Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bubbles in South African house prices and their impact on consumption

This paper tests for house price bubbles in the South African housing market, using quarterly data from 1969:Q2 to 2009:Q3, based on the unit root test developed by Phillips et al. 2010. This test allows us to detect whether a bubble exists or not, as well as the date of emergence and collapse of the same. Our findings show evidence of house price bubbles in the large, medium and small-middle segments, as well as, the aggregate middle-segment of the South African housing market. There is however, no evidence of bubbles in the luxury and affordable segments of the market. Next we estimate an Error Correction Model (ECM) to investigate the existence of spillover effects from the housing sector onto consumption. Results indicate significant spillovers, though there is no evidence of the effect being higher during the bubble period. Finally, we disentangle the effects of the house price acceleration and deceleration on consumption in an effort to investigate whether or not consumption reacts asymmetrically to movements in house prices. We find that consumption responds significantly to the house price deceleration but not to acceleration, with this effect also not showing any evidence of being higher during the identified bubble period. The fact that we do not observe consumption to be more responsive to house price acceleration (deceleration) during the bubble period is most likely due two reasons: First, the National Credit Act number 34 implemented in 2005, which enforced responsible granting and use of credit and prohibited reckless awarding of credits (NCA, 2006) and second, the findings of recent studies depicting evidence of pronounced discretionary changes by the South African Reserve Bank to counter the recent adverse movements in the financial markets.
A Model for People-Centric Software Configuration Management

Software Configuration Management (SCM) is the adaptation of Configuration Management in software engineering to control changes to software products. Its implementation is guided by international standards and procedures, in addition to an array of supporting tools. However, the issues of project delays and products that do not fit its purpose still prevail in software development, questioning the practice of SCM by software organizations. Current research efforts in are mainly focused on technical issues, with little interest (if any) in the role of human in SCM implementation. This paper proposes an alternative view of SCM, which emphasizes the role of human in its implementation. The People-Centric Software Configuration Management (P-SCM) model comprises of four components namely People, Process, Tools and Documentation. It reveals the competency of the software project team, extensiveness of activities carried out by the organization, availability of supporting tools, and comprehensiveness of documentation. PSCM supports software organizations in decision-making activities, provide insights to project discrepancies, identify best practices and pitfalls, support the identification of training needs and the selection of tools. Initial results reveal that P-SCM provides additional input to software organizations in project planning and outsourcing activities.
Heavy chiral fermions and dark matter

Dark matter presents perhaps one of the most compelling direct indications of new physics beyond the standard model with three generations of fermions. In this paper, we survey several scenarios for dark matter in association with a fourth generation of chiral matter. The surveyed scenarios include stable heavy neutrino dark matter, composite dark matter consisting of stable heavy quarks, heavy quarks as mediators between the dark and visible sectors, and the four-generation standard model with the minimal addition of a stable real scalar field. We discuss the basic properties of the models, direct search constraints on their dark matter, and their collider phenomenology, as well as the possible effects of dark matter on the searches for a Higgs boson in the presence of four generations. We also comment on the potential implication of the recent observation of a Higgs-like new particle at the LHC.
Redistribution and Internalization: The Many-Person Ramsey Tax Rule Revisited

This article studies the trade-off between efficiency and equity objectives within a model of commodity taxation. It derives two formulations for a many-person Ramsey tax rule in the presence of externalities. The first tax rule reveals that the aggregate compensated decrease in the demand for a taxed good should be the larger (i) the more luxurious the good and (ii) the stronger the taxed and the polluting goods complement each other. The second tax rule shows that the standard many-person Ramsey rule holds for the nonenvironmental part of a commodity tax, provided that the consumption of the polluting good is already subject to a second-best optimal internalization tax.
The Effect of Accounting and Market Indicators on Predicting the Stock Prices for Jordanian Banks: An Econometric Study for the Period (2010-2015)

This study aims at examine the ability of a group of financial ratios, which is derived from the financial statements of Jordanian commercial banks, to predict the prices of the market shares for the period (2010-2015). Besides, it investigates the explanatory power and the nature of the relation between some accounting and market indices, including compound and individual indicators, and the market share price. In order to achieve the objectives of this study, the researcher used the Panel Data and the time series data. While the Hussmann Test is used to choose the appropriate model whether it is a static effect modal or a random effect one based on Chi-Square probability value.Throughout the discussion and the data analysis, the study highlights a set of results. One of the most important results shows that the effects of the independent variables as a single package on predicting the stock market prices were very strong.In addition, the researcher comes up with some recommendations which emphasize the importance of disclosing the financial statements under study to investors and analysts periodically due to the importance of transparency in the financial sector. Moreover, while distributing earnings on participants, investors’ preferences should be taken into consideration due to their influence on the share price since it is a futurist result of the investors’ evaluations of the earnings distribution policy.
Millennial-to-centennial patterns and trends in the hydroclimate of North America over the past 2000 years

