Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non-Catalytic NOx Removal from Gas Turbine Exhaust with Cyanuric Acid in a Recirculating Reactor; Small Scale Evaluation and Industrial Application

A novel SNC technique to remove oxides of nitrogen (NO x ) from stationary gas turbine exhaust has been investigated and applied. The technique employs the use of cyanuric acid (CYA), a non-toxic, dry powder, combined with the injection of auxiliary turbine fuel and recirculation. During the initial investigation, exhaust, generated by a 150 kW gas turbine, was treated in an insulated recirculation reactor, with a mean residence time of 0.65 to 0.71 seconds and a pressure drop of 660 Pa. In the reactor, autoignition of injected auxiliary gas turbine fuel raises the flue gas temperature to between 700 and 800 ВєC. CYA slurry is injected. Temperature rise and NOx reduction occurВ simultaneously. Load following has been achieved. At all temperatures, significant NO x reduction from initialВ concentrations of 106 to 124 ppm to as low as 18 ppm at 15% O 2 have been observed. However, the process generates N 2 O emissions, which vary from 45 to 163 ppm, increasing with increasing CYA/NOx ratio. The ratio of N 2 O formed to NO removed was found to be between 1 to 1.5 to 1. The performance of CYA ((HNCO) 3 ) is compared to that of ammonia (NH 3 ) and urea ((NH 2 ) 2 CO). A numerical model, which combines a detailed chemical kinetic mechanism with recirculation, has been developed. The model captures all observed trends well and is an invaluable guide to improved understanding of the interactive NO x removal process. The process was then successfully scaled up and applied to a variety of industrial 3.7 MW gas turbines and similarly significant NO x reduction has been achieved.
A Real Theory of Aggregate Demand Shortages

How can low consumer spending cause an inefficient recession or recovery? We propose a real theory of aggregate demand shortages that does not rely on nominal rigidities. In our theory, an economy can be demand constrained when, i) productivity in the consumption goods sector can be improved or maintained via investment, and ii) external financing of this investment is subject to a tight enough borrowing constraint. In a demand-constrained equilibrium, a savings tax increases consumption, investment in productivity, and welfare and may also increase investment in capital goods and output. We use an extension of our benchmark model to show how financial shocks can create a demand-constrained recession. Our theory suggests that fiscal rather than monetary policy might become the primary policy tool to restore the efficiency under certain conditions. Demand management policies might be necessary over a long period of time. The "potential", i.e., the constrained efficient allocation, may depend on both supply and demand factors.
The Role of Shopping Malls on Kurdistan Regional Government’s Economy

This research covers the history of shopping malls in KRG and how the malls were a new shopping destination for the citizens of KRG. However, with the current economic crisis in KRG and the financial difficulties that people have been facing in the past two years. This research studies the impact of economy crisis on the spending's of individuals and the shopping centers that were used to be filled with people who would spend a huge amount of money on shopping. We distributed 240 questionnaires in three languages: Kurdish, Arabic and English in order to identify people’s shopping behavior and the factors that attract people to the shopping malls. The things that we managed to accomplish in this research was that people are pessimistic about the financial situation and future of the economy. People would rather save their cash than spending it on shopping. These achievements met the main objective of this study which was to find out people’s behavior to do their shopping and satisfy their needs and wants that are provided in the malls.
Social Class Shapes Donation Allocation Preferences

When considering a charitable act, consumers must often decide on how to allocate their resources across a multitude of possible causes. This article assesses how the relative “urgency” of the causes under consideration (i.e., how critical to human survival the causes are) shapes preferences for specific causes among higher and lower social class consumers. Across a series of studies in a highly unequal socioeconomic environment (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), we demonstrate that lower-class consumers prefer to donate to urgent causes (e.g., alleviating hunger) compared to non-urgent causes (e.g., encouraging cultural activities), whereas the effect reverses among higher-class consumers. Contrasting experiences with scarcity across social classes vary the consumers’ intrinsic sympathy toward people’s unmet basic needs, which in turn shapes donation allocation preferences. Consistent with this theoretical rationale, class differences in charitable allocations decrease when (a) vivid contextual cues induce sympathy among both higher- and lower-class consumers or (b) the experience with scarcity is similar across social classes. Thus, although class differences in preferences for specific causes can be shifted with relative ease, our findings suggest that those who have the most to give do not spontaneously prioritize what is most urgently needed in society.
The effect of a behavioral nudge on investors’ reactions to disclosure readability

