Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Layered and Linking Research Partnerships: Learning from YOUR World Research in Ethiopia and Nepal

This article draws on learning from the YOUR World Research project in Ethiopia and Nepal, which uses the socioecological Change‑scape framework to understand how participants in research need to be understood within a landscape of changing institutional, environmental, and political contexts. The article explores whether trustful relationships, ownership, and commitment can bring about more effective societal change through research. Through group discussion and reflective perspectives, the authors draw out possible indicators of successful partnership from the different contexts in which YOUR World Research was working. These include histories of interpersonal relationships; shared vision and motivations; building ownership; shared platforms and spaces for dialogue; and flexibility to respond to shocks and changes in context. The article suggests that whilst being realistic about the power and politics of partnership, there are mechanisms in partnership models that can help support high-quality rigorous research whilst creating impact at local, national, and international levels.
Measuring the Likelihood of Numerical Constraints

Our goal is to measure the likelihood of the satisfaction of numerical constraints in the absence of prior information. We study expressive constraints, involving arithmetic and complex numerical functions, and even quantification over numbers. Such problems arise in processing incomplete data, or analyzing conditions in programs without a priori bounds on variables. We show that for constraints on n variables, the proper way to define such a measure is as the limit of the part of the n-dimensional ball that consists of points satisfying the constraints, when the radius increases. We prove that the existence of such a limit is closely related to the notion of o-minimality from model theory. Thus, for constraints definable with the usual arithmetic and exponentiation, the likelihood is well defined, but adding trigonometric functions is problematic. We look at computing and approximating such likelihoods for order and linear constraints, and prove an impossibility result for approximating with multiplicative error. However, as the likelihood is a number between 0 and 1, an approximation scheme with additive error is acceptable, and we give it for arbitrary linear constraints.
Problems and Prospects of Organic Farming in Samastipur District, Bihar, India

Bihar is one of the Indian states located in the east where agrarian distress is not a major problem. Crop yields have been mostly stagnant in the last decades, and coupled with increased input costs, this has led to reduced incomes and debts. There is an urgent need to study options to improve the sustainability of farming systems in the state which can lead to better livelihoods of the farmers. One of the strategy to stabilize agriculture in the state is possibly organic farming which is generally said to have less dependence on external inputs. Organic agriculture is one among the broad spectrum of production methods that are supportive of the environment. Purposive as well as simple random techniques were adopted for the study. For selection of district, block, village purposive sampling techniques was employed for selection of respondent. There are 135 families in the village Srichandpur Kothia which constitute the total population of the study. Out of 135 families, 100 farmers have been randomly selected for the study. The data using appropriate statistical tools was analysed taking the support of the package SPSS (Ver. 19). The main issue identified was regarding the problems of certification. There is no facility for farmers for organic products certification. Due to this problem farmers are not getting actual price of their produce. Also, the increased demand of food grains for the increasing population in the coming years would depend more on enhancing productivity through utilization of family labour and farm power per unit of land rather than expansion of area under cultivation which was mainly observed in the study. It is concluded that organic farming can be a sustainable farming practice in Bihar depending on regional conditions and the crops cultivated. Policies stimulating organic farming and certification should therefore consider the farmer's preferences for sustainable livelihoods.
A Comparison of Stochastic Cellular Automata Diffusion with the Bass Diffusion Model

Diffusion of new products is an important problem in marketing research. One of the most prominent models in diffusion theory is the Bass Diffusion model that describes the number of adopters of new products as a differential equation. More recently, diffusion of products has been studied using agent-based modeling and in particular, stochastic cellular automata models. In this study we explore the relation between the Bass model and the cellular automata models. In particular, we explore the differences between the two models that are due to the fact that time is continuous in the Bass model but discrete in cellular automata models, and describe the conditions under which the cellular automata models converge to the Bass model. Empirical consequences are also discussed.
Using the Web

