Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Branding and packaging design: key insights on marketing milk to low-income markets in South Africa

The low-income market is a viable and highly untapped market. There is increasing interest in the poor as a market in South Africa. Yet, little is known about their shopping behaviour in retail settings. The purpose of the study on which this article reports, was to gain an understanding of the effect of pricing, brand and packaging on choice preferences of pasteurised milk by consumers sharing a living standard measure (LSM) classification of one to four. This research utilised a mixed method methodology design approach. Opinions of 103 respondents, exposed to an in-store simulation, were obtained to gain a better understanding of consumer behaviour towards brand and packaging design and how these elements affected purchasing decisions. Results revealed that price sensitivity plays a prerequisite role in the consumer purchase decision and that, while most respondents were willing to pay a price premium for brand and packaging design elements, limited income is a clear inhibitor. Brand awareness and trust also play an important role in quality perceptions, followed by image (created through visual stimuli) in choice preferences. The challenge for marketers is to find a balance between price and brand to suit consumer expectations and aspirations. Key words: Low-involvement products, milk, brand awareness, packaging, choice preferences, visual stimuli.
The MediaMill TRECVID 2012 Semantic Video Search Engine

In this paper we describe our TRECVID 2012 video retrieval experiments. The MediaMill team participated in four tasks: semantic indexing, multimedia event detection, multimedia event recounting and instance search. The starting point for the MediaMill detection approach is our top-performing bagof-words system of TRECVID 2008-2011, which uses multiple color SIFT descriptors, averaged and difference coded into codebooks with spatial pyramids, and kernel-based machine learning. This year our concept detection experiments focus on establishing the influence of difference coding, the use of audio features, concept-pair detection using regular concepts, pair detection by spatiotemporal objects, and concept(-pair) detection without annotations. Our event detection and recounting experiments focus on representations using concept detectors. For instance search we study the influence of spatial verification and color invariance. The 2012 edition of the TRECVID benchmark has again been a fruitful participation for the MediaMill team, resulting in the runner-up ranking for concept detection in the semantic indexing task.
AN INTELLIGENT RTP-BASED HOUSEHOLD ELECTRICITY SCHEDULING BY A GENETIC ALGORITHM IN SMART GRID

Electricity scheduling for households based on real-time pricing (RTP) allows flexible and efficient consumption planning. However, this creates errors in predicted costs. Therefore this study used a genetic algorithm (GA) to reduce the error in predicted costs and suggested a model that offered better consumption planning. This model comprises a provider that supplies electricity and a subscriber that consumes electricity. Each subscriber has an energy management controller (EMC) that selects the optimal electricity scheduling. The provider and subscriber exchange real-time predicted costs and consumption plans to achieve an appropriate balance. During this process, the aforementioned prediction error — i.e., the difference between the predicted cost for each time slot and the final actual cost — occurs. This was addressed in this study using a GA. As a result, the presented model produced consumption plans with costs that were 22.60 per cent lower than the non-scheduled case, and 3.34 per cent lower than the model from a previous study. Furthermore, the fairness for each subscriber was improved by 15.96 per cent compared with the non-scheduled case, and by 0.62 per cent compared with the previous study model.
ThE DEA METhOD IN MANAGING ThE CREDIT RISK OF COMPANIES

The subject of the present paper is a new procedure of forecasting credit risk to companies in the Polish economic environment. What favors the suggested approach is the fact that in Poland, unlike in western countries, the DEA method has not yet been implemented in assessing credit risk faced by companies. The research described in the paper has been conducted on the basis of comparing the proposed DEA method with the currently used procedures, namely the point method, discriminative analysis and linear regression. To verify and compare the efficiency of various methods of company credit risk estimation, the efficiency of the classification of companies has also been examined. The study has involved an analysed sample (a teaching sample) as well as a test sample which was not taken in model building. To conclude, the DEA method facilitates forecasting financial problems, including bankruptcy of companies, in Polish economic conditions, and its efficiency is comparable to or even greater than that of the approaches implemented so far.
Is it possible to appear less lazy? Disclaimer efficacy in social interaction

This study investigated the effectiveness of a laziness disclaimer in forestalling negative impressions, as well as the underlying mechanisms behind disclaimer backfiring. A sample of 180 primarily Asian participants completed questionnaires that assessed the effects of disclaimer use on laziness perceptions, liking, and general positive impressions, as well as three mechanisms (priming, thought suppression rebound, and confirmation bias) that could explain disclaimer inefficacy. The laziness disclaimer had no significant effects on perceptions of laziness, suggesting that disclaimers may not actually forestall negative retypification. Furthermore, disclaimer use, compared to no disclaimer use, had significant negative effects on liking and other positive impressions when it preceded a subsequent lazy statement. Confirmation bias most strongly explained why disclaimers do not work. The results of this study suggest that disclaimers do not fulfill their intended purpose of preventing negative perceptions because they provide trait information that enables individuals to make shortcuts to impression-formation.
Water, food, energy : searching for the economic nexus