A synthesis of 93 hydrologic records from across North and Central America, and adjacent tropical and Arctic islands, reveals centennial to millennial trends in the regional hydroclimates of the Common Era (CE; past 2000 years). The hydrological records derive from materials stored in lakes, bogs, caves, and ice from extant glaciers, which have the continuity through time to preserve low-frequency (> 100 year) climate signals that may not be well represented by other shorter-lived archives, such as tree-ring chronologies. The most common pattern, represented in 46 (49 %) of the records, indicates that the centuries before 1000 CE were drier than the centuries since that time. Principal components analysis indicates that millennial-scale trends represent the dominant pattern of variance in the southwest and northeast U.S., the mid-continent, Pacific Northwest, the Arctic, and the tropics, although not all records within a region show the same direction of change. The Pacific Northwest, Greenland, and the southernmost tier of the tropical sites tended to dry toward present, as many other areas became wetter than before. Twenty-two records (24 %) indicate that the Medieval period (800–1300 CE) was drier than the Little Ice Age (1400–1900 CE), but in many cases the difference was part of the longer millennial-scale trend, and, in 25 records (27 %), the Medieval period represented a pluvial (wet) phase. Where quantitative records permitted a comparison, we found that centennial-scale fluctuations over the Common Era represented changes of 3–7 % of the modern inter-annual range of variability in precipitation, but the accumulation of these long-term trends over the entirety of the Holocene caused recent centuries to be significantly wetter, on average, than most of the past 11 000 years.
What do we know about biological nitrogen fixation in insects? Evidence and implications for the insect and the ecosystem

Many insects feed on a low‐nitrogen diet, and the origin of their nitrogen supply is poorly understood. It has been hypothesized that some insects rely on nitrogen‐fixing bacteria (diazotrophs) to supplement their diets. Nitrogen fixation by diazotrophs has been extensively studied and convincingly demonstrated in termites, while evidence for the occurrence and role of nitrogen fixation in the diet of other insects is less conclusive. Here, we summarize the methods to detect nitrogen fixation in insects and review the available evidence for its occurrence (focusing on insects other than termites). We distinguish between three aspects of nitrogen fixation investigations: (i) detecting the presence of potential diazotrophs; (ii) detecting the activity of the nitrogen‐fixing enzyme; and (iii) detecting the assimilation of fixed nitrogen into the insect tissues. We show that although evidence from investigations of the first aspect reveals ample opportunities for interactions with potential diazotrophs in a variety of insects, demonstrations of actual biological nitrogen fixation and the assimilation of fixed nitrogen are restricted to very few insect groups, including wood‐feeding beetles, fruit flies, leafcutter ants, and a wood wasp. We then discuss potential implications for the insect's fitness and for the ecosystem as a whole. We suggest that combining these multiple approaches is crucial for the study of nitrogen fixation in insects, and argue that further demonstrations are desperately needed in order to determine the relative importance of diazotrophs for insect diet and fitness, as well as to evaluate their overall impact on the ecosystem.
An Investigation of Distributed Schema Free Tabular Data Storage Technologies on Google App Engine and Microsoft Azure

This paper examines schema free non-relational tabular storage for two important emerging Platform as a Service (PaaS) environments, where Google App Engine applications persist data to the Google Datastore, and Microsoft Azure applications store data in Azure Tables. A simple mobile web application was initially developed for both platforms, to understand how an application could be developed and deployed. Java Data Objects (JDO) was selected for Google App Engine and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) in C# for Microsoft Azure. Many applications have a requirement to store complex data that is organised in relations in the order of One to One, One to Many and Many to Many that are often implemented in a relational database. Azure SQL and Google Cloud SQL are RDBMS technologies implemented on these Cloud platforms but are more costly to use. A testbed was developed to investigate implementation of these relations using automatic management features and developer managed techniques on each platform using JDO and WCF. An evaluation on primitive operations was carried out on both environments indicating each provided adequate operations to create, update, delete and display data. Due to design differences App Engine JDO scored better. An evaluation of how relations could be implemented was also conducted. Google App Engine JDO provides automatic management of One to One and One to Many relations while Microsoft Azure does not provide any relations management features. Google App Engine JDO permits storage of non-primitive types such as java.util. List objects which allows for tracking of child entity keys with ease, but this is not available in Azure Tables. Attempting to develop Join semantics in application code proved to be error prone and difficult with Azure Tables. A number of alternative proposals are made to implement relations on Azure Tables.
FROM INDIVIDUALS TO POPULATIONS: PREY FISH RISK-TAKING MEDIATES MORTALITY IN WHOLE-SYSTEM EXPERIMENTS

