Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparing visualization techniques for learning second language prosody: first results

We tested the usability of prosody visualization techniques for second language (L2) learners. Eighteen Danish learners realized target sentences in German based on different visualization techniques. The sentence realizations were annotated by means of the phonological Kiel Intonation Model and then analyzed in terms of (a) prosodic-pattern consistency and (b) correctness of the prosodic patterns. In addition, the participants rated the usability of the visualization techniques. The results from the phonological analysis converged with the usability ratings in showing that iconic techniques, in particular the stylized “hat pattern” visualization, performed better than symbolic techniques, and that marking prosodic information beyond intonation can be more confusing than instructive. In discussing our findings, we also provide a description of the new Danish-German learner corpus we created: DANGER. It is freely available for interested researchers upon request.
A Framework For Overcoming M-commerce Adoption Barriers In Angola

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the global economy, with brick-and-mortar businesses particularly hard-hit. In Angola, the lockdown imposed in response to the pandemic forced many companies to close their doors, leading to widespread job losses and economic hardship. However, the pandemic also presented an opportunity for businesses that could adopt m-commerce or other alternative sales channels. This study aims to understand the factors that have impeded the adoption of m-commerce by brick-and-mortar retail SMEs in Angola during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also proposes a conceptual framework for overcoming the m-commerce adoption barriers that these SMEs have encountered. The study was conducted using a mixed-method approach, with data collected from 306 retail business managers/owners and professionals through a structured questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The study's findings suggest that the factors impeding m-commerce adoption were the lack of experience in using m-commerce, skills to configure forward and backward distribution systems, personnel with IT skills; the cost of m-commerce infrastructure; and the lack of support from the external environment. The study concludes by proposing a framework/strategy for stimulating the adoption of m-commerce in Angola. This strategy includes providing training and support to businesses on using m-commerce, developing a supportive regulatory environment, and investing in m-commerce infrastructure.
Numerical and Experimental Investigations on Aerodynamic Behavior of the
 Ahmed Body Model with Different Diffuser Angles

Due to many restrictions applied by the necessity of fulfilling dimensional analysis in a numericalexperimental research and also the limits in experimental facilities a Low Reynolds Number simulation seems to be widespread. In this paper, effects of the diffuser angle on the aerodynamic behavior of the Ahmed body have been investigated for low Reynolds number flows. Numerical simulations were performed by solving the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations combined with different turbulence models. The Finite Volume Method (FVM) is used for simulations in Fluent 6.3. 26 Software. The main objectives of the study are to improve the aerodynamic design of the body, analyzing the flow field to understand the nature of these improvements and reaching a suitable and reliable experimental-numerical setup for such a flow. Finally, it was concluded that the SST k-ω turbulence model with transitional flow corrections is the best choice. From the flow simulation and obtained experimental data, it was concluded that that drag coefficient is a function of three main phenomena. Results showed that the drag coefficient has its minimum value at a specific diffuser angle (8◦) and further increases in the angle lead to higher drag coefficient. On the other hand, the lift coefficient constantly decreases by increasing the diffuser angle. In order to show the validity of the numerical results, experimental data were obtained by measuring the drag and lift coefficients of scaled standard Ahmed body and a model with the diffuser angle of 8 degrees in a wind tunnel. Results confirmed that improvement of drag and lift coefficients occurs when diffuser region is considered for the Ahmed body. In addition, the flow field around the body was studied in detail to show the effects of the diffuser geometry on the aerodynamic characteristics of the body.
Hubungan Bayi Prematur dengan Kejadian Asfiksia Neonatorum

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui hubungan antara bayi prematur dengan kejadian asfiksia neonatorum. Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah menggunakan metode penelitian survey analitik dengan rancangan penelitian kasus kontrol ( case control) dengan menggunakan pendekatan retrospektif . Banyaknya sampel kasus yang digunakan adalah 100 bayi baru lahir dengan asfiksia dan sampel control adalah 100 bayi baru lahir tidak asfiksia. Penelitian ini menggunakan data sekunder. Bayi Baru Lahir mengalami Asfiksia sebanyak 290 bayi (8,24%), Bayi Prematur sebanyak 59 bayi (29,5). Secara Bivariat menunjukan bahwa ada hubungan yang bermakna antara bayi prematur dengan kejadian asfiksia neonatorum dengan nilai p= 0,000 (p < 0,05). Dengan demikian diharapkan tenaga kesehatan lebih sigap dan tanggap serta selalu meningkatkan kemampuan sehingga dapat mendeteksi dini berbagai macam penyulit yang mungkin terjadi pada ibu maupun bayi.
Does The Media Matter ? A Field Experiment Measuring the Effect of Newspapers on Voting Behavior and Political Opinions March 24 th , 2008

