Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Technical efficiency of organic milk-farms in Germany - the role of subsidies and of regional factors

This paper investigates the efficiency of organic milk farms in Germany based on data from 1994/95 to 2005/06. Five inputs and one output are analyzed by means of a stochastic frontier production function, allowing for heteroscedasticity and technical effects. The selection of determinants of technical efficiency includes 5 groups of indicators. The analysis is focused on the impacts of farm support of organic farms and of regional factors, that can influence technical efficiency. The results show, that the agri-environmental payments show a negative effect on efficiency. Farms, which receive investment aid, show lower efficiency scores. Finally, the implication for agricultural policy are discussed.
The Cluster-EAGLE project: a comparison of dynamical mass estimators using simulated clusters

Forthcoming large-scale spectroscopic surveys will soon provide data on thousands of galaxy clusters. It is important that the systematics of the various mass estimation techniques are well understood and calibrated. We compare three different dynamical mass estimators using the C-EAGLE galaxy clusters, a set of high resolution simulations with resolved galaxies a median total mass, $M_{200c} = 10^{14.7} \, \mathrm{M_\odot}$. We quantify the bias and scatter of the Jeans, virial, and caustic mass estimators using all galaxies with a stellar mass $M_*> 10^9 \, \mathrm{M_\odot}$, both in the ideal 3D case and in the more realistic projected case. On average we find our mass estimates are unbiased, though relative to the true mass within $r_{200c}$ the scatter is large with a range of $0.09$ - $0.15$ dex. We see a slight increase in the scatter when projecting the clusters. Selecting galaxies using the same criteria, we find no significant difference in the mass bias or scatter when comparing results from hydrodynamical and dark matter only simulations. However, selecting galaxies by stellar mass reduces the bias compared to selecting by total mass. Comparing X-ray derived hydrostatic and dynamical masses, the former are ${\sim} 30$ per cent lower. We find a slight dependence between substructure, measured using two different metrics, and mass bias. In conclusion, we find that dynamical mass estimators, when averaged together, are unbiased with a scatter of $0.11 \pm 0.02$ dex when including interloper galaxies and with no prior knowledge of $r_{200c}$.
The Effectiveness of a School-Based Health Education Intervention in Changing Screen-Based and Physical Activities in Young Adolescents

This study examines the extent to which a comprehensive, school- -based, health-education programme, based on lectures and active student participation in discussions and related project activities, can produce desirable changes in adolescents' behaviour. A quasi-experimental design, with pre- and post-intervention testing, was used in a group of adolescents (N = 858). Our results show that the conducted programme had modest effects. There was no difference between the pre- and post-intervention reports of time spent on screen-based activities and physical exercise, and the time spent doing physical activities was not correlated with the time they spent on sedentary activities. In this paper, we discuss various possible reasons for the ineffectiveness of such programmes in producing desired behavioural changes in young adolescents.
The Effect of Reading Code Aloud on Comprehension: An Empirical Study with School Students

In recent times, programming is increasingly taught to younger students in schools. While learning programming is known to be difficult, we can lighten the learning experience of this age group by adopting pedagogies that are common to them, but not as common in CS education. One of these pedagogies is Reading Aloud (RA), a familiar strategy when young children and beginners start learning how to read in their natural language. RA is linked with a better comprehension of text for beginner readers. We hypothesize that reading code aloud during introductory lessons will lead to better code comprehension. To this end, we design and execute a controlled experiment with the experimental group participants reading the code aloud during the lessons. The participants are 49 primary school students between 9 and 13 years old, who follow three lessons in programming in Python. The lessons are followed by a comprehension assessment based on Bloom's taxonomy. The results show that the students of the experimental group scored significantly higher in the Remembering-level questions compared to the ones in the control group. There is no significant difference between the two groups in their answers to the Understanding-level questions. Furthermore, the participants in both groups followed some of the instructed vocalizations more frequently such as the variable's assignment (is). Vocalizing the indentation spaces in a for -loop was among the least followed. Our paper suggests that using RA for teaching programming in schools will contribute to improving code comprehension with its effect on syntax remembering.
On the Anionic Group Approximation to the Borate Nonlinear Optical Materials

In this mini-review type of article, a brief summary of the anionic group approximation as it relates to the borate nonlinear optical (NLO) crystals, an idea firstly proposed by Professor Chen, is presented.The basic idea, calculation method, tabulated coefficients of various common borate, as well as nitrate or carbonate groups, in their ideal geometries will be presented. New practices reveal that those parameters can still give very accurate predicted NLO coefficients for recently found NLO crystals without any adjustment of parameters.
Phylogenetic relationships and phylogeographic patterns in Monodelphis (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae)

