Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of taxes and climate policy instruments on harvesting of managed forests and on tropical deforestation

This dissertation examines the effects of taxes and policy instruments that aim to regulate climate services from forests. It consists of a summary section and four articles. Articles (I) and (II) examine the effects of taxes on management decisions in the context of managed boreal forests distinguished by forest-owners’ amenity preferences and also their age. Articles (III) and (IV) examine the role of carbon-based policy instruments in the presence of taxes on land incomes in curbing tropical deforestation. Article (I) reveals that the intensity of forest-owners’ preferences for forest amenities affects the non-neutrality of forest taxes pertaining to forest harvesting. Therefore, the effects of taxes depend on this intensity. This highlights the importance of developing methods to measure forest-owners’ amenity preferences quantitatively. Article (II) shows that the age of forest-owners governs their propensity to consume as opposed to leave bequests. Furthermore, it shown that the effects of capital income and inheritance taxes vary across different age-groups of forest-owners. Article (III) demonstrates that taxes on forestry and cash-crop incomes, per se, may be ineffective in curbing tropical forest loss. The carbon payments may complement these taxes, and an effective policy to combat tropical deforestation should jointly target forestry and cash-crop sectors. Article (IV) demonstrates the link between carbon compensation policies and land income taxation. An optimal carbon compensation scheme may require that national governments are allowed to use different compensation rates from that applied globally when passing national level compensations on to the local level. These results suggest that existing policies such as taxation should be accounted for in the analysis and design of international carbon policy instruments that aim at enhancing forests’ role in climate change mitigation.
Volunteering and Organizational Diversity

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Intermediation and Investment Incentives

We analyze whether and how the fact that products are not sold on free, public platforms but on competing for-profit platforms affects sellers? investment incentives. Investments in cost reduction, quality, or marketing measures are here the joint and coordinated efforts by sellers. We show that, in general, for-profit intermediation is not neutral to such investment incentives. As for-profit intermediaries reduce the rents that are available in the market, one might suspect that sellers have weaker investment incentives with competing for-profit platforms. However, this is not necessarily the case. The reason is that investment incentives affect the size of the network effects and thus competition between intermediaries. In particular, we show that whether for-profit intermediation raises or lowers investment incentives depends on which side of the market singlehomes.
Social Security Literacy and Retirement Well-Being

We build upon the growing literature on financial literacy, which studies the prevalence of lack of knowledge about various financial issues, and analyze how much people know about the Social Security rules using a small pilot survey conducted in 2007, and a follow-up and extended survey funded by MRRC conducted in December of 2008. We then assess the consequences of the apparent prevalence of lack of information by individuals about the rules governing the Social Security system using a realistic and empirically-based life-cycle model of retirement behavior under uncertainty. We investigate the individual’s retirement and savings decisions under incomplete information and unawareness, in which a portion of the population does not know some or all of the rules of the system. We compare the outcomes in these cases to the outcome under full information, computing the welfare gain resulting from the acquisition of information regarding the Social Security system. Our analysis can illuminate the need for policies that foster knowledge of the system, which can improve welfare, and can result in better policy outcomes.
Molecular and Immunological Study of Hepatitis B virus infection in Samara City, Iraq.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major public health problem worldwide. The reported studies suggest an association between genotypes and disease severity. Therefore, aim of this study was to determine hepatitis B virus genotypes in chronic hepatitis B virus infection in Samara City. Blood samples from 96 patients (males (53%), females (47%) with HBV chronic infection were collected from Samarra General Hospital and blood bank in Samarra city, who diagnosed as cases of hepatitis B and attend to the hospital for monitoring and follow-up. All the serum samples were tested for HBsAg, HBsAb, HBeAg, HBeAb, HBcIgM, and HBcIgG by commercially available (ELISA) kits, DNA was isolated from serum samples and genotypes determined by PCR technique. The Genotype D was the predominant (93.1%, 81/87) genotype in our tested samples. HB genotype C detected in 3.45 % (3/87) of tested samples. HB genotype C & F, A & D, and B & D were detected in 1.15% (1/87) for each. Mean serum IL-17 value was lower in cases with negative viral load (2.56 ± 1.23) as determined by PCR, than all other cases with D and with mixed B and D genotypes. However, ANOVA test did not show a significance. Mean serum IL-17 was 7.94 ±5.64 in cases with HB D genotype, 1.56 ±0.57 was with genotype C, 3.25 with B & D genotype, 2.44 with A & D genotype and 1.82 with C & F genotype. The difference in mean serum value (IL-17) between negative cases and with D genotype was marginally significant, but it was significant between D genotype and combined genotypes (P=0.0018-0.0001). Conclude that HBV D genotype was the predominant, in addition, A, B, C, and F genotypes are reported for the first time in Iraq and may be Arab countries and Mediterranean Region.
Highly Efficient Technique for the Full-Wave Analysis of Circular Waveguide Filters Including Off-Centered Irises

