Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Interest Rates and Employment on Nominal Housing Prices

This research examines how well nominal income, nominal interest rates and employment explain temporal variation in nominal metropolitan area house prices. Rather than use a traditional model of real house prices, we explain nominal house prices with a measure of "intrinsic" house value that combines local economic factors with an affordable price based upon what the local median income household could afford to pay at prevailing interest rates. The affordable price variable captures local household income trends and current interest rates. We then relate temporal variation in observed house prices to "intrinsic" value and estimate the parameters of separate autoregressive house price models for 316 cities. We observe that the coastal markets exhibit much greater appreciation/ depreciation rates and much more volatility than cities in the central portions of the country. Here we focus primarily on the impact of interest rates on nominal prices in various MSAs, a factor that many housing analyst have pointed to when debating the existence of housing bubbles. Some markets are much more or less responsive to interest rates than others. Supply constraints may explain some of this increased responsiveness.
Radar Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture and Surface Roughness for Vegetated Surfaces

This paper presents radar remote sensing of soil moisture and surface roughness for vegetated surfaces. A precise volume scattering model for a vegetated surface is derived based on the first-order radiative transfer technique. At first, the scattering mechanisms of the scattering model are analyzed for various conditions of the vegetation canopies. Then, the scattering model is simplified step by step for developing an appropriate inversion algorithm. For verifying the scattering model and the inversion algorithm, the polarimetric backscattering coefficients at 1.85 GHz, as well as the ground truth data, of a tall-grass field are measured for various soil moisture conditions. The genetic algorithm is employed in the inversion algorithm for retrieving soil moisture and surface roughness from the radar measurements. It is found that the scattering model agrees quite well with the measurements. It is also found that the retrieved soil moisture and surface roughness parameters agree well with the field-measured ground truth data.
Exploration of the Significance of Cloud Computing in Managing Big Data

In the present business environment, clusters of servers are required to support the tools that process the varied formats, high velocity, and large volumes of big data. For big data management, IT companies are increasingly looking to implement the cloud computing as the basic infrastructure. In this context, this paper investigates the significance of cloud computing in the management of big data. The key aspects related to the management of big data with the application of cloud computing covered in this paper include the integration o f cloud computing and big data, the issues faced while managing big data, the role of cloud computing in handling issues associated with big data, along with few examples of the application of cloud computing for managing big data.
ZnO Heteroepitaxy on Sapphire Using a Novel Buffer Layer of Titanium Oxide: Crystallographic Behavior

A novel buffer layer consists of titanium oxide grown on a-sapphire by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition using titanum-tetra-iso-propoxide and oxygen gas was used for ZnO epitaxial growth at temperature as low as 340℃ by plasma-assisted epitaxy using radio-frequency oxygen-gas plasma. XRD and RHEED indicated (0001)Ti2O3 layer in corundum crystal system was epitaxially grown on the substrate in an in-plane relationship of [1-100]Ti2O3// [0001]Al2O3 by uniaxial phase-lock system. Growth behavior of ZnO layer was significantly dependent on the Ti2O3 buffer-layer thickness, for example, dense columnar ZnO-grains were grown on the buffer layer thinner than 10 nm but the hexagonal pyramid-like grains were formed on the thin buffer layers below 2 nm. RHEED observations showed ZnO layer including the pyramid-like grains was epitaxially grown with single-domain on the thin buffer layer of 0.8 nm in the in-plane relationship of [1-100]ZnO//[1-100]Ti2O3//[0001]Al2O3, whereas the multi-domain was included in ZnO layer on the buffer layer above 10 nm.
A study about the quality of the services provided by a technology laboratory

The aim of this research was to investigate how customers of a technological control laboratory of civil construction materials perceive the quality of the services delivered by the laboratory, specifically, what concerns the service of ceramic brick and concrete blocks breaking. The SERVQUAL scale was used as reference for the application of a survey and, by means of an Exploratory Factor Analyses, the dimensions and attributes that comprehend this service were evaluated. As a result, 20 attributes grouped in three dimensions Responsiveness, Assurance and Reliability) were found, what has resulted in an explained variance of 77.621%and that characterize these dimensions as a modified SERVQUAL scale. From the results, it was possible to identify the existing discrepancies in service quality, since all gaps between the expectations and perceptions of services have resulted in negative values. The developed study is relevant by bringing contributions concerning the quality assessment of ceramic brick and concreate block breaking services provided by a technology laboratory. The assessment to the results can add value in the customer service and, consequently, empowering the increase of satisfaction.
Design and Implementation of Conventional and Advanced Controllers for Magnetic Bearing System Stabilization

