Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Co-Occurrence Of Frailty (Accumulation Of Functional Deficits) And Depressive Symptoms, And Its Effect On Mortality In Older Adults: A Longitudinal Study

Purpose The co-occurrence of frailty and depression in late life, the possibility for symptom reversal, their reciprocal relationship, and the effects on mortality have rarely been investigated. We aimed to examine the co-occurrence of frailty and depressive symptoms in late life, the possibility for symptom reversal, their reciprocal relationship, and the effects on mortality using all the information from a longitudinal study. Patients and methods We used the Taiwan Longitudinal Study of Aging (TLSA) for this study. TLSA was initiated in 1989 and followed periodically. We included participants from 1989 to 2007, who had data on frailty and depressive symptoms. Frailty was assessed by accumulation of functional deficits in 6 dimensions including disease status, sensory dysfunction, balance, functional limitations, health risk behaviors, and life satisfaction. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). A multistate model with interval censoring was used to examine the transition between states of frailty with or without depressive symptoms, and finally to death. A mixed model was used to examine the relationships between frailty and depressive symptoms. Results The coexistence of frailty and depressive symptoms was associated with higher mortality. Individuals with depressive symptom had a lower probability of reversal to a better state. Previous depression score predicted current frailty, but the coefficient was smaller than that of previous frailty. Previous frailty predicted current depression score, and the coefficient was stronger than that of previous depression. Conclusion Depressive symptoms increased the mortality and decreased the probability of reversal in the frail older adults.
Productivity of rainfed barley ( Hordeum vulgare ) in South India as influenced by in situ moisture conservation practice , sowing window and row spacing

A field experiment was conducted at Dharwad in farmers’ field during rabi season of 2013-14 to evaluate the response of barley to in situ moisture conservation practice, sowing window and row spacing under rainfed condition. The treatments comprised of two land management practices (M 1 : broad bed and furrow, M 2 : flat bed) as main plots, three sowing dates (D 1 : first fortnight of October, D 2 : second fortnight of October, D 3 : first fortnight of November) as sub plots and two row spacings (S 1 : 30.0 cm, S 2 : 22.5 cm) as sub-sub plots replicated thrice in a split-split plot design. Crop sown on BBF during second fortnight of October (2913 kg ha) recorded significantly higher grain yield compared to rest of the treatments. Crop raised on BBF with row spacing of 22.5 cm recorded significantly more number of tillers m and total dry matter production. Crop sown on BBF during second fortnight of October (2913 kg ha) recorded significantly higher grain yield compared to rest of the interactions.
THE IMPACT OF DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES ON MENTORING FUNCTIONS

Traditionally mentoring is defined as relationship between an older, more experienced mentor and a younger less experienced protégé for the purpose of helping and developing the protégés career. In the Volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world, mentoring is emerged as a developmental tool which offers a lot of personal as well as career outcomes. Many public sector as well as private sector banks have introduced mentoring program as part of their HR practices in order to build skills and required competencies in an employee. This study envisages whether sociodemographic factors like age, gender, educational qualification etc have any significant effect on mentoring received. Data have been collected from 180 employees working in commercial banks in Kerala. The tools used for data analysis includes analysis of variance (ANOVA), independent sample t-test and Post Hoc Test. The results showed that sociodemographic factors have significant effect on mentoring received. Implications of the study, limitations and scope for further research are also discussed.
DIMINISHING RETURNS TO EDUCATION IN THE SOVIET PERIOD. RESULTS FROM THE ESTONIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME DATA

Analysts observed relatively low returns to education in the countries of Soviet bloc right before the collapse of the communist system. There is less information on the development of returns to education during the state socialist period and how the prevalence of low returns emerged. In the case of the USSR scarce data made it difficult to estimate earnings by education and its trend over time. This paper investigates the change in returns to education in the Soviet Union from the 1950s to 1980s. We analyse individual level household income survey data collected in Estonia since 1958. Wage income is modelled using linear and linear mixed regression model. Descriptive and analytical results indicate decreasing returns to education over time, leading to more equal distribution of wage income by educational level. The background of this process is concentration of higher education and higher wage income into different sectors of economy.
Time-Varying Coefficient Models And The Kalman Filter : Applications To Hedge Funds

