Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Container Terminal Development in Mainland China and Its Impact on the Competitiveness of the Port of Hong Kong

In recent years, China's container ports have experienced a significant expansion in throughput and capacity. This paper provides a review of the sector and analyses the recent development of container ports and terminals within Mainland China. It then focuses in more depth on the competition between the ports of Shenzhen and Hong Kong. In particular, the port of Shenzhen is analysed in the context of Robinson's criteria for hub port development to try to discern whether it will become the dominant regional hub. The discussion concludes that despite Shenzhen's current competitive advantages, Hong Kong will, in all probability, retain its dominant role.
Using an Additive Factor Model and Performance Factor Analysis to Assess Learning Gains in a Tutoring System to Help Adults with Reading Difficulties

After developing an intelligent tutoring system (ITS), or any other class of learning environments, one of the first questions that should be asked is whether the system was effective in helping students learn the targeted skills or subject matter. In this study, we employed two educational data mining models (Additive Factor Model, AFM and Performance Factor Analysis, PFA) which are available in Datashop (LearnSphere) to assess the learning gains on 5 theoretical levels of adults. With AFM, for the KC models tested, the results showed positive learning gains for the Rhetorical Structure knowledge component in contrast, for the PFA model, adults did not learn from either successes or failures.
Approximation for Convenience Yield with Mean-Reverting Commodity Price

The convenience yield of commodities is an important factor influencing futures prices and its accurate measure is a hot issue. Standard option-based measures assume the commodity prices follow a geometric Brownian motion, while some empirical evidence supports that the commodity prices show mean-reverting properties. Using a mean-reverting price process, we derive an analytical convenience yield approximation. We use the soybean meal and strong wheat futures to compare the new measure with the existing approximations. Empirical study shows that the new method with the mean-reverting price process is a better approximation for convenience yields.
The Dugong Action Plan for the South Pacific: An Evaluation Based on the Need for International and Regional Conservation of Sirenians

Abstract The purpose of this article is to set out the essential requirements for a successful regional agreement for Sirenians in the South Pacific. To achieve this, the current Dugong Action Plan, which is being formed under the auspice of the South Pacific Regional Environmental Program, will be juxtaposed against the “best practice” in this area, as evinced by current development in international environmental law and policy relating to Sirenians.
Resource Sharing Using RDF in Ubiquitous Smart Space

This paper presents a scheme to share nearby resources in a ubiquitous smart space. We can discover resources using a resource discovery protocol. The discovered resource information is transformed in RDF form and stored in a resource information base. By querying a resource information base, a resource composer can compose a resource combination and reserve the resources. Then it can download softwares from remote devices and install them to use remote resources as virtual resources. As an application of resource sharing, we show that two mobile devices share their displays by forming a single virtual display.
Examining Sectoral Co-Movement in Estimated Nominal Rigidities Models

Recently, Barsky et al. (2007) found that a sticky-price model does not generate sectoral co-movement and that the propagation mechanism is weak in response to monetary shocks if prices in the durable goods sector are significantly flexible, which raises a co-movement problem in sticky-price models. In this paper, we estimate sticky-price models with both durable and nondurable goods sectors in order to examine sectoral price stickiness and co-movement using actual data. The estimation results show that prices in both sectors are relatively sticky and the co-movement problem does not occur in the usual settings. We find, however, that the co-movement problem may occur when we introduce persistent price-markup shocks in a sticky-price model. We also estimate nominal rigidities models with sticky wages as well as sticky prices and find that sticky wages are helpful in explaining sectoral co-movement in addition to sticky prices.
Uranium monitoring in ground and waste waters by alpha-spectroscopy after its separation by Lewatit TP 207 resin

Monitoring of radioactive contamination including uranium contamination of solid waste and wastewater streams is of particular interest because radioactive waste can affect human health and the environment. Moreover, early detection of radioactive waste enhances safety and reduces the costs of further treatment processes and management stages. In this study, uranium in groundand wastewater samples has been analyzed by alpha spectroscopy after pre-concentration and separation by means of a chelating resin Lewatit TP207, and following electrodeposition of the radionuclide on stainless steel discs. The effect of the amount of resin used on the uranium recovery and the spectra quality has been investigated using 200 ml aliquots of a groundwater sample. Generally, using 0.25 g resin for a 200 ml groundwater sample results in reasonable yields and good quality spectra. In addition, the method has been successfully applied to detect depleted uranium contamination in wastewater samples obtained from a local wastewater treatment plant. The alpha-spectroscopic analysis has shown significant depleted uranium (DU) contamination in certain wastewater reservoirs. The DU contamination could be attributed to effluents from a vehicle cleaning facility, which had been released into the processes stream of the respective wastewater treatment plant.
Technical Efficiency of Sweet Potato Farmers in Okene Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria

