Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Culture on IT Diffusion: E-Mail and FAX in Japan and the U.S

Few cross-cultural studies have investigated how firms diffuse new information technologies IT. Still fewer have advanced a theoretical perspective on possible cultural effects. In a world moving rapidly toward corporate multinationalism, this oversight seems notable. As foreign managers locate plants and offices in the U.S. and as American managers establish foreign subsidiaries and offices abroad, it is important for these managers to know in advance as much as possible about the impact of culture on technological innovation. Japan and the U.S. are cases in point. Both have subsidiaries and actively market goods and services in the other country, far flung enterprises for which IT seems to be a natural coordinating mechanism. Yet while U.S. companies exploit the advantages of IT such as E-mail, Japanese firms do not. The Japanese, however, do utilize FAX extensively. Culture is one fruitful explanation for these differences. To examine these two markedly different cultures and the effect of these differences on technological innovation, a large Japanese airline and financial institution were chosen as representative Asian sites. The IT experiences of 209 Japanese knowledge workers are contrasted with those of 711 knowledge workers in comparable firms in the United States on certain dimensions. Using Hofstede's work on culture and social presence/information richness theory as grounding, it was hypothesized that high uncertainty avoidance in Japan and structural features of the Japanese written language could explain Japanese perceptions about new work technologies such as E-Mail and FAX. Furthermore, the theoretical conceptualization in the paper attempts to account for Japanese departures from the U.S. experience. Results from empirical tests verified many, but not all of the predicted differences between Japanese and American knowledge workers. In general, cultural effects seem to play an important role in the predisposition toward and selection of electronic communications media. Surprisingly, responses to traditional media such as face-to-face and telephone were remarkably similar between cultures.
Does Foreign Exchange Intervention Matter? Disentangling the Portfolio and Expectations Effects

The time is ripe for a re-examination of the question whether foreign exchange intervention can affect the exchange rate. We attempt to isolate two distinct effects: the portfolio effect, whereby an increase in the supply of marks must reduce the dollar/mark rate (for given expected rates of return) and the additional expectations effect, whereby intervention that is publicly known may alter investors' expectations of the future exchange rate, which will feed back to the current equilibrium price. We estimate a system consisting of two equations, one describing investors' portfolio behavior and the other their formation of expectations, where the two endogenous variables are the current spot rate and investors' expectation of the future spot rate. We use new data sources: actual daily data on intervention by the Fed, the Bundesbank, and the Swiss National Bank, newspaper stories on exchange rate policy announcements and known intervention, and survey data on investors' expectations. We find evidence of both an expectations effect and a portfolio effect. The statistical significance of the portfolio effect suggests that even sterilized intervention may have had positive effects during the sample period. For the magnitude of the effects to be large requires that intervention be publicly known.
KIER DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES KYOTO INSTITUTE OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

We incorporate external eﬀects of capital on production and endogenous technology choice into the standard overlapping generations model. We demonstrate that our model can exhibit poverty traps, middle-income traps, and perpetual growth paths. We also show that these three phenomena coexist for some set of parameters and the economy caught in the middle-income trap can exhibit chaotic ﬂuctuations in the long run. In obtaining these results in the standard overlapping generations model, the combination of technology choice and externalities in production plays a crucial role.
Tochisaurus nemegtensis gen. et sp. n., a new troodontid (dinosauria, theropoda) from Mongolia

A troodontid dinosaur Tochisaurus nemegtensis gen. et sp. n. , is described. Material consists of a solitary metatarsus from the upper Campanian or lower Maastrichtian Nemegt Formation, southern Gobi, Mongolia. The metatarsus is very slender and has strongly reduced second metatarsal, which implies that the second pedal digit was also reduced.
Hydrogeological notes for the Sheffield district (sheet 100)

This report provides a compilation of hydrogeological information as part of the 1:10,000 scale re-survey of the Sheffield geological sheet. The resulting published products will comprise a revised 1:50,000 scale map and a Sheet Explanation. The latter will be published as a booklet to accompany the folded 1:50 000-scale map.
Modeling Parental Provisioning by Red-winged Blackbirds in North Dakota

