Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Palestinian import - export trade modeling For the period 1968-1998, an application of seemingly unrelated regression equations

Over the past three decades the Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip experienced the impacts of compulsory integration into the Israeli economy in the aftermath of the occupation of the area by Israel in 1967. Within this integration, area's trade affected markedly by a forced customs union, which mainly implies sharing the same common external tariff with Israel on imports from the rest of the world and free movement for Israeli goods into Palestinian Territories. The objective of this study is to investigate main implications of this imposed customs on Palestinian trade. It uses Seemingly Unrelated Regression Equations estimation procedures (SURE) for import-export trade modeling vis-a-vis an Ordinary Least Square (OLS) one to forecast the behavior of trade. For this purpose the study uses three equations for both import demand and export supply respectively related to the main Palestine trade partners, Israel, Jordan and countries other than Jordan and Israel(the rest of the world). Clearly, empirical results depicts gains of employing with SURE estimation in a comparison with OLS estimation one in terms of both estimated coefficients (trade elasticities) and equations explanatory power (trade variations). Main feature of this imbalanced customs union between PTs and Israel is that while the Palestinian demand has a positive significant impact on imports from and export to Israel, both the Israeli and the rest of the world demand growth have an insignificant impact on the Palestinian exports. Also, under the prevailing relationship with Israel the Palestinian trade experienced losing of competitiveness, a situation let a shock in real exchange rate renders an increase in imports and a decrease in exports in trading with the ROW. Overall, this study reveals the necessity for the elimination of restrictions on Palestinian trade to both the rest of the world and to its regional context, a situation will lead to positive effects on the Palestinian economic-trade performance.
SVG Rendering of Digital Images: an Overview

The SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) standard allows representing complex graphical scenes by a collection of graphic vectorial-based primitives, offering several advantages with respect to classical raster images such as: scalability, resolution independence, etc. In this paper we present a full comparison between some advanced raster to SVG algorithms: SWaterG, SVGenie, SVGWave and Vector Eye. SWaterG works by a watershed decomposition coupled with some ad-hoc heuristics, SVGenie and SVGWave use a polygonalization based respectively on Data Dependent and Wavelet triangulation, while Vector Eye is a commercial tool. Final quality has been assessed over a large dataset of images both in terms of PSNR and compression ratio.
An improved method of constructing a database of monthly climate observations and associated high‐resolution grids

A database of monthly climate observations from meteorological stations is constructed. The database includes six climate elements and extends over the global land surface. The database is checked for inhomogeneities in the station records using an automated method that refines previous methods by using incomplete and partially overlapping records and by detecting inhomogeneities with opposite signs in different seasons. The method includes the development of reference series using neighbouring stations. Information from different sources about a single station may be combined, even without an overlapping period, using a reference series. Thus, a longer station record may be obtained and fragmentation of records reduced. The reference series also enables 1961–90 normals to be calculated for a larger proportion of stations.
The molluscan HSP70s and their expression in hemocytes

The heat shock protein 70s (HSP70s) are a class of functionally related proteins involved in the folding and unfolding, translocation of other proteins, and stress responses in almost all organisms. As the most analyzed heat shock proteins, numerous HSP70s have been identified and characterized from bacteria, plants and animals. Molluscan HSP70 is one of the largest and most important groups in the invertebrate HSP70 family. Accumulating evidences have demonstrated the relevant physiological and ecological importance of HSP70 in response to pathogen infection and environmental stressors. This chapter reviews the interest arose around HSP70s in molluscan animals, mainly the recent research progress about the diversity of molluscan HSP70 family members, their sequence characters and expression profiles in hemocytes under various stressors.
The Acceptance of Tax Office Automation System (VEDOP) By Employees: Factorial Validation of Turkish Adapted Technology

In this study, Davis’s (1989) The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is used as a theoretical framework to extend and complement extant tax officials by acceptance of technological components of Tax Office Automation System (VEDOP) in Turkey. Relying on the basic TAM model, we examine the extent to which perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PE), and attitudes (AT) toward VEDOP affect behavior intentions (BI). The data set of the study was obtained from the survey applied to 185 individual tax officials in the city of Zonguldak. Consistent with the hypotheses, the results in general provided that the core constructs of TAM namely PU, PE and AT are positively and significantly determine BI of automation system used by tax officials. As predicted, these three factors explained a large proportion of variance in Behavioral Intention to use the VEDOP system. Internet and VEDOP training experience have not found to effect significantly.
Environmental and Social Values from Plantation Forests: A Study in New Zealand with Focus on the Hawke’s Bay Region

