Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dimensional Stability Measurements of Thin Wood Veneers Using the Wilhelmy Plate Technique

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of hydroxymethylated resorcinol (HMR) and a commercially available water repellent (WR) treatment on the dimensional stability and water uptake behavior of maple veneers. The Wilhelmy plate technique was used to assess the effects of the chemical treatments on the veneer by comparing the perimeter of the veneers before and after 24 h water immersion and by monitoring the initial water uptake behavior. The veneers were treated with the HMR and WR by dipping treatment at three different loadings: 5, 15, and 30 min of treatment time. Water uptake into the untreated veneer increased dramatically during the 30 min of immersion time in water, compared with the HMR-treated veneer. Water uptake into the HMR-treated veneer, which was treated at the highest retention level (30 min), was limited during the initial stage of the waterimmersion test. The initial amount of water uptake into the veneer was lowered by 65% to 75% as a result of the HMR treatment, and the initial amount of water uptake into the water repellent-treated veneers was lower than that of the HMR-treated veneers depending on the HMR/WR treatment retention level. The initial amount of water uptake of the water repellent-treated veneers was lowered by 5 to 10%, compared with the HMR-treated veneers at the treatment time of 15 and 30 min. HMR treatment improves the dimensional stability of wood as evidenced by the reduced swelling of the HMR-treated samples compared to the untreated samples in the water-immersion test. The changes of sample perimeters measured by the Wilhelmy plate method were larger than those measured by digital calipers because the Wilhelmy plate method measures the perimeter change on the microscopic (cellular) level. It is hypothesized that the Wilhelmy plate method is a more effective tool than the caliper method for investigating the dimensional stability of small, thin, or nonrectangular samples in aqueous environments.
Country and industry factors as determinants of corporate financial liquidity in the European Union countries

Financial liquidity is considered as one of the most important features of corporate performance. This study is meant to verify whether the short-term solvency depends more on the specific features of the country, where an enterprise operates, or whether it is more heavily influenced by the industrial factors. The relative importance of the industry and country effect in financial liquidity ratios is evaluated with the use of multivariate statistical methods, involving mainly cluster analysis. The study involves 13 industries in 10 European Union countries, including Poland in the period 1999–2005. The study is based on the harmonised and aggregated financial reports from the European Commission BACH database. Findings provide empirical evidence that industrial factors constitute a more important determinant of corporate financial liquidity than country-specific factors. The results of the analysis may be useful for optimising investment diversification strategies.
Seismic or hydrodynamic control of rapid late-Holocene sea-level rises in southern coastal Oregon, USA?

Intertidal stratigraphy has been instrumental in demonstrating the hazard posed by great earthquakes at the Cascadia subduction zone, but inferring an earthquake history from interbedded sequences of peat and mud is complicated by many factors that influence sedimentation and relative sea-level change on both tectonic and nontectonic coasts. Rapid-to-sudden rises in relative sea level marked by sharp contacts between intertidal peat and overlying mud or sand may reflect coseismic coastal subsidence and tsunami deposition or, alternatively, nonseismic hydrodynamic changes in estuaries. Reconnaissance coring at 16 sites in the marshes fringing a narrow, protected tidal inlet of Coos Bay, supplemented by diatom and 14C analyses at four sites, reveals a stratigraphic record too fragmentary and ambiguous to distinguish seismic from hydrodynamic causes for more than three of the 10 rises in relative sea-level identified. Only three sharp contacts have the wide extent and evidence of substantial (>0.5 m) submergence that distinguish them from similar contacts produced by nonseismic processes. Correlation with stratigraphic sequences at other estuaries shows that the fringing marshes suddenly subsided and were partially buried by tsunami sand during a great plate-boundary earthquake about 300 years ago. Similar contacts were produced by earthquakes about 1500–1800 years ago, and perhaps about 2400–2700 years ago. Other earthquakes with substantially less subsidence may also have occurred, but evidence is too ambiguous to reconstruct a more complete history.
Information Measures of Wages and Employment: Application to Senegal

This paper develops an information theoretic estimator of wage and employment shifts that provides quantification of and inference about type of employment (full time, part time, seasonal, unemployed) and industry share of employment. It is applied to determine the effects of two United States Agency for International Development (USAID) projects on employment in villages in the Tambacounda and Kedougou provinces in Senegal. The projects support the development of local forest-based production and processing industries. The results demonstrate statistically significant and positive effects on employment and the industry composition of employment.
A pr 2 01 8 Atomic Physics Constraints on the X Boson