We conducted a field experiment to measure the effect of exposure to newspapers on political behavior and opinion. Before the 2005 Virginia gubernatorial election, we randomly assigned individuals to a Washington Post free subscription treatment, a Washington Times free subscription treatment, or control. We find no effect of either paper on political knowledge, stated opinions or turnout in post-election survey and voter data. However, receiving either paper led to more support for the Democratic candidate, suggesting that media slant mattered less in this case than media exposure. Some evidence also suggests that receiving either paper led to increased 2006 voter turnout. JEL classification: C93, D72, L82, P16
Introduction to Water Pollution Biology

Overview of Water Pollution. The Nature of Water and the Hydrologic Cycle. Overview of Aquatic Ecosystems. Bacteria and Water Pollution. Dissolved Oxygen and Natural Purification. Algae and Eutrophication. The Estuarine Environment. The Nitrogen and Phosphorous Cycles. Thermal Pollution. The Sulfur Cycle. Aquatic Toxicology. Pollution by Inorganic Materials and Metals. Pesticides and Water Pollution. Polychlorinated Biphenyls. Pollution from Petroleum Hydrocarbons. Pollution from Biological Sources. Index.
Evaluation of coastal hydrodynamic performance using statistical analysis at the Kelantan coast, Malaysia

Coastal zones are vulnerable to the effects of nature and man, as well as being physically volatile. The interaction of hydrodynamic conditions in coastal areas is a complex phenomenon. Considering the characteristics in this specific area, understanding its hydrodynamic behaviour should be obviously clarified. Thus, the hydrodynamic characteristics for Kelantan coast had been simulated using a numerical software of MIKE 21 Hydrodynamic FM. To assess the performance of the model, a combination of time series analysis and statistical evaluation were carried out against two weeks of observed data. Time series analysis shows a good agreement with the field measurements for both magnitude and phase. Statistical analysis using Root Mean Squared Errors (RMSE) and Regression analysis (R 2 ) for current speed and water level were analysed. The results indicate that the RMSE for current speed are 8.97% and 8.00% for ADCP 1 and ADCP 2, respectively while the RMSE for water level is 8.89 %. Through the regression analysis, the output indicates that the numerical model is in a good performance as the R2 ranged from 0.72 to 0.9. Both time series and statistical approach were successfully utilised in the hydrodynamic model to determine the performance of the coastal hydrodynamic characteristics in Kelantan’s coastline. The output model can provide important information, especially on the coastal management and land-use planning for the developers, planners and state authority.
Après Nous Le Déluge? Direct Democracy and Intergenerational Conflicts in Aging Societies

To assess the likely effects of population ageing on the outcomes of direct democracy, we analyze the effect of age on voting decisions in public referenda. To this end, we provide the first quantitative review of the literature and a case study of the Stuttgart 21 referendum on one of the largest infrastructure projects in Germany. The evidence suggests that intergenerational conflicts arising from population ageing will likely be limited to areas in which the net present value differs particularly strongly across generations, such as education and health spending, green energy, and major transport projects. In such instances, however, the effect can be quantitatively relevant, raising the question of whether, as population ageing progresses, decisions should be based on social cost-benefit analyses, instead of referenda.
A Distributed Local-Leg Feedback Algorithm for Robust Walking on Uneven Terrain

Legged animals can traverse significantly more of the Earth’s land mass than man-made wheeled and tracked vehicles [1]. Their impressive mobility is largely due to multiple dexterous legs and the robust algorithms that coordinate and control them. A legged animal such as a squirrel can exhibit multiple locomotion modes such as walking, running and jumping and also multiple gaits or leg phase timings within each mode. A robot that could mimic this level of robust locomotion would be highly useful for planetary exploration, military reconnaissance, and time-critical search and rescue in cluttered or collapsed buildings. A number of biological studies on animal walking have provided information concerning the underlying control system. Studies in insect walking have revealed a distributed local-leg control that generates quasi-rhythmic movement by sensing the environment using local feedback loops. Ground reaction forces produced by an insect during walking and running, along with joint angles, have been recorded by various studies. The primary goal of this research is to develop a distributed local-leg control algorithm to generate walking behaviors on uneven terrain using local force feedback. The intended purpose of this research is to pursue a biologically-inspired control algorithm that can be used as a scientific tool to study walking and provide a better understanding of local-leg control. Control of a multi-jointed robot system has traditionally been done using position control. But as the number of degrees of freedom in systems started increasing, position control of each actuator using a centralized controller became cumbersome. The control of a walking robot is a
ADSORPTION KINETICS AND THERMODYNAMICS OF MALACHITE GREEN DYE ONTO ACID ACTIVATED LOW COST CARBON

