Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vertical price transmission between market operators in Hungarian agricultural product chains.

Price transmission studies related to the cointegration of price time series are a suitable means for studying market dominance at the various market levels in the food product chains. For this study a price transmission asymmetry study was carried out for 18 commercial food product chains. In this study a monthly price time series was used for the period 2001 to 2005. It was found that there is signifi cant product variation in market dominance which spans the entire industry. However, the variation is not signifi cantly linked to either sectors or vertical levels. At times it is unstable and can easily tilt toward the vertical partner level. Depending on price changes, it can also vary, which, in turn, refl ects changes in weather conditions. Following a radical change in prices, there is almost never enough time to achieve full price restoration before the onset of another price shock. The fact that prices are not fully restored may partly explain the continuing value divergence of agricultural prices.
rapid voluntary stomach eversion in a free-living shark

video observation of oral gastric eversion in a free-living caribbean reef shark (carcharhinus perezi) shows voluntary gastric eversion followed by retraction not only occurs, but is extremely rapid (lasting ∼0.3 s). eversion may occur by stomach relaxation–oesophageal contraction coupled with increased abdominal pressures to enable prolapse, and retraction by a mechanism analogous to suction feeding. this behaviour provides a ‘cleansing’ function for removing indigestible food particles, parasites or mucus from the stomach lining. sharks, and possibly other animals with similar gut morphologies, may use this technique to help maintain a healthy alimentary tract.
Differential equations and logarithmic intertwining operators for strongly graded vertex algebras

We derive certain systems of differential equations for matrix elements of products and iterates of logarithmic intertwining operators among strongly graded generalized modules for a strongly graded conformal vertex algebra under suitable assumptions. Using these systems of differential equations, we verify the convergence and extension property needed in the logarithmic tensor category theory for such strongly graded generalized modules developed by Huang, Lepowsky and Zhang.
Undiagnosed COPD in Patients with Established Cardiovascular Diseases: Prevalence, Symptoms Profiling and Functional Status

Background: COPD is associated with cardiovascular co-morbidities. We examined the prevalence of undiagnosed COPD in our local population of patients with stable cardiovascular diseases and the profile of their respiratory symptoms and functional status. Methods: Eligible patients with established stable cardiovascular diseases were prospectively recruited from the cardiology outpatient clinic of an urban-based university teaching hospital and evaluated with pre- and post- bronchodilator spirometry testing and interview using standard questionnaire. Results: Of the 501 subjects recruited, 113 (22.6%) had COPD defined on post-bronchodilator fixed FEV 1 /FVC ratio <70%. 109 (96.5%) had moderate severity while only 4 (3.5%) had severe disease by GOLD classification. Compared to non-COPD, proportionately more COPD patients were older, males, exposed to cigarette smoking (including passive smoking) and had congestive cardiac failure and pulmonary hypertension. Also proportionately more COPD subjects had more cough, sputum and dyspnoae, and poorer scores in MRC dyspnoae scale, NYHA functional class and SGRQ quality of life. These symptoms were generally worst in the evening. They also had significantly higher mean number of unscheduled visits to outpatient clinics, emergency departments and of hospital admissions over the past 12 months. After multivariate analysis, only dyspnoae [odd ratio (95%CI): 4.2 (1.8-9.7); p=0.001] and cigarette smoking [2.8 (1.1-6.80); 0.018] remained independently associated with COPD. Conclusions: A significant proportion of patients with established cardiovascular diseases have undiagnosed COPD of moderate severity. Dyspnoae and cigarette smoking appear highly predictive of COPD.
The Increased Importance of Asset Price Misalignments for Business Cycle Dynamics

We outline a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model with trend extrapolation in asset pricing that we fit to quarterly U.S. macroeconomic time series with Bayesian techniques. To be more precise, we modify the DSGE model in Smets and Wouters (2007) by incorporating asset traders who use a mix of fundamental analysis and trend extrapolation in asset pricing. We conclude that trend extrapolation in asset pricing is quantitatively relevant, statistically significant and results in a substantial improvement of the model’s fit to the data. We also find that the strength in trend extrapolation is much stronger during the Great Moderation than it was prior to this period. Moreover, allowing for asset mispricing leads to more pronounced hump-shaped dynamics of the asset price and investment. Thus, asset price misalignments should be an important ingredient in DSGE models that aim to understand business cycles dynamics in general and the interaction between the real and financial sectors in particular.
INTAKE OF NUTRIENTS AND ITS FOOD SOURCES AMONG SELECTED TRIBAL EXPECTANT MOTHERS OF RANCHI DISTRICT OF JHARKHAND

