Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Enhanced Student Commitment Reduce School Dropout? Evidence from Two Major Dropout Regions in the Netherlands

Cabus S. J. Does enhanced student commitment reduce school dropout? Evidence from two major dropout regions in the Netherlands, Regional Studies. Enhanced student commitment to the school, peers and teachers may improve student motivation and reduce school dropout. A Dutch dropout prevention measure in this respect deals with smoothing the transition from the pre-vocational school to the vocational school in order to reduce school dropout. Potential dropout students are followed during the summer break, go through an intake procedure, and communication between the pre-vocational school and the vocational school is enhanced by transferring a file containing detailed information on the student. Also a small government experiment offered the possibility to students to attend classes from familiar teachers in their pre-vocational school. Using regional borders as an instrument, and accounting for differences in the underlying student population in a quasi-experimental set-up, the results show, on the one hand, that the transition policy did not decline school dropout among native Dutch students. On the other hand, ethnic minority students increasingly dropped out of school one year after the transition policy became effective.
ON ALGORITHMS FOR AUTOMATIC DEBLURRING FROM A SINGLE IMAGE

In this paper, we study two variational blind deblurring models for a single image. The first model is to use the total variation prior in both image and blur, while the second model is to use the frame based prior in both image and blur. The main contribution of this paper is to show how to employ the generalized cross validation (GCV) method efficiently and automatically to estimate the two regularization parameters associated with the priors in these two blind motion deblurring models. Our experimental results show that the visual quality of restored images by the proposed method is very good, and they are competitive with the tested existing methods. We will also demonstrate the proposed method is also very efficient.
Nitrification Potential of Mud Sediment of the Ariake Sea Tidal Flat and the Individual Effect of Temperature, pH, Salinity and Ammonium Concentration on its Nitrification Rate

The aims of this study were to know the nitrification potential of the mud sediment of the Ariake sea tidal flat, and to investigate the individual influence of environmental parameters such as temperature, pH, salinity and ammonium concentration on its nitrification rate. The Ariake Sea is a semi-closed shallow sea with macro-tidal and the largest tidal flat in Japan. Nitrification Potential Rate (NPR) and Nitrification Rate (NR) of the tidal flat mud sediment were determined by amending sodium chlorate to inhibit the oxidation of NO2-N to NO3-N. NPRs of the sediment were 91.4, 71.2 and 64.8 nmol N/g Dry Weight Sediment (DWS)/h at the depth of 0-3, 3-6 and 6-9 cm, respectively. NRs were relatively high in the temperatures range of 20-35 o C with the optimum temperature of 29.3 o C. Relatively high NRs were determined in the range of pHs 7.5-8 with the optimum pH 7.7. The optimum salinity for nitrification was 15 ppt. NRs increased drastically in the range of salinity 10 to 15 ppt, but it decreased sharply at 15 to 20 ppt. Relationship between ammonium concentration and NR resulted a hyperbolic Michaelis-Menten type curve (R 2 = 0.98) with the maximum NR rate (Vmax) 32.5 nmol N/g DWS/h at NH4-N concentration 3,000 mM and the half saturation constant (Ks) 700 mM NH4-N. To our knowledge, this is the first report on nitrification of mud sediment of the Ariake sea tidal flat, and its optimal temperature, pH, salinity and NH4-N concentration as a single parameter.
Elasticity of Poly(azobenzene-peptides)

Since the mechanical properties of individual polymers have become accessible with single molecule force spectroscopy, detailed insight was gained into the molecular origin of their elasticity. Active, optically switchable polymers were introduced as photonic muscles and used in single molecule motors. Here, we present experimental data and calculations to describe the mechanical properties of poly(azobenzene-peptides) in the complete force regime accessible by AFM. The high force regime is very well described by ab initio quantum mechanical calculations, while for the low force regime we combine ab initio calculations with a description of the entropic forces based on the freely rotating chain model. Finally, a one-parameter fit for the different configurations of the poly(azobenzene-peptide) and a quantitative description of the optically induced actuation are given.
ermination responses to temperature and water potential as ffected by seed oil composition in sunflower aúl

