Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INVESTOR PROTECTION AND CEO COMPENSATION IN FAMILY FIRMS

This paper investigates the relationship between investor protection and CEO pay in familycontrolled corporations. Using a panel of 986 firm-year observations from 11 EU countries, we show that the lower the investor protection, the higher the compensation of the CEO. The sensitivity of pay to the institutional context is higher for a family CEO than a professional CEO, a result that corroborates the hypothesis that CEO compensation contracts in family firms are influenced by familiar connections. Overall, these results are more consistent with the hypothesis of rent extraction than with the perspective of optimal remuneration contracts.
Defoliation of a northern wheatgrass community: above- and belowground phytomass productivity.

A defoliation study was conducted on a fair condition, clayey range site that is potentially dominated by northern wheatgrass (Agropyron dasystachyum (Hook.) Scribn. ) in south-central Saskatchewan. Vegetation was subjected to a factorial experiment with an initial defoliation in early-May, June, July, or August and repeated at 2- or 6-week intervals until mid-September in the same plots for 3 years. An undefoliated control was also included. Herbage removed, residual live, dead, total and root phytomass were measured. Defoliation reduced all yield components, with the exception of herbage removed. Residual live grass was reduced 37, 57, and 46%, respectively, in first second, and third years; the sedge and forb components of live residual phytomass generally were not affected by defoliation. Compared to control, dead phytomass was reduced 77% in the first year, 67% in the second, and 52% in the third year across treatments. Total herbage yield across defoliation treatments ranged from 68 to 93% of control Total live phytomass (herbage removed + residual live phytomass) in defoliated plots equaled control Herbage removal was greatest when initially defoliated in early July and thereafter at 2-week intervals. When defoliated at 6-week intervals residual live and dead phytomass were generally greater than when herbage was removed biweekly. Yields were higher when the first defoliation was delayed and repeated at 6-week intervals. Generally, root phytomass was not different among defoliation treatments, but total belowground phytomass was reduced 30% in the 0-30-cm depth after 3 year of defoliation. This northern mixed prairie ecosystem is sensitive to herbage removal. Maximum forage yield can be obtained if grazing is deferred until after peak growth in July.
A PANIC Attack on Inflation and Unemployment in Africa: Analysis of Persistence and Convergence

The purpose of the study is to analyze the nature of inflation and unemployment rates -in Africa and its regions- allowing cross-sectional dependence among their countries. The paper contributes to the literature assessing the stochastic properties of unemployment and inflation using the recently developed and more powerful panel unit root tests namely PANIC -Panel Analysis of Non-stationarity in Idiosyncratic and Common Component- from Bay and Ng (2010). To check the robustness of our finding we added Pesaran (2007) and Chang (2002). In our analysis, many PANIC tests clearly show that the validation of the hysteresis hypothesis for unemployment rates in Central Africa, East Africa and North Africa; and convergence of inflation in Africa and its regions
Productivity Shocks, International Trade and Pass-Through: Evidence from Agriculture

The purpose of this study is to measure the sensitivity of trade to agricul- tural productivity shocks, using country-level data on yield and production combined with bilateral trade data for a wide range of countries and products for the years 2000-2010. We find that traded quantities react in the expected direction but that the magnitudes are smaller than predicted by theory. The results suggest that trade frictions, product differentiation and storage limit the role of international trade as way of coping with production volatility. We find that import unit values increase in years when domestic production is relatively high. We consider alternative explanations for this such as quality sorting or economies of scale in international shipping. Import price declines in years when importers have a poor domestic production may act as a coping mechanism for countries that suffer from adverse food production conditions.
Pathogenic and mating type characterization of an uncommon wilt disease of citrus in Tunisia

Wilt disease on citrus trees in Tunisia have increased in significance in the northern and center of the country. Trunks and secondary branches of wilted trees were collected and used to isolate the main pathogen and assess pathogenicity on sour orange rootstock. In addition, Mating type (MAT) specific primers were used to assess the mating type of Fusarium oxysporum Schlecht isolates . The distribution of MAT idiomorph may suggest that MAT1-1 is a predominant mating type in the F. oxysporum population. Wilt disease symptoms, recorded at the end of the pathogenicity tests, were associated with reduced plant growth and vigour, with shorter and thinner shoots, and limited number of roots. Principal component analysis (PCA) based on host specificity of isolates (sweet orange and tangerine), geographical origin (CapBon area and Kairouan) and severity index of the isolates showed three groups related to the specific host and origin. The present study has proved essential information on occurrence of mating types of F. oxysporum isolated from citrus.
Type II superconducting parameters of Tl-doped PbTe determined from heat capacity and electronic transport measurements