The present study was conducted on 46 tribal pregnant women belonging to two blocks of Ranchi district of Jharkhand. The data on typical meal pattern, food sources, food and nutrient intake were collected. All tribal pregnant women were consuming three meals a day. Intake of cereals were significantly higher than recommended dietary intake. Intake of other vegetables were almost similar to RDI, whereas intake of other food stuffs were significantly less than RDI. The daily intake of calorie, protein, calcium, iron and b-carotene was grossly deficient in comparison, with ICMR recommendations. The study revealed that hundred per cent women were insecured in terms of calcium, fat, iron and b-carotene, whereas only 2 and 9 per cent women were found secured in respect of energy and protein respectively.
Rı́os Pérez Technological Progress , Slow Growing Economies and Polarization

Slow technological progress and financial sectors with low productivity are endemic among developing countries. This paper presents a model in which technological progress affects the productivity of the financial sector. When the technological progress is fast, the financial intermediation costs are low and this increases the incentives to invest in new technology. This feed back process involves the existence of two types of balanced growth path equilibria: one in which the productivity of the financial sector is high and the technological progress fast, and other in which the productivity of the financial sector is low and the technological progress slow. It also may appear an steady state in which there is neither financial sector nor technological progress. Multiple equilibria and indeterminacy of equilibria may arise: for given initial conditions, there are several equilibrium paths converging to different balanced growth paths with different growth rates.
Government intervention in women's entrepreneurship development: the Bumiputera craft industry

The women’s entrepreneurship literature tends to view women entrepreneurs from the experience of men (Ahl, 2006) and is very ‘Western-centric’ (Brush and Cooper, 2012: 4). The perception of women entrepreneurs as a single homogenous group that play the same roles and face the same barriers (Madsen et al., 2008) are inconsistent with the argument that women’s social environments provide a different set of challenges to their businesses (Brush and Gatewood, 2008). It is always assumed that any shortcomings of women’s entrepreneurial activities are the outcomes of their individual attributes (Ahl, 2006) which undermine the views that entrepreneurship phenomenon is influenced by both individual and environmental factors (Shane, 2003; Welter and Smallbone, 2011). This bias has limited our understanding of women’s entrepreneurship and caused the continuous invisibility of women entrepreneurs in the entrepreneurship literature as the reality that they face in carrying out their entrepreneurial activities cannot be revealed.
The importance of micrometeorological variations for photosynthesis and transpiration in a boreal coniferous forest

Abstract. Plant canopies affect the canopy micrometeorology, and thereby alter canopy exchange processes. For the simulation of these exchange processes on a regional or global scale, large-scale vegetation models often assume homogeneous environmental conditions within the canopy. In this study, we address the importance of vertical variations in light, temperature, CO2 concentration and humidity within the canopy for fluxes of photosynthesis and transpiration of a boreal coniferous forest in central Sweden. A leaf-level photosynthesis-stomatal conductance model was used for aggregating these processes to canopy level while applying the within-canopy distributions of these driving variables. The simulation model showed good agreement with eddy covariance-derived gross primary production (GPP) estimates on daily and annual timescales, and showed a reasonable agreement between transpiration and observed H2O fluxes, where discrepancies are largely attributable to a lack of forest floor evaporation in the model. Simulations in which vertical heterogeneity was artificially suppressed revealed that the vertical distribution of light is the driver of vertical heterogeneity. Despite large differences between above-canopy and within-canopy humidity, and despite large gradients in CO2 concentration during early morning hours after nights with stable conditions, neither humidity nor CO2 played an important role for vertical heterogeneity of photosynthesis and transpiration.
Contrarian Investment, Extrapolation, and Risk

For many years, stock market analysts have argued that value strategies outperform the market. These value strategies call for buying stocks that have low prices relative to earnings, dividends, book assets, or other measures of fundamental value. While there is some agreement that value strategies produce higher returns, the interpretation of why they do so is more controversial. This paper provides evidence that value strategies yield higher returns because these strategies exploit the mistakes of the typical investor and not because these strategies are fundamentally riskier.
Cross-Listing and Valuation Effects: Evidence From Nairobi Securities Exchange

The purpose of this study is to analyze the valuation effects of cross-listing. The study has conducted a univariate analysis of the Tobin’s Q and the market-to-book ratio for the period before and after the cross-listing by using paired tests. Non-cross-listed firms are then included in multivariate regressions by using pooled Time Series Cross Section (TSCS) and Panel Corrected Standard Error (PCSE) regressions for a period of 13 years to find out if there is a difference in the valuations between cross-listed firms and non-cross-listed firms. The study’s results indicate that the Tobin’s Q of cross-listed-firms increases two years prior to cross-listing and that it continues to increase two years after cross-listing. The market-to-book ratios also show an increase two years prior to cross-listing and up to one year after cross-listing, then decrease in the second year after cross-listing. When non-cross-listed firms are included in the analysis, results indicate that cross-listed firms are valued higher than non-cross-listed firms. When data are portioned for positive earnings per share (EPS) and dividends, results indicate that valuation is the highest when EPS is positive. Since segmentation theories cannot be ruled out, the study’s findings are more in support of the growth opportunity hypothesis.
Financial Market Access and Capital Income Inequality

