Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An ecological transition during juvenile life in a marine snail

Ecological shifts occurring after metamorphosis in benthic marine invertebrates have received much less attention than the more conspicuous transition occurring at metan~orphosis and settlement. It remains unclear whether postmetamorphic shifts occur simultaneously or at different times, and whether the shifts occur over brief, discrete periods or are extended or even continuous through juvenile life. The present study of the muricid gastropod Nucella emarginata exarmnes the ontogeny of \r.ulnerabillty to desiccation, of susceptibll~ty to hatchling predators, of shell coloration, and of distribution among microhabitats as a function of snail size. All the above parameters changed substantially over approximately the same size range. Individuals acquired the ability to survive direct exposure to desiccation for the duration of a low tide over the 3.1-6.5 mm shell length (SL) size range, and also became virtually invulnerable to hatchling predators when they reached 6.5 mm SL. The shift in mortality factors was paralleled by a change in shell colour over the 3-7 mm SL size range, and in distribution over the 3-8 mm SL size range. All shifts were therefore completed by the time individuals reached 8 mm, or by the age of -4 n ~ o based on growth rates in the laboratory. The coordination of these ecological changes in N. emarglnata over the 3-8 mm SL size range constitutes an ecological transition that partitions postinetamorphic life into 2 penods, early juvenile and late juvenile/adult, each with d~stinct selective environments and corresponding adaptive traits. A similar ontogenetic transition has also been documented in juvenile lobsters, and studies of juveniles of other species reveal that comparable ecological changes are common among benthic marine invertebrates. Interspecific variation is nevertheless expected in the exact nature and timing of the transition, particularly as a result of differences in initial juvenile size, growth rate, adult size, ability to learn, and motility.
Real Investment, Economic Efficiency and Managerial Entrenchment

We uncover a positive relationship between firms' corporate governance quality, as measured by the degree of managerial entrenchment, and the quality of their real investment decisions. Firms whose managers are less entrenched invest more, invest more in line with their investment opportunities and have higher productivity of capital and labor. Rather than reducing overinvestment, our evidence suggests that good governance primarily mitigates underinvestment. These results are robust to alternative measures of investment opportunities and are not driven by product market competition or potential endogeneity between governance quality and investment opportunities.
Capital Formation in Thailand: Its Importance and Determinants

Using the dataset that comprises annual data during 1979 and 2012 and obtained from various sources, this study examines the importance of capital formation to Thai economy and what driving forces influence capital formation. The results show that real GDP and capital formation are cointegrated, and capital formation imposes a positive impact on real GDP in the long run. It is found that stock market liquidity measured by stock market capitalization rather than foreign direct investment plays important role in capital accumulation process. These findings give some policy implications.
EXPLORING THE ELEMENTS FOR VALUE CO- CREATION IN CONSUMER INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN B2B CONTEXT: A CASE STUDY ON THE BUSINESS EVENT INDUSTRY

Kaaronen, Olli Exploring the elements for value co-creation in consumer information systems in B2B context: A case study on the business event industry Jyvaskyla: University of Jyvaskyla, 2014, 79 p. Information Systems, Master’s Thesis Supervisor: Tuunanen, Tuure This thesis examines how value is co-created in an online service for a particular case industry of business event industry in B2B context. Consumer Information Systems (CIS) framework is used describing framework to study business event organizers and participants (n=22) of what they value in business events and what types of features would be desired in an online service dedicated to business event promotion. The goal of the research is to identify cocreation elements when using an online service system and to find out in what ways the use experience and use purposes may differ with B2B-users compared to B2C-users when using a consumer information system. The core values and objectives that emerged from the case study that respondents have while attending to business events are learning, economical and socializing. The results reveal that in an online service the event organizers seek for work efficiency and utilitarian values while the event participants seek more hedonic values such as fun and enjoyment. Further study should be conducted in order to distinguish more possible qualities affecting the co-creation of value in B2B-context.
Politocratic communitarianism, immanentist sociology and sphere sovereignty

Politocratic communitarianism supports the historic revival of ancient Greek notions of social life in opposition to the nominalist trends in modernistic philosophy of society. The need for a penetrating normative philosophy of society from an integral non-dualistic angle to social life is manifest from Danie Goosen's and Koos Malan's pursuit of the neo-Aristotelian philosophical revival of the Greek polis: their formalistic approach to sociology, the dialectical tension between "normativity" and "factuality", and the juxtaposing of the "general" and the "specific" in their approach to social phenomena. In this article the shortcomings of politocratic communitarianism are traced to its immanentist approach to social theory with all the ensuing dialectical tensions emanating from its social philosophy and its views on the role of the state in society.
Investigating the role of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) in internet banking adoption context

