Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Economic Downturns and the Informativeness of Management Earnings Forecasts

We examine how economic downturns affect the value that market participants place on management earnings forecasts. We find that in downturns, news conveyed in management forecasts elicits larger stock price reactions and analyst forecast revisions, suggesting that analysts and investors place greater value on management forecasts during these times. Further, while investors value analyst forecasts more during downturns, they place even more value on management forecasts, which is consistent with investors perceiving managers as having a greater information advantage. We also document that management forecasts become even more accurate relative to analyst forecasts in downturns, implying that the higher value investors and analysts place on management forecasts during these times is justified. Overall, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that because downturns occur relatively infrequently and have unequal effects on firms, market participants increasingly struggle to forecast earnings during these times and find information provided by managers more valuable.
TEACHER EDUCATION FOR INCLUSION - A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO DEVELOPING A PROFILE OF INCLUSIVE TEACHERS

This paper describes the European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education project on Teacher Education for Inclusion which involved experts from 25 European countries. It sets out the policy context in Europe and stresses the need to strengthen teacher education in order to meet current policy priorities. The authors provide a summary of the TE4I project ! ndings from Agency member countries and outline the project key messages. They describe the development of a Pro! le of Inclusive Teachers and the early impact of this and other project outcomes.
Determining best East Java monthly rainfall projection using spatial-based validation

In production of climate change information, determining the best projection is a very important step. Missed projection can lead to loss of public trust in climate change. In some previous studies, most analyses were conducted on point approach due to the lack of observational data covering large spatial areas. In this study, rainfall data from 197 observation points are used to get correction coefficients by comparing it to monthly rainfall historical model from 1972-2005. Area of study is 110.89°E–116.27° E and 8.78°S–5.04°S. Two RCP scenarios (4.5 and 8.5) under CSIROMK3.6 RegCM4 BMKG SEA-Cordex are compared to get its ensemble weighting factor. Validation parameters used are mean absolute error and quartiles of error. Shifting correction is introduced in this study with some evidence based on visual analysis and high correction coefficients from the unshifted one. It is also shown that bilinear resampling gives better result than nearest neighbour. Ensemble weighting factors are then set 0.4 for RCP 8.5 and 0.6 for RCP 4.5. In next 10 years (2017-2026), dry condition average rainfall condition is expected to happen between May and October.
Double Screen Innovation: Building Sustainable Core Competence through Knowledge Management

How to exploit the precipitated internal and external knowledge to build dynamic capability in the era of big data remains a big challenge for innovation and business sustainability. This paper documents a novel perspective to address this challenge by exploring the double screen innovation knowledge management practice in Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd. (COMAC). Drawing from the literature on knowledge management and knowledge-based view, this paper elaborates how the new type of knowledge management practice represented by the case of Double Screen Innovation (DSI) in COMAC could help enterprise build sustainable core competence, which provides new perspective for multi-level knowledge management towards business sustainability. DSI, as a novel way of knowledge management, optimizes the micro-level knowledge co-creation and sharing and macro-level organizational learning mechanisms to accelerate the knowledge accumulation and dissemination within the organization. The process of knowledge creation, transformation, and application helps to integrate and transform big data into useful business information, thus provides an endless driving force conducive to the establishment and promotion of the core competencies of enterprises.
Petrophysics of Palaeogene sediments

We aimed to relate changes in porosity and sonic velocity data, measured on watersaturated Eocene chalks from 36 Ocean Drilling Program drill sites in the Atlantic Ocean, to vertical effective stress and thermal maturity. We considered only chalk of Eocene age to avoid possible influence of geological age on chalk compaction trends. For each depth, vertical effective stresses as defined by Terzaghi and by Biot were calculated. We used bottom-hole temperature data to calculate the time–temperature index of thermal maturity (TTI) as defined by Lopatin. Porosity and compressional wave velocity data were correlated to vertical effective stresses and to TTI. Our porosity data showed a broader porosity trend in the mechanical compaction zone, and the onset of the formation of limestone at a shallower burial depth than the porosity data of the Ontong Java Plateau chalk show. Our porosity data do not show or at least it is difficult to define a clear pore-stiffening contact cementation trend as the Ontong Java Plateau chalk. Mechanical compaction is the principal cause of porosity reduction (at shallow depths) in the studied Eocene chalk, at least down to about 5 MPa Terzaghi’s effective stress corresponding to a porosity of about 35%. This indicates that mechanical compaction is the principal agent of porosity reduction. Conversely, at deeper levels, porosity reduction is accompanied by a large increase in sonic velocity indicating pore-filling cementation. These deep changes are correlated with TTI. This indicates pore-filling cementation via an activation energy mechanism. We proposed a predictive equation for porosity reduction with burial stress. This equation is relevant for basin analysis and hydrocarbon exploration to predict porosity if sonic velocity data for subsurface chalk is available.
The Prevalence of Preschool Child Domestic Violence at Talkha City