This study analyzed technical efficiency of sweet potato farmers in Okene Local Governme nt Area of Kogi State, Nigeria. A sample of 80 sweet potato farmers was selected using the multistage sampling technique. Structured questionnaire was used for data collection This implies that sweet potato farmers in the study area are technical inefficient in resource use, and therefore technical efficiency could be increas ed by 53% through optimal reallocation of existing resources. This result also reveals that level of education, farmingexperience;household size and credit access are important factors contributing to technical efficiency. Sweet potato farmers with highe r education that acquired more farming experience have small household size and have access to credit Original ResearchArticle
Divergence in Economic Performance: Transitional Dynamics with Multiple Equilibria

Special pairs of the utility functions and the production functions are used in this paper to uncover the transitional dynamics in a Lucas model of growth. The main findings are as follows: A continuum of equilibria exists if the external effect of human capital in goods production is sufficiently large. The process of lagging behind, catching up with, and overtaking that we often observe in the world economy can be explained. Finally, some equilibrium paths are shown to have such complicated patterns that the dynamics conjectured by Lucas are too simple to be correct.
Users of environmental financial information and aspects of company reporting

There is a degree of controversy over the identification of users of corporate information. Knowing which industries should report, the types of environmental events that should be disclosed and to whom this information should be directed are therefore important issues. The user groups surveyed were shareholders (explicit), shareholder/environmentalists (explicit) and environmentalists (implicit). The results indicate that with regard to which industries should report there is no distinction between explicit and implicit but shareholders believe differential reporting to be appropriate. There is no distinction between explicit and implicit users with regard to what environmental events companies should report and to whom they should be reported.
The Politics of Regulatory Change: National Forest Management Planning under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush

This paper examines regulatory change from the William J. Clinton administration through the presidency of George W. Bush by focusing on their respective efforts to alter national forest planning procedures mandated by the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA). While rule making has become an important alternative pathway for making policy, the strategies used to develop a new rule may vary among presidents because of differing values and management styles. Both presidents were adept at framing the planning regulation to reflect dominant values such as preserving ecosystems (Clinton) or administrative efficiency (Bush). Between-administration differences in regulatory tactics also tended to alter the relative importance of institutional venues and, by extension, the influence exercised by differing political constituencies. Copyright 2008 by The Policy Studies Organization.
Splicing Factor RBM20 Regulates Transcriptional Network of Titin Associated and Calcium Handling Genes in The Heart

RNA binding motif 20 (RBM20) regulates pre-mRNA splicing of over thirty genes, among which titin is a major target. With RBM20 expression, titin expresses a larger isoform at fetal stage to a smaller isoform at adult resulting from alternative splicing, while, without RBM20, titin expresses exclusively a larger isoform throughout all ages. In addition to splicing regulation, it is unknown whether RBM20 also regulates gene expression. In this study, we employed Rbm20 knockout rats to investigate gene expression profile using Affymetrix expression array. We compared wild type to Rbm20 knockout at day1, 20 and 49. Bioinformatics analysis showed RBM20 regulates fewer genes expression at younger age and more at older age and commonly expressed genes have the same trends. GSEA indicated up-regulated genes are associated with heart failure. We examined titin binding partners. All titin direct binding partners are up-regulated and their increased expression is associated with dilated cardiomyopathy. Particularly, we found that genes involving calcium handling and muscle contraction are changed by RBM20. Intracellular calcium level measurement with individual cardiomyocytes further confirmed that changes of these proteins impact calcium handling. Selected genes from titin binding partners and calcium handling were validated with QPCR and western blotting. These data demonstrate that RBM20 regulates gene splicing as well as gene expression. Altered gene expression by RBM20 influences protein-protein interaction, calcium releasing and thus muscle contraction. Our results first reported gene expression impacted by RBM20 with heart maturation, and provided new insights into the role of RBM20 in the progression of heart failure.
Influence of an Awareness Program on Portuguese Middle and High School Students' Perceptions of Peers with Disabilities