Active magnetic bearings (AMBs) employ electromagnets to support machine components. The magnetic forces are generated by feedback controllers to suspend the machine components within the magnetic field and to control the system dynamics during machine operation. AMBs have many advantages over mechanical and hydrostatic bearings. These include zero frictional wear and efficient operation at extremely high speed. They are also ideal for clean environments because no lubrication is required. Hence, as a result of minimal mechanical wears and losses, system maintenance costs of AMBs are low. AMBs are used in a number of applications such as energy storage flywheels, high-speed turbines and compressors, pumps and jet engines (Williams et al., 1990), (Lee et al., 2006). AMBs are inherently unstable and it is necessary to use feedback control system for stabilization (Williams et al., 1990), (Bleuler et al., 1994). This can be achieved by sensing the position of the rotor and using feedback controllers to control the currents of the electromagnets.
Culture as a discursive resource opposing legal abortion

The notion of ‘culture’ features in the abortion literature to explicate, first, contestation of the meaning of abortion (as in the ‘culture wars’ about abortion), second, the normalisation of abortion in certain countries (as in ‘abortion culture’), third, the response of women to abortion within a particular social milieu and fourth, cross-cultural variability in attitudes towards and experiences of abortion. What is missing is an exploration of how ‘culture’ may be deployed as a discursive resource to oppose legal abortion. In this article, we report on a study conducted in a rural area of South Africa. We conducted focus group discussions utilising hypothetical vignettes to stimulate talk. Although, inconsistencies were evident in participants’ talk, in the context of cultural discussions, abortion was constructed as killing and inevitably destructive of cultural values and traditions. Abortion was equated with colonialist interventions and as something that should be opposed in the preservation of culture. Furthermore, cultural opposition to abortion was rooted in fears around the breakdown of gendered and generational power relations. Examples of how culture may be used in everyday interactions to induce shame and negative experiences are also discussed.
Gesture controlled robotic surgical arm(GCRSA)

This research paper primarily focuses on Arduino controlled Humanoid arm which transform’s the current surgical process operated by a Surgeon. With exponential population growth and a hand full of medical experts at corners of the world, this Humanoid arm will be a substitute for those experts at their proximity. Albeit this modern tech-savvy world needs an expertized touch without distance being a major constraint. The fine precision in the finger movements are sensed by the Accelerometric sensor and flex sensor whose actions are replicated by servos. Myriad evolution in robotic surgery succeeding the pioneer PUMA 360, Medical assistance would be of user friendly robot with force prediction algorithm. Thus the implementation of this paper may push the boundaries of technologies still wider and bigger.
Performance of the Line Surge Arresters of the 110 kV Overhead Lines on the island Brač

One and a half year after the installation of the line surge arresters (LSAs) to 110 kV overhead lines (OHL) on the island Brac it is possible to obtain representative statistical analysis results. The correlation of the relay protection tripping data and lightning locating system (LLS) data proved the impact of the lightning on the operation reliability of the overhead lines. Number of outages was analysed in relation to the lightning statistics for the observed area. Case by case analyses of the outages were performed in order to identify which towers of the overhead lines are endangered due to their exposure to the lightning discharges. Conclusions on line surge arresters lightning performance and possible improvements of their configuration will be considered.
Construction and Bioassay of Recombinant AcNPV Containing SpltNPV gp37 Fusion gene

The Spodoptera litura nucleopolyhedrovirus (SpltNPV) gp37 fusion gene was inserted into the transfer vector (pBacPAK9), named pBacPAKSL37fus. The vector was cotransfected BT1-Tn5B1-4 (Hi5) cells with liner Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus(AcNPV) DNA (BacPAK6). The purified, non-occluded body recombinant baculovirus (Ac-PAKSL37fus) was selected by successive 3 cycles of plaque purification. The inserted gp37 fusion gene under the control of polyhedrin gene could high-express gp37fus protein. At 24 hours post infection (hr.p.i), sf-21 cells infected with recombinant virus had a distinctive cytopathic effect compared to cells with wild type (w.t) AcNPV. Through successive 5 generation infections, cytotoxicity of the recombinant virus did not weaken. The result from infected beet armyworm larvae showed that mortality of test group infected with recombinant virus was 26 percent higher than the control group with parent virus at 60 hr p.i. The recombinant baculoviruses were co-embedded in insect with wt parent virus via subcutaneous injection. If again, beet armyworm larvae infected with the NPV isolated from dead insects, mortality of insects was 17% higher than that of the control.
Potential GDP Growth in Venezuela: A Structural Time Series Approach