Tl-doped PbTe (Pb{sub 1-x}Tl{sub x}Te) is an anomalous superconductor with a remarkably high maximum T{sub c} value given its relatively low carrier concentration. Here, we present results of systematic measurements of superconducting parameters for this material, for Tl concentrations up to x=1.4%. We find that it is a type II, weak-coupled BCS superconductor in the dirty limit and discuss implications for the applicability of the charge Kondo model recently proposed to account for superconductivity in this system.
THE EFFECT OF BRAND IMAGE, PRICE AND PERCEIVED QUALITY ON CUSTOMER PURCHASE INTENTION IN PLANET SURF, MANADO

This day, there are so many products offered in the market. The customers sometime confuse in choosing which one to buy since the product that being offers is quite the same. What makes the product different is the price of the product, the brand of the product and he most important is the quality. This research is conduct in Planet Surf Manado. The objectives of this research are to analyze the Influence of Brand Image, Price and Perceive Quality on Customer Purchase Intention in Planet Surf Manado, partially and simultaneously. This research uses Causal type of research where it will investigate the Influence of Brand Image, Price and Perceive Quality on Customer Purchase Intention in Planet Surf Manado. This research is using a multiple regression model to answer the research problem. The population in this study is a customer of Planet Surf Manado, whereas samples taken by each respondent 100 respondents. Based on the hypothesis testing, this research conduct a conclusion of there is a significant influence of Brand Image, Price and Perceived Quality simultaneously and partially on Customer Purchase Intention in Planet Surf Manado. Based on this research, customers in Manado should have more information to be learned about the influence of brand image, price and perceived quality before they buy that product on Planet Surf and it is also expected this current research can be useful for the future development of Planet Surf in the future. Keywords : brand image, price, perceived quality, purchase intention
A REVIEW OF STOCK PRICE VOLATILITY STUDIES ON CASH AND FUTURES MARKETS

The aim of this paper is to review studies on stock price volatility taking into account some of the factors that may affect their financial behaviour within the cash and futures stock markets. In order to fulfill our aim we refer to a number of studies across Europe and the USA taking into consideration studies that occured in finance before the year 1998. This is the crucial year which we have as a limit for the purpose of our current review. We mainly present the research question, the methodology, data and results of each study based mainly on univariate ARCH type family models. This paper could be found useful for those researchers and academicians who want to measure the validity of ARCH type models in order to investigate the distribution of stock price returns.
THE EFFECT OF TASK ON CUE USEFULNESS FOR VISUAL SCENE CLASSIFICATION

THE EFFECT OF TASK ON CUE USEFULNESS FOR VISUAL SCENE CLASSIFICATION Meltem Karaca M.S. in NEUROSCIENCE Advisor: Aaron Michael Clarke May 2017 Detecting objects in the environment is one of the most fundamental functions of the visual system. Humans are highly effective at this, and past studies have shown that we can process things like whether or not an animal is present in a scene within 150 msec. Different lines of research have also examined possible cues that may be useful for rapid object detection and scene classification, and have found things like color, luminance, shape and texture to be diagnostic. Studies examining the degree to which different cues are effective for detecting objects have found that shape and texture are the most important. However, it is unclear whether cue effectiveness depends on the task being employed. The discriminative information contained in different cues may vary depending on the task. This master’s thesis examines the effects of task-relevant information on which cues are most useful for visual detection. In order to investigate the impact of task type on visual cue usefulness, participants were asked to do animal and water detection tasks. They were presented with natural scenes that contain animals or water. We found significant differences in cue usefulness depending on the task. Corresponding differences were also found for reaction times based on the different cues. The results indicated that effectiveness of visual cues depends on the nature of the task, and different cues might be more or less useful when individuals are instructed to do different kinds of tasks.
Passive Smoking and Other Principal Risk Factors Associated with Low Birth Weight

Background: Neonatal morbidity and mortality is one of the most public health problems in the world. A lot of neonatal deaths occur in foetus with low birth weight (LBW). Several risk factors of LBW have been described in the literature such as maternal age, chronic and gestational hypertension infection and anemia. Smoking is one of the most important preventable risk factor of LBW in developed and developing countries. Aims: In this study, we evaluated the incidence and the impact of passive smoking and some other principle risk factors of LBW. Material & Methods: This case control study was conducted in the department of obstetrics and gynecology of Marrakesh university hospital in Morocco. During a period of 3 years, all LBW babies were included in the study. Data analysis was performed by SPSS software. The association between LBW and each variable was studied by the chi square test comparing cases and controls groups. Logistic regression analysis was performed after including all variables found to have significant differences on univariate analysis. Results: 288 cases of LBW have been identified representing 2.19% of all births. The study of the categories showed that 84.3% of babies were moderate LBW (1500 - 2500 g), including 49 babies from twin pregnancies. 15.7% were very LBW (<1500 g). Several risk factors have been identified in LBW. Passive smoking was significantly associated with LBW [(OR 1.77; CI: 1.22 - 2.25)]. Conclusion: A number of risk factors are related to low birth weight, which is one of the main predictors of infant mortality. This study shows that passive smoking is one of those risk factors and it is a preventable one.
Factors influencing the impact force of the taekwondo roundhouse kick

