Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In‐cloud turbulence structure of marine stratocumulus

This study quantifies the level of turbulence inside the marine stratocumulus cloud deck over Pt. Reyes, CA, during the Marine Stratus Radiation, Aerosol, and Drizzle Experiment (MASRAD) in July 2005, and identifies the dominant sources of turbulent kinetic energy. We used vertical velocity data from a 3 mm wavelength (94‐GHz) vertically pointing Doppler radar in combination with collocated radiosonde data. The results show that the stratocumulus observed at Pt. Reyes behaves differently from that expected on the basis of previous studies due to the modified marine environment that exists there. In particular, we found a decrease of turbulence levels with height within the cloud both during day and during night. The analysis highlights that for the conditions of our study longwave radiative cooling at cloud top was compensated by a number of mechanisms, resulting in the observed profiles. The production of turbulent kinetic energy is dominantly driven by wind shear.
Transient Stability and Voltage Regulation in Multimachine Power Systems Vis-à-Vis STATCOM and Battery Energy Storage

This paper examines the application of STATCOM and battery energy storage to enhance the transient stability of large-scale multimachine power systems with synchronous and doubly-fed induction generators (DFIGs). A passivity-based control design method [interconnection and damping assignment passivity-based control (IDA-PBC)] is developed for multimachine power systems and its performance is evaluated on a two-area system consisting of two synchronous generators (SGs) and two DFIG along with STATCOM/battery energy storage system. The main contributions of this paper are threefold: 1) use of a STATCOM and battery energy storage system to enhance transient stability and provide voltage regulation with SG and DFIG; 2) demonstrating the application of nonlinear control theory (specifically the IDA-PBC methodology) for the design of a stabilizing feedback controller in large-scale power systems to improve transient system performance; and 3) developing a methodology that can use the additional degrees of freedom in large-scale power systems in order to further improve system performance, in particular the transient stability margin [measured through critical clearing time (CCT)] and the dynamic transient performance of the system. In order to achieve power angle stability along with the simultaneous regulation of frequency and voltage, the performance of the proposed control scheme after the occurrence of large disturbances is evaluated and compared with a conventional power system stabilizer and a feedback linearizing controller.
Service-driven social community and its relation to well-being

This study aims to develop a conceptual framework pertaining to a service-driven social community and its relation to customer well-being. This paper draws on motivations and self-determination theory to expand an existing empowerment framework for a better understanding of how a service provider, which aims at transforming its service offerings to achieve business sustainability, supports for his/her customers’ needs in value co-creation in the beginning and over the course of time, which subsequently drive their active engagement in co-creation. The framework reinforces the transformative role of a service to establish a social community to satisfy customers’ psychological needs for competence, autonomy and a sense of relatedness. The satisfaction will drive the community to form a collective commitment to shared goals and intercustomer support, which subsequently perpetuates community members’ positive experiences of living well. This is accomplished through a case study drawn from the cTaipei platform, where service providers interact with their networks and customers to co-create values in developing a creative Taipei city. This paper contributes to this practice by providing a roadmap for services and customers to be benefited from the proposed service-driven social community framework.
Federalization with a Constitutional Guarantee to Secession: Controversies, Paradoxes and Imponderables in Ethiopia

Abstract Ethiopia's federal design has a number of anomalies interesting for comparative federalism. The explicit right to secede provided to member states has become, however, real political dynamite in the country. This article deals with this right, its constitutionalization, its constitutional and ideological underpinnings, and its practical impacts on federal construction in the country for the last two decades. It challenges the political expediency views on its constitutionalization and argues that the inclusion of the right in the federal constitution is motivated by ideological reasons. By having a look at the powers member states are provided by this ‘generous' constitution, it reveals its staggering paradoxes. As far as the practical impacts of the right are concerned, the hefty controversy the constitutionalization of the right has continued creating in the country, the article argues, is a significant federal nuisance.
QoS-aware service location in mobile ad hoc networks

The advent of light-weight terminals (e.g., PDA) with integrated communication capabilities facilitates service access and hosting anytime, anywhere. However, effective service access requires dealing with the service's QoS, including related resource consumption. This paper introduces a comprehensive framework for QoS-aware service location in ad hoc networks. Our framework divides into: (i) QoS specification that is expressive enough to capture most significant QoS-related properties, and concise enough to have minimal computation cost associated with QoS management; and (ii) a benefit function for evaluating the overall benefit of service instances available in the network from the standpoint of QoS regarding both the user's perspective and resource consumption on hosts. Application of the proposed QoS framework is addressed in the context of the mobile ADHoc WS system, which supports QoS-aware location of Web services deployed in mobile ad hoc networks.
The Demand for Food and Calories