Recent research suggests that the behavior of individuals under risk of pre- dation could be a key link between individual behavior and population and community dynamics. Yet existing theory remains largely untested at large spatial and temporal scales. We manipulated food available to age-0 rainbow trout while at risk of cannibalism, in a replicated factorial whole-lake experiment, to test whether the trade-off between growth and mortality rates is mediated by foraging activity by young fish under predation risk. We found that this trade-off exists for young fish at the whole-system scale, and that food- dependent behavioral variation has large mortality consequences. In high-food lakes, age- 0 trout spent less time moving, fewer individuals swam continuously, and those swimming continuously swam at slower speeds relative to those in low-food lakes. Age-0 trout also used deep, risky habitats less when food was abundant. This lower activity, combined with avoidance of risky habitats, coincided with 68% higher survival in high-food lakes. If general, this trade-off may be a key mechanism linking individual behavior to population- level processes in size-structured populations.
Appendix to Oil and Political Survival

Our empirical speci cations the baseline speci cation and all extensions have been exploiting all available data to control for potential political, economic, and demographic heterogeneity between the LDs. In the non-democratic subsamples, we also controlled for the average duration in political o¢ ce in each country to investigate whether our main results could be driven by country speci c unobservables potentially correlated with Oil (and/or the other natural resources variables). Additionally, the result on the e¤ect of the polity type rested on the speci c categorization into democratic, intermediate, and autocratic polities. In this section we further explore the robustness of our main results with regard to cross-sectional heterogeneity by allowing for regional e¤ects, and with respect to omitted country speci c e¤ects by including the Average Duration variable in the baseline speci cation. The results are displayed in Table OA2. The regressions reported in columns (1) and (2) employ the regional indicators, the regression in column (3) employs the Average Duration variable, and the regressions in columns (4) and (5) includes both regional indicators and the Average Duration variable.1 In Column (3), we add to our baseline speci cation an indicator for the Middle East, as this region has a much higher concentration of oil than any other of the transnational regions in the sample.2 Hence one could worry that our main results are driven exclusively by the LDs in this region, which would cast doubts about the external validity of the results. As seen from the regression in Column (1), however, this worry is not warranted. According to the time ratio estimate on the Middle East indicator, the LDs in the Middle East are characterized
The ability to evaluate arguments in scientific texts: Measurement, cognitive processes, nomological network, and relevance for academic success at the university

Background The evaluation of informal arguments is a key component of comprehending scientific texts and scientific literacy. Aim The present study examined the nomological network of university students’ ability to evaluate informal arguments in scientific texts and the relevance of this ability for academic success. Sample A sample of 225 university students from the social and educational sciences participated in the study. Methods Judgements of plausibility and the ability to recognize argumentation fallacies were assessed with a novel computer‐based diagnostic instrument (Argument Judgement Test; AJT). Results The items of the AJT partly conform to a 1‐PL model and test scores were systematically related to epistemological beliefs and verbal intelligence. Item‐by‐item analyses of responses and response times showed that implausible arguments were more difficult to process and correct responses to these items required increased cognitive effort. Finally, the AJT scores predicted academic success at university even if verbal intelligence and grade point average were controlled for. Conclusion These findings suggest that the ability to evaluate arguments in scientific texts is an aspect of rationality, relies on reflective processes, and is relevant for academic success.
Temporal-Spatial Characteristics of Drought in Guizhou Province, China, Based on Multiple Drought Indices and Historical Disaster Records

Guizhou Province, China, experienced several severe drought events over the period from 1960 to 2013, causing great economic loss and intractable conflicts over water. In this study, the spatial and temporal characteristics of droughts are analyzed with the standard precipitation index (SPI), comprehensive meteorological drought index (CI), and reconnaissance drought index (RDI). Meanwhile, historical drought records are used to test the performance of each index at identifying droughts. All three indices show decreasing annual and autumn trends, with the latter particularly prominent. 29, 30, and 32 drought events were identified during 1960–2013 by the SPI, CI, and RDI, respectively. Continuous drought is more frequent in winter–spring and summer–autumn. There is a significant increasing trend in drought event frequency, peak, and strength since the start of the 21st century. Drought duration indicated by CI shows longer durations in the higher-elevation region of central and western Guizhou. The corresponding drought severity is high in these regions. SPI and RDI indicate longer drought durations in the lower elevation central and eastern regions of Guizhou Province, where the corresponding drought severity is also very strong. SPI shows an increasing trend in drought duration and drought severity across most of the regions of Guizhou. In general, SPI and RDI show an increasing trend in the western Guizhou Province and a decreasing trend in central and eastern Guizhou. Comparing these three drought indices with historical records, the RDI is found to be more objective and reliable than the SPI and CI when identifying the periods of drought in Guizhou.
The downside of being ‘up’: entrepreneurs' dispositional positive affect and firm performance