Abstract Monodelphis (short-tailed opossums) is the most speciose South American marsupial genus, wtih species distributed from Panama to Argentina. The goal of the present study was to analyze levels and patterns of genetic variation in M. brevicaudata (Guianan short-tailed opossum), M. dimidiata (yellow-sided opossum), M. domestica (gray short-tailed opossum), and M. kunsi (pygmy short-tailed opossum) using sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b (Cytb) and nuclear interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP) genes from individuals sampled in the Amazon, Cerrado, Caatinga, Atlantic Forest, and Pampa biomes in Brazil. Species relationships also were analyzed using sequences of 9 other Monodelphis species retrieved from GenBank and representing 3 localities in Brazil and 17 sites in other South American countries. M. domestica and M. brevicaudata showed phylogeographic structure, but M. dimidiata and M. kunsi did not. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian algorithms showed similar topologies for estimated phylogenetic trees. Analyses of individual genes produced comparable results, but combined loci produced trees with higher support. All Monodelphis haplotypes were monophyletic, with M. emiliae (Emilia's short-tailed opossum) sister to all other species, which form 2 groups. M. brevicaudata (from the Amazon) forms a well-supported clade with M. domestica (which occupies several biomes) and 2 unidentified Amazonian species. The other branch has M. kunsi (from the Cerrado) as sister to a well-supported clade of 5 Amazonian species.
Monetary and absorption approach to explain the Croatian current account

The paper brings the determinants of Croatian current account dynamics under monetary and absorption approach. The main hypothesis of the paper assumes that Croatian current account can be explained within the framework based on the monetary and absorption approach to balance of payments. The research employed newly developed Non-linear Auto-Regression Distributed Lag (NARDL) approach that takes into account nonlinear and asymmetric nature of the relationship between Croatian current account and its determinants. Estimated results on a quarterly data sample from the first quarter of 2000 to the second quarter of 2017 supports the main research hypothesis and reveals that that Croatian current account can be explained using the analytical framework based on the monetary and absorption approach. Domestic demand, real exchange rate index, loans to private sector and monetary aggregates M4 are tested as the determinants of Croatian current account. Monetary aggregates M4 are found to hold the highest explanatory power among tested monetary variables. The main findings of the paper suggest the need for fiscal policy measures and relaxing the liquidity constraints for the Croatian exporters as necessary to obtain external equilibrium.
Potential for Increasing Soil Nutrient Availability via Soil Organic Matter Improvement Using Pseudo Panel Data

Fixed and random effect models were applied to a pseudo-panel data built of soil analysis reports from tobacco farms to analyze relationships between soil characteristics like soil organic matter (SOM) and soil nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) and to explore the potential for improving nutrients availability by increasing SOM content. These econometric models may account for unobserved specific characteristics such as location-specific characteristics, management strategies, farmers’ skills and preferences and environmental heterogeneity. Positive relationships were found between N, P and K availability and SOM. The random effect model reports a highly significant elasticity of N with respect to SOM of 0.75, meaning that an increase of 1% of SOM will increase soil N by 0.75%. Using this elasticity, the required SOM improvement of green manure was calculated at which costs of green manure would exactly equal benefits in terms of reduced N fertilizer use. Costs and benefits are equal if the SOM increases from 1.55% to 3.61%, which is barely achieved according to the literature. Hence, growing green manure crops to increase SOM and thereby N availability is not economically attractive. However, additional benefits may arise from SOM improvement and growing green manure crops.
Consumption of Vitamin Dand Calcium-Fortified Soft White Cheese Lowers the Biochemical Marker of Bone Resorption TRAP 5 b in Postmenopausal Women at Moderate Risk of Osteoporosis Fracture 1 , 2

The prevention of increased bone remodeling in postmenopausal women at low 10-y risk of osteoporotic fractures essentially relies on reinforcement of environmental factors known to positively influence bone health, among which nutrition plays an important role. In institutionalized women in their mid-eighties, we previously found that consumption of fortified soft plain cheese increased vitamin D, calcium, and protein intakes, reduced bone resorption biochemical markers, particularly the serum bone specific acid phosphatase tartrate resistant acid phosphatase, isoform 5b (TRAP 5b) that reflects osteoclast activity, and stimulated the serum bone anabolic factor insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I). Whether these effects occur in much younger women was tested in a prospective control study. Seventy-one healthy postmenopausal women aged 56.6 6 3.9 y (mean 6 SD) with low spontaneous supply of both Ca and vitamin D were randomized to consume daily (treated, n = 36) or not (controls, n = 35) two servings (23 100 g) of skimmed-milk, soft plain cheese for 6 wk. The vitamin D and Ca-fortified dairy product provided daily: 661 kJ, 2.5 mg vitamin D, 400mg calcium, and 13.8 g protein. At the end of the intervention, the decrease in TRAP 5b and the increase in IGF-I were greater in the treated than in the control group (P , 0.02). The changes in serum carboxy terminal crosslinked telopeptide of type I collagen did not differ significantly between the two groups. In conclusion, like in elderly women, consumption by healthy postmenopausal women of a vitamin D and calcium-fortified dairy product that also increases the protein intake, reduces the serum concentration of the bone resorption biomarker TRAP 5b. This response, combined with the increase in serum IGF-I, is compatible with a nutrition-induced reduction in postmenopausal bone loss rate. J. Nutr. 142: 698–703, 2012.
Test-Driven Code Review: An Empirical Study