There are various studies concerned with the estimation of stochastically varying coefficients for the hedge fund series but just [sic] few are available in the literature that study the model with time-varying coefficients and non-linear factor, or make a comparison of the series before and during the financial crisis. This work studies a model with linear and non-linear factors with stochastically varying coefficients to obtain better estimation of the exposure of the hedge fund and accuracy in the results. Better exposure estimates implies better hedging against negative changes in the market hence a reduction in the risk taken by the hedge fund manager. Besides, different techniques have been studied, implemented and applied in this thesis to estimate and analyze time varying exposures of different HFRX Index (an index that describes the hedge fund industry performance). The study shows that option-like models with time-varying coefficients perform the best for most of the HFRX indexes analyzed. It also shows that the Kalman Filter technique combined with the Maximum Likelihood Estimator is the best approach to estimate time-varying coefficients. In addition, we provide evidence that Kalman Filter is in a better position to capture changes in the exposure to the market conditions.
Formation and Failure of an E‐Marketplace Pioneer in a Developing Country

The purpose of this study is to understand the formation and failure of an e‐marketplace pioneer in a developing country. Much of the research on e‐marketplaces focuses on the developed world. Within the limited literature on the developing world, the dominant focus has been on user adoption and related constraints. Little research thus exists on how emarketplaces are formed and whether they succeed or fail. This study therefore follows qualitative interpretive case study methodology to investigate the formation and failure of an e‐marketplace pioneer in a developing country. The findings show that the e‐marketplace was formed without a clear e‐business model and without enough attention to the developing country environment. The failure was subsequently caused by inability to generate revenue and failure to renew domain name license. The paper advises potential entrepreneurs to pay attention to their local environment and develop e‐business models with appropriate revenue options to guide their e‐marketplace initiatives.
The Improvised GZIP, A Technique for Real Time Lossless Data Compression

Whenever it comes to data processing, the user always faces two major constraints. One is storage capacity and second is bandwidth. These two resources must be efficiently utilized by compressing the data. Enormous algorithms are used to compress data. As far as, compression in storage is concern, GZIP is used on large scale for lossless data compression. However, it is not desirable to carry out lossless data compression for real time data. In this paper, an improvisation is proposed in the existing GZIP algorithm for compressing real time data by a contemporary concept of introducing Adaptive Huffman algorithm by replacing the traditional Huffman encoder (static). Simulations have proved that improvised GZIP has approximate 18% better compression ratio and space saving than traditional GZIP for real time data. This research paper extends the usability of GZIP algorithm to carry out lossless compression for real time data.
EVALUATION OF THE STRESS LEVEL OF PRETERM MOTHERS IN A UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL 1

The stress of mothers of Preterm Newborns (PTNB) provides great insecurity concerning the care towards their infant. Assessing the stress level of these mothers facing the prematurity contributes to propose appropriate nursing interventions that help to develop the healthy maternal self-confidence and also the interaction with the infant. The objective was to identify the stress level of mothers of PTNB hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). This is a quantitative research, developed in the NICU of a University Hospital, that used the Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (PSS:NICU), validated in Brazil in 2009, with 20 mothers from April to July, 2014. Some analyses were carried in the program XLStat 2014, the level of significance for all the tests were 0,05. This tool measures the stress in three subscales: sounds and images; infant’s behavior and appearance, and alteration in the parental role. The stress level found was very high (3,8), mainly in the subscale alteration of the parental role (4,3). PSS:NICU is an effective tool to evaluate the stress, demonstrating that younger, primipara and with extreme PTNB mothers are more vulnerable. They must receive a special look at their needs enlarging the competency and maternal security when providing care towards the infant.
Sound of Emotion – Synesthetic Sound Iconicity

The term Synesthetic Sound Iconicity refers to sound-meaning relationships which are inherent and thus neither arbitrary nor languagespecific. Being universal and allowing for easy-to-conduct detection of semantic properties in texts, Synesthetic Sound Iconicity has the potential for quantitative content analysis and inter-language comparison of text corpora at comparatively low cost. Results from empirical research have provided sound evidence that the ratio of plosive vs. nasal phonemes allows for a text’s emotional tone (as seen by a majority of readers) to be deduced. In this paper, I report results from a recent research project aimed at extending and generalizing previous findings. To this end, the emotional tone (assessed by over 400 readers) and phonetic structure of 16 German poems were analyzed to find correlations. Results suggest a strong interrelationship between emotional tone and frequency of phonemes with specific articulatory properties. Doshisha Studies in Language and Culture, 14(2), 2012: 147 – 161. Doshisha Society for the Study of Language and Culture, © Jan AURACHER
A Political and Philosophical Interview

My intellectual origins were similar to those of virtually all Italian intellectuals of my generation. Their starting-point during the last years of fascism was the neo-idealist philosophy of Benedetto Croce and Giovanni Gentile. I wrote my doctorate in 1949 on Croce’s logic, although I was already by then critical of Croceanism. Then between 1949 and 1950 my decision to join the Italian Communist Party gradually matured. I should add that this decision was in many ways a very difficult one, and that—although this will perhaps seem incredible today— study of Gramsci’s writings was not a major influence on it. On the contrary, it was my reading of certain of Lenin’s texts that was determinant for my adhesion to the PCI: in particular, and despite all the reservations which it may inspire and which I share towards it today, his Materialism and Empirio-Criticism. At the same time, my entry into the Communist Party was precipitated by the outbreak A Political and Philosophical Interview
Gender in Management : An International Journal Capital factors and rural women entrepreneurship development : A perspective of Manipur state , India

