Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FEAR AND LOATHING: THE POLITICAL DISCOURSE IN RELATION TO MUSLIMS AND ISLAM IN THE BRITISH CONTEMPORARY SETTING

Following the attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001 (‘9/11’), the Los Angeles Times wrote that the ‘next big thing’ was likely to be fear. This paper seeks to consider how the notion of fear and threat has influenced and shaped British political discourse in relation to Muslims and Islam – especially ‘home-grown’ Muslims and Islam - over the past decade or so. Considering the broad spectrum of British politics, including both mainstream and fringe, this paper begins with a consideration of the British National Party (BNP) and the way in which it has grown and gained electoral success on the back of overtly anti-Muslim, anti-Islamic campaigns. Considering the influence of this on the establishment and development of the English Defence League, the discourse of other political actors including the New Labour Government is explored to highlight the closing of difference between the left and right wings of British political discourse. To conclude, Martin Barker’s theories of ‘new racism’ are explored as a means of understanding the changes in the British political spaces before conclusions are drawn that highlight what might be evidence of a hardening of ideas and attitudes about Muslims and Islam more widely
Signaling and proceeds usage for seasoned equity offerings

Prior research of seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) offers sparse insight as to how the purpose of an SEO influences stock returns. We extend this research by examining short-run and long-run compounded abnormal returns for portfolios formed according to proceeds usage. We find announcement period returns consistent with signaling theories (such as Myers and Majluf, 1984) that predict less negative returns when firms use proceeds for debt reduction purposes. However, when we analyze a lengthier short-run period covering nearly a calendar month around an SEO, we discover that firms using proceeds for investment-related purposes perform better than those reducing debt. Surprisingly, firms performing the best for this lengthier short-run period use an SEO to sell shares for current owners. Because these SEOs involve greater insider selling, this finding offers evidence against signaling models based on Leland and Pyle (1977). For long-run tests, we find that SEOs done for investment-related purposes perform significantly better for all holding periods up to three years before SEOs and significantly poorer for all holding periods up to three years after SEOs. However, when we look at long-run periods surrounding SEOs, we find that stock price performance associated with the purpose of the offering depends on the holding period examined. For example, firms with investment-related purposes perform best for the two years around SEOs, firms raising funds primarily for selling shareholders perform best for the four years around SEOs, and firms using proceeds for debt reduction perform best for the six years around SEOs.
The Impacts of Time Access Restrictions and Vehicle Weight Restrictions on Food Retailers and the Environment

Urban freight transport has many sustainable aspects. It contributes to economic vitality and the competitiveness of a region. However, the less socially and environmentally friendly effects such as noise, pollutant emissions, and nuisance, are usually the central theme in designing urban freight transport policies. Restricting policies as time access restrictions and vehicle restrictions gain popularity among Dutch local authorities. More than half of the municipalities uses time access restrictions. In spite of the popularity of these policy measures, the effects on the distribution of retailers, the environment and the transport costs are not known yet. In this paper we present three case studies of food retailers, in order to examine the effects of time access restrictions and vehicle weight restrictions. We discuss the impacts on the transport costs and the distribution processes (on the retailer’s side) and the environmental impacts. To find these effects we design five scenarios, in which we vary the length of time access restrictions, the allowed weight of the weight restriction and the number of cities in which these regulations are used. In these scenarios we adapt, based on the likely reaction of the involved food retailers, the distribution activities to fit the regulations. The results show that the vehicle weight restriction as well as the time access restrictions have a negative impact on the retailers’ transport costs. In most cases we see that the policy measures also cause an increase in the pollutant CO2 emissions that are emitted during the distribution of the goods. The time access restrictions cause a cost-increase that develops more or less convexly, as more stores are affected by this policy measure. The turning point is around 45% of the stores affected. The weight restriction causes linear cost-increase as more stores are affected. Both policy measures affect especially the roundtrips that combine multiple less than truckload orders for different stores. The policy measures have a different effect on different retailers.
Evaluating the influence of aggregate size on permeability of porous pavements using finite volume simulation

