Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Call to the Engineering Community to Address Human Trafficking

H uman trafficking (HT) is a horrific and seemingly intractable problem that is typically construed as falling beyond the purview of engineers. This paper argues that engineering systems analysis can produce important insights concerning HT operations and ways to reduce its frequency. Three cases of such systems analysis illustrate (a) the limitations of individual- level interventions against sex trafficking, (b) the benefits of applying network analysis and interdiction models to HT supply chains, and (c) options to reduce the use of trafficked labor in the preparation and distribution of fish products.
CSP and governance in emerging and developing country firms: Of mirrors and substitutes

Abstract A recent debate in the international CSR literature has focused on the question whether CSR serves as a mirror or a substitute of country-level governance. Advocates of the mirror view highlight the role of country level institutions to drive corporate social performance (CSP) levels, whereas proponents of the substitute view find companies to become more active in light of governance gaps. We contribute to this debate by moving the focus to a sample of 264 emerging economy and developing country companies and by comparing the relationship between country-level governance and CSP based on three different CSP dimensions, namely, emissions, human rights, and community performance. Whilst we find corporate emissions performance and human rights performance to align more closely with the mirror view, there is some indication that corporate community performance—possibly traced back to the longstanding tradition of corporate philanthropy in non-Western contexts—instead acts as a substitute to fill institutional voids. We discuss implications of our findings for research and policymakers.
What Are the Determinants of China’s Export Growth?―A Systematic Review of Chinese Literature (1997-2016)

The purpose of this review is to communicate the research results of Chinese academia in this field to interested scholars in Western academia. Our review question is: What were the factors that positively or negatively influenced China’s export? We designed a systematic review protocol and then conducted a seven-round in-depth search. After the searching and checking process, a database of 620 academic journal articles was created. Altogether, we find 269 factors have boosted or hindered China’s export. Majority of researches focused on macro level factors. Very few papers studied the firm level or individual level factors. Based on our database, several most frequently studied factors that affect China’s export are identified. In the end, a future research direction is proposed.
Cannabis and tourism: a future UK industry perspective

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer original ideas into a potential future cannabis industry in the UK. This paper presents novel approaches regarding the potential existence of cannabis for the tourism industry. It presents an idea in which the UK Government could produce, distribute and control the industry. The proposed idea presents a scheme in which the UK could encourage regional tourism (inclusive to domestic and international travellers) through a controlled but innovative cannabis market scheme. This paper presents a future scenario aiming to encourage dialogue and critique, at a time when attitudes to cannabis are changing. Design/methodology/approach This research takes a scenario narrative approach in presenting and exploring a potential future cannabis market in the UK. The importance of narrative writing as a method is recognised by Lindgren and Bandhold (2009), who identify the significance in telling a story to the reader. Taking a pragmatic approach, embracing diverse philosophical methods, this research explores past and current trends via a mixture of secondary data sources to create and present a scenario narrative of the future. Findings This paper identified that trends in legalising cannabis for cultivation, medical and recreational purposes continue to become more liberal globally. However, cannabis laws mainly focus on the use for residents. Consequently, domestic tourism markets have the potential to grow. However, there is limited consideration regarding the potential for international tourism cannabis markets. Thus, the findings of this research are based on the potential for the UK to implement and promote a cannabis industry for international travellers. Originality/value This paper offers original ideas in exploring a future cannabis market in the UK, one where regional tourism is considered. The paper presents a novel approach that encourages domestic and international tourists to engage with the cannabis industry by navigating a well-managed, local approach to supplying cannabis in the UK.
Restricted Airspace Unit Identification Using Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise

This paper first calculates the departure delay and arrival delay of each flight by mining historical flight data. Then, a new method based on density clustering for identification and visualization of restricted airspace units that considers this activity is proposed. The main objective is to identify the restricted airspace units by calculating the average delay time according to the accumulative delay time of airspace units and the accumulative delay flight. Therefore, the density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) clustering method is utilized to match the latitude and longitude coordinates of each spatial domain unit with its delay time to construct a feature matrix, and then clustering analysis is conducted according to the time period. The method aims at identifying the most severe restricted units in each period. The reliability and applicability of the proposed method are validated through a real case study with flight information from Beijing Capital International Airport, Hongqiao International Airport, and Baiyun International Airport during a typical day. The investigation shows that the DBSCAN clustering method can identify the restricted spatial units intuitively on the six flight paths between Beijing Capital International Airport, Hongqiao International Airport, and Baiyun International Airport.
Innovation Driven Economic Growth: Evidence for G7 Countries

