Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Channels of Economic Growth: A Channel Decomposition Exercise

This paper formally introduces channel decomposition, a method that systematically decomposes the channels through which the determinants of growth operate, into the analysis of economic growth. Under channel decomposition, the determinants could affect economic growth through physical capital accumulation, through human capital acquisition, and/or through growth in total factor productivity. Thus, by examining the outcomes of the decomposition, we can test alternative models, as different models often imply different channels of operation for the determinants. Methodologically, channel decomposition combines growth accounting with regression analysis, rather than regarding them as alternative approaches. With this method, it becomes clear that technological catch-up, not factor accumulation, accounts for the widely documented phenomenon of conditional convergence. This finding turns out to be extremely robust. In effect, this finding puts the final nails in the coffin of the Neoclassical growth model, as the model can neither explain cross-country growth, nor can it explain conditional convergence. The method also shows that both rich and poor countries converge mainly through technological catch-up, although richer countries converge much faster than the poor.
Modeling User Experience An integrated framework employing ISO 25010 standard

The concept of user experience has been given much importance in the contemporary human computer interaction research. However, modeling user experience requires quality evaluation schemes that are not restricted to the traditional concepts of usability only, where requirements have generally been task oriented. On the contrary, in addition to modeling of usability (or task oriented) requirements, comprehensive methodologies to model subjective user needs should be put forward. In this paper, we discuss and relate various facets of user experience in order to lay foundation for engineering user experience requirements. In doing so, we propose a model to capture temporal requirements of user experience. We further employ this model and integrate it with the existing ISO 25010 standard to build a comprehensive and flexible user experience modeling framework. The usefulness of the proposed framework is also demonstrated by outlining a general guideline for specifying and evaluating user experience requirements. Keywords-user experience modeling; user experience temporal requirements; quality in use; user satisfaction.
EFFECTS OF LOS ANGELES ABRASION TEST VALUES ON THE STRENGTHS OF LABORATORY-PREPARED MARSHALL SPECIMENS

In the United States, approximately 93% of hard-surfaced roads are surfaced with asphaltic concrete mixtures. These mixtures are a combination of high-quality aggregates and an asphalt cement. The aggregates must be able to resist abrasion and degradation during manufacturing, placing, and compacting. For decades, researchers studied the resistance of aggregates to abrasion and impact. The most common test used to measure this resistance is the Los Angeles (LA) abrasion test. The LA test has been used for many years throughout the United States and has a local history. From this history, acceptance specifications have been written. The objectives were to determine (a) the extent of the use of LA values in the United States; (b) any discernible difference in the level of performance (i.e., strengths) between laboratory-prepared Marshall specimens using different aggregate sources; and (c) the level of degradation of extracted aggregates. In general, the majority of states use the LA abrasion test for writing specifications. In some cases, there were not significant differences between the dry and wet indirect tensile strength and resilient modulus values of specimens prepared with aggregates with low LA values versus specimens prepared with aggregates with high LA values. The gradation analysis of the recovered aggregates indicated that no major degradation of aggregates occurred with various compactive efforts.
On Government‐Subsidized Training Programs for Older Workers

"We analyze the impact of the German WeGebAU programs, which are government-subsidized training measures for employed workers over 45 years old. We apply a dynamic matching approach similar to Crepon et al. (2009) and exploit novel information contained in rich German registry data. We focus on the effects on survival probability in original employment and estimate the effects separately by gender, age, job status, and program duration. We find that WeGebAU training improves the probability of remaining in paid employment by 1.0 to 2.5 percentage points in the two-year period following treatment. The effect is more pronounced for part-time workers and longer-duration program participants. Our analysis suggests that postponed labor market withdrawal is the main driver of the positive effects and that there is selection into treatment at the firm level. " (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
Patterns of mollusc distribution in mangroves from the São Marcos Bay, coast of Maranhão State, Brazil

