Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MICROFINANCE, FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT, FOREIGN AID, AND INCOME INEQUALITY: EVIDENCE FROM SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

This paper examines the effects of microfinance, financial development and foreign aid on income inequality for 43 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Panel data for the period 1995–2015 is examined using fixed effects, pooled ordinary least square and system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation techniques. Findings suggest that although foreign aid plays a determining role in explaining the dynamics of inequality in SSA, it does not appear to be pro-poor. Moreover, the results reveal that both microfinance and financial development contribute to narrowing the income gap between the poor and the rich and to reducing inequality. This implies that providing access to loans through microfinance institutions or bankbased financial system offer to the poor the potential for income-generating activities. Furthermore, the empirical evidence suggests that GDP per capita growth and government expenditures appear to be pro-poor. While a rapid population growth, high levels of inflation, FDI and trade openness are correlated, positively and significantly, with greater income inequality. These results have important policy implications for SSA. Enhancing the efficiency of social protection, promoting progressive taxation and distributional effectiveness of fiscal are crucial to address income inequalities.
Manufacturing of hydrogels from never-dried microcrystalline cellulose by high-pressure mechanical treatment

Microcrystalline cellulose-based hydrogels were made using never-dried MCC (AaltoCellTM) as a raw material for a high-pressure mechanical treatment consisting of one to five passes at 700 bars. The effects of the mechanical treatment on the crystalline structure, morphology, geometrical dimensions, and specific surface area as well as rheological properties of the manufactured cellulose gel product were investigated. The results indicated that the process detached part of the crystalline area of the cellulose, resulting in loose particle architecture, increased surface area and porosity, and thus more accessible and reactive material. Due to the creation of the new internal surface area and porosity, more hydrogen bonds were formed between the cellulose particles, consequently creating more stable cellulose hydrogel-like slurries. The properties of the produced hydrogels were greatly influenced by the number of the treatment passes through the process equipment. Several passes through the process produced stronger cellulose hydrogels capable of retaining more water.
Employment Uncertainty a Year after the Irruption of the COVID-19 Pandemic

This paper examines the evolution of consumer uncertainty about unemployment one year after the irruption of the covid-19 pandemic in European countries. Since uncertainty is not directly observable, we use two alternative methods to directly approximate it. Both approaches are based on qualitative expectations elicited form the consumer survey conducted by the European Commission. On the one hand, following Dibiasi and Iselin (2019), we use the share of consumers unable to formalize expectations about unemployment (Knightian-type uncertainty). On the other hand, we use the geometric discrepancy indicator proposed by Claveria et al. (2019) to quantify the proportion of disagreement in business and consumer expectations. We have used information from 22 European countries. We find that both uncertainty measures covary. Although we observe marked differences across countries, in most cases the perception of employment uncertainty peaked before the outbreak of the crisis, plummeted during the first months of the lockdown, and started rising again since the past few months. When testing for cointegration with the unemployment rate, we find that the discrepancy indicator exhibits a long- term relationship with unemployment in most countries, while the Knightian uncertainty indicator shows a purely short-run relationship. The impact of both indicators on unemployment is characterised by considerable asymmetries, showing a more intense reaction to decreases in the level of uncertainty. While this finding may seem counterintuitive at first sight, it somehow reflects the fact that during recessive periods, the level of disagreement in the employment expectations of consumers drops considerably.
Habit‐Dependent Vapor Growth Modulates Arctic Supercooled Water Occurrence

We present an analysis of long‐term data collected at Utqiaġvik, Alaska, to explore the impacts of cloud processes on the probability of finding supercooled water given cloud temperature, P(L|T), in the topmost unseeded liquid‐bearing layers. P(L|T) has local minima at temperatures around −6°C and −15°C. Simulations using habit‐evolving ice microphysics models suggest that these minima are the result of efficient vapor growth by non‐isometric habits found at these temperatures. We conclude that habit‐dependent vapor growth of ice crystals modulates the macrophysical occurrence of supercooled water in polar clouds, the effect of which should be included in model parametrizations to avoid biases and/or error compensation. Our methodology is adaptable for spherical ice treatments implemented in models (example parametrizations provided), amenable for use with satellite measurements to give global impartial observational targets for model evaluations, and may allow empirical characterization of bulk responses to seeding and possibly secondary ice effects.
The Role of E-Word of Mouth in the Relationship between Online Destination Image, E-satisfaction, E-Trust & E-Service Quality for International Tourists Perception

