Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Downward Wage Rigidity and Automatic Wage Indexation: Evidence From Monthly Micro Wage Data

This paper assesses the degree of downward wage rigidity in Luxembourg using an administrative monthly data set on individual wages covering the entire economy over the period from January 2001 to January 2007. After limiting for measurement error, which would otherwise bias downwards the estimates of wage rigidity, we conclude that nearly all workers in Luxembourg are potentially subject to downward real wage rigidity. Our results are robust to different procedures to adjust for measurement error and methods for estimation of downward wage rigidity. We report relatively small differences in the frequency of nominal wage cuts across occupational groups and sectors. In addition, the observed rigidity does not seem to be driven predominantly by the absence of negative shocks. We show that the downward real wage rigidity is related to automatic wage indexation, while additional factors might be necessary to explain the high degree of downward nominal wage rigidity.
“It’s Just a Never-Ending Battle”: The Role of Modern Hygiene Ideals and the Dynamics of Everyday Life in Constructing Indoor Ecologies

Recent research suggests that the greatest threat to children’s health from home environments across much of the industrialized world may no longer be pathogenic microbes, but impoverished microbial communities and the chemicals used in everyday products, including those for cleaning. This paper proposes that concepts of hygiene should be updated, given this reorientation of harm. However, little research has been conducted, which a) integrates knowledge from the diverse disciplinary fields concerned with indoor environments (such as microbiology, chemistry, and design), and b) examines how individuals conceptualize and enact hygiene to create healthier indoor environments for their families, including the extent to which their practices achieve this. To gain insight into factors influencing how hygiene is enacted in the home, as well as the consequent effects on the composition of indoor environments, it is necessary to transgress traditional disciplinary approaches to investigate indoor environmental health and integrate knowledge from experts and lay people who inhabit these spaces. To do this, recent scientific and design literature addressing key determinants of environmental health in homes are consulted. This is combined with qualitative research into the ways in which parents define, perform, and measure hygiene 1 Corresponding author: rachael.wakefield-rann@uts.edu. au. Human Ecology Review, Volume 24, Number 2, 2018 62 within domestic spaces. The data collected concerns homes in Sydney, Australia, with the findings showing that common hygiene practices with potentially harmful outcomes often emerge from compromises between competing priorities within complexes of home practices. Factors influencing the dynamics that determine which activities are prioritized and how they are performed are dually highlighted. Some notable factors include confusion and uncertainty associated with the sensory proxies used to determine cleanliness and risk of harm, increased sensitivity to the potential presence of microbes over other potentially harmful microspecies, and the health histories and experiences of parents and children.
Sales of Private Firms and the Role of CEO Compensation

We analyze the relation of private firms' CEO compensation with the probability of sale of a firm and its valuation at the time of the sale. Specifically, we study whether equity-based remuneration is consistent with compensating the CEO for effort related to selling the private firm, or with compensating for the illiquidity of the equity-based compensation for private firms. Using a sample of large private firms with public filings, we find that CEOs of IPO and acquired private firms have higher total and equity-based compensation than CEOs of firms that remain private. We also show that CEO compensation is positively related to the valuation premium of IPOs versus acquired firms.
Trade Openness and Economic Growth in East African Community (EAC) Member Countries

This paper applies the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) technique to panel data from1990 to 2015 to provide empirical evidence on the long run relationship between trade openness and economic growth in for the East African (EAC) member countries. The paper find negative relationship between tarde openness and economic growth but statistical significant at 5%. The granger causality test results have shown the existence of a unidirectional causality freom from economic growth to trade oppeness. Keywords: Trade Openness; Economic Growth; DOLS; Granger Causality
Television dialogues in Brazilian fiction: Between production and consumption