Porous pavement is widely used to enhance wet weather skid resistance on highways through its superior drainage capacity. Porosity within the porous pavement structure typically serves as the control variable during the design and construction phases, while permeability is the functional parameter indicating drainage performance during the operation phase. One potential implication of using porosity during design and construction and permeability during operations is that porous pavement layer pore structures resulting from different aggregate sizes can result in different permeability values despite having identical porosity values. Recognizing this issue, this paper first presents a theoretical analysis on the drainage capacity of porous pavement. Outflow tests on typical porous pavements with various aggregate sizes are then simulated using the finite volume method and simulation results are validated against experimental measurements. It is concluded from our study that aggregate size has a significant influence on the permeability of porous pavement and should be included during pavement design, construction and operations.
Board Diversity and Accounting Conservatism: Evidence from Jordan

The main aim of this research is to investigate whether board diversity affect the accounting conservatism. This study depends on a panel data set drawn from 68 industrial firms listed on Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) for the period from 2013 to 2016. Four demographic characteristics of directors have been investigated, namely: gender diversity, education level, average age and nationality diversity. Accounting conservatism was measured by accrual-based conservatism. The results indicate that gender diversity, education level and nationality diversity are significantly positively correlated with accounting conservatism. However, the findings fail to reveal any significant effect for directors' age on accounting conservatism. The findings of this study assert that it is necessary to take board diversity (directors' demographic characteristics) into account when choosing board of directors members because demographic characteristics diversity influences directors' behavior to deal with different issues that are related to accounting principles.
Exploring the Effect of Job Satisfaction and Demographic Factors on Affective, Normative and Continuance Commitment: An Empirical Evidence of Public Secondary School Teachers in Tanzania

This study reports part of the output in larger survey which involved secondary school teachers working in public schools in Dodoma, Tanzania. Names of respective schools will not be displayed in the publications on account of agreement met with schools. Self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 127 randomly sampled teachers (response rate 88%) and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results indicated job satisfaction level and continuance commitment was moderate while affective commitment found to be low and normative commitment was grossly low. It further indicated significant negative relationship and impact between general job satisfaction and all organizational commitment forms (affective, normative and continuance commitment) and thus job satisfaction was an important antecedent of organizational commitment forms. With an exception of three cases (affective and normative commitment in gender; continuance commitment in education levels), the study found statistical significant difference in teachers organizational commitment associated with demographic characteristics. Implications for school administrators, educational stakeholders and Government were discussed and improvement strategies proposed. Keywords: Tanzania, Job satisfaction, Public schools, Affective, Normative and Continuance commitment
EXISTENCE OF MAXIMAL SEMIDEFINITE INVARIANT SUBSPACES AND SEMIGROUP PROPERTIES OF SOME CLASSES OF ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL OPERATORS

We describe sufficient conditions for the operator Lu = 1 g(x) L0u, with L0 an ordi- nary differential operator dissipative on its domain and a function g changing its sign, to have maximal semidefinite invariant subspaces in the Krein space L2,g(a,b) with the indefinite inner product (u,v )= b a g(x)u(x)v(x)dx. The semigroup properties of the restrictions of an operator to these subspaces are studied. The similarity problem of L to a selfadjoint operator is discussed.
Rough and lonely road to prosperity: a reexamination of the sources of growth in Africa using Bayesian model averaging

This paper takes a fresh look at Africa's growth experience by using the Bayesian model averaging (BMA) methodology. BMA enables us to consider a large number of potential explanatory variables and sort out which of these variable can effectively explain Africa's growth experience. Posterior coefficient estimates reveal that key engines of growth in Africa are substantially different from those in the rest of the world. More precisely, it is shown that mining, primary exports and initial primary education exerted differential effect on African growth. These results are examined in relation to the existing literature. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Federalism and International Law Through the Lens of Legal Pluralism

Sovereignty has long been the dominant lens through which we view both federalism and international law. From the perspective of sovereignty, both federalism and international law are primarily about drawing clear boundaries and demarcations between separate, autonomous power centers. Recently, however, a group of scholars have embraced a more pluralist approach to both American federalism and international law. They have touted the important virtues of jurisdictional redundancy and inter-systemic governance models in which multiple legal and regulatory authorities weigh in regarding the same acts and actors. And they argue that such jurisdictional redundancies are not just a necessary accommodation to the reality of a world of multiple authority; they may actually be beneficial. Such benefits include a greater possibility for error correction, a more robust field for norm articulation, and a larger space for creative innovation. Moreover, we might think that when decisionmakers are forced to consider the existence of other possible decisionmakers they will tend to adopt, over time, a more restrained view of their own power, seeing themselves as part of a larger tapestry of decisionmaking in which they are not the only potentially relevant voice. Indeed, pluralists recognize that what constitutes the appropriate spheres for “local,” “national,” and “international” regulation and adjudication changes over time and should not be essentialized.To illustrate how a pluralist approach might work, I discuss Medellin v. Texas, in which the United States Supreme Court intervened in a dispute among the International Court of Justice, the Bush administration, and the State of Texas regarding the appropriate role of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations in a state capital murder case. Although the Supreme Court majority emphasized the need to delineate clear, non-overlapping spheres of international, national, and state authority, I draw on the insights of legal pluralism to proffer a more flexible approach to the interaction of multiple sources of law implicated by the case.
Getting Old in the U.S.: Dilemmas of Indo-Americans