The diversity and distribution of molluscs from the Amazon Coast of Maranhao State, Brazil, are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate how molluscs in two mangrove creeks (Buenos Aires and Tronco) at the Sao Marcos Bay, coast of the Maranhao State, respond to spatial and temporal variations in the environment. Sampling was performed in the intertidal area along three zones established using a straight line transect of 100 m. Abiotic variables of water and sediment were measured at each creek. We found 5,912 specimens belonging to 23 species and 15 families of epifaunal and infaunal molluscs. The patterns of their distribution in the two creeks were different. Salinity, dissolved oxygen, and rainfall were the main variables that affected the temporal distribution of molluscs. We found low species richness in the overall mollusc composition. Diversity in the Buenos Aires Creek was lower than that observed in the Tronco Creek, possibly because of activities of a port located in proximity to the former. The spatial distribution of molluscs along the zones followed an abundance and diversity gradient, mainly influenced by exposure time during low tide. Port activities may influence the patterns of mollusc distribution in the surrounding mangroves, and we thus highlight the importance of management and monitoring of these areas.
PM2.5 Chemical Source Profiles of Emissions Resulting from Industrial and Domestic Burning Activities in India

A study has been performed to develop PM_(2.5) (particles with aerodynamic diameters≦2.5) chemically speciated source profiles of different industrial and domestic burning practices in India. A total of fifty-five PM_(2.5) samples have been collected in emissions resulting from (1) industrial furnaces, (2) household fuels, (3) municipal solid waste burning, and (4) welding workshop burning practices, and categorized for eleven subtypes of sources. The collected samples were subjected to chemical analysis for twenty-one elemental (AI, As, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, Pb, S, Sb, Se, V, Zn), nine ionic (Na^+, K^+, Mg^(2+), Ca^(2+), NH_4^+, CI^-, F, NO_3^(-), SO_4^(2-)), OC, and EC source indicator species using atomic absorption spectrometry , ion chromatography and carbon analysis (thermal/optical transmittance method), respectively. The carbonaceous fraction was most abundant in household fuel burning emissions (47.6±7.45% to 65.92±13.13%). The ionic/elemental ratios of major inorganic constituents (Ca^(2+)/Ca, Mg^(2+)/Mg and Na+/Na) have been identified to describe the PM_(2.5) emissions from combustion or re-suspension dusts during industrial activities. Brick Kiln processes (BKP) have been identified as the major emitter of the highest number oftoxic species (Cd, Co, Mo, Sb and V), followed by steel rerolling mills (Hg and Pb) and steel processing industries (As, Ni). The source marker calculations also confirmed that K^+, Mn, and As are good markers for biomass burning, metallurgical industrial emission, and coal burning, respectively, similar to the findings in previous studies.
Determination of orthometric elevations using gnss-derived height with the egm2008 geoid height model

The Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) has imparted positively on civilian positioning & surveying in the horizontal component in Nigeria for the past two decades. The GNSS receivers’ data are longitude, latitude & elevation. However, the vertical distance measurement have not been fully exploited by geodetic and land surveyors. The GNSS derived heights are ellipsoidal elevation. To convert the GNSS elevation to orthometric heights, a geoidal elevation models is needed. The Earth Gravitational Model, 2008 (EGM2008) is a global geoidal models that can be used to obtain GNSS orthometric heights by defining the relationship with the ellipsoid. This work determines GNSS-derived orthometric heights with ellipsoid-geoidal relationship using GPS ellipsoidal heights and EGM2008 geoidal model GIS data. The EGM2008 GIS data was downloaded and interpolated with GPS data to obtain geoidal heights using ArcGIS 10.1. GNSS-derived heights determined with geoid-ellipsoid relationship formula. The result shows minimum elevation of -2.37599m and maximum elevation of 53.8566m. The derived orthometric heights use to create a model in raster format. The orthometric elevation models created useful in all vertical surveying work, construction work and urban planning. The GNSS orthometric heights models need to be compare with spirit levelling and the local geoidal model determined for improve accuracy.
Fabrication and RF Property Evaluation of High-Resistivity Si Interposer for 2.5-D/3-D Heterogeneous Integration of RF Devices

In this paper, a high-resistivity silicon (HR-Si) interposer integrated with through-silicon via (TSV) electrically grounded coplanar waveguide (CPW) line is presented for 2.5-D/3-D heterogeneous integration of radio frequency (RF) microelectronics devices. In addition, design of TSV interconnection composed of two coaxial ladder-hollow-annular Cu (copper) TSVs of different diameters is utilized to maintain a sufficient freedom for strict standard cleaning to avoid Si resistivity degradation. The formation of the coaxial ladder TSV structure is more beneficial to the subsequent plating process because it reduces the aspect ratio of TSV vias. Hollow-annular Cu TSV is manufactured in order to reduce the problem of mismatch in coefficient of thermal expansion among TSV’s constituent materials. A layer of Au (aurum) film is utilized to passivate the exposed Cu surface of Si interposer. Au is widely used in III–V groups’ devices because of the good compatibility with photonic integrated circuits, conductivity, and corrosion resistance. HR-Si interposer with TSV grounded CPW line and test structure is fabricated and characterized. With the monitoring test results, it can be found that it changes little in the resistivity of Si substrate, though the whole process, which is a basic requirement for RF performance. RF property test results show that the insertion loss is about −0.20 dB/mm at 10 GHz for the presented TSV grounded CPW line and −0.02 dB per TSV. These test results are better than the traditional design. To verify its applicability to 2.5-D/3-D heterogeneous integration, RF microelectronics die is assembled on TSV interposer and tested, and the test results prove that it works properly.
Development of an External Rotor V-Shape Permanent Magnet Machine for E-Bike Application