Water, food and energy (WFE) are strongly interconnected: each depends on the other for a lot of concerns, spanning from guaranteeing access to services, to environmental, social and ethical impact issues, to price relations. Using daily data spanning from November 2001 to May 2013 we empirically analyze the volatility spillovers and the dynamic conditional correlation between the WFE prices using a multivariate GARCH method. We then apply a multifactor market model based on the theory of Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) with the aim to analyze the impact of agriculture and energy price trends on the share price value of exchange-listed companies that derive a substantial portion of their revenues from the potable and wastewater industry. Results highlight the existences of a financial nexus between WFE that is particular exacerbate during finance turbulence. Understanding price dynamics is relevant both to water, agriculture and energy policy makers and to investors, since it influences information dissemination, price discovery, efficient allocation of resources, hedging and portfolio optimization.
Mechanical and Tribological Characteristics of TIG Hardfaced Dispersive Layer by Reinforced with Particles Extruded Aluminium

The article presents the results of the implemented technology for generation of hardfaced dispersive layers obtained by additive material containing reinforcing phase of non-metal particles. The wear resistant coatings are deposited on pure aluminium metal matrix by shielded gas metal-arc welding applying tungsten inert gas (TIG) with extruded aluminium wire reinforced by particles as additive material. Wire filler is produced by extrusion of a pack containing metalized and plated by flux micro/nano SiC particles. The metalized particles implanting in the metal matrix and its dispersive hardfacing are realized by solid-state welding under conditions of hot plastic deformation. Tribological characteristics are studied of the hardfaced layers of dispersive reinforced material on pure aluminium metal matrix with and without flux. Hardness profiles of the hardfaced layers are determined by nanoindentation. The surface layers are studied by means of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. Increase by 15-31 % of the wear resistance of the hardfaced layers and 30-40 % of their hardness was found, which is due to the implanted in the layer reinforcing phase of metalized micro/nano SiC particles. © 2017 Published by Faculty of Engineering Corresponding author: M. Kandeva Technical University of Sofia, 8 Kl. Ohridski Blvd, 1786 Sofia, Bulgaria. E-mail: kandevam@gmail.com
Rational expectation bubbles: evidence from Hong Kong’s sub-indices

This article uses Hong Kong stock market’s four sub-indices to examine the existence and causes of rational expectation bubbles. The unit root test is applied to the rational bubble hypothesis. Various causality test methods are used to examine the causality of bubble among the four sub-indices. The empirical results show that in the sub-periods of 1986 to 2002 and 2000 to 2012, the bubbles of commerce and industry and utilities industries are consistent with rational expectation bubbles, but not so in the finance and properties industries. In general, the rational expectation bubbles in the two sub-periods seemed to have been caused by expectations in other growing foreign economies.
The Value of User-Specific Information for Two-Sided Matchmakers

This paper analyzes the incentives of a monopolistic matchmaker to generate user-specific information in order to increase match-quality and profits. By merging two-sided-markets with two-sided-matching we derive a micro-foundation of cross-side externalities dependent on the number of potential matches and the accuracy-level of user-specific information. Incentives to invest into identification technologies are determined by the scalability of the (fixed) investments and the resulting effect on match-quality. We show that these effects work into opposing directions, i.e., while scalability works in favor for platforms with large customer bases, the effect of identification on match-quality is greater for small scale platforms.
ADAPTATION OF RAY'S FLUID THIOGLYCOLLATE MEDIUM ASSAY TO DETECT AND QUANTIFY PLANKTONIC STAGES OF PERKINSUS SPP. PARASITES

Abstract The parasites Perkinsus spp. are relatively easily and inexpensively detected in host tissues, but available methods to detect free-living planktonic stages are technologically complex and expensive. As a result, few studies have been conducted to detect and quantify free-living stages during transmission. Here, we describe an adaptation of Ray fluid thioglycollate medium (RFTM) assay to detect and enumerate Perkinsus spp. parasites in environmental water samples. Recovery of in vitro cultured P. marinus was successful, but recovery rates were low. Filtration of water samples captured significantly more cultured P. marinus cells than centrifugation. Lipid supplementation during RFTM incubation enhanced recovery of cultured P. marinus, but not of naturally occurring Perkinsus spp. parasites. Comparisons between the modified RFTM filtration method and a more complex immunoassay revealed that the two methodologies were equally sensitive, indicating that the RFTM filtration method may be confidently applied to environmental water samples to determine relative concentrations of Perkinsus spp. parasites.
Genetic evaluation of daily gains of dual-purpose bulls using a random regression model