A carbonaceous adsorbent prepared from an indigenous waste by acid treatment was tested for its efficiency for removing Malachite green (MG). The parameters studied include the agitation time, initial dye concentration, carbon dose, pH and temperature. The adsorption followed a first-order reaction equation and the rate is mainly controlled by intra-particle diffusion. Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models were applied to the equilibrium data. The adsorption capacities (Q m ) obtained from the Langmuir isotherm plot were 9.74, 9.62, 9.63, 9.57 mg/g respectively at initial pH of 6.0 at 30, 40, 50 and 60 °C. The temperature variation study showed that the Malachite green adsorption is endothermic and spontaneous with increased randomness at the solid solution interface. A significant effect on adsorption was observed on varying the pH of the Malachite green solutions. Almost 78% removal of Malachite green was observed at 60 °C for the initial concentration of 5 mg/L. The value of the dimensionless separation factor (R L ) below one shows the favorable adsorption of the dye on the adsorbent. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms obtained, show a positive ΔH° value, pH dependent results and desorption of the dye in mineral acid which suggests that the adsorption of Malachite green on PDC involves chemisorption as well as physisorption mechanism.
Capacitively Coupled Electrical Impedance Tomography for Brain Imaging

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is considered as a potential candidate for brain stroke imaging due to its compactness and potential use in bedside and emergency settings. The electrode–skin contact impedance and low conductivity of skull pose some practical challenges to the EIT head imaging. This paper studies the application of capacitively coupled electrical impedance tomography (CCEIT) in brain imaging for the first time. CCEIT is a new contactless EIT technique which uses voltage excitation without direct contact with the skin, as oppose to directly injecting the current to the skin in EIT. Because the safety issue of a new technique should be strictly treated, simulation work based on a simplified head model was carried out to investigate the safety aspects of CCEIT. By comparing with the standard EIT excited by a typical safe current level used in brain imaging, the safe excitation reference of CCEIT is obtained. This is done by comparing the maximum level of internal electrical field (internal current density) of EIT and that of CCEIT. Simulation results provide useful knowledge of excitation signal level of CCEIT and also show a critical comparison with traditional EIT. Practical experiments were carried out with a 12-electrode CCEIT phantom, saline, and carrot samples. Experimental results show the feasibility and potential of CCEIT for stroke imaging. In this paper, the anomaly diameter resolution is 10 mm (1/18 of the phantom diameter), which indicates that small-volume stroke could be detected. This is achieved by a low excitation voltage of 1 V, showing the possibility of even better performance when higher but yet safe level of excitation voltages is used.
Input Linkages and the Transmission of Shocks: Firm-Level Evidence from the 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake, by Christoph Boehm, Aaron Flaaen, and Nitya Pandalai Nayar, Octber 24, 2014

Using novel firm-level microdata and leveraging a natural experiment, this paper provides causal evidence for the role of trade and multinational firms in the crosscountry transmission of shocks. Foreign multinational affiliates in the U.S. exhibit substantial intermediate input linkages with their source country. The scope for these linkages to generate cross-country spillovers in the domestic market depends on the elasticity of substitution with respect to other inputs. Using the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake as an exogenous shock, we estimate this elasticity for those firms most reliant on Japanese imported inputs: the U.S. affiliates of Japanese multinationals. These firms suffered large drops in U.S. output in the months following the shock, roughly one-for-one with the drop in imports and consistent with a Leontief relationship between imported and domestic inputs. Structural estimates of the production function for these firms yield disaggregated production elasticities that are similarly low. Our results suggest that global supply chains are sufficiently rigid to play an important role in the cross-country transmission of shocks. JEL Codes: F10, F23, F44, E32
The Host Galaxies of Short GRBs as Probes of Their Progenitor Properties

We present and discuss the properties of host galaxies of short Gamma-ray Burst (SGRBs). In particular, we examine those observations that contribute to the understanding of the progenitor systems of these explosions. Most SGRB hosts are found to be star forming objects, but an important fraction, ∼1/5, of all hosts are elliptical with negligible star formation. Short bursts often occur at very large off-sets from their hosts, in regions where there is little or no underlying host light. Such results have enabled the community to test and improve the models for the production of short GRBs. In particular, the data are in favour of the merger of compact object binaries, provided that the kick velocities from the birth site are a few tens of km/s, and merger times of ∼1 Gyr.
DE L’INSTITUT FOURIER

— Our main result combines three topics: it contains a Grunwald- Wang type conclusion, a version of Hilbert’s irreducibility theorem and a p -adic form à la Harbater, but with good reduction, of the Regular Inverse Galois Problem. As a consequence we obtain a statement that questions the RIGP over Q . The general strategy is to study and exploit the good reduction of certain twisted models of the covers and of the associated moduli spaces. Résumé. — Notre résultat principal mêle plusieurs thèmes : il contient une conclusion de type Grunwald-Wang, une version du théorème d’irréductibilité de Hilbert et une forme p -adique à la Harbater, mais avec bonne réduction, du pro- blème inverse de Galois sous sa forme régulière (RIGP). Nous en déduisons un énoncé qui pose de nouvelles questions sur le RIGP sur Q . La stratégie générale est d’étudier et d’exploiter la bonne réduction de certains modèles tordus de revêtements et des espaces de modules associés.
From Betterment to Bt maize

