Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The conditional pricing of currency and inflation risks in Africa's equity markets

Globalization of financial markets has increased correlation among developed economy markets and made developing economy markets attractive for diversification purposes. Among the developing economy markets are African equity markets, which appear to be the most promising and yet the least studied. Taking the perspective of foreign investors, we estimate the stochastic discount factor (SDF) model for a cross-section of major equity markets in Africa over the period 1997-2009, using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). Our findings suggest that real exchange rate risk constitutes a significant time-invariant component of returns in Africa’s equity markets. We also find that inflation and nominal exchange rates are separately priced, with time-varying risk premia. Given these findings, international equity investors interested in Africa should hedge their positions against currency risk. Accordingly, African governments should prioritize the development of hedging instruments to increase their equity markets’ investability.
Rewards, recognition, and caregiver engagement at Cleveland Clinic

(unported, v3.0) License. The full terms of the License are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. Permissions beyond the scope of the License are administered by Dove Medical Press Limited. Information on how to request permission may be found at: http://www.dovepress. com/permissions.php Journal of Healthcare Leadership 2014:6 29–37 Journal of Healthcare Leadership Dovepress
Climate policy and border tax adjustments: Might industrial organization matter?

In this paper, analysis is presented relating to the impact of border tax adjustments for climate policy on the problem of carbon leakage, and the related issue of competitiveness of energy-intensive industries. Compared to the current literature, these policies are set in the context of a vertically-related market characterized by successive oligopoly. Specifically, it is shown that an appropriate border tax adjustment depends on the incidence of domestic climate policy, the nature of competition in upstream and downstream sectors, as well as the basis for assessing the trade neutrality of any border tax adjustment. If trade neutrality is defined in terms of market volume, even though carbon leakage is reduced, domestic firm competitiveness cannot be maintained. This compares to defining trade neutrality in terms of market share, which results in domestic competitiveness being maintained and global carbon emissions being reduced. In either case, consumers incur deadweight losses.
THE NEXT GENERATION VIRGO CLUSTER SURVEY. IX. ESTIMATING THE EFFICIENCY OF GALAXY FORMATION ON THE LOWEST-MASS SCALES

The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey has recently determined the luminosity function of galaxies in the core of the Virgo cluster down to unprecedented magnitude and surface brightness limits. Comparing simulations of cluster formation to the derived central stellar mass function, we attempt to estimate the stellar-to-halo-mass ratio (SHMR) for dwarf galaxies, as it would have been before they fell into the cluster. This approach ignores several details and complications, e.g., the contribution of ongoing star formation to the present-day stellar mass of cluster members, and the effects of adiabatic contraction and/or violent feedback on the subhalo and cluster potentials. The final results are startlingly simple, however; we find that the trends in the SHMR determined previously for bright galaxies appear to extend down in a scale-invariant way to the faintest objects detected in the survey. These results extend measurements of the formation efficiency of field galaxies by two decades in halo mass or five decades in stellar mass, down to some of the least massive dwarf galaxies known, with stellar masses of ∼ 10 5 M ⊙ ? > .
Ecosystem Carbon Storage and Partitioning in Chato Afromontane Forest: Its Climate Change Mitigation and Economic Potential

Forests trap carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, store in the form of carbon (C) and regulate climate change. In this study, C storage and climate change mitigation potential of Chato Afromontane forest was assessed from measurement of the major pools including the aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, dead tree biomass, plant litter and soil organic carbon (SOC). The result showed that biomass accumulation was comparatively larger for natural forest than plantations due to maturity, intactness and species diversity. The total C storage capacity of the forest ranged from 107.12 Mg ha-1 for acacia plantation to 453.21 Mg ha-1 for the intact natural forest. The mean C storage capacity by major pools ranged from 1.36 Mg ha-1 for the dead tree C to 157.95 Mg ha-1 for the aboveground C pool. The forest ecosystem accumulated a total of nearly 6371.30 Gg C in the vegetation plus soil to a depth of 60 cm. Conservation of the sacred forest will have an imperative implication to net positive C addition and regulation of climate change.
Maturity Indices and Harvesting Practice of Arumanis' Mango Related to The Target Market

Mango as a climacteric fruit is frequently harvested when less than fully ripe. This isoften necessary to obtain optimal eating quality at the time of consumption where marketsare a considerable distance from the place of harvest. In this study the age of fruit was calculated, based on the time of flowering. Theorchard selected for the trials was located in northern part of Bali, Indonesia. Thelaboratory analyses were carried out at Udayana University. The results showed that optimal maturity of 'Arumanis' mango for best consumptionis when the fruit is harvested 13-14 weeks after flowering. Fruit age has a closerelationship with total soluble solids (TSS), total acidity and pH content. This studyfound that'Arumanis'mango is best for consumption when the TSS content of the fruit isnot less than 16.8'Brix, total acidity 0. 18%, pH 4.8, flesh colour rating 6-6.5, and tastescore 5. Keyword: mango, maturity
Conditional Relationship Between Beta and Return in the US Stock Market