The ongoing topic of attitudes toward inclusion of students with disabilities in Physical Education (PE) classes emphases the role of schools as a primary place where attitudes toward disabilities can be changed. The effect of an awareness program on students' attitudes toward the inclusion of peers with disabilities in PE was examined, as well as variables such as sex, age, previous contact with disability, and competitiveness. The participants were 509 students (235 girls, 274 boys; M age = 13.3 yr., SD = 1.1, range = 11–16), who attended middle and high Portuguese schools. The awareness intervention comprised a one-week program (2 PE classes, 90 min. and 45 min.). Attitudes were assessed before and after the intervention. The awareness program appeared to have a positive influence on changing students' attitudes toward inclusion in PE.
Sparse Hyperspectral Unmixing Based on Constrained lp - l2 Optimization

Linear spectral unmixing is an effective technique to estimate the abundances of materials present in each hyperspectral image pixel. Recently, sparse-regression-based unmixing approaches have been proposed to tackle this problem. Mostly, <i>l</i><sub>1</sub> norm minimization is used to approximate the <i>l</i><sub>0</sub> norm minimization problem in terms of computational complexity. In this letter, we model the hyperspectral unmixing as a constrained sparse <i>lp</i> - <i>l</i><sub>2</sub>(0 <; <i>p</i> <; 1) optimization problem and propose to solve it via the iteratively reweighted least squares algorithm. Experimental results on a series of simulated data sets and a real hyperspectral image demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve performance improvement over the state-of-the-art <i>l</i><sub>1</sub> - <i>l</i><sub>2</sub> method.
Qualidade do emprego na agricultura brasileira no período 2001-2004 e suas diferenciações por culturas

Based on the Nacional Households Survey (PNAD), this paper analyzed the employment quality in the Brazilian agriculture and six main crops (rice, coffee, sugarcane, manioc, corn and soybean) in the 2001-2004 period. An Employment Quality Index (EQI) was created for this analysis, based on four dimensions: level of education; degree of job formalization; main job income; and employee benefits. The EQI was calculated for the permanent and temporary workers, considering the local of the households (urban and rural).
Web application attack detection and forensics: A survey

Web application attacks are an increasingly important area in information security and digital forensics. It has been observed that attackers are developing the capability to bypass security controls and launch a large number of sophisticated attacks. Several attempts have been made to address these attacks using a wide range of technology and one of the greatest challenges is responding to new and unknown attacks in an effective way. This study aims to investigate the techniques and solutions used to detect attacks, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, honeypots and forensic techniques. Data mining and machine learning techniques, which attempt to address traditional technology shortcomings and produce more effective solutions, are also investigated. It was aimed to contribute to this growing area of research by exploring more intelligent and convenient techniques for web application attack detection by focusing on the data mining techniques in forensics.
Joint Subchannel Assignment and Power Allocation for OFDMA Femtocell Networks

In this paper, we propose a joint subchannel and power allocation algorithm for the downlink of an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) mixed femtocell/macrocell network deployment. Specifically, the total throughput of all femtocell user equipments (FUEs) is maximized while the network capacity of an existing macrocell is always protected. Towards this end, we employ an iterative approach in which OFDM subchannels and transmit powers of base stations (BS) are alternatively assigned and optimized at every step. For a fixed power allocation, we prove that the optimal policy in each cell is to give each subchannel to the user with the highest signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) on that subchannel. For a given subchannel assignment, we adopt the successive convex approximation (SCA) approach and transform the highly nonconvex power allocation problem into a sequence of convex subproblems. In the arithmetic-geometric mean (AGM) approximation, we apply geometric programming to find optimal solutions after condensing a posynomial into a monomial. On the other hand, logarithmic and \underline{d}ifference-of-two-\underline{c}oncave-functions (D.C.) approximations lead us to solving a series of convex relaxation programs. With the three proposed SCA-based power optimization solutions, we show that the overall joint subchannel and power allocation algorithm converges to some local maximum of the original design problem. While a central processing unit is required to implement the AGM approximation-based solution, each BS locally computes the optimal subchannel and power allocation for its own servicing cell in the logarithmic and D.C. approximation-based solutions. Numerical examples confirm the merits of the proposed algorithm.
Trade and Unemployment Revisited: Do Institutions Matter?