Article history: Received: November 26, 2017 Received in revised format: November 26, 2017 Accepted: January 18, 2018 Available online: January 18, 2018 Several studies have made known that internet banking (IB) implementation is not only advantageous for banks, but also by perception and experience of IB users. Therefore, little is known about factors propelling user’s intention to adopt internet banking in Pakistan. Thus, the purpose of this research is to investigate the role of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) in internet banking adoption context. A quantitative approach based survey was conducted to collect the data from 398 internet banking users. For statistical analysis structural equation model (SEM) approach was used. The result of this study indicates that, UTAUT model provided a good theoretical foundation in technology adoption investigation. Findings confirmed that all four predictors (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating condition) were significant and had significant amount of variance in predicting user’s intention to adopt internet banking. Additionally, the IPMA test revealed that performance expectancy was the most important factor among all other variables to predict user’s intention towards adoption of internet banking. Lastly, managerial implications, limitations and future recommendations are discussed. © 2018 by the authors; licensee Growing Science, Canada
Who gains from product rents as the coffee market becomes more differentiated?: A value-chain analysis observed in other agricultural-based value chains

This article applies value-chain analysis to an agricultural 'commodity', which is in the process of significant change in final product markets. By focusing on the capacity of value-chain analysis to map input-output relations, and by identifying power asymmetries along the chain, it is possible to analyse the factors explaining inter-country distributional outcomes in this sector. A major conclusion is that we are witnessing a simultaneous process of power concentration in importing countries and power deconcentration in producing countries. It is hypothesised that similar trends can be observed in other agricultural-based value chains.
Interactive comment on “ Impact of convective transport and lightning NO x production over North America : dependence on cumulus parameterizations ” by C .

On behalf of the authors, I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and editor for their constructive and helpful comments and suggestions on our paper. We first provide the response to the main issues, and follow with more detailed point-to-point responses. Common Comments: (1) We agree that we cannot quantitatively separate the effects of the dynamic core and cumulus parameterization, although qualitative analysis would indicate that the latter is
Personality as predictor of customer service centre agent performance in the banking industry : an exploratory study.

Orientation: Since service quality is an important differentiator in the banking industry, it is essential to select suitable customer service centre staff, particularly those who are responsible for handling queries from clients who hold significant lifetime value in this industry. Research purpose: The aim of the study was to identify personality traits, as measured by the Occupational Personality Questionnaire 32r (item response theory scored version), including the more parsimonious Big Five personality traits, that may act as job performance predictors for customer service centre (CSC) agents in the banking industry. Motivation for the study: This study provides an exploratory investigation of whether specific personality traits differ amongst CSC agents in the banking industry, based on their job performance. No published research in this field could be identified. Research design, approach and method: Purposive sampling was used to collect data from the entire CSC agent base of a particular banking group ( N = 89). Responses were analysed by means of quantitative techniques. Main findings and practical/managerial implications: Results indicate that parsimonious traits of personality, expressed as the Big Five personality traits, predict job performance. The importance of carefully selecting suitable job performance criteria for a specific environment, however, emerged as a critical issue in performance prediction. Contribution: The study focuses attention on the importance of CSC agents’ performance as frontline staff in the banking industry and identifying valid criteria for selecting the most suitable agents. Providing a one-contact point of service such as a CSC is a fairly new approach in the South African banking industry and this study provides an initial investigation of personality traits that may serve as job performance predictors in this environment.
Comparative Study of Deposit through a Membrane and Spin-Coated MWCNT as a Flexible Anode for Optoelectronic Applications

We present a comparative study between multiwalled carbon nanotubes MWCNTs thin films deposited on polyethylene terephthalate PET substrates using i spin-coating technique and ii deposition through a membrane. We deduce from transparence, electrical properties, and AFM image that deposition through membrane presents better properties than spin-coating method. The concentration comparison shows that the optimum result was achieved at a concentration of 1.2 mg·mL−1 corresponding to a resistance Rs of 180 Ω·cm−2 and an optical transparence of about 81% using a wavelength 550 nm. We will also demonstrate the use of the elaborated electrodes to fabricate the following flexible structure: PET-MWCNTs/MEH-PPV/Al. The series resistance Rs and the ideality factor n were calculated.
Interactive and Child-Centred Research Methods for Investigating Efficacious Agency of Children