Male red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) exhibit a difference in nest provisioning rates along an east-west gradient in North America. North Dakota is located in the center of North America and harbors a large population of breeding red-winged blackbirds (RWBL). This location provided an opportunity to compare provisioning rates in the central U.S. with those reported for the eastern and western populations. We placed video cameras at RWBL nests to record male and female feeding trips. Thirty-four nests were located on territories with original males and 30 were on territories where a replacement (floater) male had taken over a territory after we removed the original male by shooting or trapping. Original territory owners were more likely to feed young, and males were more likely to feed at nests with older chicks, at nests with more chicks, and later in the breeding season. Red-winged blackbird parental provisioning patterns in North Dakota appear to be similar to those observed in eastern North America.
Preparation of Carriers Based on ZnO Nanoparticles Decorated on Graphene Oxide (GO) Nanosheets for Efficient Immobilization of Lipase from Candida rugosa

Herein, a promising carrier, graphene oxide (GO) decorated with ZnO nanoparticles, denoted as GO/ZnO composite, has been designed and constructed. This carrier was characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetry. Then, Candida rugosa lipase (CRL) was immobilized onto the GO-based materials via physical adsorption. Our results indicated that the lipase loading amount on the GO/ZnO composites was about 73.52 mg of protein per g. In the activity assay, the novel immobilized lipase GO/ZnO@CRL, exhibited particularly excellent performance in terms of thermostability and reusability. Within 30 min at 50 °C, the free lipase, GO@CRL and ZnO@CRL had respectively lost 64%, 62% and 41% of their initial activity. However, GO/ZnO@CRL still retained its activity of 63% after 180 min at 50 °C. After reuse of the GO/ZnO@CRL 14 times, 90% of the initial activity can be recovered. Meanwhile, the relative activity of GO@CRL and ZnO@CRL was 28% and 23% under uniform conditions. Hence, GO-decorated ZnO nanoparticles may possess great potential as carriers for immobilizing lipase in a wide range of applications.
Dynamique et stabilité des humus au cours du cycle sylvogénétique d'une pessière d'altitude

Deux facteurs de modification de la forme d'humus ont ete mis en evidence dans une pessiere des Alpes du nord. La dynamique forestiere imprime des modifications rapides de la forme d'humus (de l'ordre de la dizaine d'annees), resultant d'une constante instabilite des relations entre les producteurs primaires et les decomposeurs. L'accroissement de cette instabilite, observe avec l'altitude, conduit a un point de rupture qui est materialise par la limite supra-forestiere.
Psychometric properties of a newly developed learning difficulties scale in the Omani society

Introduction. Learning difficulties (LD) is a recent construct. It has been agreed that the individual who suffers from learning difficulty has a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes, including attention, cognition, formation of concepts, memory, problem solving, understanding or reading, speaking or writing, or computing.Method. This study was designed to test the construct (convergent and discriminate) validity of this conception of LD with exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Also, responses of normal students were compared to responses of students identified as having learning difficulty. The sample comprised 410 children from Muscat School Zone, who were rated by their teachers (30) teachers based on the newly questionnaire. The questionnaire is composed by six domains and each measures one component of difficulties. These components are difficulties in: perception, attention, memory, writing, arithmetic and reading.Results. Reliability analysis and factor analysis revealed that the measure possesses both reliability and factorial validity.Discussion and conclusion. The CFA confirmed the structure of the measure. ANOVA revealed significant differences between normal and LD children on most of the LD components, the providing further support to its construct validity
Satellite and Ground-based Radiometers Reveal Much Lower Dust Absorption of Sunlight than Used in Climate Models