Managers appear to strategically use discretion over disclosure language to reduce the effect of bad news and/or amplify the effect of good news. We experimentally test how a behavioral nudge highlighting management’s discretion over disclosure language affects investors’ reactions to more and less readable disclosures. We find that the behavioral nudge works as intended for good news disclosures, in that it enables investors to adjust their reactions when good news disclosures are more readable and thus consistent with management incentives. However, the nudge has an unintended consequence for bad news disclosures as it causes investors to react negatively not only to incentive-consistent, low-readability bad news disclosures but also to high-readability disclosures. Additional experiments ascertain that the nudge works because of its reference to the way disclosure content could be communicated and not because of the disclosure content itself. Our results should be informative to regulators, given their interest in both promoting more readable disclosures and protecting investors.
The Crisis of Expertise

A careerist expert advises a sequence of principals on their actions to match a hidden, randomly evolving state. The expert privately knows her competence. The principals learn about the state and the expert’s competence from past advice and past action outcomes, both publicly observable. I find that the equilibrium can feature a “crisis of expertise,” in which principals dismiss a competent expert’s correct advice, and rely only on public information. Notably, the crisis happens precisely when the quality of public information is low, and thus when expert knowledge is much needed. I discuss policy implications for alleviating the crisis.
Investor Sentiment and the Market Reaction to Macroeconomic News

We provide evidence that the stock market response to macroeconomic news weakens in times of high investor sentiment. The reaction to macroeconomic information is 50 percent weaker in times of elevated bullish investor sentiment, relative to periods of low sentiment. This dampening effect holds for both good and bad macroeconomic news. Investor sentiment seems to hinder the incorporation of public information into asset prices. Our findings shed new light on how investor sentiment affects the link between fundamentals and security prices.
Extracting Extrapolative Beliefs from Market Prices: An Augmented Present-Value Approach

This paper proposes a latent-variables approach to recover biases in beliefs directly from asset prices. We focus on return extrapolation, a bias in expectations formation that has received considerable attention in recent asset pricing research. We estimate a present-value model of the price-dividend ratio of the market that embeds extrapolative beliefs alongside rational discount rates and expected dividend growth. This approach allows us to measure extrapolation bias without having to rely on survey data, and inherently guarantees that the researcher focuses on a set of beliefs that matter for price formation. We use our 70-year long time-series of extrapolative beliefs to test the key prediction of behavioral models of the stock market with return extrapolators, namely, a rise in extrapolation bias today leads to predictably lower market returns in the future. Through both in-sample and out-of-sample analysis, our results provide support for behavioral theories of asset prices in the presence of extrapolators.
The Risk-Return Tradeoﬀ Among Equity Factors

We examine the time-series risk-return trade-off among several long-short equity factors by estimating univariate predictive regressions of monthly factor returns onto the lagged realized variances. We obtain a positive trade-off for alternative versions of the profitability and investment factors employed in the literature. Such relationship is robust to the presence of the realized covariance (with the market factor) in the forecasting regressions, which represents consistency with Merton's ICAPM. Critically, we obtain an insignificant risk-return relationship for the market factor. The factor risk-return trade-off tends to be weaker among most international equity markets. The out-of-sample forecasting power (of factor variances for own future returns) tends to be economically significant for the investment and profitability factors. Overall, our results suggest that the time-series risk-return trade-off is substantially stronger within segments of the stock market than for the whole.
Do Earnings Announcement Reactions Vary by Firm Life Stage?∗