As always this current issue of Journal of Internet Cataloging contains informative columns and articles. The “42” columnists offer a philosophy of shared creation of metadata for the Web-based resources. Their column on research and education discusses research trends evidenced in the literature as well as conferences highlighting research techniques, projects, and results. The education section examines education through the literature, tutorials, and tools for the non-professionals. The “Profiles in Digital Information” interview features Ingrid Mifflin discussing her career, cataloging experience, and the organization of the metadata for an Internet database containing newspaper articles on the history of the Pacific Northwest. Archivists, systems librarians, and catalogers are among those who will find Mifflin’s project of interest. The first article describes metadata and authority control in the Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive. A second article reports the results of an Illinois study concerning the impact of consortial guidelines on the cataloging of Internet resources. The “News from the Field” column, with its extensive coverage of both completed and pending con-
La buena administración en la contratación pública: mención especial a la fase de ejecución del contrato.

espanolEn una materia tan compleja y afectada por la legislacion motorizada como la contratacion publica es fundamental atender al principio y derecho fundamental a una buena administracion. La aplicacion de este principio garantizara una contratacion publica de calidad, sostenible, eficiente, justa y garantista que promueve el interes comun. Especialmente importante es para asegurar el cumplimiento del contrato la fase de ejecucion, por ello, se dedicara un apartado a estudiar las prerrogativas de la Administracion y la figura del responsable del contrato. EnglishIn a matter as complex and affected by motorized legislation as public procurement, it is fundamental to attend to the principle and fundamental right to good administration. The application of this principle will guarantee a public procurement of quality, sustainable, efficient, rigtheous and guarantee that promotes the common interest. Especially important is to ensure the execution of the contract the execution phase, therefore, a section will be devoted to study the prerogatives of the Administration and the figure of the person responsible for the contract
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING OF THE BALTIC COUNTRIES' INHABITANTS IN THE CONTEXT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Since the Baltic countries have joined the European Union, the value of personal satisfaction with life has fluctuated – decreased or increased – along with GDP per capita until the crisis, i.e. until 2009; afterwards, the nature of this dependency started to change across the countries. The novelty of the current research study is the analysis of the people's SWB dependence upon the economic development indicators in the Baltic countries after their accession to the EU, conducted in the context of the results of previous research studies on the topic. The research aim is to review theoretical research studies on the interrelation of people’s SBW and economic development of the country, as well as to analyse the situation in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The following research methods were applied: the monographic method and regression analysis. The findings of the research study showed that Estonia was the leader among the three Baltic countries in all the economic development indicators considered, whereas Latvia was behind in all the indicators; moreover, the level of personal satisfaction with life was the highest in Estonia, although, as the results of the regression analysis demonstrated the SWB of people in Estonia was the least dependent on the economic development indicators.
Association Between the Use of Active Learning Strategies and Classroom Engagement Among Nursing Students

Background: Learning is a whole life process which requires an appropriate learning environment. Research indicated that a number of different factors influence the student’s engagement in learning process. One of the most important factors is the use of active learning strategies in classroom environment. Active learning activities such as power point presentation, simulation, role play, case studies, reflection on learning and discussion enhance students meaningful processing, participation and focused attention. Active learning activities can be used to improve students learning outcomes through engaging them in learning process. Objective: The objective of the current study is to assess the association between the use of active learning strategies and classroom engagement among nursing students of The University of Lahore. Methods: A descriptive, correlational study was conducted on 117 nursing students of the University of Lahore. Participants were selected through convenient sampling technique. The data was collected through adopted questionnaire and analyzed on SPSS using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: According to analysis of study, p value was . 015 and Pearson correlation value of active learning strategies and nursing students’ engagement was . 225. It indicates that there is significant positive association between the use of active learning strategies and classroom engagement of nursing students (r=.225, p<0.05). Conclusions : Active learning strategies and student’s perception of active leaning in classroom has positive relationship with Classroom engagement of nursing students. Therefore, active learning strategies can be used in improving and enhancing the engagement of nursing students. Keywords: Active Learning Strategies, Classroom Engagement, Nursing Students DOI : 10.7176/JHMN/62-08 Publication date :May 31 st 2019
Essays in Financial Economics