Sunflower genotypes with increased concentration of stearic and oleic acids have been developed to fulfil industrial specific requirements. Fatty acid composition of membranes has been widely described to affect seed germination, but the effect of composition of reserve lipids on germination is still unknown. Two experiments were conducted including: traditional (high linoleic), high stearic–high oleic, high stearic–high linoleic and high oleic genotypes. Thermal and hydrotime analyses were performed on germination data obtained from the incubation of seeds at different temperatures and water potentials. Fatty acid composition affected the parameters values of thermal time model. Base temperature was inversely related to linoleic acid concentration. Genotypes with high linoleic acid concentration germinated earlier at low temperatures, while no significant differences among genotypes at temperatures above 15 ◦C were found. High stearic–high oleic genotypes showed lower thermal time requirement for 50% germination ydrotime than traditional and high stearic–high linoleic genotypes. The parameters of hydrotime model were not affected by fatty acid composition, but at low water potentials and high temperatures thermo-dormancy was induced and strongly reduced final seed germination in all genotypes studied. In conclusion, breeding for higher oleic acid and lower linoleic acid concentration in sunflower oil may affect seed germination performance at low temperatures. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Correlation between chronic inflammation, immunostaining and parasite load in the genital system of female dogs naturally infected with Leishmania infantum

The aim of the present study was to investigate the correlations among chronic inflammatory reaction, immunostaining and parasite load in the genital system of female dogs naturally infected with Leishmania infantum . Animals (n = 10) used in this study were from the Department of Vector Control and Animal Surveillance of the municipality of Caruaru, state of Pernambuco, Brazil. Fragments of the vulva, vagina, cervix, uterine body, uterine horns and ovaries were submitted to histopathological analysis, immunohistochemistry (IHC) and DNA detection of amastigotes by qPCR. Correlations were found between the IHC findings and chronic inflammatory infiltrate related to L. Infantum only in the vulva and vagina; whereas, the same inflammatory reactions without immunostaining were observed in all organs, except the ovaries. L. Infantum DNA was detected in all organs of genital system, with no difference in parasite load observed among the different organs. No correlation was reported between parasite load and inflammatory lesions in the organs evaluated, except for the uterine body, in which an inverse correlation was detected. In conclusion, the vulva and vagina were the major sites of lesions and immunostaining for L. Infantum amastigotes in the genital system of female dogs. Moreover, parasite load exerted no influence on the intensity of the lesions in the organs evaluated.
A Review on Soil Carbon Sequestration in Ethiopia to Mitigate Land Degradation and Climate Change

Land degradation in Ethiopia leads, inter alia , to a decline in soil quality and depletion of soil organic carbon (SOC). Sequestration of SOC, in turn, is a practical option not only to increase the SOC stock and quality, but also to decrease soil degradation, increase productivity, and mitigate climate change. The objective of this review is to show gaps and priorities in research and development related to SOC sequestration in Ethiopia. The review focuses at the SOC pool, distribution, its relation with degradation, progress achieved and future direction in SOC sequestration. The review shows that land degradation in Ethiopia also implies a historic loss of the SOC pool. A preliminary estimate in this study shows that the SOC pool in Ethiopia is 14 billion tons of C. Reviewed figures ( from plot to large scale study) implied erosion-induced SOC depletion values from 0.02 to 0.97 tonnes/ha/yr. Accelerated carbon depletion ( in both biomass and soils) occurs on an estimated 0.2 million ha of forest land and on 8 million ha of croplands in two cropping seasons. Review of eight year Ministry of Agriculture report shows that the current national estimate of SOC building practices, sustainable land management, is covering about 2 million ha per year, with an investment of 150 million USD/yr. In spite of such development efforts in natural resources management since the mid-1970s, still about 50 million ha of land has depleted SOC. Based on the review, the paper outlines research and development priorities and recommends establishing carbon network and linking SOC financing with efforts to mitigate land degradation and climate change. Key words: Climate Change, Ethiopia, Soil, Carbon Sequestration.
The importance of legitimacy A qualitative study of how companies work to maintain employer branding practices

