Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Relationship between Energy Consumption and Economic Growth: Evidence from Different Income Country Groups

This study analyses the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth for 119 countries during the period of 1970-2015, classified into four groups regarding to the World Bank income ranking. The main motivation of this study is to analyze whether the causal relationship differs between different income groups of countries. For this purpose, panel auto regressive distributed lag boundary approach and Granger causality test were used. The results of the study indicate that the causal relationship between energy use and economic growth differs depending on which income group country belongs to. We conclude that the feedback hypothesis is supported for upper-middle income group in the long run and high-income group, while conservation hypothesis is supported for upper-middle income group in the short run and lower-middle income group in the long run. Finally, neutrality hypothesis is supported for low and lower middle-income groups in the short run.
Jointly modeling area-level crash rates by severity: a Bayesian multivariate random-parameters spatio-temporal Tobit regression

ABSTRACT This study investigates the inclusion of spatio-temporal correlation and interaction in a multivariate random-parameters Tobit model and their influence on fitting areal crash rates with different severity outcomes. The spatial correlation is specified via a multivariate conditional autoregressiv (MCAR) prior, whereas the temporal correlation is specified by a linear time trend. A spatio-temporal interaction is formulated as the product of a time trend and a spatial term with an MCAR prior. A multivariate random-parameters spatio-temporal Tobit model is developed for slight injury and killed or serious injury crash rates using one year of crash data from 131 traffic analysis zones in Hong Kong. The proposed model is estimated and assessed in the Bayesian context. The model estimation results show that spatial and temporal effects and their interactive effects are significant and that the spatial and interactive effects have strong correlations across injury severities. The proposed model outperforms a multivariate random-parameters Tobit model and a multivariate random-parameters spatial Tobit model in terms of model fit. These findings highlight the importance of appropriately accommodating spatio-temporal correlation and interaction for the joint analysis of areal crash rates by severity.
The Impact of Europe's Individualism/Collectivism on the International Trade

If we are to choose between two distinct statements, that the interest of the group prevails over the interest of the individual for the majority of people and that a minority of people in our world live in societies in which the interests of the individual prevail over the interests of the group, we can conclude, as Hofstede did, that there are two categories in which nations can fit: individualists and collectivists. The purpose of our study is to investigate the impact of this cultural dimension on the international trade of the European countries. Panel regression model with country fixed effects has been applied to the 21 years’ data (1997-2017. Based on prior studies conducted by Inglehart, the analysis of the World Values Survey, the cross-national values databases of Schwartz, Hofstede, Triandis, GLOBE, and Trompenaars, we proxied the individualism with three variables, i.e labor productivity index, higher education rate, and urban population growth rate. The findings of previous studies suggest that individualism has significant positive relationship with the imports and exports of Eastern European Countries, notably, Poland, Lithuania and Romania. Concurs with previous studies, our results show there is a significant positive relationship between individualism and international trade (both imports and exports).
Identifying Arabic-Language Materials for Children That Promote Tolerance and Critical Thinking

Abstract : This document describes the creation of developmentally appropriate criteria used to identify and screen Arabic-language works for children that promote tolerance and critical thinking and also describes the characteristics of the materials that were found. It presents several examples of those works that met those criteria. It also discusses barriers that prevent the development and dissemination of more such works and suggests ways to address and overcome these barriers.
Design of the electrical and mechanical control system of an end effector for a robot specialized in cocoa harvesting

Perú is one of the main cocoa producers in Latin America due to the peculiar aroma of its beans, however the harvesting process of this fruit is still manual. The objective of this work is to design and simulate the mechanical, electrical and control system for a specialized cocoa harvesting gripper, which will allow to hold and exert torque on the cocoa fruit for its extraction. The design process was developed according to the German VDI 2221 standard; in this sense, the tasks to be fulfilled by the robotic gripper, the function structure for these tasks, the possible technical solutions for the functions, the exact delimitation of the modules for the chosen solution, the mathematical and technical development for these modules and finally the presentation of the overall design were defined. The results for mechanical stress and fatigue as well as for electrical control, simulated in SolidWork and Proteus, support the proposed design; therefore, its coherence is confirmed by contrasting the mathematical calculations with the data obtained through these simulators, making the design technologically feasible.
Miniaturisierte extrakorporale Kreislaufsysteme

Seit Etablierung von miniaturisierten extrakorporalen Kreislaufsystemen 1998 in unserer Klinik wurden bis Ende 2005 mehr als 1000 Patienten mit unterschiedlichen miniaturisierten Systemkonfigurationen koronarchirurgisch versorgt. Ausgehend vom Einsatz am schlagenden Herzen hat sich die Anwendung nun primar zugunsten von Koronaroperationen am kardioplegisch ruhiggestellten Herzen verschoben. Die Blutkardioplegie nach Calafiore, appliziert unter dynamischer Koronarperfusion, hat sich als sicheres Verfahren erwiesen. Die unerwunschten Effekte einer konventionellen EKZ konnten mit Einsatz von miniaturisierten extrakorporalen Systemen deutlich reduziert werden. Die Praktikabilitat und Systemsicherheit konnte bei nahezu 1100 Eingriffen belegt werden. Since the establishment of miniaturised extracorporeal circulatory systems in our hospital in 1998, more than 1000 patients have undergone coronary surgery using differ ent miniaturised system configurations until the end of 2005. Starting with the use during beating-heart surgery the primary indication for application has shifted now adays towards cardioplegia-induced resting-heart surgery. Calafiore blood cardioplegia, applied under dynamic coronary perfusion, has proven to be a save procedure. The unfavourable effects of conventional extracorporeal circulation (ECC) could be reduced significantly by using miniaturised extracorporeal circulatory systems. Practicabil ity and safety of the systems has been proven during more than 1000 applications.
Lender Capital Management and Financial Covenant Strictness