This work reflects on the relationship between television production and consumption considering the changes that are occurring in participatory culture in Brazil. Regarding production, we focus on the analysis of the narrative and transmediation strategies used by the television network Rede Globo. In terms of consumption, we deepen the discussion about social TV and the dimensions of media competences as proposed by Ferrés (2015). Thus, we seek to discuss the appropriation and resignification of media contents during the viewers’ interaction while watching a programme in order to perceive their impacts on television production.
Atmospheric constraints for the CO2 partial pressure on terrestrial planets near the outer edge of the habitable zone

Context. In recent years, several potentially habitable, probably t errestrial exoplanets and exoplanet candidates have been discovered. The amount of CO2 in their atmosphere is of great importance for surface conditions and habitability. In the absence of detailed information on the geochemistry of the planet, this amount could be considered as a free parameter. Aims. Up to now, CO2 partial pressures for terrestrial planets have been obtain ed assuming an available volatile reservoir and outgassing scenarios. This study aims at calculating the allowed maximum CO2 pressure at the surface of terrestrial exoplanets orbiting near the outer boundary of the habitable zone by coupling the radiative effects of the CO2 and its condensation at the surface. These constraints might limit the permitted amount of atmospheric CO2, independent of the planetary reservoir. Methods. A 1D radiative-convective cloud-free atmospheric model was used to calculate surface conditions for hypothetical ter restrial exoplanets. CO2 partial pressures are fixed according to surface temperatur e and vapor pressure curve. Considered scenarios cover a wide range of parameters, such as gravity, central star type and orbital distance, atmospheric N2 content and surface albedo. Results. Results show that for planets in the habitable zone around K-, G-, and F-type stars the allowed CO2 pressure is limited by the vapor pressure curve and not by the planetary reservoir. The maximum CO2 pressure lies below the CO2 vapor pressure at the critical point of pcrit =73.8 bar. For M-type stars, due to the stellar spectrum being shifted to the near-IR, CO2 pressures above pcrit are possible for almost all scenarios considered across the habitable zone. This implies that determining CO2 partial pressures for terrestrial planets by using only geological models is prob ably too simplified and might over-estimate atmospheric CO 2 towards the outer edge of the habitable zone.
susceptibility of yeast species to different concentration to fluconazole in leukemic and non- leukemic cancer patients

Aim : Isolation and identification of yeast species in leukemic and non leukemic cancer patients and conduct the in vitro fluconazole susceptibility in different concentrations. Patients and methods: This study included 100 oral swabs samples from cancer patients 50 of them were leukemic cancer patients group I, while group II patients were 50 non-leukemic cancer patients. Group I patients attending the hematology department in Ibn-Sina teaching hospital, and group II patients attending oncology and nuclear medicine teaching hospital in Mosul city. The clinical specimens were collected during period (June December 2013). The patients included in this study were females only. Isolation and identification of yeast species depend on the classical methods. All the isolated yeast species were tested for their susceptibility to fluconazole concentrations (flu.10mcg, flu. 25mg, flu 50mcg) using standard disc agar diffusion method. Results: C. albicans 28(52.8%), C. topicalis 1(1.9%), Cryptococcus laurentii 1(1.9%) all of them were higher in group I than group II, in addition C.parasilosis 1(1.9%) was higher in group II than group I, while C. glabrata was the same in group I 1(1.9%) and group II 1(1.9%). Fluconazole sensitivity test ranged from 40(38.1%), 34(32.4%), 31(29.5) to fluconazole discs potency 50mcg, 25mcg, 10mcg in both groups of cancer patients. Conclusion: C. albicans, C. topicalis, Cryptococcus laurentii all of them were higher in group I than group II, in addition C.parasilosis was higher in group II than group I, while C. glabrata was the same in group 1 and group II. The sensitivity test to fluconazole were dose dependent with no significant difference between the three concentration to fluconazole .
Hybrid Theory of Scattering and Its Applications