Ulrich D. Jentschura 2, 3 and István Nándori 3, 4 Department of Physics, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Missouri 65409-0640, USA MTA–DE Particle Physics Research Group, P.O. Box 51, H–4001 Debrecen, Hungary MTA Atomki, P.O. Box 51, H–4001 Debrecen, Hungary Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Debrecen, P.O. Box 105, Debrecen, Hungary Recently, a peak in the light fermion pair spectrum at invariant q ≈ (16.7MeV) has been observed in the bombardment of Li by protons. This peak has been interpreted in terms of a protophobic interaction of fermions with a gauge boson (X boson) of invariant mass ≈ 16.7MeV which couples mainly to neutrons. High-precision atomic physics experiments aimed at observing the protophobic interaction need to separate the X boson effect from the nuclear-size effect, which is a problem because of the short range of the interaction (11.8 fm), which is commensurate with a “nuclear halo”. Here, we analyze the X boson in terms of its consequences for both electronic atoms as well as muonic hydrogen and deuterium. We find that the most promising atomic systems where the X boson has an appreciable effect, distinguishable from a finite-nuclear-size effect, are muonic atoms of low and intermediate nuclear charge numbers.
Nesting area fidelity and survival of female Common Goldeneyes Bucephala clangula: are they density-dependent?

The breeding histories of 218 female Common Goldeneyes Bucephala clangula were recorded between 1971 and 2000 in a study area in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany. Females were first recorded breeding at a median age of 2 years usually in their area of hatching (philopatry). One hundred and two of 140 females (73%) re-nested only in one of the 13 nesting areas (clusters of nestboxes) for all their known life of up to 13 breeding seasons. The remaining 38 individuals moved between different nesting areas at least once between breeding attempts. The two oldest females were still breeding at a minimum age of 15 years (i.e. 13 years between first and last recorded breeding attempt). Temporal variations in annual survival rates of adult females could best be explained by a model with annual survival rate varying independently and randomly about a mean of 0.830 (se = ±0.023) with an estimated sd of ±0.092 (95% CI = 0.064, 0.138). No trend in the annual survival rate was detected over the study period of 30 years, although the presence of a moderate trend could not be ruled out. The absence of any discernible trend in survival at a time when the population size increased substantially indicates little, if any, density-dependence in survival of female Goldeneyes during this study.
The effects of regional out-migration on job openings by occupation

This paper reports the results of two years of research on the estimation of regional occupational employment migration rates and their influence on estimates of future job openings by occupational group. The first section provides a general description of state and metropolitan area migration by occupation and other demographic variables. The descriptive statistics demonstrate that the overall level of out-migration rates and their variation among demographic and occupational groups are quite large relative to current employment estimates and estimates of future job openings that currently do not take into account regional out-migration. The second section describes the construction, and use of, estimated adjusted out-migration rates. The adjusted out-migration rates are created by using incomplete data methods to statistically combine data from the 1990 Census and the 1987 Occupational Mobility Current Population Survey. This hybrid data set contains complete information on occupational migration and mobility and allows us to isolate the out-migration rate that reflects changes in state-of-residence but not changes in occupation. These adjusted rates eliminate potential double counting that would be introduced using unadjusted occupational out-migration rates. This application of incomplete data methods is "tested" by generating a set of adjusted migration rates for a region of the United States and applying these rates to estimates of base year regional occupation employment to produce a set of estimated job openings that take into account regional out-migration. The results show that the total number of estimated job openings by occupation have to be revised significantly upwards when out-migration is taken into account.
How Does Reputation Win Trust? A Customer-Based Mediation Analysis

Abstract This study investigates the relationship between customer-based corporate reputation (CBR) and customer trust, in particular, the mediating role of customer perceived risk in this relationship. We propose and test a model comprising of four components: cognitive CBR, affective CBR, customer perceived risk and customer trust using a sample of 156 customers from the fast-food services industry in Pakistan. The results suggest that the cognitive and affective dimensions of CBR behave differently in developing customer trust. Affective CBR has a direct positive relationship with customer trust; whereas, customer perceived risk and affective CBR mediate the relationship between cognitive CBR and customer trust. Implications for research and practice are proposed based on the study results.
Some remarks on recent results about S-unimodal maps

One aim of this paper is to review and tie together some recent advances in the theory of unimodal maps with negative Schwarzian derivative. Our interest is focused on maps with sensitive dependence to initial conditions, so we do not mention recent work on maps with solenoidal attractors, although most of our references contain also contributions for those maps
Inhaled corticosteroids in COPD: Personalising the therapeutic choice

