Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unclear Signals, Uncertain Prospects: The Labor Market Consequences of Freelancing in the New Economy

Abstract:The advent of various types of contingent jobs complicates selection criteria for full-time employment. While previous studies analyzed the penalties associated with other forms of contingent work, the labor market consequences of freelancing have been overlooked. I argue that freelancing works have features of both "good" and "bad" jobs, transcend the demarcation between "primary" and "secondary" sectors implied by segmentation theorists, and thus embed uncertainty around their categorization and meaning. Drawing on the "signal clarity" concept from management scholarship, I extend existing sociological works on employer perceptions of candidates by proposing a model to theorize how a history of freelancing affects workers' prospects at the hiring stage. I present results from two interrelated studies. First, I use a field experiment that involves submitting nearly 12,000 fictitious resumes to analyze the causal effect of a freelancing work history on the likelihood of getting callbacks. The experiment reveals that freelancing decreases workers' odds of securing full-time employment by about 30 percent. Second, I use data from 42 in-depth interviews with hiring officers to illustrate two mechanisms that could account for that observed effect. Interview data demonstrate that freelancing sends decidedly unclear competence signals: employers are hesitant to hire freelancers not because these candidates lack skills but because verifying these skills is difficult. Freelancing also sends clearer and negative commitment signals. This study sheds new lights on labor market segmentation theory and deepens our understanding of how nonstandard work operates as a vehicle for inequality in the new economy.
TITLE The Development of Private Speech : A Review of Empirical Evidence Addressing Vygotsky ' s Theretical Views

This paper examines the validity of Vygotsky's interpretation of the private speech (PS) phenomenon on the basis of findings reported in the literature. A review of available findings provided support for an age-related shift from overt to covert means of verbal self-regulation and for an interpsychological to intrapsychological shift in the regulation of problemsolving behaviors. Several studies reported increases in self-regulatory PS speech following increases in task difficulty. Although correlational data suggested that these increases were associated with more successful task performance, further support for a self-guidance function was absent in studies that more directly examined the degree of correspondence between overt verbalizations and problem-solving behaviors. Relatively little support was found for the curvilinear developmental hypothesis. A lack of self-regulatory PS was not a distinctive feature of impulsive children, who instead exhibited more task-irrelevant PS. Inconsistent findings hindered an interpretation of the influence of others upon the occurrence of PS. The relative absence of pertinent data precluded any appraisal of whether PS undergoes developmental changes in structure. While the above findings provided some basis for questioning the overall validity of Vygotsky's theoretical framework, this conclusion was tempered by a consideration of several methodological difficulties noted among the reviewed studies. In addition to its impact upon developmental theory, clarification of the functional role served by PS bears impact upon the use of clinical therapy approaches derived from Vygotsky's theoretical premises.
Hirnantia sagittifera(Brachiopoda) andMucronaspis mucronatas.l. (Trilobita) in the Upper Ordovician of the East Baltic: taxonomy and distribution

The brachiopod Hirnantia sagittifera (MCoy) and trilobite morphs of the genus Mucronaspis from the topmost Ordovician Porkuni Stage of the central East Baltic are described and compared with those from the Hirnantian Stage of other regions. These important Hirnantian taxa occur in the Livonian Tongue of the Central Baltoscandian Facies Belt of the Baltic Basin, where the Porkuni Stage is represented by the non-graptolitic Kuldiga and Saldus formations. Hirnantia sagittifera appears in the lowermost part of the Porkuni Stage and is rather widely distributed in the basin in spite of its rare finds in each locality. Our study of trilobites of the genus Mucronaspis has enabled us to observe morphological changes in its exoskeleton in time and to identify a succession of five morphotypes (morphs). In some characteristics these morphs are similar to those of different alleged species of the genus Mucronaspis (M. olini, M. danai, M. ganabina, M. mucronata) but they cannot be definitely assigned to any of these species due to some variances. However, here for the first time a stratigraphically ordered collection is presented, which deserves attention in revising the taxonomy of highly variable Mucronaspis. The described brachiopods and trilobites occur mainly in the strata correlated with the Normalograptus extraordinarius graptolite Biozone. However, the uppermost finds of both taxa come from strata correlated with the N. persculptus Biozone.
Bluetooth low energy based location tracking for livestock monitoring