This paper proposes the design and development of an external rotor permanent magnet in-wheel motor for an electric bicycle application. The proposed machine utilizes V-shape magnets embedded in the external rotor to achieve enhanced magnetic flux concentration and, hence, high torque and power output. Detailed design principles and performance characteristics of the proposed machine are comprehensively evaluated with finite element analysis. Various design concerns are further investigated to ensure machine rigidity and operational safety. Finally, this paper validates the design concept with a prototype machine. High torque and high power output are achieved and the experimental results confirm the design simulations with good agreement.
A Review on various Speckle Filters used for despeckling SAR images

Nowadays Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images are used extensively for various important applications like terrain navigation , land cover classification, environment monitoring like oil spill detection, flood detection, military surveillance etc. SAR images get corrupted by the speckle noise, which appears as bright and dark spots on images and hence the visual quality of the images get degraded. This leads to the improper functioning of various feature extraction and classification algorithms which are used to classify SAR images into desired classes depending on the nature of applications. So removal of speckle noise from SAR images is one of the crucial steps in the pre-processing of SAR images. Although many despeckling filters have been proposed by various researchers working in this field till date but still there is a need for a filter that can deal with all the constraints associated with the process. In this paper we have discussed and summarized all the advantages and technicalities associated with various filters and have also performed a comparative study of the results obtained by performing qualitative and quantitative analyses of output images generated by applying various filtering algorithms on same set of noisy SAR images.
The situational cognitive mediation effects on dispositional personality influence on the intention to use the internet: an empirical study of information technology acceptance within higher education institution

The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of dispositional personality factors on intention to use internet which mediated by situational cognitive factors. Personality factors are measured by five variables which are openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Then, situational cognitive factors are measured by perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and self-efficacy. Survey was conducted on 350 students of Faculty of Economics, University of Bengkulu. Hypotheses testing conducted using Partial Least Square (PLS) with software SmartPLS version 2.0. Result shows that only openness to experience and extraversion from personality factors is significantly affected on situational cognitive factors. Meanwhile, perceived usefulness and self-efficacy are positively affected from situational cognitive factors on intention to use internet. It is indicated that situational cognitive factors were significantly mediated relationship between dispositional personality factors towards intention to use internet.
A tropical atmosphere model with moisture: global well-posedness and relaxation limit

In this paper, we consider a nonlinear interaction system between the barotropic mode and the first baroclinic mode of the tropical atmosphere with moisture, which was derived in Frierson et al (2004 Commum. Math. Sci. 2 591–626). We establish the global existence and uniqueness of strong solutions to this system, with initial data in H1, for each fixed convective adjustment relaxation time parameter 0$ ? >ε>0. Moreover, if the initial data possess slightly more regularity than H1, then the unique strong solution depends continuously on the initial data. Furthermore, by establishing several appropriate ε-independent estimates, we prove that the system converges to a limiting system as the relaxation time parameter ε tends to zero, with a convergence rate of the order O(ε). Moreover, the limiting system has a unique global strong solution for any initial data in H1 and such a unique strong solution depends continuously on the initial data if the initial data posses slightly more regularity than H1. Notably, this solves the viscous version of an open problem proposed in the above mentioned paper of Frierson, Majda and Pauluis.
Optimal boundary control and Riccati theory for abstract dynamics motivated by hybrid systems of PDEs