Background: Children are more likely to be exposed to violence and crime than adults are. An experience of violence can lead to lasting physical, mental, and emotional harm, whether the child is a direct victim or a witness. Aim of the study; was to determine the prevalence of domestic violence among preschool children. Subjects & methods: Research design: cross-section descriptive study. Setting; this study conducted at private nursery schools at Talkha city. Subjects composed of 220 mothers and 220 children. Tools of data collection: three tools were used: a structured interview questionnaire, attitude scale for mothers, and observation assessment sheet for the child. Results; revealed that the majority of children were exposed to violence at home last month. Nearly three quarters of children exposed to physical assault, and half of them exposed to emotional violence, while nearly one third of children suffered from negligence. More than two third of the mothers used two and three types of violence, towards their children. The majority of mothers used physical and emotional punishments towards their children once or more per day. Conclusion: the prevalence of violence directed towards children was very high. Recommendations: Health education programs for the new couples about child rearing, and educate parents how to manage child's wrong behaviors, and not to use violence as a method of punishment.
Ethnic diversity and human capital development in India: A disaggregated analysis at the state and district levels

ABSTRACT This study contributes to the development literature by providing a new perspective on understanding factors that influence human capital development in India. We examine the effects of ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity on various measures of human capital at the state and district levels. Based on indices of ethnic diversity calculated for 30 Indian States and 557 districts, we examine the direct effects of ethnic diversity on indicators such as infant mortality, education and health. Our findings suggest that, on average, ethnic diversity contributes to some elements of development. Specifically, we find evidence to support development-enhancing effects of diversity on education and health.
The Socioeconomic Determinants of Crime in Pakistan

Crime is one of the major issues in Pakistan. It not only affects our society but also our economy. The main purpose of this study is showing the effects of socio-Economic factors such as Inflation, Population, income and economic growth to crimes. For this purpose we use secondary data and collected from Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and World Bank over 2006 to 2016. Correlation and regression analysis use to check the socio-economic effects on crimes. Results show negative relation of crime and economic growth. Government strives on economic growth, because it improves, crimes reduce gradually.
Analysis and forecasting of extreme temperature and precipitation across the complex terrain of British Columbia

The ability to forecast extreme temperature and precipitation events not only helps satisfy the public’s desire to better prepare for such events, but can also provide valuable information about the future risks of such events to emergency managers, regional planners, and policy-makers at all levels of government. Additionally, understanding extreme weather events in the context of climate change can help provide confidence and insight into risk assessment. This dissertation advances extreme weather forecasting over the complex topography of British Columbia (BC) while accounting for changes in intensity and frequency of extreme events due to nonstationarity. First the problem of finding a dataset to provide climatological distributions is addressed. Weather station data coverage, quality, and temporal completeness across BC degrade outside of population centres, and as one goes back in time. This data paucity motivates the search for the best reanalysis to serve as a climatological reference dataset. The 2-m temperature and daily accumulated precipitation of the reanalyses are compared with observations from meteorological stations distributed over the complex terrain of British Columbia. The observations are separated into climate regions by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and K-means clustering, and new verification metrics are introduced to evaluate the best performing reanalysis. Upon thorough evaluation, the Japanese 55-year Reanalysis (JRA-55) was found to be best. Its biases are largely explained by the inability of the coarse-resolution reanalysis to represent terrain characteristics. The second component of this works combines, downscales and bias corrects the best performing reanalysis using the high-spatial-resolution ParameterElevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) dataset and using surface weather station observations. This results in a high-resolution, long-term gridded dataset that is spatially and temporally complete, yielding a very-high-resolution surface analysis (VHRSA). Biases and mean absolute errors are substantially improved over the JRA-55. The VHRSA not only renders a solution to the paucity of observational data across BC, it also has the potential to be a valuable dataset for research and operational use
The generic structures and lexico-grammaticality in English academic research papers