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the roles of four specific capital factors, namely, human, social, institutional and financial capitals, in rural women entrepreneurship. The focus was on the handloom sector in Manipur, India. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses qualitative research methodology with a multiple case study approach. Data were collected using in-depth interviews to study seven cases of rural women entrepreneurs. Findings – The study highlights that human, social, institutional and financial capitals play significant roles in encouraging rural women to engage in entrepreneurial activities and influence strategic decisions. Each capital factor being interrelated, achieving the integration among them will considerably enhance entrepreneurial success. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation is the narrow scope, emphasizing on only four capital factors. There are implications for further work on other types of capital. The study being sector specific, limits generalization. It contributes insights into the need for multi-sector examinations in the literature. Practical implications – Rural women entrepreneurship needs are in line with understanding the roles of capital factors and their interrelations. The role of capital factors varies between prior and no prior entrepreneurial experiences. Originality/value – This study provides information on the role of capital factors on rural women entrepreneurship and contributes to better understanding of how each capital factor is accumulated and utilized in rural women entrepreneurship development using the perspective of handloom sector in Manipur, India.
Ubiquity of core virtues and character strengths of positive psychology in African traditional religions: A qualitative thematic analysis

2 Chapter 1 Background and research questions 3 1.1. Positive Psychology (PP): Core virtues & character strengths 3 1.2. African Traditional Religions (ATR) 6 1.3. The research question: Are character strengths ubiquitous in ATR? 9 Chapter 2 Approach and methods: A qualitative thematic analysis 10 2.1. Understanding the method of thematic analysis 10 2.2. Application of thematic analysis in the present work 11 2.3. Relevance and limitations of the study 13 Chapter 3 Identification of coding template & data set 15 3.1. Coding template: Character strengths of positive psychology 15 3.2. Data set: Ethnological research data from MIAS 22 Chapter 4 Research findings: Emerging themes 25 4.1. Emerging character strengths in the data set 25 4.2. Convergence of character strengths of PP in the domains of the data set 35 Chapter 5 Discussion: The Convergence of Character Strengths in ATR 38 5.1. It takes a village: The context and purpose of wisdom & knowledge 38 5.2. Abundant Life: African ‘Vitalogy’ as basis for integrity and vitality 39 5.3. There is one more place: African expressions of humanity 40 5.4. I am because we are: African citizenship 41 5.5. Maintaining communion: Reconciliation and regulation 42 5.6. Being notoriously religious: A spirituality of life 43 5.7. The African elder as the paragon of character strengths 44
Behavioral Patterns in the frame of Collective Risks Dilemmas with Inequality

How the degree of inequality affects the global patterns people follow when they have to collectively mitigate the threads of air pollution is the main topic of this study. We propose an alternative method to analyse the differences in the global behavioral patterns using experimental data from the xAire citizen science project which included two frames differentiated by the unequal distribution of resources. The method has been shown useful and we found that the degree of inequality does not determine the composition of population according behavioral patterns. Moreover, more than 50% of the people based their actions on what others people’s already decided in such context thus following a moody and adaptive behaviour.
Heterogeneous resource partitioning in a generalized individual-based model of multi-species interaction

We describe a parsimonious approach to the problem of a transgenerational individual-based model (IBM) of the interaction between species at different trophic levels. We implement the approach in a model of the interaction of a generalized predator and prey species and compare it with a state variable model of the two species. Similarities and differences between the two models are described. Perhaps the most important finding is the sensitivity of the IBM to the level of individual variation, manifested here by the level of resources carried by each individual. The heterogeneity of resource levels is very important for resilience and the viability of the species in the model. We argue that as individual-based modelling simulates the local interactions between heterogeneous individuals and their environment, interactions which ultimately determine the dynamics of populations, metapopulations, communities and ecosystems, the use of individual-based modelling is important in developing understanding of large-scale ecological patterns.
Bank Lending Channel in Turkey : Evidence from Islamic and Conventional Banks