Test-Driven Code Review (TDR) is a code review practice in which a reviewer inspects a patch by examining the changed test code before the changed production code. Although this practice has been mentioned positively by practitioners in informal literature and interviews, there is no systematic knowledge of its effects, prevalence, problems, and advantages. In this paper, we aim at empirically understanding whether this practice has an effect on code review effectiveness and how developers' perceive TDR. We conduct (i) a controlled experiment with 93 developers that perform more than 150 reviews, and (ii) 9 semi-structured interviews and a survey with 103 respondents to gather information on how TDR is perceived. Key results from the experiment show that developers adopting TDR find the same proportion of defects in production code, but more in test code, at the expenses of fewer maintainability issues in production code. Furthermore, we found that most developers prefer to review production code as they deem it more critical and tests should follow from it. Moreover, general poor test code quality and no tool support hinder the adoption of TDR. Public preprint: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2551217, data and materials: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2553139
Where Are All the Kids ? : A Literature Review of What We Know About Economic Thinking in the Elementary Grades 1

Economic education is a growing field of research within economics more broadly, and by examining research productivity rankings, we can see that the wider economics community recognizes the importance of research in economic education. However, within the economic education discipline, there is very little research focusing on the elementary grades. This literature review presents a historical account of research in elementary economics education, focusing on how understanding the development of economic thinking from pre-school through adolescence can help researchers design more effective curricula. The review concludes with a call for a renewed focus on elementary economics education research with the goal of improving the economic literacy of the youngest among us.
LEAN HEALTHCARE IMPLEMENTATION : EXPERIENCES AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM BRAZILIAN HOSPITALS Implementação do lean healthcare :

This study aimed to analyze the process of implementing lean healthcare in three Brazilian hospitals that have played a pioneering role in the implementation of this system. We adopted the case study approach and collected data through interviews, document analysis, and observation. The results showed that the processes of implementation of lean healthcare in the hospitals shared many similarities in terms of the flow of patients, materials, or information. Finally, it was possible to obtain some guidelines for the application of lean principles and techniques in order to facilitate the implementation of lean healthcare in hospital operations.
Performance of Track and Vertex Reconstruction and b-Tagging Studies with ATLAS in pp Collisions at ?s = 7 TeV

First 7 TeV proton-proton collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN have been recorded by the ATLAS experiments in 2010. The ability to accurately and efficiently reconstruct the trajectories of charged particles produced in these collisions is a critical component in the measurements that will be presented at this conference. This talk will present results on the performance of tracking and vertex-reconstruction using the ATLAS tracking systems. Various methods are employed by the two experiments for determining the efficiency of track reconstruction using the first data collected by the detectors. Furthermore, the methods to control the track momentum scale and related systematic uncertainties will be discussed. Finally, the reconstruction of known particle decays is presented as important tool to understand the tracking and vertexing performance, as well as the particle identification capabilities. The identification of b-quark jets is an important tool for the physics programs of the ATLAS experiment. So-called b-tagging algorithms take advantage of either the decay to a soft lepton or a displaced vertex caused by the long-lived decay of a b hadron via the weak force. As a result key ingredients to b-tagging algorithms are the precise trajectory measurement of charged particle tracks and detection of low pT leptons. The distributions of the corresponding observables - track impact parameters, secondary vertices and lepton momenta - were measured in pp collisions at ? s=7 TeV, and compared to the predictions from Monte Carlo simulation. First results on efficiencies and mis-identification rates are shown. The calibration strategies that will be used for early data and initial studies that will lead to a fully data-driven calibration for the b-tagging algorithms are also presented.
Does Family Policy Influence Women’s Employment?: Reviewing the Evidence in the Field