Daily gains of 8 243 dual-purpose bulls from 100 to 400 days of age during the years 1971 to 2007 were analyzed by random regression models. Orthogonal Legendre polynomials (LP) of degree 4 were applied to daily gains calculated at 30-day intervals over the test period. Fixed curves were estimated within the station-year-season of birth. The models also included a fixed station-year-season of weighing, animal additive genetic effects and animal permanent environmental effects. The peak daily gain was attained between 230 and 280 days of age, which corresponded to the period of the lowest variance in daily gains. Heritability estimates of daily gain were in the range of 0.014 to 0.043. The reliability of composite trait - cumulative gains over the entire period was 0.87. Genetic correlations between gains at different ages were high for adjacent ages and decreased with increasing difference in ages. Correlations of permanent environ - mental effects were high for adjacent ages, but became negative for ages that were far apart, indicating the possibility of compensatory growth. The phenotypic correlations were close to zero. The correlations for cumulative daily gains were higher than those for individual daily gains.
THE TONE OF ANNUAL REPORTS AS A STRATEGIC PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT TOOL: APPLICATION ON TURKEY’S BORSA ISTANBUL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE INDEX FIRMS

The annual reports have been identified as one of the key corporate governance practice. If these reports are genuinely being prepared in an attempt to improve the clarity of communication with stakeholders, and give related and necessary information accurately to them, then they become one of the strategic tools affecting performance positively. Therefore, in this study, we aimed a semantic examination of the English versions of annual reports from companies quoted on Borsa Istanbul included in the Corporate Governance Index to see whether the annual reports' tone has an impact on company performance. With this aim, the contents of 2014 annual reports are analyzed by the text-analysis software package Diction 7 and scores for accomplishment, cooperation, activity and optimism are obtained. Efficiency scores are calculated by Data Envelopment Analysis to evaluate to what extent annual reports’ tone and corporate governance ratings impact on company performance. The results show that the annual reports' tone and corporate governance ratings have a significant positive impact on efficiency scores, so on performances of companies.
Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering ADSORPTION OF LIGHT ALKANES ON COCONUT NANOPOROUS ACTIVATED CARBON

This paper presents experimental results for adsorption equilibrium of methane, ethane, and butane on nanoporous activated carbon obtained from coconut shells. The adsorption data were obtained gravimetrically at temperatures between 260 and 300K and pressures up to 1 bar. The Toth isotherm was used to correlate the data, showing good agreement with measured values. Low-coverage equilibrium constants were estimated using virial plots. Heats of adsorption at different loadings were also estimated from the equilibrium data. Adsorption properties for this material are compared to the same properties for BPL activated carbon and BAX activated carbon.
Size Matters: The Economic Value of Beach Erosion and Nourishment in Southern California

Despite the widespread use of nourishment in California, few studies estimate the welfare benefits of increased beach width. This paper relies on panel data funded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies. Beach choices of respondents were combined with beach attribute data to reveal how changes in width affect choice and the economic value of beach visits. We use a random‐utility approach to show that the value of beach width varies for different types of beach uses: water contact, sand‐, and pavement‐based activities. We also find that the marginal value of beach width depends on initial beach width.
systemic sclerosis . “ Pearls and pitfalls ” Algorithm of heart disease in scleroderma

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease characterized by vascular dysfunction and excessive fibrosis, involving internal organs including the heart. The estimated prevalence of cardiac involvement in SSc is high and remains subclinical until the late stages. The heart involvement in SSc is either primary, related to myocardial inflammation and fibrosis or secondary, due to pulmonary arterial hypertension (SScPAH) or systemic hypertension in those patients with renal involvement. During the course of SSc, any structure of the heart may be affected leading to myocardial ischemia/fibrosis, pericarditis, myocarditis, conduction system defects, arrhythmias, valvular disease and eventually heart failure. While the proportion of deaths in SSc that are related to renal involvement and to pulmonary causes has substantially declined, cardiac related deaths remained unchanged over the last three decades. It is estimated today to be at approximately 15% of all SSc deaths and unfortunately, the early signs of cardiac involvement are usually non-specific and can be missed by the routine cardiac evaluation. Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) is a useful tool for the early assessment of cardiac involvement in SSc. It is the gold standard technique to assess ventricular volumes, ejection fraction and in particular is very useful to reliably and non-invasively detect myocardial inflammation, early perfusion defects and myocardial fibrosis. However, the CMR evaluation in SSc may be problematic, because of cardiac and respiratory artefacts, commonly found in these patients. Therefore, a high level of expertise is necessary for both acquisition and interpretation of CMR images in SSc.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Pelvic floor function after gynaecological cancer treatment