We investigate nutrition and expenditure in rural Maharashtra in India. We estimate that the elasticity of calorie consumption with respect to total expenditure is 0.3-0.5, a range that is in accord with conventional wisdom. The elasticity declines only slowly with levels of living and is far from the value of zero suggested by a recent revisionist literature. In these Indian data, the calories necessary for a day's activity cost less than 5 percent of the daily wage, which makes it implausible that income is constrained by nutrition rather than the other way around.
Achieving academic engagement? The landscape for educational technology support in two UK institutions

Drawing on results from a Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA) 2008 survey of technology enhanced learning use in UK universities, this paper highlights support issues that impact on achieving academic engagement. It will crossreference factors that were identified by respondents to the survey as encouraging development or that act as barriers with how TEL is supported. These sector wide findings will then be reflected upon with reference to two UK universities that represent the traditional binary divide in type of university in the UK. Lack of time is identified as a primary barrier with staff development as the primary remedy.
Chaos in Natural Gas Futures?

Technical analysis using charting techniques to forecast future price trends can be difficult due to the volatile and unpredictable nature of futures market. Alternatively, the emergence of chaos theory seeks to find order in random looking futures price behavior. Hence, this paper tests for the presence of nonlinearity and chaos using the NYMEX 1 -month, 2-month, 3-month, and 6-month daily natural gas settlement prices, from April 1990 to September 1996. In doing so, we use the BDS statistic of Brock, Dechert, and Scheinkman (1987) for nonlinearity testing and then proceed to compute the Lyapunov spectra to determine to what degree futures data resemble a chaotic system. Although the results indicate the presence of nonlinearity, they fail to provide significant evidence of deterministic chaos.
Improving Employment Participation for Welfare Recipients Facing Personal Barriers

There is growing evidence that welfare recipients facing significant personal barriers are not being well served by either regular employment programmes or support services operating in other areas, such as mental health or drug and alcohol sectors. This paper argues that there is a lack of recognition of the desire and capacity of such individuals to engage in employment and the potential for employment to assist in their recovery, given appropriate support. Existing policy responses and gaps are discussed and effective programmes and models identified.
REMO—An Interregional Labor Market Model of Austria

This paper presents an overview of a continuing research project which attempts to analyse regional labor market disparities in Austria by means of an econometric model. First, the structure of the labor supply and demand models is described and a set of behavioral hypotheses is stated. The supply side is modelled as a nonstationary Markov chain, where the transition probabilities are variables. A labor market segmentation is assumed to exist, where the barriers to professional mobility are the educational attainment levels. This approach leads to an integrated analysis of the regional education system. Other components of the supply side are the migration, commuting, and labor force participation submodels. The demand side, because of data restrictions, deals only with the secondary sector, regional investment, containing capital flows to and from other regions and labor demand are modelled as a simultaneous equation subsystem. A disequilibrium model was chosen for the labor market as a whole, that is, supply and demand are only equal by coincidence. The statistical basis for the econometric work are cross-sectional data available for a few points in time, based on the ninety-eight counties of Austria.
Automatic selection in time series-cross section models: disentangling common and individual effects on commodity prices

The steady rise of commodity prices over the past decade has suggested new explanations for this behaviour, emphasising commonalities instead of focusing on individual markets. To jointly study both kinds of factors we develop a time series-cross section model. Given the large information set, we use an automatic algorithm to select explanatory variables along with fixed individual and time effects. Moreover we employ this algorithm to test heterogeneous coefficients and exogeneity. Results show that individual determinants as
Resource Provisioning for Cloud-Assisted Software Defined Wireless Sensor Network

Due to the significant advancement of wireless and mobile technology, the applications targeted for these are getting more and more complex and demanding of high power and resources. The cloud-assisted software-defined wireless sensor networking (CSDWSN) paradigm has emerged as a promising solution to perform these highly demanding tasks with the help of powerful cloud servers. However, due to the dynamic variation in sensor users demands, it is becoming challenging for a single CSDWSN provider to always provide a sufficient amount of computing resources to fulfill users needs. This paper exhibits an approach of resource and revenue sharing with coalition development among CSDWSN providers. The proposed method models the collaborations among the CSDWSN providers as a coalition game. As opposed to existing methodologies, the game model goes for amplifying the individual revenue of CSDWSN providers with minimum energy consumption by analyzing their internal users demand and dynamic pricing strategy. In addition, the proposed game enables a socially optimal and stable coalition structure, which leads to both increased total profit of a federation and improved equality among participating CSDWSN providers. Various simulation experiments were completed to demonstrate the viability of the proposed cooperative game model.
Changing consumer markets and marketing in China

