Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Are you ready for a child? A methodological triangulation on fertility intentions in Austria

Research on fertility has been mainly using quantitative methods, and it is only in the last few decades that qualitative research methods have become more common in demography. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods in a so-called triangulation is even more uncommon. Applying a triangulation, the current paper aims to better understand the concept of fertility intention with regard to family formation. During problem-centred interviews with childless men and women, the issue of feeling ready was mentioned again and again. It turned out that apart from economic circumstances, this individual aspect is important for the decision to have a child. In this paper, we explain the rather complex concept of feeling ready using interviews. Based on these qualitative results, additional questions were included in the Austrian “Generations and Gender Survey” (GGS) which allow to analyse the dimension of being ready also quantitatively in a national representative dataset. Our results clearly support the theory of planned behaviour in the context of family formation, as social norms, attitudes and behaviour control are significantly associated with childbearing intentions. In the contextual framework of the theory of planned behaviour, our quantitative results revealed that the feeling of being ready has additional explanatory power for childbearing intentions among childless men and women in Austria.
Estimating the External Returns to Education: Evidence from China

Using longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, we examine how individual wages change in line with the share of college graduates in a given province. The individual fixed effect model shows that the external returns to education in China appear to be zero. We estimate an instrumental variables fixed effects model where share of college graduates is instrumented by the number of universities with special status and find positive external returns to education of about 10 per cent to 14 per cent. We also find that the returns are affected by individual heterogeneity. While negligible returns are found for urban, women, and high-educated workers, the returns are positive and statistically significant for rural, men, and low-educated workers. This finding provides the motivation for increasing education investment in rural China and targeting it more toward poorly educated workers.
EARLY PHASE OBSERVATIONS OF EXTREMELY LUMINOUS TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA 2009dc

We present early phase observations in optical and near-infrared wavelengths for the extremely luminous Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2009dc. The decline rate of the light curve is Δm15(B) = 0.65 ± 0.03, which is one of the slowest among SNe Ia. The peak V-band absolute magnitude is estimated to be MV = −19.90 ± 0.15 mag if no host extinction is assumed. It reaches MV = −20.19 ± 0.19 mag if we assume the host extinction of AV = 0.29 mag. SN 2009dc belongs to the most luminous class of SNe Ia, like SNe 2003fg and 2006gz. Our JHKs-band photometry shows that this SN is also one of the most luminous SNe Ia in near-infrared wavelengths. We estimate the ejected 56Ni mass of 1.2 ± 0.3 M☉ for the no host extinction case (and of 1.6 ± 0.4 M☉ for the host extinction of AV = 0.29 mag). The C ii λ6580 absorption line remains visible until a week after the maximum brightness, in contrast to its early disappearance in SN 2006gz. The line velocity of Si ii λ6355 is about 8000 km s−1 around the maximum, being considerably slower than that of SN 2006gz. The velocity of the C ii line is similar to or slightly less than that of the Si ii line around the maximum. The presence of the carbon line suggests that the thick unburned C+O layer remains after the explosion. Spectropolarimetric observations by Tanaka et al. indicate that the explosion is nearly spherical. These observational facts suggest that SN 2009dc is a super-Chandrasekhar mass SN Ia.
A Relationship Between Occupational Stress and Organisational Commitment of I.T Sector's Employees in Contrasting economies

Aim is to examine the relationship between occupational stress and organisational commitment of employees at middle and operational level. Additionally, the occupational therapists role is examined through self-developed ‘stress model’ containing perceived job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and distinctive stressors. Using purposive, snowball and convenience sampling 825 responses (403 from UK and 422 from Pakistan) gathered through on-line matrix based survey questionnaire to gain quantitative perspective. Findings showed female workers are less stress than male workers. Due to low social support, non-managerial employees are vulnerable to stress than their counterpart managerial position employees. Furthermore, Pakistani workforce experience greater stress than UK workforce does. Moreover, personal factors stressed females while organisational factors affect males. Personality often hinders females' organisational commitment while role demand and organisational leadership mainly affect male employees in both countries. Females use support more often than males for overcoming stress. Managerial position males have higher affective commitment whereas managerial level females have high normative commitment and continuance commitment. Although, degree of stress is higher in Pakistan comparing to UK but causes and effects are not significantly different.
Medium optimization for production of antifungal active substances from antagonistic Brevibacillus laterosporus and its antifungal activity analysis