─ A rigorous method for the full-wave analysis and design of waveguide filters implemented in circular waveguide technology, and including offcentered circular irises, is presented. The implemented tool is based on an integral equation technique, which provides a full-wave representation of the elementary blocks of the analyzed components in terms of generalized impedance matrices. With the aim of improving the efficiency of the developed tool, the radial variation of the modal solutions of the circular waveguides has been expressed in terms of sinusoidal functions, thus avoiding the use of the more cumbersome Bessel’s functions employed in the classical formulation. Furthermore, line integrals have been used (instead of surface integrals) to compute the modal coupling coefficients of the planar waveguide junctions involved in the considered filters, thus drastically reducing the CPU effort related to the implemented tool. New designs concerning band-pass filters including off-centered circular irises are also provided. The obtained results show that the relative position of the considered circular irises can be considered as a new design parameter with a noteworthy influence on the electrical response of the investigated components. The accuracy of the proposed method has been successfully validated by comparing the obtained results with data extracted from both the technical literature and a commercial software based on the finite-element method. Index Terms ─ Circular waveguide filters, integral equation technique, multimode equivalent network, offcentered irises.
Tuning Magnetic Properties of Thick CoFeB Film by Interlayer Coupling in Trilayer Structured Thin Films

This study deals with tuning magnetic properties of a thick amorphous (a-)Co20Fe60B20 (CoFeB262) film by using interlayer magnetic coupling in trilayer structured films of [CoFeB262 (100 nm)/[Cr,Ta (x nm)]/CoFeB262 (y nm)] with y=2-50, xCr=0.75, 2 and xTa=1, 4. All the films are deposited directly on thermally oxidized Si substrate at ambient temperature using magnetron sputtering. The as-deposited a-CoFeB262 (100 nm) film exhibits magnetic stripe domain and transcritical hysteresis loop due to large effective magnetic anisotropy caused by stress induced during deposition of the films. On the other hand, the shape of magnetic hysteresis (M-H) loops in trilayer films transforms from transcritical to rectangular shaped one with enhanced remanence ratio (MR/MS) of ≥ 75% and single magnetization reversal behavior. This effectively reduces coercivity (HC) and field required to saturate magnetization (HS) in trilayer films. However, the changes in the loop shape and reductions in HC and HS depend strongly on x and y. Magnetic domain images obtained using Kerr microscopy in trilayer films show a rapid switching of large-sized domains along easy-axis and weak ripple domains along hard-axis. In addition, the magnetization reversal behavior along the hard-axis strongly depends on x(Cr,Ta). M-H loops obtained at different temperatures between 30 K and 300 K reveal no change in loop shape for trilayer films with small x and y, while the disappearance of shearing and formation of additional steps at low temperatures are observed for films with large x and y. The observed results are explained on the basis of change in interlayer coupling between CoFeB262 layers with x, y and temperature. Furthermore, these results clearly confirm that the magnetic properties of thick CoFeB262 film with stripe domain can easily be tuned into in-plane magnetization by this simple trilayer structured thin films.
Using an emittance exchanger as a bunch compressor

An Emittance EXchanger (EEX), like a chicane, can be used for bunch compression. However, it offers a unique characteristic: the R56 term in an EEX vanishes, which decouples the final longitudinal position from the particles’ energies, thereby suppressing the microbunch instability and providing a great deal of flexibility in tailoring the final particle longitudinal phase space.
Same certificate, different education path: does it matter for earnings?

In the Dutch education system students are tracked at the age of twelve. This early tracking system has raised concerns about negative long run outcomes for students starting in low tracks. However, students in low tracks can still reach higher education by taking a longer education path: graduating subsequently in higher education levels that were previously not feasible. In this paper, using cohort data over the period 1993-2012, we first investigate which type of students typically take a longer education path. It appears that those students have on average lower test scores and come from a lower socioeconomic background. Second, we investigate whether these differences translate into earnings differences in later life. It appears that students from longer education paths earn on average the same as students that follow the shortest path. IV-estimates, using regional differences in the supply of secondary schools as an instrumental variable, confirm these findings. These results provide evidence that longer education paths are an effective instrument to increase the amount of human capital of students that start in low tracks.
ASYMMETRY AND COLLUSION IN INFINITELY REPEATED CONTESTS