Purpose: In reality, financial decisions are made under conditions of asymmetric information that results in either favorable or adverse selection. As far as financial decisions affect growth of the firm, the latter must also be affected by either favorable or adverse selection. Therefore, the core objective of this chapter is to examine the determinants of each financial decision and the effects on growth of the firm under conditions of information asymmetry. Design/Methodology/Approach: This chapter uses data for the non-financial firms listed in S&P 500. The data cover quarterly periods from 1989 to 2014. The statistical tests include linearity, fixed, and random effects and normality. The generalized method of moments estimation method is employed in order to examine the relative significance and contribution of each financial decision on growth of the firm, respectively. Standard and proposed proxies of information asymmetry are discussed. Findings: The results conclude that there is a variation in the impact of financial variables on growth of the firm at high and low levels of information asymmetry especially regarding investment and financing decisions. A similar picture emerges in the cases of firm size and industry effects. In addition, corporate dividen d policy has a similar effect on firm growth across all asymmetric levels. These findings prove that information asymmetry plays a vital Essays in Financial Economics Research in Finance, Volume 35, 19–51 Copyright © 2019 by Emerald Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 0196-3821/doi:10.1108/S0196-382120190000035002 20 TAREK IBRAHIM ELDOMIATY ET AL. role in the relationship between corporate financial decisions and growth of the firm. Finally, the results contribute to the vast literature on the estimation of information asymmetry by demonstrating that the classical and standard proxies for information asymmetry are not consistent in terms of the ability to differentiate between favorable or adverse selection (which corresponds to low and high level of information asymmetry). Originality/Value: This chapter contributes to the related literature in two ways. First, this chapter offers updated empirical evidence on the way that financing, investment, and dividends decisions are made under conditions of favorable and adverse selection. Other related studies deal with each decision separately. Second, the study offers new proxies for measuring information asymmetry in order to reach robust estimates of the effects of financial decisions on growth of the firm under conditions of agency problems.
Treating Violent Impulses

The growing attention to acts of interpersonal violence and misconduct among military members has accompanied a host of research investigating the nature and causes associated with these behaviors. As such, a robust body of literature exists lending insight into risk factors and clinical presentations associated with anger and aggression; however, such factors are multidimensional and complex, particularly for those suffering with war stress injuries. Furthermore, mental health stigma and treatment compliance with exposure and cognitive-based models, particularly in clients with aggressive presentations, can impact successful outcomes. One active-duty marine was referred to an outpatient mental health clinic for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Four sessions of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) were used to significantly reduce obsessive violent impulses, traumatic grief, and depression. The benefit of EMDR therapy as a treatment for violent impulses is explored. The results are promising, but more research is needed.
The Impact of Foreign Aid on Maternal Mortality

In 2010, the G8 placed renewed focus on maternal health via the Muskoka Initiative by committing to spend an additional $5 billion on maternal, newborn, and child health before 2015. Following the end of the Millennium Development Goals and the advent of the Sustainable Development Goals, maternal health issues have continued to feature prominently on the global health agenda. Despite these substantial investments of foreign aid over the past decade, there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of foreign aid in reducing maternal mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Using data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Development Indicators and the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, this study analyzes the effects of aid on maternal health in a sample of 130 LMICs from 1996 through 2015. Our results show that the effects of total foreign aid on maternal mortality are limited, but that aid allocated to the reproductive health sector and directly at maternal health is associated with significant reductions in maternal mortality. Given these targeted effects, it is important to channel more donor assistance to the promotion of reproductive health and contraceptive use among women as it serves as a tool towards the reduction of maternal mortality.
Forecasting the Equity Premium: Mind the News!

We introduce a novel strategy to predict monthly equity premia that is based on extracted news from more than 700,000 newspaper articles, which were published in The New York Times and Washington Post between 1980 and 2018. We propose a flexible data-adaptive switching approach to map a large set of different news-topics into forecasts of aggregate stock returns. The information that is embedded in our extracted news is not captured by established economic predictors. Compared with the prevailing historical mean between 1999 and 2018, we find large out-of-sample (OOS) gains with an ROOS2 of 6.52% and sizeable utility gains for a mean–variance investor. The empirical results indicate that geopolitical news are at times more valuable than economic news to predict the equity premium and we also find that forecasting gains arise in down markets.
Unsupervised Learning of Consensus Maximization for 3D Vision Problems