The roundhouse kick is a powerful taekwondo move, commonly used in sparring matches. The kick’s power could be derived from the angular position and activation of muscles controlling the ankle joint. The aim of this study was to investigatethe ankle joint angle and activation of the lower leg muscles at different levels of impact force. Twenty Thai,black-belt, male, Taekwondo athletes performed roundhouse kicks with their maximal effort. Ankle joint motion was recorded using an electrogoniometer sensor. Activations of gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior muscles were monitored using surface electromyography. The athletes were divided into two groups based on their maximal impact forces: high (HI; 172.03 ± 19.36 N) and low (LO; 110.14 ± 20.20 N). Comparisons between the two groups showed that the HI group demonstrated significantly less plantarflexion angle and gastrocnemius activation than the LO group (P < 0.05). This indicates that impact force of the roundhouse kick may depend on the ankle joint position and gastrocnemius activation.
How Flexible are Wages in Response to Local Unemployment in South Africa?

It is commonly claimed that the South African labor market is unusually inflexible owing to the strength of the country's unions and the system of centralized collective bargaining. One sign of labor market inflexibility is low responsiveness of wages to local unemployment. Analyzing data from the South African Living Standards Survey, the authors find that the elasticity of wages with respect to local unemployment rates in South Africa in 1993 was about-0.1. The similarity of this elasticity to that found in other countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, is surprising given South Africa's national unemployment rate of over 30%. The wage curve elasticity persists over a much wider range of unemployment rates in South Africa than in OECD countries, implying that unemployment in South Africa can have a large impact on wages.
Prevalence of burnout among forest workers in Mazandaran, Iran

Lotfalian M. , Sheikhmoonesi F. , Sabzi M. , Abaspour M. , Peyrov S. (2017): Prevalence of burnout among forest workers in Mazandaran, Iran. J. For. Sci., 63: 70–74. Burnout imposes consequences and costs on the organization and employees, such as frequent job and workplace replacement, frequent absenteeism and permissions, and reduced work quantity and quality. So it seems necessary to perform institutional interventions to reduce the staff burnout. The aim of the present study was to determine prevalence of burnout among forest workers in Mazandaran. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of workers in the forests of Mazandaran province. Result showed that a significant proportion of workers had burnout in terms of the three dimensions of Maslach Burnout Inventory. 46.90% of respondents suffered from high emotional exhaustion, 43.36% had high depersonalization and 49.56% of respondents suffered from low personal accomplishment. In this study it was shown that people with bachelor or higher degree (compared to people with a lower education level) were in better conditions in terms of all three dimensions of burnout; they had higher personal accomplishment and higher emotional exhaustion and lower depersonalization. It was shown that burnout is highly prevalent among chainsaw operators and skidder drivers.
Explor ing the Relationship Between Exclusive Talent Management, Perceived Organizational Justice and Employee Engagement: Br idging the Literature

This conceptual paper explores the relationship between an organization’s exclusive talent management (TM) practices, employees’ perceptions of the fairness of exclusive TM practices, and the corresponding impact on employee engagement. We propose that in organizations pursuing exclusive TM programs, employee perceptions of organizational justice of the exclusive TM practices may affect their employee engagement, which may influence both organizational and employee outcomes. Building on extant research, we present a conceptual framework depicting the relationship between exclusive TM practices, organizational justice and employee engagement, with social exchange theory and equity theory as the framework’s foundation. The propositions in the framework are each supported by the respective literature. The perceived organizational justice and potential ramifications of exclusive TM practices for employees who are not included in corporate talent pools is an under-researched topic. The paper considers the perspectives of employees not included in corporate talent pools and explores how exclusive TM practices, as inputs, could lead to negative employee engagement outputs. In unpacking how exclusive TM practices could impact on employee engagement, the implications for organizations are underlined. The ethics and perceived fairness of exclusive TM practices, which have the potential to marginalize employees and lead to their disengagement, are considered. Keywor ds Talent management Employee engagement Organizational justice Distributive justice Procedural justice Interactional justice Social exchange theory Equity theory Human resource management Ethics
Effect of Total Dissolved Solids and Sulfates in Drinking Water for Growing Steers