The antagonist bacterium Brevibacillus laterosporus ZQ2 with broad-spectrum antifungal activity was isolated from an apple rhizosphere at Mount Tai in China. The fermentation medium for the production of antifungal substances from ZQ2 was statistically optimized. In one-factor-at-a-time experiments, five components, including carbon sources, nitrogen sources, and inorganic salt, were selected. Two factors were determined as critical based on the Plackett-Burman design. Steepest ascent experiments were then used to determine the design space containing the optimum point, followed by application of the response surface methodology. A quadratic model fitting the actual production was established using a central composite design. The obtained optimum medium for the antifungal substances production consisted of the following (in g/L): glucose, 15.6; soybean meal, 8.2; starch, 20; ammonium sulfate, 2; and monopotassium phosphate, 1. Furthermore, the inhibition rate of the substances against Rhizoctonia solani increased by more than 132% compared with the control. B. laterosporus ZQ2 strongly inhibited the growth of many apple phytopathogens in vitro. The inhibition rates against different fungi ranged from 55.26 to 79.02%. As well, the strain significantly reduced the disease damage caused by R. solani in the in vivo tests. Maximum disease protection (46.89%) was recorded when the bacterium applied 3 days before pathogen inoculation. Key words: Brevibacillus laterosporus, antifungal activity, fermentation optimization.
The Impact of Information System and Technology (IST) Investment Announcements on the Market Value of Australian Companies: An Event Study

The research presented in this paper studied the impact selected Information System and Technology (IST) investment announcements had on the market value of firms. It applies the event study method, a method to measure how a company’s share price reacts to new information, to a list of publicly traded Australian firms. It uses and explicitly describes its approach to the selection of a reliable sample and the calculation of share return, which is well-known in financial research, but not established in IS research On this background a total of 62 announcements related to the launching of new IST products or initiatives were selected over 1996 to 2003. On a whole the research showed that these announcements yielded positive abnormal returns only on -1 to +2 days from the announcement dates, the other days in the event window -15 to +15 yielded negative abnormal returns. The results indicate a possible market reaction, but they were not found to be statistically significant. This, in line with previous studies, supports and extends the claim that IST investments have not resulted in increased market value for publicly traded firms not only in the United States, but also in other developed, western countries such as Australia.
Education And Human Resource Development In Post-Independent Eritrea – An Explanatory Note

Education is a lifelong process. Twentieth century has witnessed the miracles of Human Resource Development (HRD) activities reflected through increase in GNP and overall productive activities. The Government of Eritrea offering both formal and informal training programmes at different levels in order to develop the human resources. This prosperity in education is obviously a great thing for Eritrea, and the dream to make Eritrea a technological-oriented and advanced nation would become real, because the cumulative effort done so far in the human development is noteworthy. As Human Resource Development Programmes concentrate much on the category of major raw human resource to be processed into the work force and its role in reconstructing the economy. An attempt is made in this paper to analyse the educational and human resource development after independence. This paper also provides detailed account of technical and vocation education with special reference to skill development programme.
Overexpression analysis of emv2 gene coding for late embryogenesis abundant protein from Vigna radiata (Wilczek)

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are speculated to protect against water stress deficit in plants. An over expression system for mungbean late embryogenesis abundant protein, emv2 was constructed in a pET29a vector, designated pET- emv2 which is responsible for higher expression under the transcriptional/translational control of T7/lac promoter incorporated in the Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). Induction protocol was optimized for pET recombinants harboring the target gene. Overexpressed EMV2 protein was purified to homogeneity and the protein profile monitored by SDS-PAGE.
An assessment of Rice Husk Ash modified, Marble Sludge loaded Natural Rubber hybrid composites

Marble sludge (MS) and rice husk have been collected from marble industry and rice processing mill. MS was dried, ground and passed through 10µm size sieve. Rice husk was treated with hydrochloric acid solution at 105˚ C, and burned at 650 ˚ C for four hours, pulverize and passed through 10µm size sieve. Both powders were characterized by the X-ray fluorescence and then incorporated in the natural rubber (NR), according to recipe for various hybrid compositions. Compounding was carried out on a two-roll mill with total filler loading of 60 parts per hundred rubber (phr). The composites were vulcanized at 155o C. The effects of partial or complete replacement of MS by rice husk ash (RHA) on mechanical and swelling properties of MS/RHA/NR hybrid composites before, and after ageing were analyzed. Results show that tensile strength, 100% modulus, 300% modulus, tear strength, hardness, crosslink value, volume fraction and shear modulus increases while elongation at break, compression set, rebound resilience, abrasion loss, swelling coefficient and the average molecular weight of the polymer between cross-links decreases with increasing RHA weight ratio in hybrid composites. The ageing characteristic of corresponding hybrid composites was evaluated at 70˚ C and 100˚ C temperatures for 96 hours.
Title Nonlinear Koopman Modes and Power System StabilityAssessment Without Models