Destination Image as a development which comprises of interrelated assessments converged with general impressions and convictions dependent on data preparing from an assortment of sources after some time; little research has concentrated on picture arrangement corresponding to this kind of goal, this article explores the mediating role of Online Image on the connection between E-WOM and E-service quality, E-satisfaction, E- trust The result of Structural equation Modelling (AMOS) path analysis affirmed that estimation model fulfilled the necessity and evidence the solidness of things, builds and correlation. All the four conditions for estimation model was met: things stacking above 0.7; unwavering composite quality (CR) above 0.7; Average Variance Extraction (AVE) above 0.5. The scholastics and industry will profit by the usage of this examination. Likewise, the tourist industry division can draw from these outcomes as references and proposals inside the impediments of the study. Future research headings were proposed to deal with the restrictions.
Factors Affecting Mobile Learning Acceptance in Higher Education: An Empirical Study

The use of mobile tools to support learning and teaching activities has become a significant part of the informal learning process. Mobile learning (M-learning) is used to considerably develop the forms of learning activities made by learners, and support the learning process. The effective application of M-learning in higher educational institutions, however, is based on the learners’ adoption. It is therefore essential to define and investigate the factors affecting the desire of learners to use and adopt M-learning. Thus, this research investigates the factors affecting students’ intention to adopt Mlearning in institutions of higher education. To achieve the objectives of this research, a model is proposed based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The instrument is developed using validated items from previous studies and shreds of literature. Data for this quantitative study are collected from undergraduate and postgraduate students. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) is used to analyze the data collected from 218 participants using a survey questionnaire. The findings show that students’ intention to adopt M-learning is shaped by various variables consisting of personnel innovativeness, self-management, facilitating conditions, social influence, relative advantage, and effort expectancy. The research results also present several practical contributions and implications for M-learning adoption in terms of research and practice. Investigation of the required determinants may contribute to gain learners’ adoption and is important to enhance the learning experience of students and help them improve their knowledge and academic achievement. The contribution of this paper lies in defining the factors influencing the acceptance and use of M-learning systems by students of higher education in Palestine. Hopefully, the results of the study are valuable for policy-makers in designing comprehensive M-learning systems. Keywords—Mobile learning; UTAUT; structural equation modeling; tam; technology acceptance
Intercept Estimation in Nonlinear Selection Models

We propose various semiparametric estimators for nonlinear selection models, where slope and intercept can be separately identified. When the selection equation satisfies a monotonic index restriction, we suggest a local polynomial estimator, using only observations for which the marginal cumulative distribution function of the instrument index is close to one. Data-driven procedures such as cross-validation may be used to select the bandwidth for this estimator. We then consider the case in which the monotonic index restriction does not hold and/or the set of observations with a propensity score close to one is thin so that convergence occurs at a rate that is arbitrarily close to the cubic rate. We explore the finite sample behavior in a Monte Carlo study and illustrate the use of our estimator using a model for count data with multiplicative unobserved heterogeneity.
Image-Based Wheat Fungi Diseases Identification by Deep Learning

Diseases of cereals caused by pathogenic fungi can significantly reduce crop yields. Many cultures are exposed to them. The disease is difficult to control on a large scale; thus, one of the relevant approaches is the crop field monitoring, which helps to identify the disease at an early stage and take measures to prevent its spread. One of the effective control methods is disease identification based on the analysis of digital images, with the possibility of obtaining them in field conditions, using mobile devices. In this work, we propose a method for the recognition of five fungal diseases of wheat shoots (leaf rust, stem rust, yellow rust, powdery mildew, and septoria), both separately and in case of multiple diseases, with the possibility of identifying the stage of plant development. A set of 2414 images of wheat fungi diseases (WFD2020) was generated, for which expert labeling was performed by the type of disease. More than 80% of the images in the dataset correspond to single disease labels (including seedlings), more than 12% are represented by healthy plants, and 6% of the images labeled are represented by multiple diseases. In the process of creating this set, a method was applied to reduce the degeneracy of the training data based on the image hashing algorithm. The disease-recognition algorithm is based on the convolutional neural network with the EfficientNet architecture. The best accuracy (0.942) was shown by a network with a training strategy based on augmentation and transfer of image styles. The recognition method was implemented as a bot on the Telegram platform, which allows users to assess plants by lesions in the field conditions.
Predictability effects and parafoveal processing in Chinese reading