We present two patients with bothersome stress urinary incontinence (SUI) following radical hysterectomy and pelvine lymphadenectomy for early stage cervical cancer. One patient underwent adjuvant radiotherapy. We selected after extensive counseling, TVT-Secur in these two patients as we aimed to avoid the pelvic cavity, expecting altered anatomy due to major pelvic surgery, and counting on low risk of developing bladder retention, given results of a case series. Both patients were continent post-operatively. One patient presented with a small tape-erosion that was successfully corrected using local analgesics. The other patient developed urgency symptoms that disappeared after treatment with solifenacine. Both patients had detrusor hypo-activity at pre-operative urodynamics, but no bladder retention occurred following surgery. In patients with a history of radical hysterectomy who present with SUI, we would advise to counsel that satisfying results can be expected of TVT-Secur, although it is likely that additional care after surgery is needed.
Weird Machines as Insecure Compilation

Weird machines---the computational models accessible by exploiting security vulnerabilities---arise from the difference between the model a programmer has in her head of how her program should run and the implementation that actually executes. Previous attempts to reason about or identify weird machines have viewed these models through the lens of formal computational structures such as state machines and Turing machines. But because programmers rarely think about programs in this way, it is difficult to effectively apply insights about weird machines to improve security. We present a new view of weird machines based on techniques from programming languages theory and secure compilation. Instead of an underspecified model drawn from a programmers' head, we start with a program written in a high-level source language that enforces security properties by design. Instead of state machines to describe computation, we use the well-defined semantics of this source language and a target language, into which the source program will be compiled. Weird machines are the sets of behaviors that can be achieved by a compiled source program in the target language that cannot be achieved in the source language directly. That is, exploits are witnesses to insecure compilation. This paper develops a framework for characterizing weird machines as insecure compilation, and illustrates the framework with examples of common exploits. We study the classes of security properties that exploits violate, the compositionality of exploits in a compiler stack, and the weird machines and mitigations that arise.
Variation in the distribution of Antarctic krill Euphausia superba around South Georgia

There is considerable spatial structure within the South Georgia krill-based ecosystem in terms of predator demand, commercial fishery pressure and krill abundance. Here we investigate the hypothesis that there is also spatial structure in the krill population composition, finding differences in length-frequency histograms between the eastern and western ends of the island. Between 1981 and 1997 the British Antarctic Survey carried out 6 major cruises where krill were taken from both ends of South Georgia. Cluster analysis revealed that the length-frequency histograms could be grouped into 4 main types with relatively simple biological characteristics: Cluster 1 contained small krill (mean size 23.9 mm) up to 2 yr old (1+ yr class); Cluster 2 (mean size 31.1 mm) contained a mixture of 1+ with some 2+ and 3+ yr classes; Cluster 3 contained medium-sized krill (mean size 41.4 mm) probably 2+ and 3+ yr classes; Cluster 4 contained large krill (mean size 50.3 mm) likely to be 3+ or older. Principal components analysis (PCA) provided good separation of these clusters using the first 2 axes (80% of the total variance). There were no obvious differences in the length composition of krill sampled from different water depths, although there were some indications that differences did occur between different water masses. Detailed inspection of the individual cruises revealed that the length-frequency histograms at the western end of the island contained more large krill than those from the eastern end of the island and also that when Weddell Sea water was found within a cruise then this contained the smallest krill. We consider that such differences may arise not only because krill may experience different conditions at each end of the island but also may originate from 2 separate sources which may have different population structures.
Drosophila as a biological system for studying autophagic cell death

Macroautophagy (hereafter referred to as autophagy) is a lysosome-dependent catabolic process that results in the degradation and recycling of cellular components, such as lipids, proteins, and organelles. Autophagy can function in many cellular contexts, including during infection, stress, cell survival, and cell death. During the development of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, multiple tissues undergo a programmed cell death in which autophagy plays a key role in their destruction. Here, we describe how to analyze autophagy and its relationship to cell death in Drosophila. Methods in Enzymology, Volume 545 # 2014 Elsevier Inc. ISSN 0076-6879 All rights reserved. http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/B978-0-12-801430-1.00008-1 181