This paper explores the effect of broadening financial market access on inequality. I characterize in a parsimonious model of endogenous market participation how capital income inequality depends on financial market costs. A Kuznets curve type of relationship is uncovered under DARA utility. Data on the contribution of capital income to inequality (CKI) in eleven countries is presented against a measure of equity trading costs. Consistently with the model, during the last few decades of improving market access, the CKI has tended to increase where trading costs have been high, and to decrease where these costs have been low enough. The results imply that financial liberalization may have differential effects for inequality in advanced and in emerging economies.
Economic values for beef production traits from a herd level bioeconomic model

A bioeconomic model of an integrated Canadian beef production system was developed to derive economic values for genetic improvement of multiple traits. The breeding objective was assumed to be profit maximization of the integrated enterprise. Sixteen input traits were identified as potentially influencing returns and costs in the system. These were mature size, direct and maternal calving ease (in heifers and cows separately), cow fertility, calf survival, cow survival, peak milk yield, residual post-weaning growth rate, residual feed intake in growing animals, residual feed intake in mature animals, residual slaughter weight and dressing percentage at constant backfat thickness, marbling and lean percentage. Most traits were defined to be functionally independent of each other. Thus, traits related to mature size were redefined as residual traits after accounting for the nonlinear relationships among mature size, growth and feed intake traits following mammalian size scaling rules. The base model, which.
EFFECT OF TRAINING IN WRESTLING AND SAUNA ON TSH AND FT4 HORMONES1234

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of acute sauna and highly intense wrestling exercise on TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) and FT4 (Free Thyroxin) hormones. Fourteen healthy voluntary male wrestlers who had no hormonal disorder and were not using any drug participated in this study. Blood measurement was taken three times from wrestlers’ antecubital vein –10 ml at a timewhen they rested before exercise, after wrestling exercise and after the sauna program which took place after a two-day rest. Hormone analyses were done via IMMULITE 2000 auto analyzer. For statistical analysis, in comparing groups, Friedman test was conducted while Wilcoxon test was administered in order to determine the differences between the groups. Within the group, significant increase was found in TSH (P=0.003) and FT4 (P=0.016) levels after the acute wrestling exercise. While it was observed that TSH levels have no important differences after sauna practice and FT4 levels have important increase (P=0.03). When TSH values were compared after the wrestling exercise and sauna, it was determined that the values of exercise group were significantly high (P=0.041) but FT4 values did not have a significant difference. Acute wrestling training applied to the wrestlers caused significant increase in TSH and FT4 values, however, sauna application just enhanced FT4 values significantly. Consequently; it can be deduced that in wrestling in which anaerobic energy metabolism is dominant, acute wrestling training is more effective in increasing TSH and FT4 values than sauna application.
Oxygen isotope fractionation during the freezing of sea water

Abstract The dependence of oxygen isotope fractionation on ice growth rate during the freezing of sea water is investigated based on laboratory experiments and field observations in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The laboratory experiments were performed in a tank filled with sea water, with sea ice grown under calm conditions at various room temperatures ranging from −5°C to −20°C. In McMurdo Sound, the ice growth rate was monitored using thermistor probes for first-year landfast ice that grew to ∼2 m in thickness. Combining these datasets allows, for the first time, examination of fractionation at a wide range of growth rates from 0.8 × 10−7 to 9.3 × 10−7 m s−1. In the analysis a stagnant boundary-layer model is parameterized using these two independent datasets. As a result, the optimum values of equilibrium pure-ice fractionation factor and boundary-layer thickness are estimated. It is suggested that a regime shift may occur at a growth rate of ∼2.0 × 10−7 m s−1. A case study on sea ice in the Sea of Okhotsk, where the growth rate is modeled by coupling the thermodynamic properties of the sea ice with meteorological data, demonstrates the utility of the fitted models.
When rendering hospitality becomes collateral damage: Psycho-organisational variables and job burnout amongst hotel workers in metropolitan Nigeria