Adapting to old age is an arduous task in every society. For Asian immigrants because of drastically different value systems getting old in the U.S. poses a number of dilemmas. For the Indo-American elderly and their families a major dilemma is whether to expect and abide by the value orientation of collectivism or follow the main stream American value of individualism. In this study the ethnographic approach operationalized through Interpretive Interactionism for an understanding of the interaction between the elderly and their families and their overall coping and adaptation process in the United States is presented.
Role of diffusion weighted MRI in the evaluation of paediatric soft tissue tumours

Poster: "ECR 2015 / C-1086 / Role of diffusion weighted MRI in the evaluation of paediatric soft tissue tumours" by: "Y. L. M. Moustafa, A. Youssef, M. A. Abou El Hassan, I. Zaky; Cairo/EG"
Harmonic scalpel versus bipolar diathermy in Milligan-Morgan haemorrhoidectomy: a randomized controlled study

Background: Post-operative pain and bleeding are two major dilemmas associated with haemorrhoidectomy. Recent advances in energy sources have provided an alternative in reducing both the issues. This study was conducted with an aim to compare use of ultrasonic scalpel (Harmonic Scalpel) and bipolar diathermy in reducing post-operative pain and bleeding in Milligan-Morgan haemorrhoidectomy (MMH). Methods: Sixty patients with grade III and IV haemorrhoids underwent MMH, after being randomized into two groups, one half of them using Harmonic Scalpel and other group, using Bipolar diathermy scissors over a period of one year at Department of General Surgery at Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad (SSG) Hospital, Baroda. Operative data were recorded, and the patients were followed-up accordingly. Independent assessors were assigned to obtain blood loss, post-operative pain scores, analgesic requirements and other secondary outcomes.Results: Intra-operative bleeding, post-operative pain scores and duration of hospital stay were significantly lower with Harmonic scalpel as compared to bipolar diathermy scissors. However, there was no significant difference in both the groups with respect to first bowel movement and early or late complications.Conclusions: Harmonic scalpel can be used as an alternative to bipolar diathermy, in view of its good haemostatic capability, reduced post-operative pain and analgesic requirements.
Observing gas and dust in simulations of star formation with Monte Carlo radiation transport on Voronoi meshes

Ionizing feedback from massive stars dramatically affects the interstellar medium local to star-forming regions. Numerical simulations are now starting to include enough complexity to produce morphologies and gas properties that are not too dissimilar from observations. The comparison between the density fields produced by hydrodynamical simulations and observations at given wavelengths relies however on photoionization/chemistry and radiative transfer calculations. We present here an implementation of Monte Carlo radiation transport through a Voronoi tessellation in the photoionization and dust radiative transfer code MOCASSIN. We show for the first time a synthetic spectrum and synthetic emission line maps of a hydrodynamical simulation of a molecular cloud affected by massive stellar feedback. We show that the approach on which previous work is based, which remapped hydrodynamical density fields on to Cartesian grids before performing radiative transfer/photoionization calculations, results in significant errors in the temperature and ionization structure of the region. Furthermore, we describe the mathematical process of tracing photon energy packets through a Voronoi tessellation, including optimizations, treating problematic cases and boundary conditions. We perform various benchmarks using both the original version of MOCASSIN and the modified version using the Voronoi tessellation. We show that for uniform grids, or equivalently a cubic lattice of cell generating points, the new Voronoi version gives the same results as the original Cartesian grid version of MOCASSIN for all benchmarks. For non-uniform initial conditions, such as using snapshots from smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations, we show that the Voronoi version performs better than the Cartesian grid version, resulting in much better resolution in dense regions.
Who are the stars? Evidence from a sample of UK academic inventors.