Consensus maximization is a key strategy in 3D vision for robust geometric model estimation from measurements with outliers. Generic methods for consensus maximization, such as Random Sampling and Consensus (RANSAC), have played a tremendous role in the success of 3D vision, in spite of the ubiquity of outliers. However, replicating the same generic behaviour in a deeply learned architecture, using supervised approaches, has proven to be difficult. In that context, unsupervised methods have a huge potential to adapt to any unseen data distribution, and therefore are highly desirable. In this paper, we propose for the first time an unsupervised learning framework for consensus maximization, in the context of solving 3D vision problems. For that purpose, we establish a relationship between inlier measurements, represented by an ideal of inlier set, and the subspace of polynomials representing the space of target transformations. Using this relationship, we derive a constraint that must be satisfied by the sought inlier set. This constraint can be tested without knowing the transformation parameters, therefore allows us to efficiently define the geometric model fitting cost. This model fitting cost is used as a supervisory signal for learning consensus maximization, where the learning process seeks for the largest measurement set that minimizes the proposed model fitting cost. Using our method, we solve a diverse set of 3D vision problems, including 3D-3D matching, non-rigid 3D shape matching with piece-wise rigidity and image-to-image matching. Despite being unsupervised, our method outperforms RANSAC in all three tasks for several datasets.
THE IMPACT OF FLIPPED CLASSROOMS ON ENHANCING STUDENT LEARNING AS PERCEIVED BY MISSOURI CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION DIRECTORS

by Mitchell A. Holder Many Missouri career and technical education (CTE) centers are based regionally, causing students to lose instructional time because of their commute, due to school scheduling conflicts, and weather conflicts. It was proposed the flipped classroom model could impact instructional time. However, no data were located addressing CTE center directors’ perceptions on implementing the flipped classroom model. Through descriptive survey research, twentyeight of the 57 CTE center directors (49.1%) responded over a three-week period. Results indicated directors believed the flipped classroom model was a solution to address lost instructional time, (67.86%) and the flipped classroom model was a solution for their school to enhance skill-based learning (82.14%). Additional findings included a majority of directors believed their faculty had the requisite technological skills to flip their classrooms, and the directors could play a role in their faculty’s professional development needs. Four conclusions, five recommendations, and 29 references are provided.
Collection development practices at the Huye campus library, University of Rwanda

Collection development is the vehicle through which library activities can be measured by the users. Academic libraries which are considered to be nerve center of academic and research activities must help achieve the academic goals of their parent institutions and this can be done by developing adequate library collection and/or providing books and wider access to relevant electronic resources. To be able to build sufficient collections that serve the mission of a university, it is necessary to have a guide in the form of a policy that directs on how information materials are added into the library. Huye Campus library experiences a lot of difficulties in acquisition and collection management due to unclear collection development policy. Consequently, collection development practices in the Huye Campus remain low key and poorly administered. The aim of this study was to analyze collection development practices at Huye Campus Library with a view to propose ways and means of improving collection development practices. The objectives of the study were to : examine the current collection development policy at Huye Campus Library, identify the levels of individual players involved in selection responsibilities of the library collection, determine procedures involved in designing a collection development process, determine the extent to which collection development policy is used at Huye campus library, examine the challenges facing collection development practices and recommend best collection development practices. The study was guided by System theory. A total of 74 respondents consisting of library staff and heads of academic departments were studied. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used to collect the data. The qualitative data collected was analyzed thematically while the quantitative data was analyzed by use of tables and figures. The study revealed that there is insufficient budget; difficulties of dealing with faculties, inability to evaluate library collection, inadequate staff to carry out collection development, delays in the delivery of ordered books, low motivation of librarians, mirror image by decision-makers and unclear policy are the challenges facing collection development practices in Huye Campus library. The study concluded that collection development practices in Huye Campus library faced various problems and challenges. The study recommends involvement of all stakeholders in the development of collection development policy, review of the collection development policy after every three years, application of collection development policy at every stage of collection development process including weeding and evaluation, form a committee to handle collection development issues and provision of adequate funds for library.