A number of formulations have been used to investigate scattering of low-energy electrons and positrons from various targets. The hybrid theory of scattering, which takes into account the short-range as well as the long-range correlations, and is variationally correct, is described in this article. This approach has been applied to calculate phase shifts for scattering of electrons and positrons, resonances in two-electron systems, photodetachment, and photoionization of two-electron systems. This approach has also been applied to calculate excitation of 2s state of atomic hydrogen by electron impact. In photoabsorption the target can be left in 2p state instead of 1s state, resulting in the emission of Lyman-alpha radiation. Cross sections for this process are also calculated.
Long-term weight losses associated with prescription of higher physical activity goals . Are higher levels of physical activity protective against weight regain ? 1 – 3

Background: High levels of exercise may be necessary for longterm maintenance of weight loss. Objective: We aimed to determine in a randomized prospective design whether encouraging 2500 kcal physical activity/wk produced greater 30-mo weight losses than did the standard 1000 kcal physical activity/wk prescription. Design: Overweight adults (n 202) were randomly assigned to either 18 mo of standard behavioral treatment (SBT) with an exercise goal of 1000 kcal/wk or a high physical activity (HPA) treatment with a goal of 2500 kcal/wk. The HPA treatment included all procedures in the SBT plus encouragement to recruit 1–3 exercise partners and small-group counseling with an exercise coach. Participants were followed for 30 mo. Results: The HPA group achieved significantly greater exercise levels and weight losses than did the SBT group at 12 and 18 mo (P 0.01). Weight losses did not differ significantly at 30 mo: 0.90 8.9 and 2.86 8.6 kg for the SBT and HPA groups, respectively (P 0.16). At 30 mo, average exercise levels no longer differed significantly between groups (1390 and 1696 kcal/wk, respectively; P 0.10). Participants sustaining high exercise levels ( 2500 kcal/wk) for 30 mo had significantly (P 0.001) greater 30-mo weight loss than did those exercising less (12 8.8 and 0.8 8.1 kg,
Evaluation of Thermal State for Underground Power Cables in Nasiriya City

Due to the increase in demand for electric power and increasing population density in different regions, the application of underground cables has become widely used in transmission and distribution networks. In this paper, the thermal behavior of underground cables was studied numerically. Four types of underground cables were selected copper conductor cables with (95 mm) and (240 mm) and aluminum conductor cables (95mm) and (240mm), which are used in the power networks in Iraq. The study was carried out based on the conditions surrounding such as the ambient temperature, the thermal properties of the soil and the current capacity, its effect on the thermal behavior of the cables. The results of the numerical simulation showed that the surrounding factors and loading capacities have a direct effect on determining the temperature of the cable. In addition, the type and size of the conductor cable material have an effect on determining the current-carrying capacity of the cable where the conductor cable with a nominal cross-sectional area 240mm has a temperature higher than the conductor cable with nominal cross-sectional 95mmby (8.96%) for the copper conductor and (13.68%) for the aluminum conductor at current 500A.
Delft University of Technology Resolving freeway jam waves by discrete first-order model-based predictive control of variable speed limits

In this paper we develop a fast model predictive control (MPC) approach for variable speed limit coordination to resolve freeway jam waves. Existing MPC approaches that are based on the second-order traffic flow models suffer from high computation load due to the non-linear and non-convex optimization formulation. In recent years, simplified MPC approaches which are based on discrete first-order traffic flow models have attracted more and more attention because they are beneficial for real-time applications. In literature, the type of traffic jam resolved by these approaches is limited to the standing queue in which the jam head is fixed at the bottleneck. Another type of traffic jam known as the jam wave, has been neglected by the discrete first-order model-based MPC approaches. To fill this gap, we develop a fast MPC approach based on a more accurate discrete first-order model. The model keeps the linear property of the classical discrete first-order model, meanwhile takes traffic flow features of jam waves propagation into consideration. A classical non-linear MPC and a recently proposed linear MPC are compared with the proposed MPC in terms of computation speed and jam wave resolution by a benchmark problem. Simulation results show that the proposed MPC resolves the jam wave with a real-time feasible computation speed.
The linear instability of the stratified plane Couette flow