Children need support to strengthen their efficacious agency, which, in turn, in- creases their well-being and learning capabilities. Efficacious agency includes the idea of chil- dren's active participation, and in research, it is necessary to develop multiple methods for a child-centered approach for examining it. In this article, we present two case studies of chil- dren's (aged 6 to 10) perceptions of success. The first is comprised of stimulated recall inter- views and a video observation, and the second uses children's photographs as triggers for elici- tation interviews. We aim at showing that interactive and child-centered methods in authentic environments can overcome current challenges in studying children, and can produce deeper knowledge about children's efficacious agency in learning contexts.
The challenge of breaking the academia–business firewall in Czechia: comparing the role of differentiated knowledge bases in collaborative R&D projects

ABSTRACT Contemporary innovation processes increasingly involve a large number of networked actors, and cross-fertilization between knowledge institutions and firms has thus become a significant driver for innovation. Important insights into the differing nature of research and development (R&D) collaboration in particular sectors have been provided by research inspired by the knowledge-base approach embedded within innovation system (IS) theory. This study aims to contribute to this body of literature by applying the concept of differentiated knowledge bases to the former state-socialist countries, where the IS operates through a firewall between academia and industry. Data on collaborative R&D projects co-financed by public resources have allowed a detailed analysis of the nature of collaboration networks, revealing emerging patterns of academia–industry linkages and questioning the propositions stemming from the knowledge-based approach. The study concludes that collaborative science–industry networks show a very distinct topography when analytical and synthetic knowledge is compared.
Influences of Copper(II) Chloride Impregnation on Activated Carbon for Low-Concentration Elemental Mercury Adsorption from Simulated Coal Combustion Flue Gas

ABSTRACTIn this study, the Hg0 adsorption equilibrium and kinetics of a coconut-shell-based activated carbon impregnated with CuCl2 were examined with respect to their resulting physical and chemical properties. Integrating the results from N2 adsorption isotherm at 77 K, scanning electron microscopy, elemental analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Hg0 adsorption experiments under N2 and simulated coal-combustion flue gases conditions, it was found that HCl pretreatment could enhance Hg0 adsorption of crude activated carbon; the Hg0 adsorption capacities of crude and HCl-pretreated activated carbon under N2 condition were 95.8 and 225.4 µg g–1, respectively. Additionally, CuCl2 impregnation further increased the adsorption capacity of crude. The Hg0 adsorption capacity of crude activated carbon with 8% CuCl2 impregnation was 631.1 µg g–1. However, the equilibrium Hg0 adsorption capacity decreased when Cu loading exceeded 8 wt%, suggesting that adequate forms of surface Cu, O and Cl interacting with flue gas components and Hg0, as well as the presence of pores with specific size ranges allowing rapid transport of the Hg molecules into the interior of the activated carbon and as energy sinker govern the overall chemisorption process. Pseudo-second-order kinetic model could best describe the adsorption behaviors of tested samples under both test conditions, indicating that Hg0 adsorbed on the activated carbon surface could be explained by bimolecular reaction mechanisms.
Optimal Prevention when Informal Penalties Matter: The Case of Medical Errors

Abstract Individuals often respond with strong emotions to being penalised. Such responses suggest that informal penalties are important and play a role in creating deterrence. In this paper informal penalties are analysed in the context of medical errors. The introduction of informal penalties, if dependent upon formal ones, implies that: (i) the optimal enforcement regime becomes more lenient, and in some cases the lack of formal punishment is preferred, (ii) the first-best solution becomes unattainable, (iii) liability rates and formal penalty level are no longer perfect deterrence substitutes. In addition, powers of informal penalties provide a rationale for administrative sanctions (informal criticism, reprimands and warnings).
Using Internet in Stated Preference Surveys: A Review and Comparison of Survey Modes

Internet is quickly becoming the survey mode of choice for stated preference (SP) surveys in environmental economics. However, this choice is being made with relatively little consideration of its potential influence on survey results. This paper reviews the theory and emerging evidence of mode effects in the survey methodology and SP literatures, summarizes the findings, and points out implications for Internet SP practice and research. The SP studies that compare Internet with other modes do generally not find substantial difference. The majority of welfare estimates are equal; or somewhat lower for the Internet surveys. Further, there is no clear evidence of substantially lower quality or validity of Internet responses. However, the degree of experimental control is often low in comparative studies across survey modes, and they often confound measurement and sample composition effects. Internet offers a huge potential for experimentation and innovation in SP research, but when used to derive reliable welfare estimates for policy assessment, issues like representation and nonresponse bias for different Internet panels should receive more attention.
Climate and very large wildland fires in the contiguous western USA