Abstract There has been a recent surge in interest in the role of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in the treatment of COPD, especially regarding patients with high eosinophil counts. Evidence has shown that despite the increase in localised adverse effects and a small increase in non-fatal pneumonia events with ICS use, ICS still have an important role to play in reducing exacerbation rates and addressing the inflammation that is at the heart of the pathogenesis of COPD. Current international guidelines recommend the use of ICS only in patients with severe disease. This review examines the potential role of ICS in all COPD patients.
How to Improve The Quality of Life in Patients Living with End Stage Renal Failure

so that a comprehensive picture can be achieved. Various methods are available to monitor QoL in people with ESRF and they include physical measurements such as dialysis adequacy along with QoL measurements such as patient surveys. By improving health-related aspects of care, it is expected that patients should also experience an improvement in QoL. Nurses play an important role by providing optimal dialysis, a supportive environment and comprehensive and continuous education. In addition nurses play a signifi cant role in coordinating other members of the multidisciplinary team to ensure holistic care.
' From Social Context and Resilience to Performance through Job Satisfaction : A Multilevel Study over Time SHORT TITLE : From Social Context and Resilience

Giving the crucial role of organizational context in shaping individual attitudes and behaviors at work, in this research we studied the effects of collective work-unit Perceptions of Social Context (PoSC) on individual work resilience and two key individual outcomes: job satisfaction and job performance as rated by the supervisor. We theorized that collective PoSC act as antecedents of individual variables, and that individual job satisfaction mediates the relationship between collective PoSC and job performance, and between work resilience and job performance over time. A sample of 305 white-collar employees, clustered in 67 work-units, participated in the study. Hierarchical linear modeling highlighted that collective PoSC are significant related to individual work resilience. Moreover, results showed that individual job satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between collective PoSC and individual job performance and the relationship between individual work resilience and individual job performance. At a practical level, results suggest that interventions on collective PoSC may increase work resilience, job satisfaction and job performance over time at the individual level.
The Geological Significance of Two IDDP-ICDP Spot Cores from the Reykjanes Geothermal Field, Iceland

Only two drill cores are available from the Reykjanes hightemperature field in SW-Iceland, on the Reykjanes Peninsula, which is a direct continuation of the MidAtlantic Ridge on land. The coring activity was funded by the International Scientific Continental Drilling Program (ICDP) in conjunction with the Iceland Deep Drilling Project (IDDP). The spot core from RN-19 was drilled at 2245-2248 m (2.97 m) in 2005. The spot core from RN-17 was drilled in a side tracked well (RN-17B) at 35° angle at depth of 2798.5-2807.5 m (9.3 m) in 2008. The true vertical depth from the surface above the RN-17B core is approximately at 2560-2570 m. This paper describes the depositional environment of these deep drill cores. The RN-19 core is composed of a homogeneous coarse-grained dolerite that is relatively unaltered, and is interpreted to come from a sheeted dyke complex. Only narrow chlorite-acinolite veins are present in that core. On the other hand, the RN-17B core is composed of a shallow marine volcanoclastic/hyaloclastite breccia containing lenses of fine-grained tuffaceous sediment, which appears to contain remnants of shallow marine fossils (shell fragments). However, lower greenschist facies hydrothermal alteration and rock replacement by secondary minerals is almost complete, preventing study of the apparent fossil remains in the core. In spite of the great depth of the core in this well, the abundant vesicles in the volcanoclastic rock, as well as the extent of pillow lava formations suggest a relatively shallow marine depositional environment. Based on the depth of these shallow marine sedimentary sequences, we estimate that rocks of the Reykjanes geothermal field have been subsiding at a rate of some 6 mm/year over the last 500.000 years, yielding a ratio of 1/3 subsidence/spreading rate on this part of the landward extension of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Lévy insurance risk process with Poissonian taxation

The idea of taxation in risk process was first introduced by Albrecher, H. & Hipp, C. Lundberg’s risk process with tax. Blätter der DGVFM 28(1), 13–28, who suggested that a certain proportion of the insurer’s income is paid immediately as tax whenever the surplus process is at its running maximum. In this paper, a spectrally negative Lévy insurance risk model under taxation is studied. Motivated by the concept of randomized observations proposed by Albrecher, H. , Cheung, E.C. K. & Thonhauser, S. Randomized observation periods for the compound Poisson risk model: Dividends. ASTIN Bulletin 41(2), 645–672, we assume that the insurer’s surplus level is only observed at a sequence of Poisson arrival times, at which the event of ruin is checked and tax may be collected from the tax authority. In particular, if the observed (pre-tax) level exceeds the maximum of the previously observed (post-tax) values, then a fraction of the excess will be paid as tax. Analytic expressions for the Gerber–Shiu expected discounted penalty function and the expected discounted tax payments until ruin are derived. The Cramér-Lundberg asymptotic formula is shown to hold true for the Gerber–Shiu function, and it differs from the case without tax by a multiplicative constant. Delayed start of tax payments will be discussed as well. We also take a look at the case where solvency is monitored continuously (while tax is still paid at Poissonian time points), as many of the above results can be derived in a similar manner. Some numerical examples will be given at the end.
Theoretical Background 2 . 1 . Interaction and Performance in Massively Multiplayer Online Games