We examine the degree of sensitivity to interest rate changes among creditors and depositors in Islamic and conventional banks. We estimate bank lending channel proposed by Bernanke and Blinder (1992). We find that bank lending channel works for banks in Turkey on aggregate terms. An interest rate increase lead depositors to withdraw their money and in turn decrease the volume of lending in respective banks. Impulse responses for conventional and Islamic banks reveal that Islamic bank depositors’ sensitivity to interest rate changes is larger than conventional bank depositors. As a response to a one standard deviation interest rate increase, Islamic bank deposits withdrawal exceeds 5% at the end of six quarters. This figure is merely 2% percent in conventional banks. From lending side, we find similar results implying that tighter monetary policy leads to similar contraction in credits.
' s personal copy Distribution of polybrominated diphenyl ethers ( PBDEs ) and polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans ( PBDD / Fs ) in municipal solid waste incinerators

The stack flue gases and the ashes in different units of two municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWIs) are sampled to investigate the characteristics of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PBDD/Fs), and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs). Bottom ashes (BA) exhibited much higher PBDD/F (8.11–52.2 pg TEQ/g) and PBDE contents (20.4–186 ng/g) than those of fly ashes (0.0932–2.02 pg TEQ/g and 0.332–25.5 ng/g), revealing that the PBDD/Fs and PBDEs in the feeding waste may not be completely destroyed. The PBDE concentrations/contents in the stack flue gases (26.1–109 ng/Nm3) and in the BA (20.4–186 ng/g) of the MSWIs could reach three orders higher than those in the atmosphere and reference soils. PBDE contributions to the environment from the stack flue gases or the reutilization of BA of MSWIs should not be ignored from the developing PBDE inventory. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A Gradient Multiobjective Particle Swarm Optimization

An adaptive gradient multiobjective particle swarm optimization (AGMOPSO) algorithm, based on a multiobjective gradient (MOG) method, is developed to improve the computation performance. In this AGMOPSO algorithm, the MOG method is devised to update the archive to improve the convergence speed and the local exploitation in the evolutionary process. Attributed to the MOGmethod, this AGMOPSO algorithm not only has faster convergence speed and higher accuracy but also its solutions have better diversity. Additionally, the convergence is discussed to confirm the prerequisite of any successful application of AGMOPSO. Finally, with regard to the computation performance, the proposed AGMOPSO algorithm is compared with some other multiobjective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) algorithms and two state-of-the-art multiobjective algorithms. The results demonstrate that the proposed AGMOPSO algorithm can find better spread of solutions and have faster convergence to the true Pareto-optimal front.
1960 IDENTIFICATION OF EXCITONS WITH LIGHT WAVES IN A CRYSTAL AND THE MACROSCOPIC THEORY OF EXCITONS WITH AND WITHOUT ACCOUNT OF RETARDATION

Excitons are identified with light waves in a crystal. The theory of excitons is reduced to the macroscopic theory of light waves. The energy bands, limiting energies for k0, effective masses etc. of excitons are expressed in terms of the dielectric constant tensor E ( w, k). In the limit coo, we obtain the results of the conventional exciton theory, based on the Schrodinger equation and neglecting retardation of interactions between particles. The results show that retardation can be neglected when the electromagnetic wave that accompanies an exciton is longitudinal. If, however, the wave possesses a rotational field, retardation considerably affects the results in regions where the refractive index is not very large. Exciton energies and effective masses then differ from those derived by means of the Schrodinger equation. Crystals of different symmetries are considered.
Effect of Meteorological Factors on Hyalomma Species Composition and Their Host Preference, Seasonal Prevalence and Infection Status to Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever in Iran

Background: The impact of environmental factors and host on Hyalomma spp. community structure and abundance in the main Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) foci of Iran is largely unknown. Methods: Biotic and abiotic factors, including host, temperature, humidity, altitude, Köppen-Geiger climate types, season, and precipitation on Hyalomma spp. community structure and abundances in 11 provinces of Iran were investigated. Additionally, the possible infection of ticks with CCHF virus was evaluated using reverse transcription PCR technique. Results: Species analyses demonstrated the presence of Hyalomma anatolicum, H. marginatum, H. dromedarii, H. asiaticum, H. detritum and H. schulzei in the study area. Hyalomma anatolicum was the dominant species in the southern and northern parts, whereas H. dromedarii was distributed mostly in central parts of the country. The highest tick infestation was recognized in hot season. Spatial variation in tick relative density was observed between habitat types where more ticks were collected in deserts, semi-deserts, and Mediterranean habitats. Except for H. dromedarii, which was more prevalent on camel (P= 0.044), there were no significant variations in the frequencies of other Hyalomma species on different hosts. Hyalomma anatolicum, H. dromedarii frequencies had significant positive and negative association with temperature and precipitation respectively. Also humidity has positive impact on H. asiaticum frequency. Conclusion: Data presented here will help improve ecological models to forecast the distribution of Hyalomma spp. ticks, to evaluate the risk of CCHF and other tick-borne diseases, and to design proper vector control measures to suppress Hyalomma populations in Iran.