According to the CAPM, risk is measured by the beta, and the relation between required expected return and beta is linear. This paper examines the conditional relationship between beta and return in the US stock market. The conditional covariances and variances used to estimate beta are modeled as an ARCH process. The beta return relationship is tested upon the sign of the excess market return. The implication of the sign of the excess market return follows Morelli (2011). This study shows the importance of recognizing the sign of the excess market return when testing the beta-return relationship. The approach also allows us to distinguish the size effect and the effect of economic cycles.
Rates and regimes of photochemical ozone production over Central East China in June 2006: a box model analysis using comprehensive measurements of ozone precursors

Abstract. An observation-based box model approach was undertaken to estimate concentrations of OH, HO2, and RO2 radicals and the net photochemical production rate of ozone at the top of Mount Tai, located in the middle of Central East China, in June 2006. The model calculation was constrained by the measurements of O3, H2O, CO, NO, NO2, hydrocarbon, HCHO, and CH3CHO concentrations, and temperature and J values. The net production rate of ozone was estimated to be 6.4 ppb h−1 as a 6-h average (09:00–15:00 CST), suggesting 58±37 ppb of ozone is produced in one day. Thus the daytime buildup of ozone recorded at the mountain top as ~23 ppb on average is likely affected by in situ photochemistry as well as by the upward transport of polluted air mass in the daytime. On days with high ozone concentrations (hourly values exceeding 100 ppb at least once), in situ photochemistry was more active than it was on low ozone days, suggesting that in situ photochemistry is an important factor controlling ozone concentrations. Sensitivity model runs for which different NOx and hydrocarbon concentrations were assumed suggested that the ozone production occurred normally under NOx-limited conditions, with some exceptional periods (under volatile-organic-compound-limited conditions) in which there was fresh pollution. We also examined the possible influence of the heterogeneous loss of gaseous HO2 radicals in contact with aerosol particle surfaces on the rate and regimes of ozone production.
Title Identification of frequent la Niña events during the early 1800 s in the east equatorial Pacific Permalink

We report measurements of near monthly ΔC and δO during selected decades from an east equatorial Pacific coral that grew during the past four centuries. We find that El Niño events occurred regularly during the late 1700s. During the early 1800s, El Niño events occurred less often, and La Niña conditions prevailed, which were accompanied by unprecedented, low cool season ΔC values and high cool season δO values. These results indicate that shallow overturning water (e.g., Central Mode Water) from the North Pacific was likely an important source of water to the Galapagos area during the early 1800s.
Hybrid functionals based on a screened Coulomb potential

Hybrid density functionals are very successful in describing a wide range of molecular properties accurately. In large molecules and solids, however, calculating the exact (Hartree–Fock) exchange is computationally expensive, especially for systems with metallic characteristics. In the present work, we develop a new hybrid density functional based on a screened Coulomb potential for the exchange interaction which circumvents this bottleneck. The results obtained for structural and thermodynamic properties of molecules are comparable in quality to the most widely used hybrid functionals. In addition, we present results of periodic boundary condition calculations for both semiconducting and metallic single wall carbon nanotubes. Using a screened Coulomb potential for Hartree–Fock exchange enables fast and accurate hybrid calculations, even of usually difficult metallic systems. The high accuracy of the new screened Coulomb potential hybrid, combined with its computational advantages, makes it widely applica.
Effect of Monsoon Rain on Quality of Groundwater for Irrigation in Gohana Block of Haryana

Irrigation water quality plays an important role in influencing the agricultural sustainability particularly in arid and semiarid tracts of the country where it is inevitable and compulsive for the farmers to use the available resources despite of doubtful quality. The Gohana Block, Haryana, India, has been selected to discuss the impact of monsoon on groundwater quality for irrigation in the region where agriculture is the main livelihood of the people and groundwater the main source of irrigation. To study the impact of monsoon on groundwater quality, sixty groundwater samples were collected two times from the study area; first in June (premonsoon) and the second in November (postmonsoon) of 2006. The water samples were analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity (EC), major cations (sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium), major anions (bicarbonate, chloride, sulphate and nitrate) and heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, lead and nickel) using standard procedures. Specific irrigation water quality criteria like Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR), Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC) and Mg/Ca ratio have been computed from the above chemical parameters. The premonsoon and post-monsoon data were compared to understand the effect of monsoon on groundwater quality. The comparison showed marginal improvement in groundwater quality after monsoon.
Estimating household vulnerability to poverty from cross section data: an empirical evidence from Ghana