This paper proposes a location tracking system to monitor livestock behaviour which provides useful information about their health and welfare. In the proposed approach, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) nodes are used to track dairy cows while a self-organizing multi-hop mesh network collects the data. This data is processed with an advanced tracking algorithm that copes with signal fading and body shadowing. The experimental validation is conducted in a barn with dairy cows over the course of three days and the presented results are verified with video data from a closed-circuit television (CCTV) system.
Analysis of Circulating Heamocytes from Biomphalaria Alexandrina Following Schistosoma Mansoni Infection Using Flow Cytometry

Background: The internal defense system of snails consists of both cellular and humoral components. Circulating haemocytes are the principle line of cellular defense. The susceptibility of fresh water snails of genus Biomphalaria to infection by Schistosoma mansoni (S. mansoni)is linked to the haemocytes present in the haemolymph. While the humoral component includes lysosomal enzymes, that helps in recognition of pathogens and parasites. Material and Methods: In the present work, Biomphalaria alexandrina (B. alexandrina),snails were exposed individually to S. mansoni infection; according to their response they were classified into susceptible group (shed cercariae) and resistant group (failed to shed cercariae). Snails not exposed to infection were considered as control group. Flow cytometric analysis was carried out for detecting apoptosis of B. alexandrina haemocytes isolated from pooled haemolymph and tissue. Results: This study is used to discriminate and count the percentage of viable, apoptotic, necrotic, and dead cells in haemolymph of all studied groups. Comparing to control group, we observed that viable cells were the most common cells that significantly decreased in both infected and non-infected groups (P<0.001, P<0.01 respectively), and showed significant decrease in infected in comparison with non-infected group (P<0.01). The haemolymph in infected group showed that dead cells were the most common cells (more than the viable, apoptotic and necrotic cells). At the same time, the apoptotic cells showed decrease in the condensation and de- condensation of DNA. This means failure to restore DNA. Conclusions: There was a significant variation in the number of the cells between susceptible and resistant snails. In susceptible snailsthe defense process failed, this was confirmed with increase of the dead cells in the infected haemolymph. While in resistant snails the viable spreading cells described as immunological active, are predominantly found in the haemolymph and tissue.
Holling's functional response model as a tool to link the food-finding mechanism of a probing shorebird with its spatial distribution

1. Knots Calidris canutus are high-arctic breeding shorebirds which spend the nonbreeding season in intertidal areas where they feed on small buried molluscs which are swallowed whole. We tested whether their intake rate can be adequately described by a functional response model (the disc equation of Holling) assuming prey detection by direct touch. 2. Knots were fed two bivalve species (Macoma balthica and Cerastoderma edule) of different size and at different density and in Macoma at variable depth on small areas of soft Sediment. Five different individuals were used in feeding trials during which six prey were allowed detection and ingestion. 3. Knots perfectly obeyed the two basic assumptions of Holling's disc equation: neither the instantaneous area of discovery nor the handling time changed with variation in prey density. 4. However, two predictions for prey perception by direct touch (that the instantaneous area of discovery is a positive function of shell size and a negative one of prey depth) were rejected. The instantaneous area of discovery was usually also higher than predicted from the area touched by probing knots. 5. Knots may, therefore, use a 'remote sense' to locate buried hard-shelled prey. Gerritsen, van Heezik & Swennen (1983) showed that knots do not use taste to discover bivalves at a distance. We argue that the detection involves a self-induced pressure mechanism rather than a passive sense for vibrations, since it is unlikely that static bivalve prey emit such signals just after experimental handling. 6. Whatever the exact prey detection mechanism, the recorded (high) value for the instantaneous area of discovery of deep-living bivalve prey is in accord with the observation that knots use large areas of intertidal flat in the western Dutch Wadden Sea where bivalve stocks are too low to support knots according to a previous functional response model invoking direct touch.
Evaluation of Biochemical Methane Potential and Kinetics on the Anaerobic Digestion of Vegetable Crop Residues