Prior literature documents that corporate decisions are influenced by firm life stage, yet whether investors respond to firm life stage is not well understood. Using a cash flow-based life stage classification, this study finds that investor reactions to earnings announcements differ by firm life stage. Introduction and decline stage companies exhibit three-day cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) around earnings announcements that are at least 112 bps lower than firms in growth, maturity, and shake-out stages. Specifically, introduction and decline stage stocks exhibit less positive reactions to positive earnings surprises and more negative reactions to negative earnings surprises relative to companies in other life stages. Lottery stocks’ excess returns around earnings announcements (Liu, Wang, Yu, and Zhao 2020) also vary based on firm life stage. Our findings suggest that noise/retail traders’ overoptimistic expectations for introduction and decline stage stocks are met with disappointment when value-relevant earnings news is released. JEL Classification Codes: G10, G12, G14
Are Honey Bees at Risk from Microplastics?

Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous and persistent pollutants, and have been detected in a wide variety of media, from soils to aquatic systems. MPs, consisting primarily of polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyacrylamide polymers, have recently been found in 12% of samples of honey collected in Ecuador. Recently, MPs have also been identified in honey bees collected from apiaries in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as nearby semiurban and rural areas. Given these documented exposures, assessment of their effects is critical for understanding the risks of MP exposure to honey bees. Exposure to polystyrene (PS)-MPs decreased diversity of the honey bee gut microbiota, followed by changes in gene expression related to oxidative damage, detoxification, and immunity. As a result, the aim of this perspective was to investigate whether wide-spread prevalence of MPs might have unintended negative effects on health and fitness of honey bees, as well as to draw the scientific community’s attention to the possible risks of MPs to the fitness of honey bees. Several research questions must be answered before MPs can be considered a potential threat to bees.
Measuring and Exploring Children’s Health Literacy in The Netherlands: Translation and Adaptation of the HLS-Child-Q15

As health literacy (HL) is hypothesized to develop throughout life, enhancement during childhood will improve HL and health during life. There are few valid, age-appropriate tools to assess children’s HL. The German-language European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire Adapted for Children (HLS-Child-Q15-DE) is a self-report questionnaire adapted from the adult European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire. This study aims to translate the HLS-Child-Q15 to Dutch and explore the sample’s HL distribution. The HLS-Child-Q15-DE was translated following WHO guidelines and administered digitally to 209 Dutch schoolchildren (eight-to-eleven-year-olds). Its psychometric properties were assessed and the sample’s HL distribution was explored by demographic characteristics. The HLS-Child-Q15-NL had high internal consistency (α = 0.860) and moderate to strong item-total correlations (mean = 0.499). For 6 of the 15 items, >10% of participants answered “do not know”, indicating comprehension problems. Higher HL scores were observed for ten-to-eleven-year-olds (compared with eight-to-nine-year-olds; p = 0.021) and fourth-grade students (compared with third-grade; p = 0.019). This supports the idea that HL evolves throughout life and the importance of schools in this process. With the HLS-Child-Q15-NL, a Dutch measurement instrument of children’s HL is available, although it needs further tailoring to the target group. More research is needed to decrease comprehension problems and to investigate retest reliability and construct validity.
“Moving for My Baby!” Motivators and Perceived Barriers to Facilitate Readiness for Physical Activity during Pregnancy among Obese and Overweight Women of Urban Areas in Northern Taiwan