Background In many developing countries, policies aimed at improving welfare through poverty reduction tend to target the current poor to the neglect of the vulnerable. An understanding of household susceptibility to future poverty will be crucial for sustainable growth and development. The objective of the study is to assess ex-ante welfare through vulnerability to poverty estimates among households in Ghana and to examine the effect of various socioeconomic characteristics on vulnerability to poverty. Method The study uses cross section data from the fifth round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS) with a nationally representative sample of 8,687 households from all administrative regions in Ghana. The study employs a three step Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) estimation procedure to estimate vulnerability to poverty and to model the effect of household socioeconomic status on expected future consumption and variations in future consumption. Results The results show that, about 56% of households in Ghana are vulnerable to poverty and this is significantly higher than observed poverty level of about 28%. While the Eastern region was found to have the highest average vulnerability of approximately 73%, the Upper West region had the least vulnerability with about 21% average vulnerability to poverty. Other regions with relatively high incidence of vulnerability to poverty include the Western region (70%) and the Volta region (69%). Vulnerability to poverty was estimated to be 61% among urban households and 25% among rural households. Moreover, household health status, household size and education attainments significantly influence vulnerability to poverty. Male headed households were found to be less vulnerable to future poverty. Conclusion The results suggest that poverty and vulnerability to poverty are independent concepts. This implies that policies directed towards poverty reduction need to take into account the vulnerability of current non-poor households. Also, various household characteristics should be considered in developing poverty reduction strategies.
Additive General Error Models for Production, Cost, and Derived Demand or Share Systems

Many empirical studies of production specify a deterministic model of the firm, derive the implied behavioral equat ions (input demand or share system), and then "embed this system in a stochastic framework" by tacking on linear error terms. In contras t, this paper proposes general error models (GEMs) in which the error specification is an integral part of the optimization model. These m odels are the statistical embodiment of Stigler's view that apparent observed inefficiencies reflect the investigator's ignorance of the t rue optimization problems. Additive GEMs are proposed and interpreted Specification tests indicate that a translog additive GEM is superi or to the standard translog specification. Copyright 1987 by University of Chicago Press.
Identifying Users Based on Use of Input Devices

The need for other security measures besides secret keywords has highlighted the possibility to base a biometric security system on input device patterns. This report explores the feasability of using mouse and keyboard biometry in an online security system. After examining prior work in this area, an online test environment was set up where subjects could remotely complete experiment sessions by interacting with a web-site. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), k-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN) and Self Organizing Maps (SOM) were combined into profiles which predicted sample validity. A final system accuracy of 0.92% False Accept Rate (FAR) and 43.16% False Reject Rate (FRR) was achieved. The best profile in the system achieved a FAR of 0.8% and a FRR of 0.0%. When one of the 19 subjects was browsing the online test environment, the system could with an accuracy of 54.1% correctly identify the user. Examining the results, it is clear that data of a higher quality is needed and alternative collection methods should be explored. It seems feasible to recognize a registered user solely based on keyboard, mouse and browser variables.
A Study on School Performance in Terms of Some Teacher Characteristics

One of the important factors that affect student achievement is teacher characteristics. Therefore, there exists much research that investigates the relationship between student achievement and teacher characteristics in the literature. However, none of the research examines all characteristics of a qualified teacher together. The relevant literature generally focuses on the characteristics that are easy to measure. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between some teacher characteristics and student achievement based on the TIMSS 2011 data set on Turkey. In this study, the data set on Turkey is analyzed by dividing the schools into three groups as low-, middleand high-performing schools according to the mean science achievement of students instead of utilizing the TIMSS benchmarks. So that, it is investigated whether teacher characteristics vary by school level. This study utilizes the International Database (IDB) analyzer which is a plug-in for the SPSS, and developed by the IEA Data Processing and Research Centre. As a result of the analysis, it is seen that students whose teachers have an experience of at least 10 years have higher mean achievement in science, and that students at high-performing schools have teachers with an experience of at least 10 years across Turkey. The rate of students whose teachers feel satisfied with their profession is higher in Turkey than the TIMSS average. Moreover, it is revealed that the mean achievement of students whose teachers feel satisfied with their profession is higher than the others at middleand high-performing schools. The rate of students whose teachers have participated in professional development activities in various topics is significantly higher at highperforming schools. However, this rate is remarkably below the TIMSS average. At the fourth-grade level, teachers feel confident about “applying various problem solving strategies” and “providing challenging tasks for capable students”. At the eighth-grade level, on the other hand, they feel less confident about “providing challenging tasks for capable students”.
Discrete wavelet transform and artificial neural network for gearbox fault detection based on acoustic signals