There is a lack of literature reporting the measurement and prediction of biochemical methane potential (BMP) of vegetable crop residues (VCRs) and similarly, the kinetic assessment on the anaerobic digestion process of VCR is rarely investigated. In this paper, the BMP tests of five different vegetable (snap bean, capsicum, cucumber, eggplant, and tomato) crop residues were conducted at feed to inoculum ratio (F/I) of 2.0 under mesophilic (36 ± 1 °C) conditions. A series of single-variable and multiple-variable regression models were built based on organic components (hemicellulose, cellulose, lignin, total fat, total sugar, and crude protein) for BMP prediction. Three kinetic models, including the first-order kinetic model, the Chen and Hashimoto model, and the modified Gompertz model, were used to simulate the methane yield results of VCR and obtain valuable model parameters simultaneously. As a result, the BMPs and volatile solids (VS) degradation degree of different VCRs were respectively in the range of 94.2–146.8 mL g−1 VS and 40.4–49.9%; the regression prediction models with variables lignin (R2 = 0.704, p = 0.076), variables crude protein and lignin (R2 = 0.976, p = 0.048), and variables total fat, hemicellulose, and lignin (R2 = 0.999, p = 0.027) showed the best performance on BMP prediction among the single-factor, two-factor, and three-factor models, respectively. In addition, compared to the other two kinetic models, the modified Gompertz model could be excellently fitted (R2 = 0.986–0.998) to the results of BMP experiment, verification deviations within 0.3%.
Urban‐To‐Rural Population Growth Linkages: Evidence from OECD Tl3 Regions

The objective of this paper is to better understand how the population growth rates of rural regions are affected by their closeness to urban regions and by the economic performance of the latter. By means of a cross-sectional analysis of OECD TL3 regions, it identifies the growth spillover effects from the net effect of distance to non-rural places. Distance-based measures are used to approximate the extent to which urban and rural areas are integrated in relational terms. Results shows that positive growth spillovers exist, suggesting that spread effects overcome backwash effects and thus that rural regions benefit from the growth process taking place in urban and intermediate regions. After having controlled for these growth spillovers, the distance from urban and intermediate regions has a negative effect on the population growth rate of rural regions. Nevertheless, both the strength of this effect and the growth spillovers decay with distance. Results further suggest that proximity to urban areas has higher positive influence than to intermediate areas.
Cover plants and mineral nitrogen: effects on organic matter fractions in an oxisol under no-tillage in the cerrado

Cover plants are essential for the sustainability of no-tillage systems in tropical regions. However, information on the effects of these plants and N fertilization on soil organic matter fractions is still scarce. This study evaluated the effect of cover crops with different chemical composition and of N topdressing on the labile and humified organic matter fractions of an Oxisol of the Cerrado (savanna-like vegetation). The study in a randomized complete block design was arranged in split-plots with three replications. Four cover species were tested in the plots and the presence or absence of N topdressing in the subplot. The following cover species were planted in succession to corn for eight years: Urochloa ruziziensis; Canavalia brasiliensis M. ex Benth; Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp; and Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench. In general, the cultivation of U. ruziziensis increased soil C levels, particularly of C in the humic acid and particulate organic C fractions, which are quality indicators of soil organic matter. The C in humic substances and mineral organic C accounted for the highest proportions of total organic C, demonstrating the strong interaction between organic matter, Fe and Al oxides and kaolinite, which are predominant in these weathered soils of the Cerrado.
Extraction of dust collected in HVAC filters for quantitative filter forensics