The ability of dust to absorb solar radiation and heat the atmosphere is one of the main uncertainties in climate modeling and the prediction of climate change. Dust absorption is not well known due to limitations of in situ measurements. New techniques to measure dust absorption are needed in order to assess the impact of dust on climate. Here we report two new independent remote sensing techniques that provide sensitive measurements of dust absorption. Both are based on remote sensing. One uses satellite spectral measurements, the second uses ground based sky measurements from the AERONET network. Both techniques demonstrate that Saharan dust absorption of solar radiation is several times smaller than the current international standards. Dust cooling of the earth system in the solar spectrum is therefore significantly stronger than recent calculations indicate. We shall also address the issue of the effects of dust non-sphericity on the aerosol optical properties.
The Association Between Social Support Availability and Executive Function in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

iii Acknowledgements . v List of Figures . viii List of Tables . ix List of Abbreviations . xi 1.0 Introduction . 1 2.0 Literature Review . 6 2.1 Cognitive Function . 6 2.1. 1 Executive Function . 6 2.1. 2 Decline in Cognitive Function . 8 2.1. 3 Factors Impacting Cognitive Function . 10 2.2 Social Support . 15 2.2.1 Social Support Definitions and Concepts . 16 2.2.2 Factors Modifying Social Support . 18 2.3 Cognitive Function and Social Support . 21 2.3. 1 Theoretical Models of How Social Support Affects Health . 21 2.3. 2 Reverse Causality . 23 2.3. 3 Evidence for an Association between Social Support and Cognitive Function . 24 2.4 Conclusion . 27 3.0 Study Rationale and Research Questions . 28 4.0 Methodology . 30 4.1 Literature Search Strategy . 30 4.2 Data Source: Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging . 32 4.2.1 Background . 32 4.2.2 Study Design. 32 4.2.3 Study Sample and Eligibility Criteria . 33 4.3 Current Project . 35 4.3. 1 Analytical Sample . 35 4.3. 2 Measures . 36 4.3. 3 Data Analyses . 43 4.3. 4 Ethics and Data Access . 47
The association between social support and medication adherence in adults with rheumatoid arthritis

The association between social support and medication adherence has been studied in several chronic diseases. However, this association has not been extensively explored in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), especially with valid and objective measures. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between social support and medication adherence in adults with RA using a valid and reliable social support questionnaire, the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL), and the Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS) to objectively measure medication adherence of RA drugs. A cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational design was used for this secondary analysis of data from a randomized controlled trial of a behavioral intervention to improve medication adherence in patients with RA. The parent study used convenience sampling, and a total of 567 subjects were included in this secondary analysis. At baseline, the subjects completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and the ISEL. Then the subjects were instructed to use the MEMS cap for 30 days. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to examine which of the four ISEL subscale scores (tangible, appraisal, self-esteem, and belonging) best predicted each of the adherence measures (dose adherence, days adherence, and on-time adherence). No social support subscale significantly predicted days adherence. Tangible social support was a significant predictor of dose adherence (OR=1.082, 95% CI=1.008 - 1.162). For on-time adherence, self-esteem social support was a significant predictor (OR=0.942, 95% CI=0.893 - 0.994). These results may be due to controlling for the effect of other social support subscale measures that may be related to alternate variables affecting the associations between the adherence and social support. A further study examining these variables is recommended for a greater understanding of the role of social support on medication adherence in persons with RA.
Etude d'une nouvelle nuance d'acier à roulement pour conditions d'usage sévères et modélisation de son endommagement en présence d'une indentation