Gearboxes are widely applied in power transmission lines, so their health monitoring has a great impact in industrial applications. In the present study, acoustic signals of Pride gearbox in different conditions, namely, healthy, worn first gear and broken second gear are collected by a microphone. Discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is applied to process the signals. Decomposition is made using Daubichies-5 wavelet with five levels. In order to identify the various conditions of the gearbox, artificial neural network (ANN) is used in decision-making stage. The results indicate that this method allow identification at a 90 % level of efficiency. Therefore, the proposed approach can be reliably applied to gearbox fault detection.
CO 2 emission and structural characteristics of two calcareous soils amended with municipal solid waste and plant residue

Abstract. This investigation examines the effect of different amendments on selected soil physical and biological properties over a 24-month period in two cropland fields. Urban municipal solid waste (MSW) compost and alfalfa residue (AR) were used as different organic amendments at the rates of 0 (control), 10 and 30 Mg ha−1 to a clay loam soil and a loamy sand soil in a semiarid region. Results showed that the soil improvement was controlled by the application rate and decomposability of amendments and soil type. The addition of organic amendments to the soils improved aggregate stability and consequently enhanced total porosity, especially macropore fraction. The increased soil organic carbon (SOC) and total porosity values as compared to the control treatment were greater in the loamy sand soil than in the clay loam soil. Moreover, compared to the microbial respiration of control plots, the application of MSW resulted in higher values of microbial respiration in the clay loam soil than in the loamy sand soil, whereas the reverse was found for AR. Linear and power functions were provided for the relationships between microbial respiration and SOC in the loamy sand and clay loam soils, respectively. Also, CO2 emission was stimulated significantly as power functions of the total porosity and the ratio of macroporosity to microporosity. However, the soil microbial respiration and carbon storage improved aggregate stability and pore size distribution, and as a response, soil porosity, especially the macropore fraction, controlled CO2 flux.
Crime and the Regional Disparities in Tourist Inflows: A Case Study of South Africa

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of crime proxied by different indicators on regional tourist inflows to South Africa. The estimations are carried out using the Johansen estimation techniques. Monthly data gathered from March 2003 to April 2011 is employed and the results from the estimations found that total crime has a negative effect on tourists from Africa, North America, Central and Southern America, West and Southern Europe. However, the level of crime in the country appears to have no influence at all to tourist from the Middle East whilst those from Asia are more sensitive to the level of sexual crime. At the different categories of crime investigated, tourists react differently. In line with the findings of the existing literature, the real exchange rate and world income remain to have a significant effect on tourist inflows from most of the regions.
The Strategic Value of Quantity Forcing Contracts for Manufacturers-Retailers Hierarchies

We explore the strategic value of quantity forcing contracts in a competing manufacturer-retailer hierarchies environment under both adverse selection and moral hazard. Manufacturers dealing with (exclusive) competing retailers may prefer to leave contracts silent on retail prices, whenever other aspects of the retailers’ activity remain nonveri.able. Two effects are at play once one moves from retail price maintenance to quantity forcing. First, restricting the number of screening instruments available to manufacturers has a detrimental effect on their pro.ts as it leaves more possibilities to retailer for getting information rents. Second, such restriction may provide manufacturers with strategic power in that it affects downstream competition. Under some conditions related to the severity of the adverse selection problem and the nature of externalities across retailers, the latter effect may rationalize the use of quantity forcing contracts in a game of competing hierarchies. RPM may be either detrimental or bene.cial to welfare depending upon the type of non-market externalities that retailers impose on each other. JEL Classification: D2, D23, D82, K21.
Frames and Reasoning: Two Pathways From Selective Exposure to Affective Polarization

Although an association between congruent exposure to ideological news and affective polarization is well documented, we know little about the mechanisms underlying it. This article explores two possible mechanisms: (1) acceptance of media frames and (2) the effects on the audience’s reasoning, specifically, their knowledge of claims supporting their and the other camp’s positions. Mediation hypotheses were tested on data collected using an online survey of users of ideological and mainstream Israeli news websites ( N = 788). Op-eds from these websites ( N = 259) were content-analyzed to determine the frames used by ideological and mainstream websites. Results demonstrate that acceptance of frames plays a more important role than audience reasoning in mediating the effect of selective exposure on political polarization.