During the past two decades, the debate over the relation between family policy and women’s employment in high-income countries has grown in prominence. Nevertheless, the evidence proposed in different disciplines – sociology, politics, economics and demography – remains scattered and fragmented. This article addresses this gap, discussing whether family policy regimes are converging and how different policies influence women’s employment outcomes in high-income countries. The main findings can be summarized as follows: family policy regimes (‘Primary Caregiver Strategy’, ‘Choice Strategy’, ‘Primary Earner Strategy’, ‘Earning Carer Strategy’, ‘Mediterranean Model’) continues to shape women’s employment outcomes despite some process of convergence towards the Earning Carer Strategy; the shortage of childcare and the absence of maternal leave curtail women’s employment; long parental leave seems to put a brake to women’s employment; unconditional child benefits and joint couple’s taxation negatively influence women’s employment but support horizontal redistribution; policies and collective attitudes interact, influencing women’s behaviour in the labour market; and the effect of policies is moderated/magnified by individual socioeconomic characteristics, that is, skills, class, education, income, ethnicity and marital status. The article concludes by suggesting avenues for future research.
G 99 / 8 Booms and Slumps in World Commodity Prices

This paper examines the duration and magnitude of cycles in commodity prices. We find that for the majority of commodities, price slumps last longer than price booms. How far prices fall in a slump is found to be slightly larger than how far they tend to rebound in a subsequent boom. We also find little evidence of a consistent ‘shape’ to cycles in commodity prices. For all commodities, the probability of an end to a slump in prices is independent of the time already spent in the slump, and for most commodities, the probability of an end to a boom in prices is independent of the time already spent in the boom. 1 Paul Cashin is Senior Economist, Commodities and Special Issues Division of the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund. We thank Michael Bleaney, Ximena Cheetham, Samuel Ouliaris, Catherine Pattillo, Blair Rourke and Peter Wickham for valuable comments and suggestions. The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect those of the IMF or the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
TLR 4 antagonist reduces early-stage atherosclerosis in diabetic apolipoprotein E-deficient mice

Although it has been reported that deficiency of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is associated with reduced atherosclerosis in atherosclerosis-prone mice and attenuated pro-inflammatory state in diabetic mice, it remains undetermined whether treatment with a TLR4 antagonist reduces atherosclerosis in nondiabetic or diabetic mice that have TLR4 expression. In this study, we determined the effect of Rhodobacter sphaeroides lipopolysaccharide (Rs-LPS), an established TLR4 antagonist, on early-stage atherosclerosis in nondiabetic and streptozotocin-induced diabetic apolipoprotein E-deficient (Apoe) mice. Analysis of atherosclerotic lesions of both en face aortas and cross sections of aortic roots showed that administration of Rs-LPS in 14-week-old diabetic Apoe mice for 10 weeks significantly reduced atherosclerotic lesions. Although atherosclerotic lesions in nondiabetic Apoe mice appeared to be decreased by Rs-LPS treatment, the difference was not statistically significant. Metabolic study showed that Rs-LPS significantly lowered serum levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in nondiabetic mice but not in diabetic mice. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry studies showed that Rs-LPS inhibited the expression of interleukin 6 and matrix metalloproteinase-9 and reduced the content of monocytes and macrophages in atherosclerotic plaques. Taken together, this study demonstrated for the first time that TLR4 antagonist inhibited vascular inflammation and atherogenesis in diabeticApoemice and lowered serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels in nondiabetic Apoe mice.
Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in women of child-bearing age in faculty of Medicine and health sciences Hodeida City, Yemen

Background: Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite and prevalent worldwide that represents an actual public health problem. Prevalence and risk factors of toxoplasmosis in women of child-bearing age are unknown in Yemen. The current study was conducted with the objectives of estimating the seroprevalence and potential risk factors in acquiring T. gondii between women of childbearing in faculty of medical and health science Hodeidah University, Yemen. Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of T. gondii infection in women of childbearing age in Hodeidah city. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2016 to June 2017. Sera of 90 women child-bearing age in Faculty of Medicine and Health sciences, Hodeidah University, Yemen were analyzed by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). A questionnaire survey was administered for all participants in this study to gather information on risk factors. Result: Out of the 90 women of childbearing age 14.5% were seropositive for immunologlubolin G (IgG) and 14.4% for immunologlobin (IgM) anti-toxoplasma antibodies. The highest prevalence of toxoplasma IgG was found to be 16.2% among working fathers of study sample. The seropositive of T. gondii IgG antibodies was 42.9% among childbearing women showing Khat whereas IgM antibodies were 14.3%. Conclusion: We found from our study seroprevalence of T. gondii IgG 14.5% and 14.4% of IgM. These finding were lower than to other results reported from developing countries.