Abstract The present study aimed to discover how selected English language authors employ specific rhetorical, grammatical, and stylistic elements in presenting new knowledge to the target audience and how they communicate science to the community of academicians in order to convey scientific information to various audiences. To this end, the generic structures, as well as lexico-grammaticality systems inbuilt in introduction sections of English academic research papers of three different disciplines, linguistics, chemistry and software engineering, were explored. To collect the data, a corpus consisting of 90 papers, 30 for each discipline, published between 2014 and 2016 in Elsevier journals was selected randomly. For genre analysis, Hasan’s model of generic structure potential was used, while Halliday’s model was used for the analysis of lexico-grammaticality systems. The results showed that ‘Previous study’ and ‘Purpose of study’ were the obligatory elements among the 11 types of generic structures. Furthermore, material process, declarative mood, the use of conjunctions in textual theme and circumstantial adjunct were mostly used, while no interpersonal theme was found in the obligatory elements. The findings promise pedagogical implications for novice writers and university students of English language generally, and second language or foreign language writers from different cultures in different fields of study, in particular.
ECG Based Analysis of the Ventricular Repolarisation in the Human Heart

ECG recordings provide diagnostic relevant information on the de- and repolarisation sequences of the heart. A modification of the repolarisation sequence is assumed to cause Torsades de Pointes. Especially drug induced effects on the repolarisation processes are in focus, since some non-cardiac drugs have been associated with sudden cardiac death in the 1990s. The analysis of the ventricular repolarisation using a set of parameters depicting the morphology of the T-wave is introduced in this work. Therefore, new methods of fully automatic patient-specific QRS detection, beat classification and precise T-wave delineation are presented. Using these methods, medical studies are investigated regarding the modification of the T-wave by different compounds. Also the impact of the heart rate on the morphology of the T-wave is part of this research. The reliable identification of ventricular ectopic beats allows an analysis of the influence of these beats on subsequent heart beats. It turned out that the morphology of subsequent heart beats can significantly be changed. This might give new information on the proarrythmical risk of ventricular ectopic beats.
“They Came Home Over-Empowered”: Identifying Masculinities and Femininities in Food Insecurity Situations in Tanzania

Gender inequality, embedded in sociocultural structures, persists in Tanzania. It is particularly manifest in access to productive resources, income-generating and employment opportunities, time-use, and educational possibilities. Seeking to contribute to the study of gender roles in Tanzania in the context of food insecurity, this paper presents findings regarding the social role of gender drawn from a study of food security problems and family experiences in Dodoma, Tanzania. The methodology comprised two phases: (1) Face-to-face structured interviews with 333 households; and (2) workshops based on TO—Theater of the Oppressed. These two phases were complemented by repeated research stays in the Dodoma region. TO helps to understand the connections between the private universe of families and their narratives about food insecurity. From the voices of community members in Dodoma, we identify aspects of how men and women perceive the food insecurity situation. Results show that there are several contextual factors related to food insecurity at the community level, and that issues related to domestic violence also appear when cultural patrons and gender roles are questioned. Based on theory and the data collected, we seek not only to comprehend how food insecurity and gender roles are interconnected, but also how to think about new forms of public policies that support gender equality among men and women in rural areas. We conclude that transdisciplinary studies on food insecurity can help public policies address complex scenarios, comprising the multiple and conflicting values present in sociocultural issues, while taking into account individual community needs and specificities.
The role of peatlands in global and regional drinking water resources

Water provision is a valuable ecosystem service that is of central importance to human well-being. Peatlands are potentially important to the sustainable provision of potable water because water draining from peatlands is often of good quality, other than being rich in dissolved organic carbon (DOC). However, there have been no attempts to date, to investigate the role of peatlands in potable water supply at a global scale. In this thesis, an improved global peatland map (PEATMAP) was developed, which is freely available as a potentially useful tool for peatland or wetland researchers. The new map provided a basis from which to estimate global hotspots of peatland-derived potable water use. The volume of annual drinking water delivered by these catchments was estimated, and the status of the water-supply peatlands were evaluated, being the first such estimates at the global scale. Application of PERSiST and INCA-C models across the nine catchments in the UK, which are among the most important peatland-derived drinking water supply catchments in the world, provided evidence of the potential changes in DOC concentration and DOC flux under 21st-century climate and sulphate deposition scenarios. The results show that total global peatland area is 4.23 million km2, approximately 2.84 % of the world land area. Water supply peatlands provide approximately 4.22 km3 yr-1 of peat-fed drinking water globally, equivalent to typical consumption of 71.4 million people, but only 28 % of water-supply peatlands are pristine or protected globally. Although DOC flux is largely insensitive to future climate change scenarios, DOC concentrations in UK water sources are likely to increase while discharges are likely to decrease under all 21st-century climate and sulphate deposition scenarios tested.
An Examination of the Links Between Organizational Social Capital and Employee Well-Being: Focusing on the Mediating Role of Quality of Work Life