Previous research indicates that dispositional positive affect (DPA) is related to many beneficial outcomes (e.g., enhanced career success, development of high-quality social networks, improved performance on many tasks). Past research, however, has not directly investigated three crucial issues: (1) Are there limits to these beneficial effects? (2) Is dispositional positive affect related to firm performance as well as to individual entrepreneur performance? (3) Are the effects of entrepreneurs' DPA moderated by specific variables? The present study provides evidence relating to these issues. Findings indicate significant relationships between entrepreneurs' DPA and two measures of firm performance (product innovation and sales growth rate). However, there are indeed limits to these effects, such that beyond certain upper bounds, further increments in entrepreneurs' DPA are associated with declines in firm performance. These effects are moderated by firm size, such that the negative effects of entrepreneurs' DPA are stronger in small firms than in comparatively larger ones. Results contribute to the development of theory for understanding the role of entrepreneurs' affect in the entrepreneurial process. More generally, they contribute to ongoing efforts to understand how founding entrepreneurs influence the subsequent development and growth of their firms. Copyright © 2011 Strategic Management Society.
"We're in this together": Changing intra-household decision making for more cooperative smallholder farming

Conceptualising smallholder farming households as collective action institutions, that make interrelated decisions about investment, resource use and allocation in a common household farm, may contribute to understanding widely observed uncooperative outcomes, such as yield gaps, gender gaps in productivity, suboptimal or Pareto inefficient sustainable intensification and climate change adaptation. We examine the relation between participatory intra-household decision making – as a set of ‘rules of the game’ that reduces information and bargaining power asymmetries – and cooperative, i.e. more efficient, sustainable and equitable, outcomes in smallholder coffee farming households in Uganda. We find experimental evidence that participatory decision making is positively related to investments in the common household farm. Consumption behaviour however is not fairer nor more sustainable. Participatory decision making is associated with more cooperative actual outcomes such as greater investment in sustainable intensification, consideration of women’s interests, fairer reproductive intra-household labour division, more balanced control over cash crop income and improved livelihoods.
Fully Homomorphic Public-Key Encryption Against Ciphertext Square Attack with Two Ciphertexts

A fully homomorphic public-key encryption (FHPKE) is the important cryptosystem as the basic scheme for the cloud computing. Since Gentry discovered in 2009 the first fully homomorphic encryption scheme, some fully homomorphic encryption schemes were proposed. In the systems proposed until now the bootstrapping process is the main bottleneck and the large complexity for computing the ciphertext is required. The existence of an efficient fully homomorphic cryptosystem would have great practical implications in the outsourcing of private computations, for instance, in the context of cloud computing. In recent year Yagisawa proposed fully homomorphic encryptions without bootstrapping which have the weak point in the enciphering function or not immune from “ciphertext square attack” which is the attack proposed in this article. In this article, a new FHPKE against “ciphertext square attack” is proposed which does not need the bootstrapping and does not require the large complexity for enciphering. The scheme has the following features; (a) its security bases on computational difficulty to solve the multivariate algebraic equations of high degrees; (b) it requires two ciphertexts corresponding to a plaintext. We describe concretely how to construct the proposed system over octonion ring. It is shown that proposed system is immune from “ciphertext square attack”, “m and -m attack” and the Grobner basis attacks and the complexity to encipher and decipher is not large.
Teachers' role in identifying young children at risk for developmental delay and disabilities: Usefulness of the Parents Evaluation of Developmental Status tool.

BACKGROUND Identifying children with developmental delays and disabilities more effectively will require the participation of others such as preschool teachers who often have extended contact with the child in their first few years. We wished to determine how preschool teachers' reports of concerns compared with norming data from the Parents Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) METHODS: A total of 1357 English responses from teachers of 9 preschool centers were analyzed and matched with expected rates of concerns from the US norming sample. RESULTS The preschool teachers' reporting of rates of concerns fell within the range of scores reported in norming studies from parent reports in the US. Teachers were most concerned about children's language and behaviours. CONCLUSIONS The preschool teacher reports of concerns are similar to expected parents PEDS ratings in the US. Preschool teachers can screen children's development. There may be a role for the PEDS to be used as a developmental screener by preschool teachers for monitoring of developmental status. Further studies on the PEDS is recommended in the Singapore context.