The loss of stability—an instability—can become a critical cause of emergent cascading outages leading to widespread blackouts. Penetration of renewable energy sources makes the problem of instability more urgent because of the highly fluctuating nature of such sources. Here we show a databased approach to stability assessment of power systems without models. This approach is enabled by Koopman mode analysis for nonlinear dynamical systems, which detects an instability based on the properties of the point spectrum of the Koopman operator. We apply the technique to data on physical power flows sampled from the two major accidents, the 2011 ArizonaSouthern California grid outage and the 2006 system disturbance of the European interconnected grid, and successfully detect unstable power flow patterns that govern the complex dynamics occurring during the accidents.
How do the Contexts impact the Habit Formation of Information System Users

What elements impact the usage continuance and the habit formation of information system users? How to utilize these elements in the field of user experience design? It is worth noting that both goals and contexts play key roles in helping information system users forming habits. Before the habit is formed, goals trigger the non-habitual behavior. When the behavior continuance goes up, stable contexts trigger the behavior, and automaticity is correspondingly generated. It is context-cued automaticity makes the habitual behaviors more efficient than non-habitual behaviors. Index Terms - Continuance, Habit, Context, Information System Design I. Introduction In order to know what elements impact the usage continuance and the habit formation of information system users, we studied on theories about the behaviors and habits of people in the field of psychology, and find that besides goals, contexts also play the most important role in helping information system users in habit formation. In this paper, we will learn how the habits are formed, and how the contexts impact the habit formation process in people"s normal life and when using information system. By learning the context role in the process of habit formation, we would like to help all the designers who are engaged in improving the usage continuance for the product, and hope users can form their own habits to pay more attentions in context design, which is normally ignored.
Automated Mapping of Stream Features with High-Resolution Multispectral Imagery: An Example of the Capabilities

The capabilities of high-resolution, multispectral remote sensing imagery to map important stream features is investigated. Eighty centimeter spatial resolution CASI imagery was acquired in eight spectral bands over Tofino Creek on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. A spectral angle mapping algorithm was used to classify stream habitat including hydraulic habitat, substrate material, and woody debris. Subclasses were attempted in terms of streambed material and water depth, but results were not reliable. A classification of deep water, moderate depth water, shallow water, sand, gravel and cobble, and woody debris in sunlit conditions, however, proved accurate (80 percent on average). Individual logs and piles of woody debris were consistently detected. Silty substrate in a tidal flats zone was also classified, but results indicated that different substrate material beneath the water may require separate classes and can result in problematic water depth classification. Patterns of general classes were reasonably represented within shadowed areas cast by isolated trees or groups of trees. However, problems do arise within lengthy shadowed stretches. Some boundaries of stream features with surrounding forest and between some zones of sand, gravel, and cobble were also misclassified. High-resolution, multispectral imagery in four or more bands combined with good geometric correction, image mosaicking, and appropriate automatic classification techniques offer a viable tool for stream mapping to meet a variety of issues and applications. In the future, a powerful suite of stream information may be compiled from multispectral classification combined with high-resolution thermal and lidar data.
Nonlinear analysis of braking delay dynamics for the progressive gears in variable operating conditions

The article presents the impact of variable operating conditions on the value of braking process delay for the progressive gears of PP16 type and the newly constructed CHP2000 gears. Tests were conducted in the regular working conditions with the application of mineral oil as lubricating agent. Values of delays were recorded for the loading of 400 and 1000 kg. This research study presents the recurrence plot analysis to investigate variability of received test runs. The results may be useful for testing new solutions brakes in varying conditions of service and may set new directions of research in the discussed topics.
Compression of microarray images 429 Compression of microarray images

DNA microarrays have become a tool of paramount importance in the study of gene function, regulation, and interaction across large numbers of genes, and even entire genomes (Hegde et al., 2000; Moore, 2001). Microarray experiments generate pairs of 16 bits per pixel grayscale images (see Fig. 1, for an example). These images, which may require several tens of megabytes in order to be stored or transmitted, are analyzed by software tools that extract relevant information, such as the intensity of the spots and the background level. This information is then used for evaluating the expression level of individual genes (Hegde et al., 2000; Moore, 2001).
Survival abdominal gunshot injury: a rare case