There is a need for better understanding and estimating forests non-market values. This study aimed to investigate the environmental and social values of plantation forests in New Zealand focusing in Hawke’s Bay. Identified stakeholder groups considered Erosion control, Water quality and quantity, Employment, Increased living standard, and Recreation as the most relevant values. These became the focus of the study. The environmental value of plantation forests was estimated through choice modelling. The results indicated that respondents with higher education levels and positive attitude towards community values were more willing to pay for improved levels of land stabilisation and water quality.
18 Migraine in pregnancy

1. MD. Clinical Research Group, Universidad del Rosario (UR), Bogotá, Colombia (South America). 2. MD. Epidemiological Cancer Research Group. National Cancer Institute (Instituto Nacional de Cancerología, INC) Bogotá, Colombia (South America). 3. MD. Neurology Group. Occidental kennedy Hospital (Hospital Occidente de Kennedy, HOK), Bogotá Colombia (South America). Correspondencia: paolaandrea.ortizs@gmail.com INVESTIGACIÓN ORIGINAL
Production of HPV 16 L 1 L 2 VLPs in cultures of human epithelial cells

Laboratory of Genetics, Butantan Institute, Av. Vital Brasil 1500, 05503-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Center of Biotechnology, Butantan Institute, Av. Vital Brasil 1500, 05503-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Tumorvirus-Specific Vaccination Strategies Group, German Cancer Research Center DKFZ, Im Neuenheimer Feld 242, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Clinic Hospital – University of São Paulo, Av. Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar 647, 05403-000 São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
800276 Noise Testing of Vehicles — Acoustic Propagation Phenomena

A number of propagation phenomena which cause variability in the noise testing of vehicles using standard procedures have been isolated and studied. Included are the effects of interference produced by reflection from various ground surfaces, the effects of refrac­ tion caused by wind and temperature gradients in the atmosphere, changes in sound level due to the wake of the vehicle, and the effects of normal atmospheric turbulence. SAE/SP-80/456/S02.50 Copyright © 1980 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.
The influence of gender, ethnicity and academic performanceon Islamic Business course

Previous studies show that students’ background is found to affect teaching methods, working goals, business simulation performance and value system. A new study was conducted to evaluate the influence of students’ background on their perception of the importance of the main modules in Islamic Business course at university level. A total of 221 undergraduate students in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) responded to the questionnaire distributed. Results showed that gender, ethnicity and academic performance influenced students’ perception on the main modules in Islamic Business courses. Furthermore, some further discussions and research implications were also discussed.
Inferring the Specific Absorption and Concentration of Black Carbon from AERONET Aerosol Retrievals

Black carbon is ubiquitous in the atmosphere and the main anthropogenic absorbing particulate. Absorption by black carbon is thought to be comparable to the cooling associated with sulfate aerosols, although present day satellites are incapable of obtaining this measurement and model estimates are highly uncertain. More measurements of black carbon concentration are necessary for improving and validating transport and general circulation models. The aerosol robotics network (AERONET) of 180 worldwide radiometers offers an opportunity to obtain these measurements. We use the Maxwell Garnett effective medium approximation to infer the column-averaged black carbon concentration and specific absorption of AERONET retrievals at 46 locations. The yearly-averaged black carbon column concentrations exhibit the expected regional dependence, with remote island sites having values about an order of magnitude lower than the biomass burning locations. The yearly-averaged specific absorption cross section is consistent with other measured values, 9.9 m2 g−1 for 19591 retrievals, but varies from 7.7 to 12.5 m2 g−1. We also observe this variability in calculations associated with nine aerosol climatologies where specific absorption varies by a factor of 2 or more. We attribute this variability to the details of the size distributions and the fraction of black carbon contained in the aerosol mixture. Transport models generally use aerosol size distributions with externally-mixed black carbon and are unable to account for this variability of specific absorption associated with internal mixing. We also used the Maxwell Garnett equations to parameterize the imaginary refractive index with respect to the black carbon volume fraction, enabling simple but accurate absorption estimates for aerosol mixtures. The black carbon concentrations that we derive from AERONET measurements are validated with surface measurements and represent an alternative to absorption optical thickness in the link between models and AERONET measurements.
A New Approach to Parametric Modeling of Glottal Flow