Real GDP and oil prices are decomposed into common stochastic trend and cycle processes using structural time series models. Potential real GDP is represented by the level of the trend component of real GDP. The potential rate of growth of real GDP is represented by the stochastic drift element of the trend component. Cuevas finds that there is a strong association at the trend and cycle frequencies between real GDP and the real price of oil. This association is also robust in the presence of key economic policy variables. From 1970-80, when the underlying annual rate of increase of the real price of oil was 12 percent, the underlying annual rate of increase of potential GDP in Venezuela was 2.6 percent. By contrast, from 1981-2000 when the underlying rate of increase of the real price of oil was -5 percent, the underlying growth rate of potential GDP fell 1.5 percent. However, the strength of association between the underlying growth of oil prices and real GDP has fallen considerably since the early 1980s, suggesting that oil cannot be relied on as an engine for future growth in Venezuela. This paper - a product of the Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela Country Management Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region - is part of a larger effort in the region to encourage research on macroeconomic issues.
Shrinkage estimation of proportion via logit penalty

ABSTRACT By releasing the unbiasedness condition, we often obtain more accurate estimators due to the bias–variance trade-off. In this paper, we propose a class of shrinkage proportion estimators which show improved performance over the sample proportion. We provide the “optimal” amount of shrinkage. The advantage of the proposed estimators is given theoretically as well as explored empirically by simulation studies and real data analyses.
The VLBA Calibrator Survey—VCS1

A catalog containing milliarcsecond-accurate positions of 1332 extragalactic radio sources distributed over the northern sky is presented—the Very Long Baseline Array Calibrator Survey (VCS1). The positions have been derived from astrometric analysis of dual-frequency 2.3 and 8.4 GHz VLBA snapshot observations; in a majority of cases, images of the sources are also available. These radio sources are suitable for use in geodetic and astrometric experiments, and as phase-reference calibrators in high-sensitivity astronomical imaging. The VCS1 is the largest high-resolution radio survey ever undertaken and triples the number of sources available to the radio astronomy community for VLBI applications. In addition to the astrometric role, this survey can be used in active galactic nuclei, Galactic, gravitational lens, and cosmological studies.
Expanded home ranges in a peripheral population: space use by endangered Mt. Graham red squirrels

Peripheral populations are often of increased conservation value; however, knowledge of the ecological and evolutionary consequences of a peripheral location is poor. Spatial dynamics are often interpreted as strategies to maximize access to fitness-limiting resources. Red squirrels Tamias- ciurus hudsonicus are territorial in western portions of their range and exhibit overlapping home ranges in eastern forests. Endangered Mt. Graham red squirrels T. hudsonicus grahamensis repre- sent the southernmost extension of the species. We used radiotelemetry to assess space use and interindividual overlap of endangered Mt. Graham red squirrels. Squirrels maintained nearly exclu- sive 50% core areas; however, 95% ranges overlapped considerably, especially between males and females. Home ranges increased in summer for both males and females and may be related to sex- specific reproductive strategies. Ranges of Mt. Graham red squirrels in this peripheral population were nearly 10 times the size of red squirrels from other locations. The space use of this limital pop- ulation suggests that resource availability may be substantially different than in other portions of the range.
Implied volatility smile dynamics in the presence of jumps

The main purpose of this work is to examine the behavior of the implied volatility smiles around jumps, contributing to the literature with a high-frequency analysis of the smile dynamics based on intra-day option data. From our high-frequency SPX S\&P500 index option dataset, we utilize the first three principal components to characterize the implied volatility smile and analyze its dynamics by the distribution of the scores' means and variances and other statistics for the first hour of the day, in scenarios where jumps are detected and not. Our analyses clearly suggest that changes in the volatility smiles have abnormal properties around jumps compared with the absence of jumps, regardless of maturity and type of the option.
Dynamic adjustment of a MLFQ flow scheduler to improve cloud applications performance

State-of-the-art solutions for flow scheduling propose the use of Multi Level Feedback Queue (MLFQ) as a mechanism to avoid the requirement of prior information (i.e. agnosticism) regarding flow sizes. This is an important aspect to achieve the performance goals of high responsiveness and high throughput that is expected in Cloud Applications (e.g. search engines, social networks, and e-commerce sites). These goals are tightly associated with the prioritization of short flows (a few KB in size), the majority for these applications rather than long flows (several MB in size). However, these applications usually cannot provide information in advance about the size of the flows. In this paper, we analyze the feasibility of providing dynamic adjustment for a MLFQ-based scheduling system in such a way that it adapts itself to the time and space variations exhibited by Data Center Network (DCN) traffic without requiring prior information about workload properties.
Finite element schemes based on energy-stable approximation for two-fluid flow problems with surface tension

