Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Smallholder Farmers Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change in Ethiopia: Evidence from Adola Rede Woreda, Oromia Region

The share of agriculture in the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) of Ethiopia is very significant. Although agriculture is undeniably a key economic sector in Ethiopia, it is the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. An attempt to reduce the impacts of climate related problems requires appropriate policy responses. A number of studies on climate change adaptation recognize the importance of agro-ecologically based studies for designing context-specific policies and programs to climate change adaptation. Therefore, this study was carried out with objectives of identifying the determinants of farmers’ decision to undertake adaptation measures to climate change and the farmers’ preferences to different adaptation strategies in Ethiopia using a case study in Adola Rede Woreda. The primary data was collected from 250 sample households using a survey questionnaire and was analyzed using both descriptive statistics and econometric methods. The logit model was used to identify the determinants to climate change adaptation decision. In addition, the Rank-Ordered Logit Model (ROLM) was used to identify the preference as well as the determinants to preferences for climate change adaptation strategies. Results of the logit regression model show that educational level, farm size owned, number of livestock owned, access to credit, and farmers-to-farmers’ extension service are among the factors which are positively and significantly affecting the farmers adaptation decision. However, non farm income and fertility level of the farm negatively and significantly affect farmers’ adaptation decision to climate change. Besides, the results of ROLM show that improved crop and livestock variety, Agroforestry, Changing of planting date, Soil and Water Conservation, Small Scale Irrigation and Temporary Migration are the adaptation strategy preferred by the farmers in Adola Rede in that order from the most preferred to the least preferred. The ROLM indicate that demographic, socio-economic and institutional factors determine the preferences for adaptation strategies. Therefore, the government should first understand the farmers’ preferences for climate change adaptation together with demographic, socio-economic and institutional factors in designing and implementing appropriate policy response to reduce the impacts of climate change and variability in the study area. In addition, addressing the barrier to climate change adaptation is also very important. Key w ords: climate change, adaptation, agroforestry, rank ordered logit model, Adola Rede
The African National Congress and Traditional Leadership in a Democratic South Africa: Resurgence or Revival in the Era of Democratisation?1

Abstract The role of traditional authorities, particularly traditional leadership in the democratic South Africa (1994-2013) seems to be a complex and multifaceted process. When the African National Congress (ANC) came into power in May 1994, the party was faced with a mammoth task of incorporating traditional leaders in the local sphere of government. The study examines the socio-political role of traditional leaders in South Africa in postapartheid period. Furthermore, the study aims at examining the factors and challenges contributing to the leadership discourse between the traditional leaders and some structures of the ANC, for example, the councillors as elected leaders. The findings from this study pointed to challenges such as values and perceptions of leadership styles as espoused by the traditional leaders versus the democratic way of leadership from the ANC structures. The above propelled the researchers to engage in an analytical research study of determining the relationship that existed between the traditional leaders and the local government structures in South Africa. On the basis of the findings of this study, recommendations are made for the fostering of harmonious working relationships between the traditional authorities and the councillors representing the ANC.
100 MEV/100KW ELECTRON LINEAR ACCELERATOR DRIVER OF THE NSC KIPT NEUTRON SOURCE

In NSC KIPT, Kharkov, Ukraine a neutron source based on a subcritical assembly driven by a 100MeV/100kW electron linear accelerator will be constructed. This neutron source is an USA (ANL)Ukraine (KIPT) Joint project, and its accelerator will be designed and constructed by Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP), China. The design and construction of such an accelerator with high average beam current and low beam power losses is a technical challenging task. In the paper, the main accelerator features and current status are under discussion.
Scaling Dissolved Nutrient Removal in River Networks: A Comparative Modeling Investigation

Along the river network, water, sediment, and nutrients are transported, cycled, and altered by coupled hydrological and biogeochemical processes. Our current understanding of the rates and processes controlling the cycling and removal of dissolved inorganic nutrients in river networks is limited due to a lack of empirical measurements in large, (nonwadeable), rivers. The goal of this paper was to develop a coupled hydrological and biogeochemical process model to simulate nutrient uptake at the network scale during summer base flow conditions. The model was parameterized with literature values from headwater streams, and empirical measurements made in 15 rivers with varying hydrological, biological, and topographic characteristics, to simulate nutrient uptake at the network scale. We applied the coupled model to 15 catchments describing patterns in uptake for three different solutes to determine the role of rivers in network‐scale nutrient cycling. Model simulation results, constrained by empirical data, suggested that rivers contributed proportionally more to nutrient removal than headwater streams given the fraction of their length represented in a network. In addition, variability of nutrient removal patterns among catchments was varied among solutes, and as expected, was influenced by nutrient concentration and discharge. Net ammonium uptake was not significantly correlated with any environmental descriptor. In contrast, net daily nitrate removal was linked to suspended chlorophyll a (an indicator of primary producers) and land use characteristics. Finally, suspended sediment characteristics and agricultural land use were correlated with net daily removal of soluble reactive phosphorus, likely reflecting abiotic sorption dynamics. Rivers are understudied relative to streams, and our model suggests that rivers can contribute more to network‐scale nutrient removal than would be expected based upon their representative fraction of network channel length.
How intergenerational transfers finance the lifecycle deficit in Spain