This paper investigates the relatively new, and increasingly popular, phenomenon of employer branding. The purpose is to examine how small and medium enterprises work on a managerial level to attract new potential employees. The method of research is a qualitative, single case study, performed at a medium-size company within the IT-consulting industry. The data was collected by conducting observations and 19 interviews. As for the analytical tool, we applied the lens of institutional work. Our findings indicate that several activities are performed in order to compete and attract new potential employees in a highly competitive market. We illustrate this by defining the activities, and how these can be categories within different sets of practices. This is done to highlight how they relate to each other and work together, with the result of maintaining and strengthening the institutionalised practice of employer branding. Altogether, our findings contribute to both the literature on institutional work as well as to employer branding literature, as the study reveals that legitimacy and employer branding is closely connected. Moreover, this paper can have practical implications for practitioners as it suggests practices that could be applicable in order to attract new employees.
initial stages of earthquake 1 propagation ? 2

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Euro, firm size and export behavior

This paper provides a first attempt to assess the impact of the euro on the relationship between firm size and exports. We extend previous new-new trade theory models to derive some hypotheses that are tested using a representative sample of Spanish manufacturing firms. The results indicate that the introduction of the euro has remarkably weakened the role of firm size in the decision to export to the Eurozone. Moreover, the change in the proportion of exports to the Eurozone is negatively related to firm size. Our results suggest that the euro adoption has reduced the threshold size in order to export to Eurozone countries.
6 Cantilever-Based Optical Interfacial Force Microscopy

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is one of the most important tools that lead current nanoscience and nanotechnology in many diverse areas including physics, chemistry, material engineering, and nano-biology. The current AFM technique has been routinely applied to forced unbinding processes of biomolecular complexes such as antibody-antigen binding, ligand-receptor pairs, protein unfolding, DNA unbinding, and RNA unfolding studies (Butt et al., 2005; Fritz & Anselmetti, 1997; Schumakovitch et al., 2002). AFMs have also been applied to intermolecular friction studies (Carpick et al., 1997; Colchero et al., 1996; Fernandez-Torres et al., 2003; Goddenhenrich et al., 1994; Goertz et al., 2007; B.I. Kim et al., 2001; Major et al., 2006). These previous techniques of measuring friction employed a lateral modulation of the sample relative to the cantilever as a means to measure normal force and friction force at the same time (Burns et al., 1999a; Carpick et al., 1997; Colchero et al., 1996; Goddenhenrich et al., 1994; Goertz et al., 2007; Major et al., 2006).
Hackmanite/Sodalite from Myanmar and Afghanistan