Previous results showed that water with elevated total dissolved solids (TDS) and sulfates was detrimental to performance and health of growing steers. The objective of this study was to determine the level of TDS or sulfates where reductions in performance and health occur. Eighty-four crossbred steers (640 lb) were blocked by weight and randomly assigned to one of 12 pens (7 steers/pen). Pens were randomly assigned to one of four water treatments (3 pens/treatment) based on targeted TDS concentrations (ppm): 1) 1,000 (average = 1,226 TDS; 441 sulfates); 2) 3,000 (average = 2,933 TDS; 1,725 sulfates); 3) 5,000 (average = 4,720 TDS; 2,919 sulfates); and 4) 7,000 (average = 7,268 TDS; 4,654 sulfates). All water was obtained from natural sources and constituted the only available water source. Steers were fed a diet (0.44 Mcal/lb NEg) of ground grass hay and wheat middlings from May 23 to September 4 (104 days). Average daily gain, dry matter intake, and gain to feed ratio declined quadratically (P < 0.05) with both increasing TDS and sulfate levels in water. Water intake declined linearly with increasing TDS and sulfates (P < 0.01). Incidence of polioencephalomalacia was 48% (10 of 21) in the 7,000 ppm TDS treatment with no cases in any other treatment (P < 0.01), and 33% (7 of 21) of steers on the 7,000 ppm TDS treatment died of polioencephalomalacia (P < 0.01). Water with 4,720 ppm TDS and 2,919 ppm sulfates tended to cause performance reductions in growing steers, whereas water with 7,268 ppm TDS and 4,654 ppm sulfates caused marked reductions in steer performance and health. We hypothesize that water sulfates were responsible for performance and health reductions.
Empathy-Motivated Forgiveness: The Influence of Empathy, Prior Experience, and Contextual Factorsin route to Forgiveness of a Transgressor

Is the process of forgiveness contingent upon the empathic response towards another person? It is suspected, that a victim cannot begin to act, and then forgive a transgressor before he or she is able to empathize with the transgressor’s guilt and distress. The empathy-altruism hypothesis is one example that further exemplifies the motivation and connection of the empathic response with forgiveness. In interpersonal relationships, conflicts are inevitable. The motivation to mend these problems and reconcile with the offender occurs through the experience of empathy and the altruism to act with positive regard. Prior experience of a situation is not a necessity for empathy-motivated forgiveness to occur. Fifty women and 20 men participated in this study (mean age of the respondents was 25.31). Participants answered questions from two vignettes and three scales, the New Empathy Scale the Forgiveness Scale, and the Forgiveness Likelihood Scale to assess the relationship between empathy and forgiveness, as well as the effect of prior experience. Empathy was correlated with forgiveness, according to the Forgiveness Likelihood Scale but not the Forgiveness Scale. Empathic individuals significantly forgave a transgressor without previously experiencing a similar situation. Religiosity was also correlated with all three scales. Findings extend prior research by demonstrating that empathy is a possible motivator of conciliatory behavior. Considerations of additional influences of empathy-related forgiveness were considered, and a pattern of gender on both empathy and forgiveness was also considered.
A prospective randomized study: role of enalapril on oxidative stress in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus and its correlation with glycaemic status

Background: Oxidative stress is demonstrated the pathological conditions such as Atherosclerosis and diabetes mellitus. It has been suggested to be involved in the pathogenesis of both macro and microvascular complications. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of Enalapril on oxidative stress markers in type 2 diabetic patients. Methods: A Prospective Randomized controlled study was conducted in 75 participants in which 25 healthy volunteers and 50 newly diagnosed DM2 patients who were divided into three groups of 25 in each. In Group II DM2 patients were treated with Metformin alone, in group III DM2 patients were treated with Enalapril and Metformin and 25 healthy volunteers were included in Group I (controls). Oxidative stress parameters, FBS, HbA1c were measured at the time of diagnosis and at 4,8,12 weeks. Results: There was a significant decrease in free radical production (p<0.05) and significant increase in antioxidant enzymes (p<0.001) in both the patient Groups and positive correlation between oxidative stress markers and FBS and HbA1c (p<0.01). Conclusions: Oxidative stress measured as LPO is strictly influenced by glycaemic control. Enalapril and Metformin combination in diabetic patients has more significant effect on decreasing the oxidative stress than Metformin alone.
How are Income and Non-Income Factors Different in Promoting Happiness? An Answer to the Easterlin Paradox

This paper develops a formal economic theory to explain the Easterlin paradox-average happiness levels do not necessarily increase as countries grow wealthier. The theory analyzes the different roles of income and non-income factors in promoting people's happiness, and provides a foundation for studying happiness from the perspectives of social welfare maximization and individuals' self-interested rationality. It is shown that, for a certain class of economies, whether Easterlin paradox appears depends on the level of non-income factors. Happiness rises with income only up to a critical point that is determined by the level of the non-income factors; but once the critical income level is achieved, raising income further will lead to Pareto ineffcient allocations and decrease people's happiness. One policy implication is that government should promote a balanced growth between income and non-income factors. The empirical analysis provides some preliminary evidence consistent with the theory's predictions.