We present the stability analysis of a plane Couette flow which is stably stratified in the vertical direction orthogonal to the horizontal shear. Interest in such a flow comes from geophysical and astrophysical applications where background shear and vertical stable stratification commonly coexist. We perform the linear stability analysis of the flow in a domain which is periodic in the streamwise and vertical directions and confined in the cross-stream direction. The stability diagram is constructed as a function of the Reynolds number $Re$ and the Froude number $Fr$ , which compares the importance of shear and stratification. We find that the flow becomes unstable when shear and stratification are of the same order (i.e. $Fr\sim 1$ ) and above a moderate value of the Reynolds number $Re\gtrsim 700$ . The instability results from a wave resonance mechanism already known in the context of channel flows – for instance, unstratified plane Couette flow in the shallow-water approximation. The result is confirmed by fully nonlinear direct numerical simulations and, to the best of our knowledge, constitutes the first evidence of linear instability in a vertically stratified plane Couette flow. We also report the study of a laboratory flow generated by a transparent belt entrained by two vertical cylinders and immersed in a tank filled with salty water, linearly stratified in density. We observe the emergence of a robust spatio-temporal pattern close to the threshold values of $Fr$ and $Re$ indicated by linear analysis, and explore the accessible part of the stability diagram. With the support of numerical simulations we conclude that the observed pattern is a signature of the same instability predicted by the linear theory, although slightly modified due to streamwise confinement.
Regional distance shear-coupled PL propagation within the northern Altiplano

SUMMARY Properties of the shear-coupled P wavetrain (SPL ) from regional earthquakes provide important information about the structure of the crust and upper mantle. We investigate broad-band seismic data from intermediate-depth earthquakes and develop a grid search technique using synthetic seismograms to study the sensitivity of SPL and to model the crustal structure of the northern Altiplano, central Andes. Waveforms from an earthquake that occurred on 1994 December 12 within the Nazca slab beneath the Altiplano display a clear SPL wavetrain at the temporary stations deployed during the BANJO and SEDA experiments. We relocate this event and determine the moment tensor by inverting the complete long-period waveforms. With these source parameters fixed, we perform sensitivity analyses using a reflectivity technique to compute synthetic seismograms at a distance of 313 km (BANJO station 2, SALI). We find that, at this distance, the long-period SPL wavetrain is sensitive to the following model parameters, in order of decreasing sensitivity: crustal V P /V S , mantle V P /V S , average crustal velocity, crustal thickness, focal depth, distance (location), crustal Q a and Q b , and mantle velocity. We develop a grid search method to investigate the four parameters of the crust/upper mantle model to which the synthetic seismograms are most sensitive at SALI (crustal V P /V S , mantle V P /V S , average crustal velocity, crustal thickness). Trade-oVs exist among all four of the model parameters, resulting in a range of acceptable crustal models that provide excellent fits between the data and synthetic seismograms in the passband of 15‐100 s at a single station. However, by using data at a range of distances (150‐450 km) we find that the model that provides the best overall fit between the data and synthetic seismograms, and thus best approximates the average characteristics of the crust and upper mantle structure of the northern Altiplano, is characterized by an average crustal velocity of 6.0 km s’1, a crustal Poisson’s ratio (s crust ) of 0.25 and a mantle Poisson’s ratio (s mantle ) of 0.27. The resulting models confirm previous estimates of low Poisson’s ratios, low average crustal velocity and thick crust in the Altiplano.
BS ON THE MEASURE OF PRIVATE RENTAL MARKET REGULATION INDEX AND ITS EFFECT ON HOUSING RENTS : CROSS COUNTRY EVIDENCE Autoren :