The paper is devoted to the examining the influence of economic growth factor that determines the success in innovations production and to some extent reflects the level of human capital of the country researchers in R&D (per million people) on the cross-country income differences among G7 economies based on the economic and mathematical models construction. It was constructed panel data model to estimate the effect of number of researchers engaged in R&D sector on GDP per capita in G7 countries. According to model results, number of researchers in R&D sector affect GDP per capita of G7 economies with lag of 6 years.
Towards Deployable RL - What's Broken with RL Research and a Potential Fix

Reinforcement learning (RL) has demonstrated great potential, but is currently full of over-hyping and pipe dreams. We point to some diﬃculties with current research which we feel are endemic to the direction taken by the community. To us, the current direction is not likely to lead to “deployable” RL: RL that works in practice and can work in practical situations yet still is economically viable. We also propose a potential ﬁx to some of the diﬃculties of the ﬁeld.
Analisis Penggunaaan Government Radio Network (GRN) untuk Integrasi Sistem Komunikasi Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) di Kota Bandung

Sistem komunikasi Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) yang digunakan oleh instansi/lembaga saat ini tidak terintegrasi. Situasi ini menghambat komunikasi informasi antar instansi/lembaga sehingga memperlambat penanganan bencana. Artikel ini menyajikan penelitian kajian analisis penggunaan sistem Government Radio Network (GRN) untuk integrasi sistem komunikasi antar instansi/lembaga PPDR. Integrasi ini bertujuan untuk memperlancar aliran informasi antar instansi/lembaga PPDR sehingga mempercepat upaya menangani bencana. Teknologi komunikasi GRN yang digunakan ditentukan dengan melakukan kajian literatur dan studi banding di kota lain di dalam dan di luar negeri. TETRA digunakan untuk simulasi implementasi sistem GRN dalam melayani seluruh kota Bandung dengan frekuensi operasi 400 MHz dan lebar pita 800KHz.
Social Media Posts on Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Explosion: A Comparative Analysis of Crisis Framing and Sentiments in Three Nations

This study explores the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 explosion crisis by analyzing posts on Twitter in three nations: the United States, Australia, and South Korea. Using the perspectives of generic frames, issue-specific frames, cross-national frames, and user sentiment on Twitter, this study analyzes 600 posts (200 from each nation). Results reveal that Twitter posts frequently framed the crisis using attribution, morality, and conflict frames. Posts about the explosion were more professional frame oriented than national frame oriented. Negative sentiment was dominant in Twitter posts about the explosion. Morality, corporate breakdown, and customer concerns were highly associated with negative sentiment. The results demonstrate how global users respond to a corporate crisis. Study implications and suggestions are discussed.
The Value of Online Resources to North Carolina Public Library Patrons

As public libraries balance the increasing demand for online resources with budgetary constraints, information about the value of online resources to patrons will help library administrators prioritize their efforts. Many researchers have studied the value of public libraries more generally, but this study estimates the value of library-provided online resources through an evaluation of library patrons’ willingness to pay. Results indicate limited relationships between respondent-specific variables and patron willingness to pay, but several library-specific variables were found to be significantly related to patron willingness to pay. A discussion of these results and recommendations for applying this research to public library administration are included in this paper.
Towards a More Transparent Disclosure for Corporate Sustainability: Focusing on the Regulation of Unfaithful Disclosure Designation

This study explored the effect of corporate governance on disclosure transparency, coming from the changes of the largest shareholder and the designation as an unfaithful disclosure firm. In addition, the study verified whether this designation on a firm increases voluntary disclosure level the following year. According to results of analyzing nonfinancial firms listed in the Korea stock market from 2009 to 2017, the more frequently the largest shareholder changed in the recent three years, the significantly higher the possibility of the firm in being designated as an unfaithful disclosure firm. For firms that were designated as unfaithful disclosure firms, voluntary disclosure significantly increased the following year. These results were strengthened by the addition of several more analyses including quality of management forecasts, consideration of fixed-effects regression and the mediation modeling. These results imply the necessity for the supervision of authorities to take caution, while it shows the effectiveness of the unfaithful disclosure designation regulation in improving disclosure transparency.
Is the era of the day-of-the-week anomaly over