Although organizational social capital (OSC) is widely considered a potential resource for improving organizational performance, extensive research has paid limited attention to how employee well-being may be a positive outcome of OSC. Drawing on social exchange theory, need satisfaction, and spillover approaches, this study explores the effects of OSC on subjective well-being (SWB) through quality of work life (QWL) and job-related outcomes, such as organizational commitment and turnover intention. Using survey data obtained from public employees in South Korea, the results show that QWL mediates not only the association between OSC and organizational commitment but also the relationship between OSC and SWB. These findings highlight the importance of OSC as an intangible asset that can generate both organizational outcomes and employee well-being. In practice, these findings also imply that organizational resources and work environments should favorably respond to employees’ human needs to ensure improved employee well-being.
Study of combustion, performance and emissions of a diesel engine fueled with a ternary fuel (diesel-biodiesel-ethanol) in blended and fumigation modes

i PUBLICATIONS ARISING FROM THE THESIS . iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT . iv TABLE OF CONTENTS . v LIST OF FIGURES . x LIST OF TABLES . xv NOMENCLATURE AND ABBREVIATIONS . xvii CHAPTER
Effects of plantation age and precipitation gradient on soil carbon and nitrogen changes following afforestation in the Chinese Loess Plateau

Afforestation of degraded land significantly influences soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (STN) sequestration. The interaction effects of plantation age and climate gradient on SOC and STN changes following afforestation are not well understood. In this study, five sites were selected along a precipitation gradient (410–600 mm yr−1) in the Loess Plateau. The SOC and STN stocks at a depth of 0–200 cm were measured in cropland and black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) forests with different plantation ages, that is, young forest (<15 years), middle‐aged forest (15–25 years), and old forest (>25 years). The SOC and STN stocks in the 0‐ to 200‐cm profiles of young forest, middle‐aged forest, and cropland increased significantly with mean annual precipitation (p < .05), whereas the increasing trend of the SOC stocks of old forest was not significant, indicating an age‐dependent change in the SOC and STN stocks across the precipitation gradient. The SOC stock change (∆SOC) following afforestation increased with mean annual precipitation in young forest, but it had a decreasing trend in middle‐aged and old forests. The STN stock changes (∆STN) in the three forests were negative at most sites, and they all decreased along the precipitation gradient. There were significant positive correlations between ∆SOC and ∆STN (p < .01), and 1‐g STN stock accumulation was accompanied by 8.40‐, 6.10‐, and 10.48‐g SOC accumulation for young forest, middle‐aged forest, and old forest, respectively. The different patterns of SOC and STN stock changes should be incorporated into soil C and N modelling and estimation.
Patterns of Reading Errors among Emirati Second Grade Students

The aim of this study was to examine reading errors among secondgrade Emeriti students. The study sample included 168 Emirati second grade students (87 males and 81 females). One hundred forty-four words were randomly selected from the Arabic reading curriculum. Those words were classified into lexical categories as nouns (45%), verbs (34%), adjectives and adverbs (10%), and functional words (i.e., prepositions and conjunctions; 11%). They were also classified into three levels of linguistic difficulty (i.e., easy, difficult, and very difficult) according to their morphological complexity. The results revealed that reading difficulties may be the result of a threefold interrelated paradigm: the difficulty level of the words (i.e., morphological complexity), the lexical category (i.e., nouns, verbs, adjective and adverbs, and prepositions and conjunctions), and the pattern of the reading error (e.g., omission of a letter or a syllable and reading the geminated letter as ingeminated).
The Development of Modern Agricultural History within Economic History in Spain

This paper analyses the evolution of modern agricultural history in Spain within the framework of the development of the discipline of economic history. This analysis is divided into five thematic parts: production, productivity and technical change; the international insertion of Spanish agriculture; the institutional framework; long-term visions; and finally, recent developments and some deficits. It is interesting to emphasize that research on agricultural economic history in Spain has been carried out adopting methodologies, questions and developments similar to those of researchers from other advanced countries. Spanish agricultural economic history is one of the most powerful in the international context.
Momentum with Volatility Timing

The growing adoption of factor investing simultaneously prompted the active topic of factor timing approaches for the dynamic allocation of multi-factor portfolios. The trend represents a natural development of filling the gap between passive and active management. The paper addresses this direction by introducing the volatility-timed winners approach that applies past volatilities as a timing predictor to mitigate momentum factor underperformance for time intervals spanning the market downturn and post-crisis period. The proposed approach was confirmed with Spearman rank correlation and demonstrated in relation to different strategies including momentum volatility scaling, risk-based asset allocation, time series momentum and MSCI momentum indexes. The corresponding analysis generalized existing volatility scaling strategies and brought together the two branches of the smart-beta domain, factor investing and risk-based asset allocation.