We report a boundary paradigm eye movement experiment to investigate whether the predictability of the second character of a two-character compound word affects how it is processed prior to direct fixation during reading. The boundary was positioned immediately prior to the second character of the target word, which itself was either predictable or unpredictable. The preview was either a pseudocharacter (nonsense preview), or an identity preview. We obtained clear preview effects in all conditions, but more importantly, skipping probability for the second character of the target word and the whole target word from pretarget was greater when it was predictable than when it was not predictable from the preceding context. Interactive effects for later measures on the whole target word (gaze duration and go-past time) were also obtained. These results demonstrate that predictability information from preceding sentential context and information regarding the likely identity of upcoming characters are used concurrently to constrain the nature of lexical processing during natural Chinese reading.
CORRELATION BETWEEN TECHNOLOGICAL READINESS AND BUSINESS SOPHISTICATION IN GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS

In today’s global economy, the competitiveness of a country has important role to bring the country into prosperity and a respectable position among others. That is why during the past decade, scholars, policy makers and even business leaders throughout the world put a very serious attentions to the issue. Since 1979, the World Economic Forum has published the Global Competitiveness Report which encompasses Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) in order to measure national competitiveness in different countries throughout the world. Using the two sets of variables of “Technological Readiness” and “Business Sophistication” as the two basic pillars of national competitiveness, this study is aimed at investigating the interaction between the two pillars in order to help countries which are in transition from stage II to stage III of development by providing meaningful information for their national competitiveness improvement. This study used descriptive-correlation methodology. According to the GCI 2010 report which covered a statistical population of 139 countries, the secondary analysis using Canonical Correlation Analysis was done. The result shows that there is a significant and positive relationship between the set of variables of “Technological Readiness” and “Business Sophistication”.
Deliberation on the Public Good during COVID-19: A Case Study Examining Elementary Students’ Use of Civic Perspective-Taking

Building on prior research on place-based social studies instruction (Toledo, 2017; 2020), this study specifically looks at data from six third-grade teachers who designed and implemented a civics curriculum focused on engaging students with a unit on locally-relevant public issues. The ten-lesson unit that the teachers and research team collaboratively developed was taught in six classrooms across a large school district. A central public issue in the unit was travel across borders during COVID-19, or simply the coronavirus as it was commonly referred to at the time. Students also considered tensions between immigration and containment of contagious illnesses through a historical lens, for example studying immigrant screening on Ellis Island and related health protocols. This article focuses specifically on how third-grade students across these classrooms conceptualized, discussed, and wrote about the civic tensions surrounding COVID-19 before the crisis was declared a global pandemic. We analyzed data on student contributions from videos of class discussions, observational field notes, and student writing samples. Findings indicate that students applied the concept of the public or common good in three contexts: local, national, and global. We discuss the implications of varied understandings and applications of the common good, particularly as it pertains to quickly evolving public issues and topics.
Semen parameters in Egyptian diabetic patients and its correlation with glycosylated hemoglobin level: A case - control study

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a well-known metabolic disorder affecting a large population worldwide. Both types of DM could have detrimental effects on semen parameters as well as the hormonal profile of the affected males. Objective: On designing the current study, we sought to evaluate the effect of long-term control of DM by measuring glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level and detect its possible correlation with semen parameters and hormonal profile of male patients with DM. Patients and Methods: A prospective case–control study was conducted on 60 males with DM and 40 matched controls. All participants were subjected to conventional semen analysis and measurement of free and total testosterone, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and prolactin levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. Measurement of HbA1c level was made for all participants. Results: A significant negative correlation was found between HbA1c and free testosterone levels, whereas a significant positive correlation between HbA1c and prolactin levels in patients with DM. No significant correlation was reported between HbA1c and semen parameters in patients with DM. Conclusion: Patients with DM have significantly lower semen parameters and reproductive hormone levels than matched healthy controls which might impair their fecundity and reproductive capacity. We do recommend that all males with abnormal semen analysis should undergo screening for DM.
The Effect of Organizational Culture on Faking in the Job Interview

Deceptive impression management (i.e., faking) may alter interviewers’ perceptions of applicants’ qualifications and, consequently, decrease the predictive validity of the job interview. In examining faking antecedents, research has given little attention to situational variables. Using a between-subjects experiment, this research addressed that gap by examining whether organizational culture impacted both the extent to which applicants faked and the manner in which they faked during a job interview. Analyses of variance revealed that organizational culture did not affect the extent to which applicants faked. However, when taking into account applicants’ perceptions of the ideal candidate, organizational culture was found to indirectly impact the manner in which applicants faked their personality (agreeableness and honesty-humility). Overall, the findings suggest that applicants may be able to fake their personality traits during job interviews to increase their person–organization fit.
Non-linear relationship between foreign currency derivatives and firm value: evidence on Sharīʿah compliant firms