This paper explores the characteristics of persistent academic inventors and how they are influenced by the attributes of the researcher and of the first invention. Using a novel dataset on 550 UK academic inventors we find that the quality of the first invention is the best predictor for subsequent participation in the patenting process. Further, researchers that were trained at universities that had already established commercialisation units have a higher propensity to patent persistently. Researchers that gained first patenting experience in industry, however, are less likely to continue patenting once they entered academia.
Solar PV Lighting and Studying after Sunset: Analysis of Micro-benefits in Off-grid Rural Ghana

Solar PV light provides school children living in off-grid rural communities theopportunity to have clean and bright lighting to study after sunset. On the contrary, lightingprovided from poor sources can pollute and adversely affect human eyes during reading andwriting. Using indicator-based questionnaires in cross-sectional surveys, households with andwithout solar PV lighting were surveyed in off-grid rural communities in Ghana. The studyinvestigated lighting and children’s studies after sunset. The results indicated that whereassolar PV light of 5-20 watts dc lamps was sufficient for 5-6 children to study together, lightingfrom kerosene lantern could be sufficient for 1-3 children. All things being equal, the resultsshowed that children who use solar PV light to study upto 2 hours after sunset are likely toimprove on their examination results. The extent to which solar PV lighting significantlyimpacts on studying after sunset was established using some identified indicators. Knowledgeof the results provides understanding of the relative constraints in lighting services faced bychildren in rural communities without access to quality lighting. Such micro-level data willhelp to enhance policy and planning efforts to increase access to clean and renewable energybasedlighting devices to achieve efficient visual comfort in off-grid rural communities.
An Interpretation of the Cieslak-Povala Return-Predicting Factor

This paper presents a simple reformulation of the restricted Cieslak and Povala (2010) return-predicting factor which retains by construction exactly the same (impressive) explanatory power as the original one, but affords an alternative and attractive interpretation. What determines the future returns, the new factor shows, is a function of the distance of the yield-curve level and the slope not from a fixed reference level, but from a conditional one, determined by a function of the long-term inflation.The decomposition also allows a clear attribution of the predictive power of the Cieslak and Povala factor between the conditional level and slope deviations.Finally, the new reformulation shows that once the conditionality is taken into account, level deviations are important predictors of excess returns. (Hardly any predictability was found in earlier studies for the unconditional level.)
Students’ Attitudes Towards Cooperative Learning (CL) in EFL Writing Class

This study focused on assessing whether or not there were differences between male and female students’ attitudes towards cooperative learning (CL) in learning writing skills based on English for Ethiopia Grade Seven Pupil’s Book. The study involved ninety students who were attending their lessons at the same school. The data for the study were gathered through questionnaires. In order to see the actual happening and to triangulate the findings of the questionnaires, interviews were conducted and classrooms were observed. The results of the study showed that the students who were administered questionnaires and interviewed understood the benefits of using CLduring writing though the number of students in each class was large, and they had poor background knowledge of English. The classroom observations proved that the number of students in each class was large; the teachers could not follow up and monitor their learners appropriately while the students were working on the writing activities in groups; the students frequently used their mother tongues rather than English during group discussions; the teachers did not set a time limit for the discussions, and there was no practice of evaluating the writing group activities after CL. Moreover, the mean results indicated that female students had better attitudes towards CLin learning writing skills. However, their difference is not statistically significant. The summary of the findings indicated that the writing lessons in the students’ English textbook should be taught through CL though there were some problems that have been mentioned above to practice them in the classrooms.
The dual management of innovation by the Decathlon group. A distinctive strategic system on the sport goods market

On the sports goods market, brands permanently seek new means of conquest and strategic positioning in order to be more competitive. For that purpose, they place innovation more and more at the centre of their development. With the Decathlon Group, it is interesting to see how a retailer decided to take a way of “intrapreneurial” expansion consisting in carrying out an upstream vertical integration through the creation of independent and autonomous specialised brands (“passion-brands”). This paper shows how the European leader of the sports goods market set up, on the level of its R&D, an innovation and innovating ideas management system particularly powerful which distinguishes it from the international sports brands. Through two recent examples of innovation, we will see that this company has implemented a dual management in order to create new sports goods, one being part of a rational type process, and the other of a turbulent type process.JEL Codes: M31, M11, L1, O30