NOTES AND NEW TECHNIQUES GEMS & GEMOLOGY SPRING 2009 ackmanite [Na8Al6Si6O24(Cl2,S)] is a sulfur-bearing variety of sodalite [Na8Al6Si6O24Cl2] that gemologists typically distinguish according to its tenebrescence—that is, its ability to change color in response to the application or absence of certain wavelengths of light (e.g., white light or UV radiation; Japan Germany Gemmological Laboratory, 2008). Interestingly, a survey of the literature showed no consistent definition for the term hackmanite. Some sources say it is sulfur-bearing sodalite that shows fluorescence (e.g., Jackson, 1997), possibly with the valence state of sulfur being a critical factor. Others stipulate tenebrescence as the defining criterion (e.g., Simpson and Weiner, 1989). Various sources indicate that hackmanite can either fade or deepen in color when left in darkness for days to months, depending on the origin of the material (e.g., Webster, 1994; Hainschwang, 2007; Tunzi and Pearson, 2008). In most cases, the material turns pink to purple/violet with exposure to ultraviolet radiation, and the color fades on exposure to sunlight or artificial “white” light sources. This behavior is reversible unless the stone is exposed to heat. Heating to more than 500°C destroys the UV sensitivity of hackmanite, leaving it in its bleached state (Medved, 1954; Kirk, 1955). Hackmanite is usually found as translucent-toopaque crystalline aggregates, often intergrown with other minerals, especially nontenebrescent sodalite. Until recently, examples of transparent faceted hackmanite were reported only rarely (see, e.g., Koivula and Kammerling, 1989a,b). Hackmanite is known from Canada (Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec; and Bancroft, Ontario); Magnet Cove, Arkansas; Libertyville, New Jersey; Minas Gerais, Brazil; the Kola Peninsula, Russia; and Greenland (Miser and Glass, 1941; Webster, 1994; Bernard and Hyrŝl, 2004). More recently, it was reported from the Mogok area of Myanmar and the Badakhshan Province of Afghanistan (e.g., Johnson and Koivula, 1998; Moore, 2001, 2002; Liu et al., 2004; Japan Germany Gemmological Laboratory, 2008; Tunzi and Pearson, 2008). In April 2007, gem dealer Hussain Rezayee informed the authors about additional production of hackmanite/sodalite from Myanmar, in an area 11 km east of Mogok at Pyang Gyi, near Pein Pyit. Production H
Does corporate social responsibility affect companies’ financial performance? A review of empirical studies

The increasing changes in environmental, social and economic trends have encouraged companies to be more involved in socially responsible initiatives. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the involvement of a company in addressing environmental and social challenges faced by the society. Whilst the main objective of a company is wealth creation and profit maximisation, concerns for contribution to societal development have mooted useful and mutual beneficial business practices with potential financial involvement. The study reviewed and examined CSR theories to locate the impact of these theories on a company’s financial performance. The review and examination of the studies conducted from the 1970s to 2013 found a mixed pattern of the relationship between financial performance and CSR. This mixed pattern provides evidence that the relationship between companies’ financial performance and social performance could be positive, negative or non-significant. This mixed pattern is part of the big ongoing debate on this topic, and such a debate is possibly inevitable, given that empirical studies test different hypotheses, use different methodologies and consider different sectors or industries at different time periods.
USING REAL EARTHQUAKE ACCELEROGRAMS FOR DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES : DEFINING SPECTRAL TARGETS , SELECTING RECORDS AND ADJUSTING FOR CONSISTENCY

Earthquake-resistant design and seismic risk assessment of nuclear power plants require dynamic analyses for which the input is needed in the form of acceleration time-histories, which need to be consistent with the elastic response spectrum used for the preliminary design. There is now a very extensive literature offering guidance on preparation of appropriate suites of accelerograms, which is frequently ambiguous, and generally difficult to navigate for the structural engineer. The confusion that exists around this topic is not the result of poor research but rather the lack of a clear framework to guide the decision-making process, which needs to work backwards from the definition of the structural analyses to be performed and the required output from these calculations. This in turn defines how many records will be required and how closely they are required to match the target response spectrum, which needs to be defined in a way that is consistent with both the requirements of the structural engineers and the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis that should be the starting point for the definition of the earthquake loading. Clearly defining the questions that are being addressed and the criteria that need to be met by the records, will both assist the process of preparing suites of time-histories for structural analyses and avoid conclusions and guidelines being erroneously transported from one situation to another where they may not be applicable.
Modulation of the Agulhas Current Retroflection and Leakage by Oceanic Current Interaction with the Atmosphere in Coupled Simulations