I show that in an infinitely repeated contest, collusion is easier to sustain when the players are more equal than when they are less equal. Therefore, aggregate rent-seeking expenditures may be lower when the contestants are more equally matched. This is in sharp contrast to the standard result in static rent-seeking contests where increasing asymmetries between players reduce aggregate expenditures. I also discuss how this result has implications for signaling in contests with incomplete information.
Preventing childhood obesity: Early‐life messages from epidemiology

The high rates of overweight and obesity, currently seen in young children, underline the urgent need for preventive strategies in early life, before excess weight is gained. However, alongside such practical considerations, a body of epidemiological evidence now links experience in fetal and early postnatal life to an individual’s later risk of obesity – pointing to the importance and role of ‘developmental influences’, such as maternal obesity, excess gestational weight gain and short duration of breastfeeding, in the aetiology of childhood obesity. Differences in early experience are linked to lifelong differences in predisposition to gain weight and, as the associated differences in obesity risk are large, real benefits could be achieved by early intervention. Such messages, regarding the need for efforts to address these early influences to prevent obesity, are now embedded in national and international health policy. Whilst successful prevention initiatives are needed early in life, the most effective strategies may need to be focused even earlier in the life course, in the period before conception. Although the challenges of changing behaviour are considerable, such changes have the potential to impact both on the health of future mothers and future generations.
Theory of X-ray and thermal-neutron scattering by real crystals

This book is divided into two parts. In the first the theory of the elastic diffraction of X-rays and neutrons in imperfect crystals is discussed in detail. The imperfections which are treated include solid solutions in which the atoms not only have different scattering factors but also are permitted to displace from their equilibrium positions and to be correlated with one another, the finite dimensions of the crystal, and severely distorted crystals containing many dislocations. In the second part of the book the inelastic scattering is described. This part discusses the scattering by phonons from harmonic crystals and then goes on to show how this scattering is modified by the anharmonicity and by the presence of defects in the crystal. As will be seen from the list of contents the range of topics covered by the book is very large and they are all treated so as to bring the reader up to the last developments in the field by the time the book was written in 1967. Indeed in many places the book is even more up-to-date because it contains results which have only become common knowledge since that time. The book certainly contains a wealth of detailed results which are not readily available elsewhere. The book suffers because it contains so much and little space is permitted to discuss the significance of the different results. Consequently it is very hard, unless the reader is very familiar with the field, to appreciate the significance of these results. Likewise the pace of development in the book is enormous. Unless the reader has a very sound background in solid state physics and familiarity with scattering theory he will find it difficult to follow. In short the work is a useful addition to the literature but could have been much more useful if more concessions had been made to the reader at the expense of not including as many detailed results. The book is reasonably well produced and does not have too many misprints. The index could have been better.
Public Pensions and Elderly Mortality in Canada : Comparing Means tested and Universal Eligibility , 1921 – 1966

We investigate the impact of three public pension programs on the mortality rates of recipient age groups in Canada. The Old Age Pension (OAP), introduced in 1927 for Canadians over age 70, and Old Age Assistance (OAA), implemented in 1952 for Canadians aged 65–69, were means tested programs while Old Age Security (OAS), introduced in 1952 for Canadians over age 70, was a universal plan. Our data consist of age-specific mortality rates and pension information, by province, for the period 1921– 1966. The three dimensional feature of this panel allows us to exploit variation in policy implementation dates across provinces, and changes in income and age group eligibility. We find that the implementation of all three pension programs resulted in statistically significant reductions in recipient age group mortality rates and that the effect of the federal universal OAS of 1952 was twice as large as either of the means tested plans. However, the number of lives extended with the universal OAS was small and the estimated cost per life extended large. 1 Herb Emery is the Svare Professor in Health Economics in the Department of Economics and Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary Alberta, T2N 1N4, hemery@ucalgary.ca. Jesse Matheson is a PhD candidate in the Department of Economics at the University of Calgary. We thank Price Fishback, Chris Auld, J.F. Wen, John Murray, Livio Di Matteo, George Emery, Harry Paarsch, Ken McKenzie, Ken Fyie and Andreea Balan Cohen for comments.
Effects of climate on pollination networks in the West Indies