Orientation: Job burnout is a serious problem in the hospitality industry. Therefore, employees require ongoing job and personal resources to cope with job burnout. Research purpose: The study investigated the influence of psycho-organisational variables (i.e. perceived organisational support, self-efficacy and age) on job burnout amongst hotel workers. Motivation for the study: Investigating the independent and joint influence of psychoorganisational variables on burnout will assist in pulling together psycho-organisational factors influencing burnout and its dimensions cohesively in systematic theory building and intervention plans. Research design, approach and method: This is a cross-sectional survey designed to investigate perceived organisational support, self-efficacy and age as predictors of job burnout amongst 268 hotel workers from 10 registered hotels in some metropolitan cities in Ondo State, south-western Nigeria. Structural equation modelling techniques were conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. Main findings: Structural equation modelling revealed that perceived organisational support and self-efficacy have inverse relationships with burnout syndrome and its dimensions. Practical/managerial implications: These findings imply that it is possible for different stakeholders in the hotel industry in Nigeria to reduce the incidence of high burnout amongst hotel workers by providing adequate organisational support to cope with difficult job demands and organising self-efficacy training to improve individuals’ confidence in their abilities to deal with job burnout. Such intervention can be individual-oriented, organisation-oriented or a combination. Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to literature by confirming that organisational support and self-efficacy are relevant in coping with burnout.
Indicators of Students’ Intention to Use Massive Open Online Courses for Academic Purposes

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have a considerable potential impact on teaching, learning, and traditional higher educational structures, according to many types of research. Several higher education institutions either through the specific development of MOOCs or the integration of existing MOOCs into their curriculum are swiftly implementing them on their campuses. To examine the MOOCs phenomenon more closely, this study explored the significant difference between MOOCs users and non-users in their intention to use MOOCs for academic purposes. It again explored the influence of awareness knowledge, how-to knowledge, perceived usefulness, actual usage, and attitude on intention to use MOOCs for academic purposes. The sample consisted of 190 postgraduate students. The analysis procedure made use of independent sample t-test and multiple regression analysis. The findings reveal a significant difference between users and non-users of MOOCs in their intentions to use MOOCs for academic purposes. It again indicated that all predictor variables significantly contribute to the prediction of intention to use MOOCs for academic purposes except how-to knowledge and actual usage. It also reveals that students’ intention to use MOOCs for academic purposes is raised by the perceived usefulness which reflects in their attitude. Awareness knowledge, in turn, incline the perceived usefulness of MOOCs to students signifying that a substantial amount of knowledge of MOOCs is a precursor to a higher level of intention to use.
Agronomic Properties Assessed for Population of Recombinant Inbred Lines of Rye (Seceale cereale L.) with Known Responses to Nutrient Deficiency Stress at the Seedling Stage

The experiment was established and carried out in light and slightly acidic soil in the years 2008-2010. The research material included one hundred thirty-eight RILs (F 8:10 ) of rye with known response to nutrient stress were determined at the seedling stage obtained i n vitro in mature embryos cultures and in two parental inbred lines and F 1 . The following factors were determined in the full maturity stage of each RIL: plant height, spike length, plant tillering, spikelet number per spike, grain number per spike, spike fertility, grain weight per spike, grain weight per plant and 1000 grain weight. Differences in the examined traits were found between parental inbred lines, and the heterosis effect was observed in F 1 hybrid. The range of variability of the examined functional traits demonstrated in the population of RILs proved the transgression effect. The analyzed RILs were arranged into six groups and described with the use of Wardâ€™s agglomerative method and grouping variables: spike fertility, grain weight per spike and per plant, thousand grain weight. Significant differences were found among other things between spike morphology and fertility traits and yield per a plant. The possibility of selection of RILs with extreme traits described both in the field and laboratory experiments in comparison with known tolerance to nutrient stress was described. The obtained correlation coefficients for the examined functional traits of RILs were in accordance with those published in reference literature. The correlation coefficients determined for selected seedling traits from the laboratory experiment and for selected traits of a mature plant may prove the usefulness of the test in studies on selection of genotypes desired for sustainable agriculture or for research on heritability of traits of tolerance to nutrient stress.
Capital Structure Dynamics in Private Business Groups

Dynamic models of capital structure assume that com panies trade-off the advantages of a leverage adjustment and its costs. In general, private companies are assumed to face large adjustment costs, and should have lower financing flexibility. However, we argue that an important class of private companies ‐ business group affiliates ‐ may face relatively low adjustment costs because of the ir access to both internal and external capital markets. Our empirical results sho w significant differences in the composition of the capital structure and the levera ge adjustment process between affiliates of private Belgian business groups and c omparable stand-alone companies.
Outcomes of VAC versus conventional dressings in patients with lower limb ulcer

Ulcers of the lower extremities, particularly in individuals older than 65 years, are a common cause for visits to the podiatrist, wound care specialist. The incidence of ulceration is rising as a result of the ageing population and increased risk factors for atherosclerotic occlusion such as smoking, obesity, and diabetes. Leg ulcers is reported to have impact on virtually every aspect of daily life: pain is common, sleep is often impaired, mobility and work capacity tend to be restricted, and personal finances are often adversely affected. It is also known that social activities are restricted due to fear of injury and negative body image. Leg ulcers is usually associated with significant morbidity, high cost of healthcare, loss of productivity, and reduced quality of life.