Glottal waveform models have long been employed in improving the quality of speech synthesis. This paper presents a new approach for modeling the glottal flow. The model is based on three control volumes that strike a one-mass and two-springs system sequentially and generate a glottal pulse. The first, second and third control volumes represent the opening, closing and closed phases of the vocal folds, respec- tively. The masses of the three control volumes and the size of the first one are the four parameters that define the shape, pitch and amplitude of the glottal pulse. The model may be viewed as parametric approach governed by second order differential equations rather than analytical functions and is very flexible for designing a glottal pulse. The glottal pulse generated by the present model, when compared with those generated by Rosenberg, LF and mucosal wave propagation models demonstrates that it appropriately represents the opening, closing and closed phases of the vo- cal fold oscillation. This leads to the validity of our model. Numerical solution of the present model has been found to be very efficient as compared to its analytical solution and two other well-known parametric models Rosenberg++ and LF. The accuracy of the numerical solution has been illustrated with the help of analytical solution. It has been observed that the accuracy improves by increasing the size of the first control volume and may decrease insignificantly with increase in the mass of any of the control volumes. Two experiments with the present model support its successful implementation as a voice source in speech synthesis. Thus our model renders itself as an efficient, accurate and realistic choice as a voice source to be employed in real-time speech production.
Opuntia ellisiana: Cold Hardiness, Above-Ground Biomass Production and Nutritional Quality in the Mendoza Plain, Argentina ♦

Cold damage of Opuntia ellisiana plants obtained by micropropagation was estimated visually after 1and 2-year growth periods in field conditions. Additionally, the effect of irrigation on above-ground biomass production was evaluated after a 2-year growth period and some parameters related to the nutritional quality of 1-year-growth-period cladodes were determined. Frost damage was estimated visually. Above-ground biomass and stem-area index (SAI) were estimated by regression techniques. One-year-growth plants suffered no frost damage when temperatures dropped to -15°C on two occasions in the winter of 2000. Frost damage reached only 0.9% in 2-year-growth-period plants after freezes of 14.5°C and -13.7°C in the winter of 2001. Irrigation did not have a significant effect on above-ground biomass production. Mean biomass reached 170 kg DM ha -1 after the 2-year growth period. This low production could be explained mainly by the small size of the plant material used for establishing the plantation and the low SAI after the 2-year growth period (0.03). Cladodes of O. ellisiana exhibited crude protein and organic-matter contents of 5.8% and 82.7%, respectively, and an in vitro dry-matter digestibility of 78.3%. Plants of O. ellisiana obtained by micropropagation appear to be tolerant to freezing temperatures attained in areas with extremely cold winters.
Quality assessment of control over the traction valve-inductor drive of a hybrid diesel locomotive

We have studied the valve-inductor drive for its application as a traction motor in a hybrid locomotive. We identifying parameters of the valve-inductor engine and built its simulation model based on a Lagrange equation. The model constructed makes it possible to take into consideration non-linearity of the engine. We have synthesized a modal speed controller and a controller based on fuzzy logic for the valve-inductor drive of a hybrid locomotive. The operation of two types of controllers was analyzed in terms of their influence on the basic quality indicators of control; it was found that the fuzzy controller was better at processing the set value of input magnitude. We have designed a simulation model of the traction valve-inductor drive of a hybrid locomotive with a fuzzy speed controller, and studied its work along a railroad section with actual profile and limitations. Control systems based on a modal controller and fuzzy logic were synthesized. It is established that the modal controller has the following quality indicators: maximal overshoot – 12.27 %, re-adjustment time – 5.08 s, number of oscillations – 2. For the FPID-controller, the quality indicators are: 3.75 %, 3.01 s, and 1, respectively. Thus, on analyzing the quality of their operation, it was found that the best indicators were demonstrated by the FPID- controller. The built physical model of the valve-inductor drive, specifically the system wheelset-engine with a control system that employs the fuzzy algorithm of speed regulation, confirms the feasibility of a fuzzy controller.
Optimal monetary policy with real-time policy targets

Croushore (2011) and others have noted that monetary policy may be sensitive to inconsistencies between real-time data used by policy makers to make decisions and revised data which more accurately measure economic performance. This paper extends the asymmetric preference model suggested by Ruge-Murcia (2003) in order to focus on these inconsistencies which arise because of the long lag between the real-time data release and the revised data release. We focus on two isomorphic monetary policy models: One in which the central banker targets real-time in‡ation and output and the other in which the central banker targets real-time in‡ation and unemployment. Our model identi…es several new potential sources of in‡ation bias due to data revisions in addition to the ones suggested in the literature. The paper also contributes to the real-time data processing literature by describing a method for computing an output revision
Examining the structures of students' concepts using repertory grid analysis

This work attempts to explore the methodological legacy of George Kelly – repertory grid analysis – as an aid to visually mapping the structures of students’ concepts. Although, Kelly formulated a complex Euclidian framework of psychological laws, axioms, and corollaries, we have concentrated on the methods that later workers took from Kelly’s original ‘RepGrid Test’. The central entity is a self-constructed concept, or set thereof, that may be represented in a matrix. As a matrix of integers can be manipulated by a large variety of statistical protocols, we explore in three studies how such matrices may be derived in relation to students` concepts of living kinds, and then how they may be analysed. Typcially, we use principal components analysis – a model-free form of factor analysis. The resultant loadings derived from these analyses are plotted on Cartesian planes from which additional information about the structure of the students’ conceptualizations may be derived.
Relación entre los índices bursátiles europeos: una nueva perspectiva a partir de los niveles de capitalización