: While an extensive body of literature has investigated the existence of the day-of-the-week anomaly in different stock markets globally, their findings can only provide implications for potential arbitrage opportunities for domestic investors in the investigated markets. We, therefore, add to these studies by investigating the possibility of international arbitrage activities using such an anomaly, after accounting for currency risk. Initially, we re-confirm the disappearance of the effect in the US market (S&P500), implying that US domestic investors can no longer exploit the day-of-the-week trading strategy in their home market. Further, we test whether investors who use the US dollar as the main trading currency (including US investors) can exploit the anomaly in foreign markets. We employ the daily values of representative indices and the national currencies of the three ASEAN countries (Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia) from 1995 to 2014. We find that the anomaly is evident in all three markets and can be exploited by foreign investors. Furthermore, the Thai exchange is the best investment destination for foreign investors with the highest returns and lowest currency risk. The profitability of this trading strategy is independent of economic activities and significantly dependent on the performance and conditions of the financial markets.
Complete Genome Sequence of a Sulfur-Oxidizing Bacterium, Alcaligenes faecalis Strain NLF5-7, Isolated from Livestock Wastewater

The complete genome sequence of Alcaligenes faecalis strain NLF5-7, which was isolated from livestock wastewater, is reported. The genome of strain NLF5-7 contains genes for assimilatory sulfate reduction, dissimilatory sulfate reduction and oxidation, and an SOX system, based on its functional genetic characteristics. ABSTRACT The complete genome sequence of Alcaligenes faecalis strain NLF5-7, which was isolated from livestock wastewater, is reported. The genome of strain NLF5-7 contains genes for assimilatory sulfate reduction, dissimilatory sulfate reduction and oxidation, and an SOX system, based on its functional genetic characteristics.
The Effect of Option-implied Skewness on Delta- and Vega-Hedged Option Returns

We study the relation between option-implied skewness (IS) and the cross-section of option returns under daily hedging to better understand the pricing of skewness in isolation from lower moments. Creating portfolios of delta-hedged (D-hedged) and delta-vega-hedged (DV-hedged) options with daily rebalancing, we find that IS is negatively related to both D-hedged and DV-hedged call option returns, but has no significant relation to hedged put option returns. The negative relation observed between IS and hedged call option returns is stronger when the underlying stock has a larger market beta, and when the firm is more opaque. Our results suggest that the relation between IS and call option portfolio returns is driven primarily by investors' skewness preference which grows stronger with larger market risk and lower information quality.
On Alternative Development and the Modern Colonial Global Imaginary

In the lattermost third of the 20th century, alternative development (AD) began to employ participatory and human-centered modes of research and operations as a response to the negative effects of colonization and mainstream development. While AD has always had a reciprocally supportive relationship with academic research, more recently, AD programs have become an integral component of Western higher education operations, syllabi and apparatuses. Although this new partnership presents opportunity for many, fresh scholarship is unravelling and critically examining the complexities and logical inconsistencies this relationship presents. This research employs sociological lenses that account for this new partnership’s corresponding neo-imperial networks of power to challenge its radical claims to fostering decolonization, emancipation and the reversal of western hegemonic domination. Indeed, AD’s authentic potential to assist in anti-colonial or -imperial struggles may now be nullified, as its new relationship with higher education ensures these struggles remain operationalized from within the very geo- and body-political epistemic location that they seek to counter and transcend. It may be the case that this new partnership is the latest strategy of the modern/colonial global imaginary, as it incorporates both strategies aimed at its resistance and alternative Indigenous imaginaries into discursive schemas to ensure its own perpetuity and expansion. In turn, AD’s knowledge production has become instrumentalized by actively foreclosing upon systematic critiques pointing to this possibility.
Traveling to your match? Assessing the predictive potential of Plog’s travel personality in destination marketing

ABSTRACT This study revisits . Plog’s travel personality model in a true experimental setting and tests the model’s predictive power. The specific aim is to examine whether attitudinal and behavioral responses toward a destination vary as a function of the congruity between the tourist’s travel personality and the characteristics of the destination as perceived from an advertising message. The concept of self-congruity serves as a foundation for the theoretical framework. Results indicate message-personality congruity had a significant influence on visit intention via attitudes as mediators. This study provides theoretical implications for the predictive potential of Plog’s model as well as strategic marketing implications for destinations.
Are people in the SADC region willing to pay more tax to fund public healthcare?