China's enormous population and rapidly increasing consumer spending are attractive to many multinational corporations (MNCs) to supply products to the Chinese markets. Yet MNCs continue to struggle to find ways to serve this diverse and culturally unique market. This article reviews and integrates existing knowledge on Chinese consumers' responses to marketing efforts, and specifies and empirically tests several propositions. Chinese consumers are found to have higher brand consciousness, brand loyalty, lower price sensitivity for visible goods, and to be less responsive to sales promotions compared to Western consumers. We also find indications that the influence of face considerations (i.e., prestige earned in a social network) cause Chinese consumers to have higher emphasis on prestige in their channel choices and advertisement evaluations than Western consumers. By outlining these implications, our study can help MNCs better understand how Chinese consumers behave and that understanding can help MNCs adapt their marketing efforts.
View-Dependent Interactive Visualization Methods for Multiresolution Datasets in JaVis

In this paper, view-dependent multi-resolution data visualization techniques are discussed, including I/O optimized multi-resolution data organizing, view-dependent clipping methods with the viewing frustum, rendering with adaptive resolution and fast search methods for target datasets. A specified strategy is chosen for obtaining parameters of the viewing frustum and transferring with multiresolution operator plug-in. Bounding-box method and parent-child relationship between different resolution level are used to speed up searching target datasets and clipping viewing frustum.
Internationalization and Organizational Growth: The Impact of Internet Usage and Technology Involvement Among Entrepreneur-led Family Businesses

For many years, large, multinational corporations were thought to dominate international business. It was recently recognized that a number of entrepreneurial and family firms are active in the international arena (Oviatt & McDougall, 1994). Using data from a U.S. survey of entrepreneur-led family businesses, this paper examines the extent to which certain entrepreneurial characteristics, Internet usage, and investments in information technology influence internationalization and organizational growth among such firms. The results of regression analyses identify variables leading to success in the emerging global economy and their differential impact on these performance outcomes.
Added Value of an Oropharyngeal Swab in Detection of Viruses in Children Hospitalized with Lower Respiratory Tract Infection

ABSTRACT Paired nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs collected from 533 children hospitalized with lower respiratory tract infection were assessed by multiplex reverse transcription-PCR. Oropharyngeal swabs increased the number of viral infections detected by 15%, compared to collection of a nasopharyngeal swab alone. This advantage was most pronounced for detection of influenza, parainfluenza, and adenovirus.
A novel easy-to-use phantom for the determination of MTF in SPECT scanners.

PURPOSE To evaluate modulation transfer function (MTF) in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) systems using the line spread function (LSF) method and a novel flood source which can be easily fabricated with materials accessible in hospital facilities. METHODS A Tc-99m-based flood source (E(γ) = 140 keV) consisting of a radiopharmaceutical bound to the grains of a radiographic film was prepared in laboratory. Various films and radiopharmaceuticals were examined, in order to obtain a thin homogenous and reproducible flood source. The source showing best uniformity and reproducibility was placed between two PMMA blocks and images were obtained by using the brain tomographic acquisition protocol (brain) and the myocardial perfusion tomographic acquisition protocol (heart). MTF was evaluated by determining the LSF for various reconstruction methods and filters. MTF calculation was obtained by the utilization of a custom made software in which a method similar to the one proposed by Boone [Med. Phys. 28, 356-360 (2001)] was implemented. All imaging experiments were performed in a Siemens e-Cam γ-camera. Furthermore, MTF was assessed through the point spread function (PSF) following conventional methods. RESULTS The optimum homogeneity was obtained by immersing an Agfa MammoRay HDR Medical x-ray film in a solution of dithiothreitol (DTT, 10(-3) M)/Tc-99m(III)-DMSA (DMSA: trivalent technetium-99m-dimercapto-succinic acid, 40 mCi/40 ml) for 30 min in the dark. These films exhibited better uniformity (CV < 1.9%). Higher MTF values were obtained for the brain scan protocol with iterative 3D with eight iterations reconstruction method. MTF of the brain protocol was in all cases better than the heart protocol. MTFs derived from LSF were more precise compared with those obtained from PSF since their reproducibility was better in all cases, providing a mean standard deviation of 0.0065, in contrary to the PSF method which gave 0.0348. CONCLUSIONS The method presented here is novel and easy to implement, requiring materials commonly found in clinical practice. Furthermore, this technique which is based on the LSF method reduces measurement noise levels due to the larger amount of data averaging than in the conventional PSF method. Furthermore, MTF can be assessed easily, in three dimensions (3D), by placing the flood source either in sagittal or coronal direction.
A Fuzzy-Rule-Based Approach for Webpage Aesthetics Modeling