The objective of this paper is twofold: rst, we construct and analyze a country-speci c time-varying private rental regulation index for 18 developed economies starting from 1973 till 2014. Second, we analyze the e ects of our rental regulation index on the housing rental markets across 18 countries and states. Unlike the previous rent regulation indices in the literature, our index, which is based on the detailed country reports, not only covers 18 developed economies over 42 years but also combines both tenure security and rent laws. Our index covers the classic aspects of rstand second-generation rent control and helps to identify three di erent phases of rental market regulation for the past 42 years. Moreover, our time-varying index sheds further insights on the extent to which rent and tenure security laws have converged over the past forty years for each economies. Finally, using our new panel data on private tenancy regulation index for 18 economies, we show three empirical results. First, very strict rent control regimes do lead to lower real rent growth rates than regimes with free rents. Second, tenure security law plays a statistically signi cant role for the e ects of second-generation rent control regimes on rents: soft rent control regimes with time limited tenure security and minimum duration periods may cause higher rent growth rates than free rent regimes. Third, the rent free regimes do not show signi cant high real rent appreciation rates. Instead, the rent data reveals that the mean real rent growth is statistically not di erent than zero for the free rent regimes. JEL Classi cation: C43, O18, R38.
Interaction, growth, and ordering of epitaxial graphene on SiC{0001} surfaces: A comparative photoelectron spectroscopy study

Thermally induced growth of graphene on the two polar surfaces of $6H\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{Si}\mathrm{C}$ is investigated with emphasis on the initial stages of growth and interface structure. The experimental methods employed are angle-resolved valence band photoelectron spectroscopy, soft x-ray induced core-level spectroscopy, and low-energy electron diffraction. On the Si-terminated (0001) surface, the $(6\sqrt{3}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}6\sqrt{3})R30\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$ reconstruction is the precursor of the growth of graphene and it persists at the interface upon the growth of few layer graphene (FLG). The $(6\sqrt{3}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}6\sqrt{3})R30\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$ structure is a carbon layer with graphene-like atomic arrangement covalently bonded to the substrate where it is responsible for the azimuthal ordering of FLG on SiC(0001). In contrast, the interaction between graphene and the C-terminated $(000\overline{1})$ surface is much weaker, which accounts for the low degree of order of FLG on this surface. A model for the growth of FLG on SiC{0001} is developed, wherein each new graphene layer is formed at the bottom of the existing stack rather than on its top. This model yields, in conjunction with the differences in the interfacial bonding strength, a natural explanation for the different degrees of azimuthal order observed for FLG on the two surfaces.
A Prospective Phase II Study on The Use Of Convalescent Plasma Monotherapy For The Treatment of Severe Covid-19 Disease: A Preliminary Report.

Currently, there are no effective treatments for novel corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, we report the preliminary results on the efficacy and safety of convalescent plasma (CP) infusion, as monotherapy in 9 patients with severe COVID-19 disease. The median time from symptom onset to CP transfusion was 6 days. All symptoms improved significantly after a median of 8 days. In 6/9 patients, symptomatic improvement was observed already after the 1st dose of CP transfusion. Laboratory parameters associated with disease severity tended to significantly decrease over time and lymphocyte counts significantly increased on day 14. All patients exhibited significant increases in SARS-CoV-2 IgA and IgG antibodies starting on day 7 through day 21 after CP infusion with concurrent reduction of SARS-CoV-2 RNA on days 7 and 14 with 44.4% % of the patients having undetectable SARS-CoV-2 RNA on day 14. After a median follow-up of 66 days, all patients remain alive. Eight patients recovered completely and were discharged from hospital after a median duration of hospitalization of 21 days. No severe adverse events were observed. In conclusion, this preliminary report suggests that CP infusion monotherapy administered early in the disease course may be a safe and effective strategy for patients with severe COVID-19 disease. Trial registration: NCT04408209. Registered 05 May 2020- Retrospectively registered, (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04408209? term=NCT04408209&draw=2&rank=1).