Very large wildfires can cause significant economic and environmental damage, including destruction of homes, adverse air quality, firefighting costs and even loss of life. We examine how climate is associated with very large wildland fires (VLWFs $50 000 acres, or ,20 234 ha) in the western contiguous USA. We used composite records of climate and fire to investigate the spatial and temporal variability of VLWF-climatic relationships. Results showed quantifiable fire weather leading up and up to 3 weeks post VLWF discovery, thus providing predictors of the probability that VLWF occurrence ina given week. Models were created for eight National Interagency Fire Center Geographic Area Coordination Centers (GACCs). Accuracy was good (AUC.0.80) for all models, but significant fire weather predictors of VLWFs vary by GACC, suggesting that broad-scale ecological mechanisms associated with wildfires also vary across regions. These mechanisms are very similar to those found by previous analyses of annual area burned, but this analysis provides a means for anticipating VLWFs specifically and thereby the timing of substantial area burned within a given year, thus providing aquantifiable justification forproactive firemanagement practices tomitigatethe risk andassociated damage of VLWFs. Additional keywords: AUC, GACC, logistic regression, niche space, precision, rare events, recall, wildland fire.
Low Level Equilibrium Trap, Unemployment, School Quality, Child Labour and Human Capital Formation

This paper builds an overlapping generations household economy model and examines the impact of unemployment on child labour and the child's human capital formation and growth through the expectation of adult regarding future employability. The economy consists of two sectors- skilled sector and unskilled sector. If one individual is employed in skilled sector she gets wage proportional to human capital whereas unskilled sector gives a fixed return. Expected future earning of child is included in the parental utility function. Parental choice of schooling vis-a-vis child work is considered. We study the effect of change in unemployment rate, child wage, adult skilled labour wage, adult unskilled labour wage, responsiveness of wage to skill level, change in school quality on schooling and human capital growth rate. We find that in this model the decision regarding full schooling or partial schooling or zero schooling of child is based on parental level of human capital as well as school quality. Increase in child wage will increase schooling and human capital growth rate only if adults earn less than subsistence consumption expenditure. We also find that as the responsiveness of skilled wage to human capital increases, schooling and rate of growth of human capital formation increase but if there is no unemployment then schooling hour and growth rate will be independent of responsiveness of wage to human capital, lower is the employment rate in the skilled sector, lesser is the time devoted to schooling by the child. Increase in unskilled adult wage may or may not decrease child labour. But if there is no unemployment increase in unskilled adult wage will result in decrease in the incidence of child labour and increase in schooling and rise in growth rate. The model dynamics exhibits the possibility of low level equilibrium trap. Suitable policies to escape child labour trap are discussed as well.
Regeneration of mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) in the Yucatan

Low rates of natural regeneration of big-leaf mahogany were found in gaps due to felling and natural treefalls in the Yucatan. This finding is consistent with low post-logging abundances of reproductive-sized trees as well as relatively low growth rates of planted mahogany seedlings in small felling gaps. High growth rates of seedlings in large felling gaps and landings provides optimism that the extensive plantings done in the region will provide timber in the future. The long-term effects of shoot borers, which predominantly attach the fastest growing seedlings, are uncertain.
The standard Gaussian model for block copolymer melts

As a result of important advances over the last decade, block copolymer melts have become an excellent model system for studying fundamental phenomena associated with molecular self-assembly. During this time, good quantitative agreement has been achieved between theory and experiment in regards to equilibrium phase behaviour, and with it has emerged a thorough understanding in terms of simple intuitive explanations. The theoretical contributions to this effort are largely attributed to mean-field calculations on a standard Gaussian model. Here, we review this present understanding of block copolymer phase behaviour, the model and its underlying assumptions, the mean-field approximation and its limitations, and the attempts to incorporate fluctuation corrections. Rather than following the traditional rigorous derivations, we present slightly more intuitive and transparent ones in such a way to stress the close connection between the related calculations. In this way, we hope to provide a valuable introduction to block copolymer theory.
ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF JANIA RUBENS AGAINST AN ENTERO PATHOGEN

The methanol, ethanol, chloroform and acetone extracts of the red alga Jania rubens were tested in vitro for their antimicrobial activity by disc diffusion method. The extracts upon phytochemical screening showed the presence of alkaloids, triterpenoids, steroids, tannin, saponin, coumarins, terpenoids, quinine, phytosteroids, phlobatannins and flavonoids.Among the four solvents tested, methanol and ethanol extracts of seaweeds exhibited the best activity. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Keywords:Jania rubens,antibacterial activity, disc diffusion method, Luria Bertani Agar Millermedium, Vibrio parahemolyticus