This study examines the impact of hedging on firm value of Shariah compliant firms (SCFs) in a –non-linear framework. Design/methodology/approach This study employs the system-GMM for dynamic panel data to examine the influence of derivatives usage on firm value (Tobin’s Q, ROA and ROE). The sample comprised of 59 non-financial SCFs engaged in derivatives from 2000 to 2017 (18 years). The Sasabuchi-Lind-Mehlum (SLM) test for U-shaped is performed to confirm the existence of the non-linear relationship. Findings This study concludes that hedging significantly contributes to firm value of SCFs based on the non-linear framework. This study suggests that, first, the non-linear relationship occurs due to the different degree of derivatives usage and risk. Second, firms practice selective hedging to maintain the upside potential of firm value. Research limitations/implications This study has important implications. First, the importance of risk –management via derivatives to increase firm value, second, the evidence of selective hedging from the non linear relationship between derivatives and firm value and third, the need for quality reporting on derivatives engagement by firms in line with the required accounting standard on derivatives. Originality/value This study fills the gap in the literature in relation to the risk management strategies of –SCFs in three aspects. First, re-examines the relationship using recent data. Second, examines the relationship in the non-linear framework as the limited studies found in the literature on Malaysian firms are only based on linear relationship. Third, determines whether hedging undertaken by firms is optimal as this can only be addressed using the non-linear framework. This study is robust to the various definitions of firm value (Tobin’s Q, ROA and ROE) and non-linear methodologies.
Exploring Boundary Objects in Creative Projects: An Investigation of a Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration

As more and more organizations are reaching the limits of their internal innovation performance, they are increasingly forced to seek external innovation opportunities through inter-organizational collaboration forms, such as creative projects. These collaborations require both efficient and effective forms of communication since a common understanding is required for success. Differences in knowledge backgrounds hinder the collaboration of multiple stakeholder groups by making knowledge integration difficult, especially when they collaborate for the first time. Boundary objects are attributed a mediating capability. While design artifacts are often used to facilitate communication, their value in promoting multi-stakeholder collaboration is not yet fully understood. Addressing the gap, we analyze when artifacts turn into boundary objects and how they promote interaction between stakeholder groups. Building on the results of an in-depth case-study, we illustrate the insights that boundary objects provide for stakeholder integration. After discussing these insights, we outline directions for future research and practice.
Hypersensitive Sites in the Chicken 1-Globin Locus

We have mapped DNase I-hypersensitive sites and topoisomerase II (topo II) sites in the chicken (-globin locus, which contains four globin genes (5Pp-H4,A-3P). In the 65 kilobases (kb) mapped, 12 strong hypersensitive sites were found clustered within the 25-kb region from 10 kb upstream of p to just downstream of e. The strong sites were grouped into several classes based on their tissue distribution, developmental pattern, and location. (i) One site was present in all cells examined, both erythroid and nonerythroid. (ii) Three sites, located upstream of the p-globin gene, were present at every stage of erythroid development, but were absent from nonerythroid cells. (iii) Four sites at the 5' ends of each of the four globin genes were hypersensitive only in the subset of erythroid cells that were transcribing or had recently transcribed the associated gene. (iv) Another three sites, whose pattern of hypersensitivity also correlated with expression of the associated gene,
Applicant Faking on Personality Tests: Good or Bad and Why Should We Care?

The unitarian understanding of construct validity holds that deliberate response distortion in completing self-report personality tests (i.e., faking) threatens trait-based inferences drawn from test scores. This “faking-is-bad” (FIB) perspective is being challenged by an emerging “faking-is-good” (FIG) position that condones or favors faking and its underlying attributes (e.g., social skill, ATIC) to the degree they contribute to predictor–criterion correlations and are job relevant. Based on the unitarian model of validity and relevant empirical evidence, we argue the FIG perspective is psychometrically flawed and counterproductive to personality-based selection targeting trait-based fit. Carrying forward both positions leads to variously dark futures for self-report personality tests as selection tools. Projections under FIG, we suggest, are particularly serious. FIB offers a more optimistic future but only to the degree faking can be mitigated. Evidence suggesting increasing applicant faking rates and other alarming trends makes the FIB versus FIG debate a timely if not urgent matter.