Abstract: We studied the effect of climate on the plant-pollinator communities in the West Indies. We constructed plots of 200 m × 5 m in two distinct habitats on the islands of Dominica, Grenada and Puerto Rico (total of six plots) and recorded visitors to all plant species in flower. In total we recorded 447 interactions among 144 plants and 226 pollinator species. Specifically we describe how rainfall and temperature affect proportional richness and importance of the different pollinator functional groups. We used three measures of pollinator importance: number of interactions, number of plant species visited and betweenness centrality. Overall rainfall explained most of the variation in pollinator richness and relative importance. Bird pollination tended to increase with rainfall, although not significantly, whereas insects were significantly negatively affected by rainfall. However, the response among insect groups was more complex; bees were strongly negatively affected by rainfall, whereas dipterans showed similar trends to birds. Bird, bee and dipteran variation along the climate gradient can be largely explained by their physiological capabilities to respond to rainfall and temperature, but the effect of climate on other insect pollinator groups was more obscure. This study contributes to the understanding of how climate may affect neotropical plant-pollinator communities.
The Modified Jones and Yoon Models in Detecting Earnings Management in Palestine Exchange (PEX)

This study attempts to find out if the Modified Jones (1995) and Yoon et al., (2006) models are effective in detecting earnings management in an emerging economy as Palestine. The study also compares the Modified Jones (1995) model with the Yoon et al., (2006) model. That is to give an overview of the best model in detecting earnings management practiced by listed companies in the PEX. The study results shows that the Yoon et al., (2006) model is better than the Modified Jones (1995) model in detecting earnings management in the Palestinian's context, and the Modified Jones (1995) model is very poor. Additionally, the results proves that the effectiveness of the Yoon et al., (2006) model is also weak compared to other studies done in other countries (Yoon and Miller, 2006; Yoon et al., 2006; Islam et al., 2011). Consequently, developing new models is vital to be used in detecting earnings management in Palestinian's context.
THE EXTENT AND CONSEQUENCES OF DOWNWARD NOMINAL

Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we find that true wage changes have many fewer nominal cuts and more nominal freezes than reported nominal wage changes. The data overwhelmingly rejects a model of flexible wage changes and provides some evidence against a model of perfect downward rigidity in favor of a more general model. The more general model incorporates downward rigidity but specifies that nominal wage cuts may occur when large cuts would occur in the absence of wage rigidity. However, the results of the general model imply that nominal wage cuts are rare. We also analyze the personnel files of a large corporation and find cuts in base pay are rare and almost always associated with changes in full time status or a switch between compensation schemes involving incentives. Our evidence on the consequences of nominal wage rigidity is mixed. We find modest support for the hypothesis that workers who are overpaid because of nominal wage rigidity are less likely to quit.
K-Complex Detection Based on Synchrosqueezing Transform

K-complex is an underlying pattern in the sleep EEG. Due to the role of sleep studies in neurophysiologic and cognitive disorders diagnosis, reliable methods for analysis and detection of this pattern are of great importance. In our previous work, Synchrosqueezing Transform (SST) was proposed for analysis of this pattern. SST is an EMD-like tool, which benefits from wavelet transform and reallocation approaches. This method is able to decompose signals into their time-varying oscillatory ingredients. In addition, it provides a time-frequency representation with less blurring compared to wavelet transform. In this paper, firstly, the ability of SST is investigated by applying the ANOVA test, which is approved by proper p-values. This paper proposes SST for K-complex detection. The proposed method is based on a so-called “detection of K-complexes and sleep spindles” (DETOKS) framework. DETOKS is based on spares optimization and decomposes signals into four components, namely transient, low frequency, oscillatory, and a residual. Applying the Teager-Kaiser energy operator and setting a threshold on the low-frequency component result in K-complex detection. We modify DETOKS using SST. The proposed method is applied to DREAMS dataset. The dataset provides two visual scorings accompanied by an automatic one. As the visual labels were extremely different, the automatic detection is considered as the third expert’s scoring and data is re-labeled by a voting approach among three experts. For DETOKS, DETOKS modified by CWT, and the proposed method, MCC measure is 0.62, 0.71, and 0.76, respectively. It shows superiority of the proposed method. Review History: Received: 26 February 2017 Revised: 27 August 2017 Accepted: 27 August 2017 Available Online: 15 October 2017
Excessive and Inappropriate Utilization of a Tertiary Health Center in South-East Nigeria

AIM: To identify the patients’ demographic characteristics and reasons for preferring to receive treatment in a tertiary health facility instead of first level of health care. METHOD: A descriptive study of patients reporting for treatment at General Out-Patient Department of University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Itukku-Ozalla, Enugu State was carried out between July and September, 2008. RESULTS: Three hundred and seventy people were studied; males were 158 (42.7%) while females were 212 (57.3%). Many have the opinion that illnesses like uncomplicated headache and malaria should be managed in the tertiary hospital. Severity of ailment, presence of equipment and duration of ailment are the most compelling factors to making a patient decide where to receive care. Significantly more females (x2=85.64, P