Johannes Putzke University of Cologne putzke@wim.uni-koeln.de Kai Fischbach University of Cologne fischbach@wim.uni-koeln.de Detlef Schoder University of Cologne schoder@wim.uni-koeln.de This article examines the co-evolution of players’ individual performance and their interaction network in a Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG). The objective is to test whether the application of theories from the real world is valid in virtual worlds. While the results indicate that the structural effects and demographic variables active in the real world influence the evolution of the players’ interaction network in MMOGs (e.g. transitivity, reciprocity, and homophily), they do not provide evidence that players’ structural embeddedness in the interaction network influences player performance. These findings have important implications for researchers and practitioners who need to understand social processes in MMOGs (e.g., when launching marketing campaigns in MMOGs) or who study MMOGs and then use their findings to draw conclusions about the real world (e.g., when analyzing the relationship between employee performance and network structure).
The Sloan Consortium Quality Framework And The Five Pillars

This overview introduces the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C), explains its quality framework for guiding quality and sharing effective practices, and suggests directions for research and development. As an association of colleges, universities and organizations dedicated to making higher education accessible to all, Sloan-C uses a quality framework that focuses on five pillars that support quality learning environments. Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) believes academic knowledge and industry knowledge can complement each other to improve the quality of learning in both sectors. In particular, practitioners can learn how to improve higher order learning online, how to adapt technology to continuously improve interaction, how to use assessment to mainstream best practices, and how to combine ALN and face-toface learning.
DETECTION OF DIFFICULT CALVINGS IN DAIRY COWS USING BOOSTED CLASSIFICATION TREES

The aim of this study was to apply boosted classification trees to dystocia detection in dairy cattle and to indicate its most important predictors. A total of 1742 calving records were used. Proportions of correctly detected difficult and easy calvings in a test set were 75.0%, 92.0% and 75.0%, 77.3%, for heifers and multiparous cows, respectively. The key predictors of calving difficulty were: pregnancy length, body condition score index, calving age, proportion of Holstein-Friesian genes (for heifers) as well as calving and calving-to-conception intervals, mean daily milk yield, fat and protein content in milk and 4%-fat corrected milk yield (for cows). The data mining method used in this study allowed us to obtain the models of good quality, confirmed by their relatively high effectiveness of detecting dystotic animals.
The Conditional Performance Evaluation Of The Colombian Collective Portfolios

The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of the Equity mutual funds in Colombia. The Colombian mutual fund industry underwent a severe transformation after the Decree 2175/2007. Since then, the increasing asset volume managed and the market oriented investments are in line with the trends in this sector for the most financially developed markets. The study is focus on eight certainly Equity fund portfolios, and covers the period 2008-2011. We apply the unconditional versus the conditional evaluation methodology in order to assess the relevance of the public information in the delegated portfolio management in Colombia. For each fund portfolio, both, a unique and a rolling time performance estimation are obtained. The paper concludes, firstly, that performance has been largely significantly positive for the sample and period considered. It also finds that the differences in performance evaluation attained with both methodologies are negligible. Thus, conditioning information seems not to have been relevant in the Colombian Equity mutual fund industry.
Interethnic discordance and stability in Estonia

This article proposes a theoretical model of perceived intergroup stability (STB) consisting of two factors: the perceived strength differential (PSD) between the groups, expressing the changeability of the power relations, and the level of intergroup discordance (D), expressing the level of aversion towards the outgroup combined with the perceptions of legitimacy of intergroup power relations. A quantitative study of Estonian (N = 538) and Russian-speaking (N = 460) communities revealed that the perceived stability was highest in monolingual Estonian regions while it was lowest in Russian-speaking eastern Estonia. The findings concur with the results of previous empirical studies, validating the conceptual structure of the theoretical model underlying the current study.
Coating defects in polymer-coated drug-eluting stents

Vascular stenting has a great attention as a treatment for coronary arteries diseases as compared with percutaneous balloon angioplasty. In-stent restenosis and thrombosis are side effects resulting from using bare metal stent (BMS). Employing platelet therapy allowed to reduce the rate of thrombosis, however, the rate of restenosis remains a major problem. In 2002, drug-eluting stents (DESs) were introduced as an effort to reduce the restenosis. The commercially available DESs continue to suffer from coating defects that might lead to a series of adverse effects. Most importantly, multiple concerns remain regarding the polymer coating integrity on metal surfaces or the relation of polymer irregularities to long- term adverse events.