A beautiful webpage design has proven to be one of the decisive factors in user satisfaction. The relationships between design features and webpage aesthetics are often explained by using linear regression models. However, these models are unable to depict the fuzziness and non-linearity of human perceptions. To address these limitations, this study proposes a fuzzy-rule-based model to correlate webpage design features with user ratings on webpage aesthetics. This model gains higher predictive performance with fewer variables in comparison with a linear regression model based on the same experimental data, and classifies webpages and yields more specific design knowledge.
Integrated Strategy: Market and Nonmarket Components

A business strategy must be congruent with the capabilities of a firm as well as both its market and nonmarket environments. The market environment includes those interactions between the firm and other parties that are intermediated by markets or private agreements. The nonmarket environment includes those interactions that are intermediated by public institutions. A business strategy must integrate both market and nonmarket components.
Fear and the House-as-Haven in the Lower Class

Abstract The focus of interests and goals in relation to housing vary by social status even within the large group of families called working class. The most disadvantaged groups are concerned with shelter per se; traditional working class families with opportunities to elaborate their dwellings in personally expressive ways; and the more prosperous modern working class with buying the “standard all-American package. ” The lower class seeks shelter from a wide variety of human and nonhuman threats, from which they fear consequences that combine elements of physical threat, disruption of familial and other interpersonal relations. and threats of moral damage to the self. This bears implications for the design of public housing.
International financial integration of Mediterranean economies: A bird’s-eye view

In light of the unprecedented developments in the financial sectors of developed economies in the years 2008-2009 and in view of the current political Arab upheaval, this paper reviews the pros and cons of financial integration of the South-Mediterranean region. Our analyses includes Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. It focuses on financial integration indicators, as well as financial stability, and compares the South-Mediterranean region with other regions worldwide.
The impact of HR political skill in the HRM and organisational performance relationship

The first aim of this study was to test empirically the effect of HR political skill on the relationship between high involvement work practices and organisational performance. A second aim was to test empirically whether an HR executive can use their political skill advantageously within strategic decision-making processes in order to affect organizational performance. Survey responses from 180 HR executives in medium to large employers have been analysed and the results confirm that the political skill of the HR executive strengthens the positive relationship between high involvement work practices and perceived organisational performance, and also strengthens the positive effect of HR involvement in strategic decision-making on organisational performance. The research provides evidence that HR political skill is important both in reinforcing the impact of human resource management (HRM) and the opportunity for HR to be part of strategic decisions.
Firm Value and the Choice of Offering Method in Initial Public Offerings

A firm raising capital in an initial public offering faces the problems of choosing between a firm-commitment and a best-efforts offering and of how to convey information about its value to potential investors. The offering method chosen affects both the firm's cost of obtaining capital and investors' perceptions about firm value. A partially pooling, partially separating equilibrium is found where high-valued firms have information about their values revealed in a firm-commitment offering, while low-valued firms use best-efforts offerings and are unable to distinguish themselves from other firms. WHEN A FIRM GOES public with an initial equity offering, it has two options on how to issue the stock. Using an investment banker, the firm can issue stock to the public with either a firm-commitment or a best-efforts agreement.1 In both types of offerings the investment banker distributes the new shares, but in a firm-commitment agreement he or she performs the additional function of insuring the proceeds to the issuer. In addition, a firm-commitment agreement uses the reputational capital of the investment banker to certify the value of the issue to a greater degree than in a best-efforts offering. The offering method chosen affects both the firm's cost of obtaining capital and investors' perceptions about the value of the offering itself. This paper examines the factors affecting a firm's choice of offering method and to what extent information about firm value is revealed to investors by that choice. There are two types of mispricing inherent in initial public offerings. The first is the observed short-term underpricing of initial offerings.2 Several papers have used asymmetric information to generate initial underpricing. In Baron (1982), the investment banker is better informed about market demand than the issuing firm. In Rock (1986), investors can be either informed or uninformed about the value of new issues. Others, such as Grinblatt and Hwang (1988) and Allen and Faulhaber (1988). consider the extent to which underDricing generates informa