Low levels of physical activity (PA) are of a health concern among high body mass index (BMI) women living a sedentary lifestyle and being overweight or obese during pregnancy is associated with increased risks of maternal and fetal health complications. Obstetricians often provide advice regarding recommended PA levels, yet this has not been easily achieved in this group to prevent adverse birth-related outcomes. The purpose of this study is to explore motivators/enablers and perceived barriers through in-depth qualitative inquiry, guided by a behavioral change model, for understanding of pregnant women’s decisions to engage, or refrain from PA practice. Thirteen overweight and obese pregnant women aged 28 to 45 years with an inactive, sedentary lifestyle in urban areas of northern Taiwan were recruited to participate in six focus group sessions for their intent and readiness for PA engagement in pregnancy. A thematic content analysis was performed with a constant comparison method to categorize interview data and generate themes. The findings illustrate the extent to which obese and overweight pregnant women’s readiness for PA is affected by multiple factors, including personal beliefs, perceived societal norms, peer support, and the competing priorities in the environment. PA interventions are to be effective by focusing on overcoming barriers, increasing motivations, and enhancing self-management. Strategies shared by participants shed lights for program developers to design preferable behavioral interventions for this group of women who are low self-esteem with low self-efficacy to increase PA and meet recommended levels. There is considerable potential for health care providers to provide accessible information, facilitate PA, and promote an active lifestyle during and after pregnancy.
Immunological Aspects of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and the Putative Beneficial Role of Vitamin-D

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is still an ongoing global health crisis. Immediately after the inhalation of SARS-CoV-2 viral particles, alveolar type II epithelial cells harbor and initiate local innate immunity. These particles can infect circulating macrophages, which then present the coronavirus antigens to T cells. Subsequently, the activation and differentiation of various types of T cells, as well as uncontrollable cytokine release (also known as cytokine storms), result in tissue destruction and amplification of the immune response. Vitamin D enhances the innate immunity required for combating COVID-19 by activating toll-like receptor 2. It also enhances antimicrobial peptide synthesis, such as through the promotion of the expression and secretion of cathelicidin and β-defensin; promotes autophagy through autophagosome formation; and increases the synthesis of lysosomal degradation enzymes within macrophages. Regarding adaptive immunity, vitamin D enhances CD4+ T cells, suppresses T helper 17 cells, and promotes the production of virus-specific antibodies by activating T cell-dependent B cells. Moreover, vitamin D attenuates the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines by CD4+ T cells through nuclear factor κB signaling, thereby inhibiting the development of a cytokine storm. SARS-CoV-2 enters cells after its spike proteins are bound to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors. Vitamin D increases the bioavailability and expression of ACE2, which may be responsible for trapping and inactivating the virus. Activation of the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAS) is responsible for tissue destruction, inflammation, and organ failure related to SARS-CoV-2. Vitamin D inhibits renin expression and serves as a negative RAS regulator. In conclusion, vitamin D defends the body against SARS-CoV-2 through a novel complex mechanism that operates through interactions between the activation of both innate and adaptive immunity, ACE2 expression, and inhibition of the RAS system. Multiple observation studies have shown that serum concentrations of 25 hydroxyvitamin D are inversely correlated with the incidence or severity of COVID-19. The evidence gathered thus far, generally meets Hill’s causality criteria in a biological system, although experimental verification is not sufficient. We speculated that adequate vitamin D supplementation may be essential for mitigating the progression and severity of COVID-19. Future studies are warranted to determine the dosage and effectiveness of vitamin D supplementation among different populations of individuals with COVID-19.
Relationship between Air Pollutant Exposure and Gynecologic Cancer Risk