Abstract The analysis of dust collected on the filters installed in the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, filter forensics, is a useful approach to explore concentration, size distribution, and composition of indoor particles. The extraction of dust from filters represents one of the biggest challenges to obtain accurate results from filter forensics. Although vacuuming is one of the most common dust extraction techniques, it is unclear how efficient it is and whether it provides a representative sample in terms of particle size. In this article, we used a high-capacity vacuum sampler to extract dust from 20 filters artificially loaded with well-characterized test dust as well as from 41 filters naturally loaded in residential HVAC systems. After all extractions, we recovered 0.1–5.5 g and 0.02–11.4 g of dust from the artificially and naturally loaded filters, respectively. These ranges were equivalent to 11.3–52.2% and 1.8–72.9% recovery efficiency, the ratio of dust recovered to the dust loaded in the filters. Multiple extractions were found to be an effective strategy to add to the recovery to enable filter forensics for the detection of multiple analytes. The recovered samples were slightly over-representative of particles greater than 10 µm. Therefore, caution should be taken when applying filter forensics for studying contaminants associated with smaller particles. Copyright © 2020 American Association for Aerosol Research
Grammatical collocations and verb-particle constructions in Brussels French: a corpus-linguistic approach to transfer

This article shows how a corpus-linguistic approach to transfer based on Jarvis (2000), Jarvis and Pavlenko (2008) and Mougeon, Nadasdi, and Rehner (2005) can help to disentangle internal and external explanations in language variation and change. The focus of the study is on grammatical collocations (Granger & Paquot, 2008) such as chercher après ‘to search for’ and verb-particle constructions (VPCs) such as recevoir dehors ‘to get out’ in Brussels French. The occurrence of such patterns in Romance varieties is often linked to contact with Germanic varieties, in which VPCs are common. This article discusses the syntactic and semantic properties of both types of constructions and argue they are to be considered as replications of grammatical use patterns (Heine & Kuteva, 2005) from the contact language, the regional variety of Dutch. Proof for covert transfer from Dutch is found through a detailed comparison of the frequency of the patterns in a range of spoken and written corpora.
Production of Gluten-free Cookies from Blends of Malted Sorghum ( S. Bicolor ) and Tiger Nut (Cyperus esculentus ) Flour

Celiac disease which is intolerance to gluten in consumption of gluten food causes damage to the absorptive surface of the small intestine leading nutritional deficiencies but consumption of gluten-free foods is the only treatment for celiac disease. Two gluten-free grains (sorghum and tiger nut) were selected based on their abundance, under-utilization in Nigeria as well as their nutritional benefits. Sorghum grain was malted and the malted sorghum grain and tiger nut were processed into flour, mixed together at different proportions of 90:10%, 80:20%, 70:30%, 60:40% respectively for cookies production while 100% malted sorghum flour was used as control. The functional properties of the flour as well as the proximate, physical properties and sensory acceptability of the cookies were determined using standard analytical methods and data were analyzed using statistical software package. Results revealed significant (p 0.05) between the TNF inclusion samples. Significant (p 0.05) difference in the spread ratio of the cookies, all the samples were acceptable with 40% TNF inclusion having highest acceptability in terms of colour, taste, crispiness, crunchiness with overall acceptability of 7.40. The result obtained from this study showed that cookies from malted sorghum and tiger nut flour were acceptable, therefore the combination of both malted sorghum and tiger nut flour in cookies production will help to enhance the utilization of both crops, it will help to reduce wheat importation in countries that don’t grow wheat and it is of advantage to people suffering from celiac diseases due to the absent of gluten in the cookies.
Validity and Reliability of the Greek Version of the ZBI in Informal Carers of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