This paper revisits the trade to unemployment nexus for Germany based on the estimation of a model featuring heterogeneous firms and search unemployment. We structurally estimate parameters that match the key moments of the German labour market. Our estimation and calibration are based on a single plant‐level data source, that is, the IAB establishment and worker panel. The calibration shows that trade liberalisation reduces unemployment in the long run. In our counter‐factual policy simulations, we focus on the effect of labour market policies on the trade and unemployment nexus and we explore how the magnitude of the effects differs under different bargaining regimes. Labour market institutions have stronger effects under collective bargaining. Compared with trade or the bargaining power of unions, the effect of unemployment benefits on unemployment turns out to be rather modest.
Mortgage Banking in America

THE two large classes likely to be benefited by the publication of the last census mortgage returns are the American mortgage borrowers and the American mortgage investors. I shalt first state some facts, which have been compiled from the census and other returns, and shall then consider the relations between American mortgage borrowers and American lenders in the light of these facts. Of the census returns sufficient has now been published to show what the general situation is. The work done has been ani immense one, since it lhas been attempted to tabulate all the mortgages recorded during the last ten years, and the method adopted to ascertain the present existing debt in force has beeni a bold one. Instead of taking the amount of mortgages uncancelled on the records as the living debt in force, the average life of the mortgages that were cancelled of record between 1879 and I890 has been computed, and this has been applied to the entire recorded indebtedness in order to ascertain the indebtedness existing at present. From this has been afterwards deducted the )ercentage of )artial payments as obtained for different portions of the country by a detailed, exact and personal investigation in
Contextual and Temporal Components of Reference Price

An emerging consensus in marketing is that consumers respond to price relative to some standard or reference price. Most researchers modeling brand choice have reasoned that this standard is based on past prices of the brand. The authors argue that consumers do use reference prices, but one that is also based on context—other prices in the store—rather than on past prices alone. An analysis of households’ brand choices in two subcategories and over three cities supports this premise. Within context, the lowest price seems to be an important cue for reference price, whereas within time, a brand's own past prices seem to be the most important cue. Households’ use of a contextual reference price also varies predictably across some consumer characteristics. Though their model can be applied to other categories, the findings have important managerial implications: Managerial focus on temporal reference prices could lead to an everyday high price, whereas focus on contextual reference prices could lead to an everyday low price. Only the inclusion of both contextual and temporal reference prices justifies variable pricing.
Lipids in Health and Disease Modulation Peroxisome Proliferators Activated Receptor Alpha (ppar Α) and Acyl Coenzyme A: Cholesterol Acyltransferase1 (acat1) Gene Expression by Fatty Acids in Foam Cell

Background: One of the most important factors in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis is the default in macrophage cholesterol homeostasis. Many genes and transcription factors such as Peroxisome Proliferators Activated Receptors (PPARs) and Acyl Coenzyme A: Cholesterol Acyltransferase1 (ACAT1) are involved in cholesterol homeostasis. Fatty Acids are important ligands of PPARα and the concentration of them can effect expression of ACAT1. So this study designed to clarified on the role of these genes and fatty acids on the lipid metabolism in foam cells.
The Role of Product and Brand Perceptions In Stock Investing: Effects On Investment Considerations, Optimism and Confidence

Behavioral finance researchers have been increasingly interested in the links between individual investors’ subjective perceptions about companies and their stock investment decisions. This article aims to provide a systematic examination of how investors’ subjective and affective evaluations of companies’ products and brands, in particular, may influence investors’ propensities to consider those companies as investment targets. The author hypothesizes the effects by applying psychological consumer behavior theories and tests the hypotheses with data gathered from 292 individual investors. The results show that the personal relevance that an investor attaches to a particular company's product domain decreases the consideration that the investor gives to alternative investment targets, while investing in that company's stock. The investor's affective evaluation of the company's product brand has a similar effect. Moreover, the results show that an investor's affective evaluation of a company's brand increases his optimism about the financial returns of the company's stock. Finally, the results suggest that contrary to what might be expected, an investor's familiarity with the company's brand does not decrease the consideration that he gives to alternative investment targets, nor is brand familiarity linked to overconfidence about the financial returns of the company's stock.