In this chapter we present the estimates of the national transfers occurring among age groups in Spain in year 2000 using the NTA methodology proposed by Mason, Lee and others (2006). The life cycle deficit is positive –a surplus– for ages 27 to 57, while the rest of individuals become dependent, being the age reallocations of both age groups quite different. On the one hand, during childhood and youth, individual consumption is mainly financed by private transfers (69%) while public transfers only amount to a 32% being mainly in-kind transfers, through education and health systems. On the other hand, older people finance their lifecycle deficit mainly through asset-based reallocations (66%), followed by public transfers (41%, composed both of substantial cash transfers –retirement and survivor pensions– and in-kind health benefits). Interestingly, we find that the elderly are net payers of private transfers, implying that they are transferring money or housing services to the young members of their family. This surprising result could be explained by the high proportion of co resident elderly. This together with the fact that all individuals aged more than 16 pay and receive private transfers at the same time indicates that private support and hence intergenerational sharing tends to be mutual in Spain, implying that Spain is half-way between the northern European countries and the Latin-American countries. (1) Departamento de Teoria Economica, Universidad de Barcelona and Instituto de Estudios Fiscales (Spain) (2) Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte (Brazil) (3) Center on Economics and Demography of Aging, University of California, Berkeley (USA) (4) Departamento de Economia Aplicada, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain) This work received institutional support from the Spanish Science and Technology System (project nos. BEC2003-1831 and ECO2008-04997/ECON) and from the Catalan Government Science network (Project nos. SGR-2005-177 and SGR2005 -460 as well as XREPPXarxa de referencia en Economia i Politica Publiques).
Capital Structure Redux: Maturity, Leverage, and Flexibility

We investigate how a firm jointly determines the amount of debt and its maturity in a dynamic capital structure. We find a firm with high volatility of earnings optimally issues debts of shorter maturity which helps it maintain its financial flexibility. Using simultaneous equations of leverage and maturity regression, we find that higher leverage is led by shorter maturity. Our results support the dynamic capital structure model in which a firm decides its leverage as a trade-o between bankruptcy costs and tax benefits, as well as optimally adjusting the maturity of its debt by taking account of their financial flexibility versus the costs of new debt issuance. These findings can explain why financial institutions with high volatility of earnings before the 2007-2009 financial crisis had higher leverage as well as huge short-term financing.
Journal of Nanoscience with Advanced Technology Hydrogen storage in Lithium, Sodium, and Potassium nanoparticles

Using Density Functional Theory (DFT), the desorption energies of Hydrogen in Lithium, Sodium, and Potassium nanoparticles is calculated. The type of nanoparticles studied were M n H xn with M=Li, Na, K and n varying from 2 up to 30. For each nanoparticle, several different geometries were studied in order to find the one with the lowest energy. The results were compared with similar calculated results for Beryllium and Magnesium nanoparticles. Mixed Li n-x Na x H n nanoparticles were also studied.
Outward Migration and Inward FDI: Factor Mobility between Eastern and Western Europe

A growing strand of literature highlights that migration may favor growth‐enhancing technology transfer, trade, and foreign direct investments between the source and the host economies of migrants (network effects). A specific channel is explored through which the possible “diaspora externality” associated with the emigration of workers may occur: the removal of informational, cultural, and reputational barriers that could prevent firms of high‐income countries from investing in the low‐income immigrants' economies of origin. By means of a straightforward gravity specification, a fragmentation and multinational production model is taken to the data. The focus is on the mobility of capital and workers between the advanced European Union countries (EU15) and New Member States (NMS) in the 1995–2007 period. The evidence points to a significant correlation between the volume of EU15's activities in NMS and the total stock of NMS's own‐migrants in the EU15 economies.
Factors Affecting the Outcome of Bronchiectasis in Pediatric Patients