Background: The Zarit Burden Interview is one of the most common tools used in the research field measuring burden. The aims of the present study were to translate and validate the Zarit Burden on caregivers of adults with intellectual disabilities in Greece. Methods: One hundred and eighty family caregivers of adults with intellectual disabilities were recruited. All participants completed: the Zarit Burden Interview and the revised 15-item Bakas Caregiving Outcomes Scale. Reliability was assessed by the internal consistency and test/retest of the instrument. Validity was assessed with construct validity using Bakas Caregiving Outcomes Scale and known groups validity. Results: Factor analysis resulted in a 4-factor model. Construct validity has shown satisfactory correlations with Bakas Caregiving Outcomes Scale (p<.0005, p<.005 respectively). Conclusions: The Greek-Zarit Burden Interview showed satisfactory psychometric properties in Greek caregivers caring adults with intellectual disabilities.
Biochemical and Molecular Actions of Nutrients Depressed Prostanoid-Induced Contractility of the Gut in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats ( SHR ) Is Not Affected by the Level of Dietary Fat 1

Dietary saturated fat (SF) has adverse effects on cardiac and vascular smooth muscle (VSM) contractility. Furthermore, VSM of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) is overreactive to various biological stimuli. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of increasing dietary fat as lard on gut contractility in SHR. Control Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats and SHR (13 wk old) were fed for 12 wk a diet containing 3% sunflower oil [low fat (LF), 3% total fat] or diets supplemented with 7% lard [medium fat (MF), 10% total fat] or 27% lard [high fat (HF), 30% total fat]. For ileal and colonic tissues (WKY and SHR), there was a lower total phospholipid PUFA (n-6)/(n-3) ratio with increased dietary SF (P 0.003). For WKY, increasing SF led to lower levels of the major SCFA and lower total SCFA levels in cecal digesta (P 0.01). This trend was evident in SHR but significant only for butyrate (P 0.01). Contractility responses were unaltered in ileum. In colon, there was a change of sensitivity (50% effective concentration) to angiotensin II in WKY (P 0.05) due to increased SF and a change of sensitivity to prostaglandin (PG)E2 and carbachol in SHR (P 0.05). When the 3 dietary groups were combined, there was lower sensitivity (P 0.01) and lower maximal contraction (P 0.05) in ileum and lower maximal contraction in colon of SHR in response to PGF2 (P 0.05) and PGE2 (P 0.01) compared with WKY. Unlike (n-3) PUFA, dietary SF had little overall effect on gut contractility. However, this is the first report of a defect in PG responsiveness from gut tissue from hypertensive rats. J. Nutr. 134: 2924–2929, 2004.
Contextualising Reintegration: Conceptualising and Measuring Ex-Combatant Reintegration Relative to Civilians

ABSTRACT Reintegrating ex-combatants back into society is central to peace building, yet remains poorly understood. This is largely due to the difficulties of conceptualising and measuring reintegration. This paper argues that comparing ex-combatants and civilians can contribute to improved measures of reintegration, and to a better understanding of what it means in a given context. A novel theoretical and methodological approach is proposed, drawing on social cohesion research and creating a composite indicator of reintegration, allowing for comparisons between ex-combatants and civilians, and providing insights about how they differ and why. The approach is demonstrated using surveys from Colombia.
Working Paper 247 - Credit constraints and farm productivity: Micro-level evidence from smallholder farmers in Ethiopia

This paper investigates the nature, extent, and impacts of credit constraints in Ethiopia’s agriculture. Using a direct elicitation approach on a panel of 5,308 smallholder farmers, we find that around 66.6% were credit constrained, a majority of them (71.9%) due to risk factors and transaction costs (14.33%). The hypothesized heterogeneity of credit constrained farmers is corroborated by the results from the endogenous regime switching regression model which show that the determinants of credit constraints and their impact on farm productivity are specific to the type of constraints farmers face. Predictions from this model indicate that alleviating credit constraints would generate substantial productivity gains in Ethiopia of around 60%. Our findings suggest that expanding farmers’ access to financial information, increasing the number of branch offices of banks and microfinance institutions in the country and particularly in rural areas, and easing financial transaction costs might increase farmers’ access to credit and significantly alleviate their credit constraints.