Exposure to air pollution has been suggested to be associated with an increased risk of women’s health disorders. However, it remains unknown to what extent changes in ambient air pollution affect gynecological cancer. In our case–control study, the logistic regression model was combined with the restricted cubic spline to examine the association of short-term exposure to air pollution with gynecological cancer events using the clinical data of 35,989 women in Beijing from December 2008 to December 2017. We assessed the women’s exposure to air pollutants using the monitor located nearest to each woman’s residence and working places, adjusting for age, occupation, ambient temperature, and ambient humidity. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were examined to evaluate gynecologic cancer risk in six time windows (Phase 1–Phase 6) of women’s exposure to air pollutants (PM2.5, CO, O3, and SO2) and the highest ORs were found in Phase 4 (240 days). Then, the higher adjusted ORs were found associated with the increased concentrations of each pollutant (PM2.5, CO, O3, and SO2) in Phase 4. For instance, the adjusted OR of gynecological cancer risk for a 1.0-mg m−3 increase in CO exposures was 1.010 (95% CI: 0.881–1.139) below 0.8 mg m−3, 1.032 (95% CI: 0.871–1.194) at 0.8–1.0 mg m−3, 1.059 (95% CI: 0.973–1.145) at 1.0–1.4 mg m−3, and 1.120 (95% CI: 0.993–1.246) above 1.4 mg m−3. The ORs calculated in different air pollution levels accessed us to identify the nonlinear association between women’s exposure to air pollutants (PM2.5, CO, O3, and SO2) and the gynecological cancer risk. This study supports that the gynecologic risks associated with air pollution should be considered in improved public health preventive measures and policymaking to minimize the dangerous effects of air pollution.
The Impact of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) Coverage Heterogeneities on the Changing Epidemiology of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease in Switzerland, 2005–2019

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) have lowered the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) worldwide. However, the influence of regional vaccine uptake differences on the changing epidemiology of IPD remains unclear. We aimed to examine the overall impact of both seven- and 13-valent PCVs (PCV7 and PCV13) on IPD in Switzerland. Three-year periods from 2005–2010 and 2011–2019 were considered, respectively, as (early and late) PCV7 eras and (early, mid and late) PCV13 eras. Vaccine coverage was estimated from a nationwide survey according to east (German-speaking) and west (French/Italian-speaking) regions for each period. Reported incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were compared between successive periods and regions using nationwide IPD surveillance data. Overall IPD incidence across all ages was only 16% lower in the late PCV13 era compared to the early PCV7 era (IRR 0.83, 95% CI 0.79–0.88), due to increasing incidence of non-PCV-type IPD (2.59, 2.37–2.83) in all age groups, except children <5 years. PCV uptake rates in swiss children were slightly higher in the west than the east (p < 0.001), and were accompanied by lower IPD incidences across all age groups in the former region. Post-PCV13, non-PCV serotypes 8, 22F and 9N were the major cause of IPD in adults ≥65 years. Increased PCV coverage in both areas of Switzerland resulted in a decrease in vaccine-type and overall IPD incidence across all age groups, in a regionally dependent manner. However, the rising incidence of non-vaccine-type IPD, exclusive to older adults, may undermine indirect beneficial effects.
Adequacy of Anesthesia Guidance for Colonoscopy Procedures

In patients undergoing colonoscopy procedures (CPs), inadequate dosing of hypnotic drugs (HD) and opioid analgesics (OA) during intravenous sedoanalgesia (ISA) may lead to intraprocedural awareness with recall (IAwR), intraprocedural (IPP) and postprocedural pain (PPP), as well as postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the titration of HD and OA based on the observance of changing values of state entropy (SE) and surgical pleth index (SPI) (adequacy of anesthesia—AoA), state entropy alone, or standard practice may reduce the number of adverse events. One hundred and fifty-eight patients were included in the final analysis. The rate of IAwR and IPP was statistically more frequent in patients from the C group in comparison with the AoA and SE groups (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively). In turn, the rate of PPP, PONV, and patients’ and operators’ satisfaction with ISA between groups was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Changes in hemodynamic parameters, demand for HD, and OA were statistically significant, but of no clinical value. In patients undergoing CPs under ISA using propofol and FNT, as compared to standard practice, intraprocedural SE monitoring reduced the rate of IAwR and IPP, with no influence on the rate of PPP, PONV, or patients’ and endoscopists’ satisfaction. AoA guidance on propofol and FNT titration, as compared to SE monitoring only, did not reduce the occurrence of the aforementioned studied parameters, imposing an unnecessary extra cost.