Introduction: Bronchiectasis is a common problem in children and early diagnosis can lead to early treatment and prevent of its complications. This study was aimed to evaluate factors effective on outcome of bronchiectasis in children. Methods: In an analytical cross-sectional study, 347 children with bronchiectasis Underwent the study. the patients were diagnosed based on chronic suppurative cough and CT scan findings. Results: Disease etiology was asthma in 55.6%, Gastroesophagial reflux (GERD) in 7.8%, Cystic fibrosis (CF) in 4.8%, other causes in 11.2% and idiopathic in 20.6%. All cases complained of chronic cough. The most common sign was daily sputum production (79.1%) and common symptoms were ral/crackle in 47.1% and wheezing in 25.4%. Mean treatment period was 32.82±11.56 months. At the end of follow-up, complete improvement occurred in 35.6%, partial improvement in 40.9% and no improvement in 23.5%. Conclusion: In children with chronic cough and crackle in physical examination, consideration of bronchiectasis could be helpful in early diagnosis and complementary evaluations and treatment initiation. Treating the underlying disease could prevent the occurrence and increase the response to treatment of bronchiectasis.
The Pricing of Experience Goods: The Example of En Primeur Wine

The market for “primeur” wine in the Bordeaux region allows producers to sell wine that is still in barrels. As with all experience goods, producers send quality signals to uninformed buyers. Using original data on Bordeaux wines, we show that the pricing behavior of producers depends to a large extent on their reputation, and much less on short-term changes in quality (as measured by experts' grades). We also find that the primeur price has an informative role, since a 10% increase in primeur price leads to a 3% increase in prices on the market for bottled wine. Copyright 2007, Oxford University Press.
Deciding Whether to Offer “Early-Bird” or “Night-Owl” Specials in Restaurants

In a long history of capacity and demand management research in services, it has often been suggested that pricing discounts and specials can increase demand in off-peak periods. We examine this issue in the contexts of restaurants, where the practices of offering discounts to restaurant patrons for dining early or dining late—commonly known as “early-bird” and “night-owl” specials, respectively—exist throughout the world. These specials bridge marketing and operations—marketing from the goal of increasing customer demand in the off-peak periods and operations from the perspective of having to serve those customers. The effectiveness of these specials has yet to be examined. While simulation would be an ideal tool for predicting the specials’ net revenue benefits, it might be impractical for many restaurateurs, so we develop three simple “back-of-the-envelope” type calculations. Restaurateurs could use these calculations when deciding whether to offer a special. In the eight large simulation-based experiments we conducted, we find that it is important to estimate revenue cannibalization from full-fare customers. The calculations prove to be far more accurate for night-owl specials than for early-bird specials. This has important implications for decisions about offering the specials and raises a flag regarding a potential marketing-operations conflict.
Institutions and Cyclical Properties of Macroeconomic Policies in the Global Economy

Sharp fluctuations in cyclical conditions observed in industrial and developing countries alike have renewed the debate on the scope and the effectiveness of stabilization policies. Traditionally it has been argued that developing countries are unable to adopt counter-cyclical monetary and fiscal policies due to financial imperfections and unfavorable political-economy conditions. We claim that developing countries with institutional features similar to those of industrial countries are able to conduct counter-cyclical policies. Using a world sample of 115 industrial and developing countries for 1984-2008, we find that the level of institutional quality plays a key role in countries’ ability to implement counter-cyclical macroeconomic policies. The results show that countries with strong (weak) institutions adopt counter- (pro-) cyclical macroeconomic policies, reflected in extended monetary policy and fiscal policy rules. The threshold level of institutional quality at which macroeconomic policy is neutral to the business cycle is higher for fiscal policy than for monetary policy. The sensitivity of fiscal policy cyclicality to institutional quality is larger than is the case of monetary policy.
Talent Management for Organisational Performance Development in Bangladesh Private Industry Context

The primary objective of this study is to identify the challenges of talent management (TM) practices within private organisations in Bangladesh. This explorative study used unstructured interview methods for the data collection. This study conducted only ten interviews including seven experts from the private sector of Bangladesh and three scholars from reputed universities of the country. After a sequential analysis of all the transcripts of the interviews, four main areas have been identified as the main challenges for talent management practices and performance development in Bangladeshi private organisations: (1) high expenditure; (2) lack of government support; (3) poor awareness; and (4) very few skilled trainers. This study includes a discussion on how TM can be applied in Bangladesh for the development of organisational performance.
A spiking neural network of state transition probabilities in model-based reinforcement learning