ABSTRACT For Africa to develop and achieve sustainable development, African governments have to prioritise spending on public health. However, the current spending data shows that health spending is a continuing struggle for African countries. Many researchers have the view that African governments have to collect more tax to spend enough on public healthcare. The question here is what extent people are willing to pay more tax to increase spending on public healthcare? Employing a multilevel regression model on Afrobarometer survey data, this paper examined to what extent individual and country level factors influence people’s willingness to pay more tax to increase spending on public healthcare in 12 Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states. This study found that peoples’ trust in their government is an important determinant of willingness to pay more tax, while factors such as the country’s quality of democracy, economic condition, and current per capita health expenditure have no influence.
Using RPL Model to Probe Trade-Offs among Negative Externalities of Controlling Invasive Species

This empirical study uses the choice experiment method to analyze the preferences of national park (NP) visitors regarding the negative externalities of NP measures to prevent and control invasive alien species (IAS). In addition, it estimates the visitor responses to the trade-offs between various negative externalities and the prices visitors are willing to pay. Based on these trade-offs and the willing-to-pay prices, NPs can plan IAS prevention that has the least impact on visitors. Adopting visitors to Taiwan’s Shei-Pa National Park as the survey respondents, this paper uses a stratified random sampling method to select the survey time and applies systematic sampling to select respondents during the survey period. A total of 602 questionnaires and 2998 observations were obtained. The results reveal that visitors believe that the negative externalities of IAS have a significant impact on them. However, their preference for prevention and control outweighs their preference for no prevention and control measures. In terms of the negative externalities associated with IAS prevention and control, visitors award priority to avoidance of ecological disturbance and harm to visitor health, and are more likely to accept the reduction of recreational area.
The effect of trade secrets protection on disclosure of forward‐looking financial information

Using the recognition of the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine (IDD) by US state courts as an exogenous shock to the risk of losing trade secrets, this study examines the effects of trade secrets on disclosure of forward‐looking financial information. We find that management earnings forecast frequency and forecast horizon increases after the US state where a firm is headquartered starts to recognize IDD. We also find that the effect of IDD recognition on management forecasts is more pronounced for firms that have larger market shares, higher product market competition, more intensive R&D, shorter distance to their industry rivals, and more employees who possess knowledge of the firms’ trade secrets.
Impact of Physical Therapy for a Patient with Multiple Limb Amputations Secondary to Legionnairesʼ Disease: A Case Report

118 ABSTRACT Background and Purpose: Collaboration between the physical therapist and prosthetist is essential for patients with any type of amputation. This case report describes a patient with multiple limb amputations due to medical complications resulting from community acquired Legionnaires' disease (LD). The physical therapy evaluation, examination, diagnosis, interventions, and outcomes along with collaboration with the prosthetist are discussed. Case Description: A 55-year-old previously healthy male contracted LD and subsequently developed multiple medical complications in acute care. This resulted in left transradial and bilateral transtibial amputations due to hypotension-induced ischemia from sepsis. A 2-month course of inpatient rehabilitation is described, including changes in functional status and progression to safe discharge home. Outcomes: Physical therapy interventions resulted in an improvement from total assist for all functional mobility to ambulating at a standby assist level with bilateral lower limb and left upper limb prosthesis. He improved his 10-m walk test score from 0.07 to 0.60 m/s, 6-minute walk test to 133 m, and timed up and go test to 47 seconds. Discussion: A comprehensive list of physical therapy interventions needs to be included for successful rehabilitation of a medically complex patient with multiple limb amputations. Collaboration with the prosthetist is inherent and critical. Future research may include a series of case reports or a study using practice-based evidence. This would allow for more associations to be made regarding interventions for patients with multiple limb amputations.
Psychophysiological aspects of duodenal ulcer in young patients

: SMALL and Spilberg-Khanin questionnaires were used to examine psychological state while statistical and spectral analysis of heart rate at rest and orthostasis to evaluate vegetative status in 86 patients aged 15-24 years with duodenal ulcer (DU). Patients with mild DU had the least psychological and vegetative alterations primarily of the neurotic trend with a relative enhancement of the nervous sympathetic component. A severe disease was characterized by the greatest psychovegetative changes--high SMALL scales, anxiety, stress of the vegetative nervous systems at rest and orthostasis. Thus, alterations in psychic and vegetative status may serve criteria in prediction of DU course in young patients.