For two-fluid flow problems with surface tension we present finite element schemes based on energy-stable approximation. In the case of no surface tension, those schemes are unconditionally stable in the energy-sense. When there exists surface tension, they are proved to be stable if a quantity remains bounded in the computation. Some numerical results of rising bubble problems show the robustness and applicability of these schemes.
Breadth First Search Sequence based Method for Efficient Process Retrieval

With increasing improvement of the business process management (BPM) technology, large-scale business process repositories have been adapted widely. However, due to the explosion of the number of business processes, a large part of enterprises are confronting with the challenge on effective management of those massive processes. Usually, each business process is modeled as a process graph, and therefore most existing approaches are based on graph mining algorithms. This paper puts forward a new method, which first utilizes the breadth first search (BFS) algorithm to label the pro cess model, and then calculates the similarity based on the matching distance. The experimental results show that our method is effic ient enough for practical use, especially suitable for fuzzy retrieval.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and associated perinatal risk factors in preterm children

Ad dress for Cor res pon den ce/Ya z›fl ma Ad re si: Halime Tuna Çak MD, Hacettepe University, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Ankara, Turkey E-mail: tunacak@yahoo.com Re cei ved/Ge lifl Ta ri hi: 06.01. 2013 Ac cep ted/ Ka bul Ta ri hi: 04.03. 2013 Türk Pediatri Arşivi Dergisi, Galenos Yayınevi tarafından basılmıştır. / Turkish Archives of Pediatrics, published by Galenos Publishing Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and associated perinatal risk factors in preterm children Original Article
Linking manufacturing strategy decisions on process choice with manufacturing planning and control systems

For any manufacturing firm, theory suggests that the firm is better off if the manufacturing planning and control (MPC) system supports the market strategy as well as the manufacturing strategy. Typically, the strongest link between market requirements and manufacturing strategy concerns the process choice, i.e. choosing a manufacturing process that supports a firm's competitive priorities. The general aim of this paper is to examine the role of the MPC system in a manufacturing strategy. More specifically, the purpose is to link market requirements, product characteristics, and the process choice to the MPC system. A special focus will be placed on the link between the process choice and the design of the MPC system. Two key factors are identified as major processspecific elements influencing the MPC system design: the number of planning points, and set-up times at individual resources. The process choice affects the lower planning levels of the MPC systems, where the physical reality of the plant becomes apparent. This is especially true for production activity control, but also for requirements planning (material and capacity). Concerning the MPC system design for longer-term planning, such as sales and operations planning and master scheduling, the impact from market requirements and product characteristics dominates.
Temporal variation of nutrients fluxes across the sediment-water interface of shrimp ponds and influencing factors in the Jiulong River Estuary

Eutrophication is increasingly challenging the sustainability and healthy development of aquaculture. The effects of variations in nutrient dynamics remain unclear, including porewater nutrient concentrations and nutrient fluxes at the sediment⁃water interface ( SWI), from aquaculture ponds globally, and particularly in China. In this study, temporal variation of the concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in porewater and their fluxes across the interface of sediment⁃water was investigated in the Jiulong River estuary, a subtropic estuary on the southeast coast of China. Overlying water, intact sediments, and sediment porewater were collected using sediment samplers from three shrimp ponds in June, August, and October 2015. Overlying water and sediment porewater nutrient analyses were performed using an automatic continuous flow analyzer. SONE (sediment oxygen and nutrient exchanges) incubation techniques were used to measure rates of nutrient
Economic development in South and East Asia: empirical examination of East Asian Development Model

In this paper, a comparison is made of the level of economic development between South Asia and East Asia, and the East Asian Development Model (EADM) is analysed as well as empirically examined. Several development indicators reveal that South Asia in general is far behind East Asian countries where some distinctive features of the development process followed in the past were the developmental role of the state, high investment, emphasis on the manufacturing sector, export-led growth and a focus on infrastructure and human capital. Based on an empirical examination, which supports these facts, policymakers in South Asia should take heed of some of these features despite changing circumstances.
Thomas Stable carbon isotope ratio of tree leaves , boles and ® ne litter in a tropical forest in RondoÃnia , Brazil

Leaves of 208 trees were collected for isotopic analysis together with wood from 36 tree boles and 18 samples of ®ne litter from a terra-®rme forest located at Samuel Ecological Reserve, RondoÃ nia State, in the southwestern Amazon region. The range of dC values in leaves was from )28 to )36&, with an average (1 SD) of )32.1  1.5&, which was more negative than the dC values of bole samples ()28.4  2.0&) and ®ne litter ()28.7  2.0&). These values are within the range found for tropical and subtropical forests. Pooling the dC values for leaf samples from trees of the same height gave averages which were positively correlated with plant height at a highly signi®cant level, with a slope of 0.06 and an intercept of )33.3& and a correlation coecient r  0:70 P < 0:001.