We study the quadratic optimal control problem over a finite time horizon for a class of abstract systems with non analytic underly- ing semigroup e tA and unbounded control operator B. It is assumed that a suitable decomposition of the operator B ! e tA ! is valid, where only one component satisfies a 'singular estimate', whereas for the other component specific regularity properties hold. Under these conditions, we prove well posedness of the associated di! erential Riccati equation, and in particular that the gain operator is bounded on a dense set. In spite of the unifying abstract framework used, the prime motivation (and application) of the resulting theory of linear-quadratic problems comes from optimal boundary control of a thermoelastic system with clamped boundary conditions. The non-trivial trace regularity estimate showing that this PDE mixed problem fits into the distinct class of models under examination—for which we have developed the present, novel optimal control theory—is established, as well.
No substellar objects at the center of the Lupus 3 star-forming cloud

Context. Current surveys of nearby star-forming regions and young aggregates that produce samples of objects spanning the entire mass range down to masses of a few Jupiter masses can address questions about differences in the substellar mass function among different regions and the lowest masses of objects that can form in isolation. Aims. Deep imaging of a selected area in the Lupus 3 star-forming region, characterized by a large number of known young stellar objects, has been carried out with the goal of producing a complete sampling of the mass function down to sub-Jupiter masses. Methods. ICJHKS imaging complemented with intermediate-band imaging sensitive to methane absorption has been obtained with the VLT. The observed area measures 7 � 3 × 7 � 4( 0.42 × 0.43 pc 2 at 200 pc) and the background is obscured by AV < 5m ag in approximately 70% of it. Detection limits (3σ )a reIC = 25.6, J = 23.1, H = 22.3, and KS = 21.3. Cool objects with temperatures below 3000 K are identified by means of reddening-free indices. Objects cooler than ∼1300 K should also be detectable by comparing the flux in the H and methane-continuum bands. Results. The luminosities of the 17 identified cool objects are too low in all cases to be consistent with membership in the star-forming region. Their number agrees with the statistical expectation for the background population of very low-mass stars. A reexamination of known candidate young stellar objects leads to excluding eight of them, reducing the number of bona fide members in the area to 15, of which ten lie in low extinction regions. The expectation based on the stars-to-brown dwarf ratios derived in other young aggregates is to find two or three new brown dwarfs, whereas none have been found. The low-mass young stellar object Par-Lup3-3 is found to consist of two close components of similar brightness separated by 0 �� 3. A very faint object is also detected 1 �� 2 from the jet-driving very low-mass star Par-Lup3-4 that, if confirmed as a physical companion, would have an estimated mass of 1−2 MJup. Conclusions. The absence of brown dwarfs in one of the most crowded areas of the Lupus 3 clouds, although limited by small-number statistics, argues against a mass function rich in very low-mass objects, as might have been expected if the apparent overabundance of mid-M spectral types in Lupus extended toward later types. The results also stress the importance of critically examining the actual nature of previously identified candidate young stellar objects at the time of drawing statistical conclusions about the substellar population.
IMPACT OF PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS ON EMPLOYEES' JOB SATISFACTION IN THE COMMERCIAL BANKING SECTOR OF SRI LANKA

This research has been mainly based on the model of perceived organizational politics proposed by Ferris, Russ and Fandt (1989). Four constructs namely perceptions of organizational politics, job satisfaction, perceived control and understanding have been taken into consideration. Further the locus of control introduced by Robbins (2005) was also taken as the next construct. The research studies carried out on the relationships between the above mentioned variables seem to be inconsistent. Some researchers have found that no correlation exists between these variables whereas other studies indicate a weak to moderate relationship between these variables. Many theoretical findings and researches on the perception of organizational politics – job satisfaction relationship have been originated from the western organizational context. It seems that information about Sri Lankan environment is almost nil. The researcher has attempted to find out whether there is a relationship, positive or negative among the above mentioned five constructs in the Sri Lankan environment. The researcher selected the commercial banking sector for this study as it is the most developed and promising sector. The sample of the study consists of 300 employees currently engaged in the commercial banking sector. The sample respondents were chosen randomly. After one month long questionnaire collection, 300 useful questionnaires were collected to identify the relationship in this research. The data was analyzed by using regression analysis and correlation analysis. Hypotheses of the study were tested with the help of the analyzed data. The results indicate that locus of control is positively related to perceived organizational politics. In other words, internal locus of control personalities perceives a lower level of organizational politics compared to external locus of control personalities. Perceived organizational politics impact negatively on job satisfaction. Perceived control and understanding influence the negative relationship between perceived organizational politics and job satisfaction at a moderate level. Besides, internals acquire higher job satisfaction compared to externals. These conclusions were drawn subject to number of limitations such as sampling errors and findings cannot be generalized to organizations other than commercial banks which have quite unique job characteristics.