The development of the field of reinforcement learning was based on psychological studies of the instrumental conditioning of humans and other animals. Recently, reinforcement learning algorithms have been applied to neuroscience to help characterize neural activity and animal behaviour in instrumental conditioning tasks. A specific example is the hybrid learner developed to match human behaviour on a two-stage decision task [18]. This hybrid learner is composed of a model-free and a model-based system. The model presented in this thesis is an implementation of that model-based system where the state transition probabilities and Q-value calculations use biologically plausible spiking neurons. Two variants of the model demonstrate the behaviour when the state transition probabilities are encoded in the network at the beginning of the task, and when these probabilities are learned over the course of the task. Various parameters that affect the behaviour of the model are explored, and ranges of these parameters that produce characteristically model-based behaviour are found. This work provides an important first step toward understanding how a model-based system in the human brain could be implemented, and how this system contributes to human behaviour.
Technological properties of maize tortillas produced by microwave nixtamalization with variable alkalinity

This research was conducted to determine the quality, physicochemical, textural, compositional, nutritional, viscoamylographic and sensory properties of maize tortillas produced with a Modified tortilla-making process (MTMP) of variable alkalinity (0.125, 0.25 and 0.5% Ca(OH) 2 w/w) and compared to the commercial brand MASECA ® . In general, tortillas from MTMP showed higher pH, total color difference (ΔE), tensile strength/cutting force, protein, lipids, crude fibre, lysine, tryptophan, in vitro protein digestibility and lower Hunter L value, loss of weight during cooking and moisture content than MASECA® tortillas. No significant differences were found in the sensory analysis of 22 descriptors of tortillas made from MASECA® and MTMP with Ca(OH) 2 concentrations of 0.125 and 0.25% (w/w). However, panelist identified principal effects on changes in four attributes (aroma, appearance, flavor, and after taste flavor) and seven descriptors in tortillas from MTMP prepared with the maximum lime concentration (0.5% w/w). Microwave nixtamalization produce tortillas with acceptable physicochemical, textural, quality, compositional/nutritional and pasting properties. Key words: Maize, modified nixtamalization, tortillas, technological properties.
Campanian-Maastrichtian ocean circulation in the tropical Pacific

The Pacific Ocean is the largest water body on Earth, and circulation in the Pacific contributed significantly to climate evolution in the latest Cretaceous, the culmination of a period of long-term cooling. Here, we present new high-resolution late Campanian to Maastrichtian benthic and planktic foraminiferal stable isotope data and a neodymium (Nd) isotope record obtained from sedimentary ferromanganese oxide coatings of Ocean Drilling Program Hole 1210B from the tropical Pacific Ocean (Shatsky Rise). These new records resolve 13 million years in the latest Cretaceous, providing insights into changes in surface and bottom water temperatures and source regions of deep to intermediate waters covering the carbon isotope excursions of the Campanian-Maastrichtian Boundary Event (CMBE) and the Mid-Maastrichtian event (MME). Our new benthic foraminiferal δ18O and Nd isotope records together with published Nd isotope data show markedly parallel trends across the studied interval over a broad range of bathyal to abyssal water depths interpreted to reflect changes in the intensity of deep-ocean circulation in the tropical Pacific. In particular, we observe a three-million-year-long period of cooler conditions in the early Maastrichtian (72.5 to 69.5 Ma) when a concomitant change toward less radiogenic seawater Nd isotope signatures probably marks a period of enhanced admixture and northward flow of deep waters with Southern Ocean provenance. We suggest this change to have been triggered by intensified formation and convection of deep waters in the high southern latitudes, a process that weakened during the MME (69.5 to 68.5 Ma). The early Maastrichtian cold interval is closely related to the negative and positive carbon isotope trends of the CMBE and MME. The millions-of-years long duration of these carbon cycle perturbations suggests a tectonic forcing of climatic cooling, possibly related to changes in ocean basin geometry and bathymetry.
Downstream market structure and the incentive for innovation in telecommunication infrastructure

This paper addresses the question of how the competitive situation in the downstream market, the services, and the innovative activity in the upstream market, the network infrastructure, interact. The focus is on the vertical structure of the telecommunication market, which is analysed in the framework of a patent licensing model. The paper considers an integrated network provider who can implement a new technology for the network which reduces the costs of offering services over the network. This provider can charge a mark-up above the new lower cost level from the service providers for the use of the new technology. The level of the mark-up is determined by a regulator who aims at promoting innovation. It can be shown that the network provider’s incentive to innovate increases with the number of competitors, given that the mark-up is sufficiently high. Hence, there exists a range for the mark-up where increasing competition in the service market and more innovative investment in the network infrastructure can be achieved simultaneously.