Ce travail est consacre, d'une part, a la recherche d'une nouvelle nuance d'acier a roulement et de ses traitements thermiques permettant d'accroitre la tenue des roulements en condition d'usage severes (chargement important, temperature elevee, lubrification polluee provoquant des indentations des surfaces de contact) et, d'autre part, a la description et a la modelisation de son endommagement en fatigue de contact de surfaces indentees. Des caracterisations microstructurales et mecaniques simples (principalement durete, teneur en austenite residuelle) conduites sur differentes coulees de laboratoire et pour differents traitements thermiques permettent d'abord de definir une gamme de compositions interessantes et de choisir une nuance. Les conditions de traitement thermique de la nuance choisie sont affinees, apres que celle-ci ait ete elaboree industriellement afin d'obtenir un niveau de proprete inclusionnaire necessaire a une bonne tenue en fatigue de roulement. Le comportement mecanique du nouveau materiau a ete caracterise (comportement microplastique, plastique cyclique et tenue en compression cyclique), des essais de fatigue de roulement ont ete effectues sur eprouvettes lisses et indentees, pour simuler un fonctionnement en lubrification polluee, et les pieces fatiguees ont ete expertisees afin de determiner les mecanismes d'endommagement. Enfin une contribution a la modelisation de l'endommagement en fatigue de roulement en presence d'indentations est proposee. Elle s'appuie sur les principes de la modelisation de l'endommagement en conditions normales de fonctionnement (amorcage d'une fissure sur une microheterogeneite en sous-couche et propagation jusqu'a la surface) en prenant en compte les modelisations mecaniques, microstructurales et geometriques provoquees par l'indentation.
Socialt kapital och politiskt deltagande i Europa

Under de senaste aren har diskussionen om det ”sociala kapitalet” florerat inom manga olika vetenskapsgrenar. Studier om socialt kapital, med vilket man avser socialt fortroende, natverk och reciprocitetsnormer, har utforts speciellt inom samhallsvetenskapliga discipliner som statskunskap, offentlig forvaltning, sociologi och nationalekonomi, men aven exempelvis inom folkhalsoomradet. Inom statsvetenskapen har man hanvisat till det sociala kapitalet bl.a. i samband med demokratiforskning, dar man konstaterat att socialt kapital har gynnsamma effekter for demokratin (t.ex. okat valdeltagande och effektivare institutioner) i och med den medborgaranda det skapar. I doktorsavhandlingen granskas inledningsvis tva faktorer som kan paverka nivan av socialt kapital i olika lander. Som huvudsakligt material for undersokningen anvands The European Social Survey (ESS). Resultaten visar att nivan av socialt kapital i hog grad bestams av graden av ekonomisk jamlikhet och graden av korruption. Ju hogre grad av jamlikhet och ju lagre grad av korruption, desto hogre ar det samhalleliga sociala kapitalet. For det andra undersoks hur socialt kapital (har definierat som socialt fortroende och deltagande i saval formella foreningar som informella natverk) ar kopplat till olika former av politiskt deltagande. Bade traditionella former och mer okonventionella former av politiskt engagemang beaktas. Socialt kapital visar sig med fa undantag ha ett samband med politiskt deltagande, saval pa samhallsnivan som pa individnivan. Deltagandet i de frivilliga foreningarna ar dock i detta avseende den klart viktigaste av det sociala kapitalets bestandsdelar, medan betydelsen av socialt fortroende och socialt umgange utanfor de formella foreningarna blir mindre tydlig.
18F-Fluoride and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography after transient ischemic attack or minor stroke: case-control study

Citation for published version: Vesey, A, Jenkins, W, Irkle, A, Moss, A, Sng, G, Forsythe, R, Clark, T, Roberts, G, Fletcher, AM, Lucatelli, C, Rudd, J, Davenport, AP, Mills, N, Salman, R, Dennis, M, Whiteley, W, van Beek, E, Dweck, M & Newby, D 2017, '18F-Fluoride and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography after transient ischemic attack or minor stroke: case-control study', Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCIMAGING.116. 004976
Occult cloudwater deposition to a forest in complex terrain : measurement and interpretation