Agriculture has received renewed attention in poverty reduction efforts in Africa in recent years, and there are hopes that GM crops could have an important role in helping increase smallholder yields and reduce poverty. Drawing on critical discourse analysis (CDA) and livelihoods perspectives, this thesis examines the ideas governing the Massive Food Production Programme (MFPP), an agricultural development programme aiming to reduce poverty by raising agricultural production in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, and its local effects when implemented in smallholder communities. In particular, the effects of introduction of Bt maize, genetically modified to be resistant to some potentially damaging insects in the region, were studied. The results reveal that the programme was not equipped to support the improvement of smallholders' livelihoods through agriculture. A core reason was the failure to break with a historically dominant unidirectional view of agricultural development, which was reinforced by a contemporary dominant neoliberal view of development as progress through growth. The programme thereby disregarded the effects of long-term marginalisation on smallholders' ability to engage in farming, and the associated need for substantial advisory, infrastructure and credit support to increase agricultural productivity. Local strategies for dealing with the effects of poverty were also unacknowledged; and practices and inputs originally developed for large-scale, capital-intensive farming were introduced without adaptation to smallholder conditions. The programme also failed to recognise the local heterogeneity of poverty, resulting in a bias towards comparatively better-off smallholders. The Bt maize variety introduced, like hybrid maize varieties introduced during pre-democracy interventions, was not adapted to smallholders' farming environments. It was input-demanding and sensitive to environmental dynamics, and it was promoted for planting in monoculture. Bans on saving and recycling seed resulting from patents, plant breeders' rights and new regulations to ensure the biosafety of GM crops were largely incompatible with smallholders' practices and further undermined strategies for dealing with resource shortage. It is suggested that cheaper, open-pollinated maize varieties, which can be recycled and are more tolerant to low-input conditions, could be better suited to smallholders' needs and practices.
The Impact of Institutional Differences on Derivatives Usage: A Comparative Study of US and Dutch Firms

This paper tests the influence of institutional differences on risk management practices.Several survey studies have investigated derivatives usage for risk management purposes in the US (see, among others, Bodnar, Hayt, Marston and Smithson, 1995 and Bodnar, Hayt and Marston, 1996, 1998). In this paper, we compare derivative practices of US and Dutch firms.This comparison is interesting because the institutional setting for Dutch firms differs from the US setting with respect to shareholder orientation, international trade, disclosure regulation, and the reliance on financial markets.In a number of survey studies additional countries have been studied, such as New Zealand (Berkman, Bradbury and Magan, 1997), Sweden (Alkeback and Hagelin, 1999) and Germany (Bodnar and Gebhardt, 1999). In contrast with these papers, we facilitate a comparison by applying a matching and a weighting strategy, which corrects for different distributions over industry and size classes in the Dutch and US samples.After these corrections, the remaining results can be attributed to institutional differences.We find that Dutch firms hedge more financial risk. Because of the greater openness of the Netherlands, Dutch firms experience far more foreign exchange exposure and hedge more currency risk.US firms have more concerns regarding derivative usage, which may be linked to the stricter disclosure requirements in the US.US firms also focus more on accounting earnings, which may be attributable to the shareholder orientation in the US versus the stakeholder orientation in the Netherlands.Whereas Dutch firms tend to rely on OTC-transactions, US firms use exchange-traded derivatives and therefore require a higher counter party rating for derivatives transactions. This distinction can be accredited to the differences in the financial environments between the US and the Netherlands.The aforementioned results indicate that institutional differences between the US and the Netherlands have a significant effect on the risk management practices and derivatives use of US and Dutch firms.
‘ Poverty , Equity and Growth in Developing and Transition Countries : Statistical Methods and Empirical Analysis

In this paper, we revisit the association between happiness and inequality. We argue that the perceived fairness of the income generation process affects this association. Building on a two-period model of individual life-time utility maximization, we predict that persons with higher perceived fairness will experience higher levels of life-time utility and are less in favor of income redistribution. In societies with a high level of actual social mobility, income inequality is perceived more positively with increased expected fairness. The opposite is expected for countries with low actual social mobility, due to an increasing relevance of a disappointment effect resulting from unsuccessful individual investments. Using the World Values Survey data and a broad set of fairness measures, we find strong support for the negative (positive) association between fairness perceptions and the demand for more equal incomes (subjective well-being). We also find strong empirical support for the disappointment effect in low social mobility countries. In contrast, the results for high-mobility countries turn out to be ambiguous.