AbstractCoupled ocean–atmosphere simulations are carried out for the Mozambique Channel, the Agulhas Current system, and the Benguela upwelling system to assess the ocean surface current feedback to the atmosphere and its impact on the Agulhas Current (AC) retroflection and leakage. Consistent with previous studies, the authors show that the current feedback slows down the oceanic mean circulation and acts as an oceanic eddy killer by modulating the energy transfer between the atmosphere and the ocean, reducing by 25% the mesoscale energy and inducing a pathway of energy transfer from the ocean to the atmosphere. The current feedback, by dampening the eddy kinetic energy (EKE), shifts westward the distribution of the AC retroflection location, reducing the presence of eastern retroflections in the simulations and improving the realism of the AC simulation. By modulating the EKE, the AC retroflection and the Good Hope jet intensity, the current feedback allows a larger AC leakage (by 21%), altering the wat.
Natural Language Processing (NLP) in Qualitative Public Health Research: A Proof of Concept Study

Qualitative data-analysis methods provide thick, rich descriptions of subjects’ thoughts, feelings, and lived experiences but may be time-consuming, labor-intensive, or prone to bias. Natural language processing (NLP) is a machine learning technique from computer science that uses algorithms to analyze textual data. NLP allows processing of large amounts of data almost instantaneously. As researchers become conversant with NLP, it is becoming more frequently employed outside of computer science and shows promise as a tool to analyze qualitative data in public health. This is a proof of concept paper to evaluate the potential of NLP to analyze qualitative data. Specifically, we ask if NLP can support conventional qualitative analysis, and if so, what its role is. We compared a qualitative method of open coding with two forms of NLP, Topic Modeling, and Word2Vec to analyze transcripts from interviews conducted in rural Belize querying men about their health needs. All three methods returned a series of terms that captured ideas and concepts in subjects’ responses to interview questions. Open coding returned 5–10 words or short phrases for each question. Topic Modeling returned a series of word-probability pairs that quantified how well a word captured the topic of a response. Word2Vec returned a list of words for each interview question ordered by which words were predicted to best capture the meaning of the passage. For most interview questions, all three methods returned conceptually similar results. NLP may be a useful adjunct to qualitative analysis. NLP may be performed after data have undergone open coding as a check on the accuracy of the codes. Alternatively, researchers can perform NLP prior to open coding and use the results to guide their creation of their codebook.
Sovereign Defaults by Currency Denomination

This paper explores the drivers of sovereign default in 100 countries over the period 1996–2012. We build a new data set of sovereign defaults and find that default events for local and foreign currency bonds are equally likely. However, governments default under different economic and financial conditions depending on the currency in which bonds are issued. The explained variation in default probability rises from 43% to 62% when we account for differences in currency denomination. We also provide evidence that global factors and market sentiment, which are known to drive sovereign spreads, do not help explain the probability of sovereign default. Hence, these factors appear to affect the price of sovereign credit risk, although not the risk itself.
Competing Rationalities: Russia, the EU and the ‘Shared Neighbourhood’

They conclude that, with Russia having taken a different path from the liberaldemocratic evolution chosen by Central and Eastern European countries, it is not clear what model of relations Moscow and Brussels should be aiming for (Karaganov & Yurgens 2008, p. 4). Their diverging positions are manifested not only in the increasing difficulties in their bilateral relationship but also in their approaches to the shared neighbourhood. In particular, the conflict between Russia and Georgia over the separatist region of South Ossetia in August 2008—and the criticism by the EU and many of its member states of Moscow’s disproportionate reaction and its recognition of South Ossetian and Abkhazian independence—only indicated the shallowness of the putative ‘strategic partnership’. Indeed, it led to the conclusion in Brussels that ‘relations between the EU and Russia have reached a crossroads’. The term ‘shared neighbourhood’ has primarily been used to denote the Soviet successor states covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and now by the recently launched Eastern Partnership—Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and the countries of the South Caucasus. However, with the adoption by Brussels of the Strategy for a New Partnership with Central Asia in June 2007—which ‘strengthens the perception of the EU as a political and even strategic actor in the region’ (Kassenova 2008, p. 2)—and the appointment of an EU Special Representative with