Este artículo analiza las relaciones y las interdependencias a corto y largo plazo entre los mercados de valores de la eurozona, teniendo en cuenta el nivel de capitalización. De acuerdo con este objetivo, se analizaron cuatro segmentos de capitalización correspondientes a los índices de micro, pequeñas, medianas y grandes capitalizaciones en el período comprendido entre noviembre de 2007 y diciembre de 2013. Con el fin de identificar la existencia de interdependencias y relaciones a corto plazo entre los índices europeos, se ha recurrido a un vector autorregresivo con mecanismo corrector de errores, al concepto de causalidad de Granger y a funciones de impulso-respuesta. Se concluyó que el índice Large Cap describe movimientos relativamente autónomos y que contiene información que ayuda a explicar los cambios en otros índices. En cuanto a la existencia de relaciones a largo plazo, se utilizó las habituales pruebas de cointegración, lo que ha permitido entender que el índice para el segmento de las grandes capitalizaciones describe un comportamiento diferente en comparación con los índices de los dos segmentos de capitalización más pequeños. Este resultado es particularmente importante para una posible estrategia de diversificación de la cartera de inversiones en una perspectiva internacional.
A Dynamic Geometry-Centered Teacher Professional Development Program and Its Impact.

This study investigated the impact of a dynamic geometry (DG)-centered teacher professional development program on high school geometry teachers’ content knowledge and their students’ geometry learning. 64 geometry teachers were randomly assigned to an experimental (DG) group and a control group. Both groups received appropriate and relevant professional development. Classroom observation data and the teachers' responses to the implementation questionnaires revealed that most teachers in the DG group were faithful to the DG instructional approach. Teachers in the DG group scored higher on a conjecturing-proving test than did teachers in the control group. The students of teachers in the DG group scored significantly higher than the students of teachers in the control group on a geometry achievement test.
RAPD analysis of genetic variation among some winter barley cultivars

Genetic improvement of any crop species depends upon the existence, nature and extent of the genetic variability available for manipulation. Genetic analysis with RAPD markers has been extensively used to determine genetic diversity among barley varieties and to identify the best quality for malting, feeding, or human consumption. The objectives of the present study were to assess molecular variation among different Romanian and foreign winter barley cultivars, and to determine the level of genetic similarity among them. The results demonstrated that RAPD analyses are useful for evaluation of genetic diversity between different winter barley cultivars, considering the fact that the average polymorphic rate was 88.23 % and 10 polymorphic bands/primer. Based on the RAPD analysis using the three primers, we see that there is a high genetic variability between studied cultivars of winter barley, which can be exploited effectively in the improvement programs for this species. The use of cultivars from various clusters and sub clusters offer the possibility of obtaining an appropriate genetic variability in hybrid populations. The band of 150 bp, amplified by the primer S39, which was found only in cultivars with high protein content, can be used for quick identification of high or low protein content cultivars.
Influence of oil film stiffness on natural characteristics of single-rotor three-input helicopter main gearbox

The elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) contact model is established, the oil film stiffness is calculated based on Dowson-Higginson empirical minimum thickness equation. The vibration model of single-rotor three-input helicopter main reducer is proposed by lumped mass method, and nonlinear factors like oil film stiffness, dynamic meshing force are taken into account. The influence of oil film stiffness on system natural frequency is analyzed as well. The results show that oil film stiffness of the internal and external meshing pairs in the planetary gear system have greater impact on the natural frequency, which tends to destabilize the system. Therefore, the planetary gear train is the most crucial branch regarding the system splash lubrication. When all the oil film stiffness in the system are greater than 4×109 N/m, the natural frequencies tend to be stable. This study can provide the theoretical reference for the lubrication characteristics in the single-rotor multi-input helicopter.
A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF FLUID SIMULATION USING A SPH VARIATION

Fluid simulation using meshless methods has increasingly become a robust way to solve mechanics problems that require dealing with large deformations, in that way, it is briefly shown what the main challenges and advances in the area are. The smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is then introduced. One of its variations is the Weakly Compressible SPH (WCSPH), which was used as a baseline to implement the method used in this work, called XSPH. Finally, four usual test cases of fluid simulation are analyzed: the lid-driven cavity flow, the dam break, the Poiseuille flow and the elliptic drop. The analysis concluded that the method used in this work performs at least as well as the most reliable and accurate models, and in some aspects performs better.