A 55 years old male patient came to the casualty of a Medical College and Hospital with alleged history of assault with firearm injury on his back. Patient was conscious with GCS 15/15, his pulse rate was 133 beats per min, blood pressure was 100/60 mmHg, SpO2 was 95% and pallor was present. On local examination there was single entry wound at lower back on left side of size 1 cm X 1 cm with no exit wound. Generalized abdominal tenderness and guarding was present. Patient was immediately resuscitated. Blood grouping, cross match were sent immediately. Abdominal radiograph did not show any gas under the diaphragm but a foreign body (a bullet) was seen. Ultrasonography and computerized tomography scan of the abdomen was suggestive of hemoperitonium and a foreign body bullet in abdomen. Exploratory laparotomy showed moderate hemoperitonium of about 1000 ml which was sucked out completely. Evidence of retroperitoneal rent of size approximately 1 cm X 1 cm seen with oozing through it which was closed in layers. A bullet was seen in the anterior abdominal wall but skin was intact. Five jejunal perforations distal to 20 cm from the duodenojejunal flexure were seen and the bullet was removed from the anterior abdominal wall. Resection of the jejunal segment with jejunojejunal anastomosis was done. Jejunal mesenteric rents were closed. Abdominal wall closed in layers. Post-operative recovery was uneventful. Patient was discharged on the 10th post-operative day. Early diagnosis and treatment in the golden hours can save the life of the patients. A mass education on the dangers of these guns and the harm they can cause as well as legal regulations for their restricted use seem to be necessary.
Explorer Parsing , editing , proving : The PGIP display protocol

This paper describes how proof texts are constructed and edited in the Proof General Kit framework. Proof texts are the central object of development within our framework and we want to allow flexible ways to construct them, both explicitly via text editing and implicitly by graphical manipulation or meta-manipulation. To this end, the framework allows for user-oriented display components, connected to provers via a central broker component. The display components and the broker exchange messages in a format specified by the PGIP display protocol, which facilitates parsing, editing and proving of proof texts. The design of this part of the framework is new; the remainder of the framework, which connects the prover components to the broker, is based more closely on refining work of the previous Proof General project, and was described in [4].
AC 2010-1537: IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: DEFINING AND STUDYING INTERDISCIPLINARITY IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION

The philosophical, practical, and empirical literature on interdisciplinarity reveals that there is considerable debate about what “counts” as interdisciplinary teaching and research. Decisions about which theories and definitions to adopt have implications for how scholars define interdisciplinarity, what educators believe constitutes interdisciplinary education, and for what researchers choose to include and exclude in studies of the development of students’ interdisciplinary competence. In this paper we present data excerpts from six detailed case studies that reveal the many, varied, and often conflicting, definitions of interdisciplinarity used by engineering administrators and faculty members in discussions of undergraduate educational activities intended to develop students’ interdisciplinary competence. These definitions-in-use do not always align with theory-based definitions of interdisciplinarity, and they did not neatly align with the conceptualization of interdisciplinarity that guided our study. In this paper, we discuss the methodological challenge that multiple, competing conceptualizations of interdisciplinarity (and multidisciplinarity) posed for the research team, focusing specifically on the question of whether to include or exclude from our analyses faculty and administrators’ reports on learning activities if the conceptualization of interdisciplinary undergirding those activities was not consistent with our study definition. We discuss the substantive impact of different decisions and report how the team ultimately resolved this problem in a way that was methodologically and theoretically defensible. Finally, we present examples (from the case study sites) of learning activities that might not meet a strict theoretical definition of interdisciplinary educational activities but that might promote the development of interdisciplinary competence by building skills that contribute to that competence.
Determinants of the Wage Gap between Migrants and Local Urban Residents in China: 2002-2013

This study explores the determinants of the wage gaps between rural-to-urban migrants and local urban residents in China from 2002 to 2013. Using the Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP) 2002 and 2013 survey data, the study provides an analysis based on the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition model. The estimation results indicate that individual characteristics, regional location, and the distribution differences among industries and public and private sectors were the main factors causing the wage gaps. Furthermore, the main factors causing the wage gaps between 2002 and 2013 are human capital factors, industry sectors, and gender discrimination.
Nondestructive and High-Recovery-Yield Purification of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes by Chemical Functionalization

Raw single-walled carbon nanotubes produced by arc discharge were first treated with K2S2O8 in dilute H2SO4 solution to generate oxygenated functional groups such as carboxyl, hydroxyl, and carbonyl on varying carbon components. Further functionalization with octadecylamine was carried out via a condensation reaction between an amine group and a carboxyl group with the assistance of dicyclohexylcarbodiimide. The attachment of long alkyl chains leads the sample to be soluble in tetrahydrofuran and other organic solvents. The thus obtained stable dispersion was subjected to dispersion-centrifugation recycles, and then the metal catalysts and varying carbon impurities were separated with carbon nanotubes. The advantage of this procedure lies in high-yield and nondestructive recovery of the target material. Optical absorption spectroscopic and thermogravimetric analyses show that about 60% of the nanotubes in the starting material is extracted with a purity more than 90 wt %.