Approved: Occult deposition is the direct uptake of cloudwater by vegetation that comes into physical contact with wind-driven cloud droplets. This can be a significant pathway for hydrological and chemical fluxes from the atmosphere to some forests. Methods for estimating cloudwater fluxes to forests are reviewed. Previous studies have neglected the fact that cloudwater is not a conservative atmospheric quantity. This invalidates traditional micrometeorological approaches for estimation of cloudwater fluxes to forests. A theory is developed to predict the change in the cloudwater flux with height due to condensation in the updrafts of orographic cloud, allowing estimation of surface uptake via eddy correlation measurements while accounting for condensation. The performances of three microphysical instruments are examined. From collocated measurements, errors in cloud liquid water content are determined for a Particulate Volume Monitor (PVM) and a Forward Scattering Spectrometer Probe (FSSP) to be less than 0.01 g m3 and 0.035 g m3 respectively. Similarly, the error bounds for surfacenormal cloud liquid water fluxes are found to be 2 mg m2 s for the PVM and 3.5 mg m2 s1 for the FSSP. Smaller errors are found to be associated with the uncertainty in the Redacted for Privacy direction of the flux relevant to surface uptake. The FSSP is seen to have larger errors when droplet concentrations exceed 600 cm3. A vertical divergence is detected in the cloudwater flux; the downward flux decreases with increasing distance from the surface, usually changing sign by 15 m above ground. Five candidate processes are identified as possible explanations for this measured flux divergence. A scale analysis shows that the liquid water source (condensation due to pseudoadiabatic ascent) is largely responsible for the change in flux with height. Accounting for the change in flux with height results in a near doubling of the estimated surface flux relative to the flux measured at a height of 10 m in the surface layer for this silver fir forest. This factor applies to chemical as well as liquid water fluxes. This source of liquid water also is seen to be important in developing a simple model for cloudwater deposition. Occult Cloudwater Deposition to a Forest in Complex Terrain: Measurement and Interpretation
Substantive Representation by the Unelected: The Role of Staff Gender on Mayoral Priorities in U.S. Cities

The literature on descriptive and substantive representation focuses on elected representatives, but overlooks the gender of those who play an integral role in policy process (agenda-setting) and outcomes (implementation): The elected’s chief of staff, senior policy advisors, and, in council-manager systems, the city manager. This thesis examines the role policy staff and city manager gender plays in substantive representation. After analyzing staff composition and agenda priorities — gleaned from State of the City addresses — for mayors of the 50 most-populous cities in the United States, I found substantial evidence to support my hypotheses that the chief of staff’s gender, not the elected’s gender, will drive the overall gender of staff as well as the gender characterization of policy agendas. Mayors — regardless of gender — with female chiefs of staff in this dataset have more female staffers and more neutral policy agendas. Mayors — regardless of gender — with male chiefs of staff have more male staffers and mostly masculine policy. In weak mayor systems, city managers’ gender strongly influences mayoral policy agendas, especially in small cities; since most city managers are male, those policy agendas are more masculine, regardless of the mayor’s and chief of staff’s gender. Thus, I find that staff who are involved in the intricacies of policy process and outcome have a stronger influence on policy than the public-facing elected official. These results, supplemented by interviews with mayors and chiefs of staff from across the country, could change the importance scholars place on descriptive representation, and alter scholars’ approach to studying both substantive representation for women and American democracy in general.
Late Miocene coesite-eclogite exhumed in the Woodlark Rift, Papua New Guinea

Late Miocene-Pliocene eclogites were exhumed in the Woodlark Rift of eastern Papua New Guinea, an actively extending region west of the Woodlark Basin seafl oor spreading center. We report the discovery of coesite in late Miocene eclogite from the lower plate of one of the D'Entrecasteaux Islands metamorphic core complexes within the Woodlark Rift. Zircon crys- tallization temperatures (650-675 °C) and 238 U/ 206 Pb age (ca. 8 Ma), and rutile thermometry (695-743 °C) combined with garnet-pyroxene thermometry (600-760 °C) and garnet-pyroxene- phengite barometry (18-27 kbar), indicate that the coesite-eclogite was exhumed from mantle depths (≥90 km) to the Earth's surface at plate tectonic rates (cm yr -1 ). This late Miocene coesite- eclogite is the youngest exhumed ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) rock on Earth, and its preservation ahead of the westward-propagating seafl oor spreading center forces reevaluation of models for UHP exhumation, as well as the geologic and tectonic evolution of the Woodlark Rift.