related with life satisfaction among elderly adults. Wisdom and life satisfaction were found to be higher in the elderly individuals living with their families as compared to their counterparts. The results revealed that resilience mediated the relationship between wisdom and life satisfaction in elderly adults living with families. Implications and suggestions were given based upon the research conducted for similar researches in the field of gerontology.