We provide evidence that lenders with lower regulatory capital issue loans with lower financial covenant strictness, consistent with such lenders viewing borrower covenant violations as costlier. This is because a borrower covenant violation may lead the lender to downgrade the loan, which triggers accounting that further reduces regulatory capital. Because of regulatory scrutiny, this is true even if the lender waives the violation. We find that this association is concentrated in performance covenants rather than capital covenants. We also find that lenders with relatively low capital issue loans with lower amounts and shorter maturities, consistent with such lenders replacing covenant protection with stricter loan terms on other dimensions. Finally, we find that this form of lender capital management extends to loan syndicate participant lenders, in that participants with relatively low capital adequacy take smaller loan shares when the lead arranger sets high covenant strictness. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text. JEL Classifications: G21; M40; M41.
Defects Motion as the Key Source of Random Telegraph Noise Instability in Hafnium Oxide

Besides standard two- and multi-level Random Telegraph Noise (RTN), more complex cases of RTN are commonly reported which show peculiar current signal instabilities. The physical origin of such phenomena is typically traced back to the presence of metastable defects states, the Coulomb interaction between traps, and the possible interaction of hydrogen species with oxide defects. However, the effect of the motion of atomic species on RTN phenomena has never been brought to the picture, even though such a mechanism is extremely relevant for oxygen ions in Hf02, e.g., it guarantees resistive switching in Hf02 RRAM. In this paper, we demonstrate that complex RTN signals observed in experiments naturally emerge when considering the combination of the Coulomb field due to the trapped charge at defects together with their field-assisted motion. Strikingly, we demonstrate that multilevel RTN signals with high instability and complex time evolution, which are conventionally though to be caused by an intricate many-bodies problem involving several defects, can in fact result by the activity of one single defect drifting within the oxide.
Hybrid Parametrically Optimized Adaptive Control Framework for Generator Reactor Pressurizer

Many processes (e.g., power grid, mechanical processes, such as power plant cooling systems, etc.) exhibit non-linear behavior. Various control strategies have been used with such processes, depending on the characteristics of the system. However, a single control method alone may not always provide optimal stable performance, based on the process conditions. This paper proposes a hybrid adaptive control architecture. The main purpose of the proposed hybrid control architecture is to provide an adaptive control method that produces optimized performance for a nonlinear process for improved performance during transient conditions. The hybrid adaptive control technique combines controllers with separate cost functions (each desirable during different process conditions) to leverage the strengths of each control method. The paper first introduces the proposed control architecture (i.e., mathematical models for the hybrid control architecture). A simulation example is presented, based on a real-life nonlinear system model (e.g., pressurizer), to validate the proposed control method for a physical nonlinear process (pressure control), with performance compared to conventional control and other adaptive control methods. It is demonstrated that the proposed control method reduces the peak time and overshoot by 18% when compared to a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) acting alone.
Polarization politics and hopes for a green agenda in the United States

ABSTRACT In the past, support for environmental protection in the United States was relatively nonpartisan. That situation began to change in the late 1970s with partisanship playing an increasing role in attitudes and behavior regarding the environment. Despite the growing importance of environmental issues, Republicans, especially conservative Republicans, express greater skepticism about climate change, global warming, and environmentalism in general. We take advantage of a new method of estimation to gauge the degree of partisan and ideological variability in environmental concern across birth cohorts and time, while also testing the role of compositional and contextual causes of this variability. This contributes to our understanding of large-scale changes in environmental attitudes, and the degree to which partisan identification and political ideology is to blame for lack of environmental concern and efforts to promote a green agenda.
Peningkatan kemampuan koneksi matematik peserta didik menggunakan model problem based learning (PBL) dengan berbantuan Software Geogebra

This study aims to determine the improvement of mathematical connection ability of students using Problem Based Learning model (PBL) with GeoGebra assisted software and not assisted GeoGebra software. The research method used is the experimental method with the population of all students classes VII SMP Negeri 1 Rajapolah. Samples were taken two classes at random, selected class VII-I using Problem-Based Learning model with GeoGebra software and class VII-H using Problem Based Learning model. Data collection techniques in this study are to test the ability of mathematical connections of learners and disseminate the questionnaire of mathematical disposition. Instruments used in this study is a matter of test the ability of mathematical connections of learners. Data analysis technique used is the test of difference of two mean and quantitative descriptive analysis. Based on the results of processing, data analysis and hypothesis testing obtained the conclusion that the improvement of mathematical connection ability of learners through Problem Based Learning (PBL) model of GeoGebra software is not better or same with Problem Based Learning (PBL) model which is not supported by GeoGebra software.
FEM analysis of piston for aircraft two stroke diesel engine

The paper presents an analysis of piston thermal loads in an opposed piston engine. The purpose of the work was to check the achieved thermal values of different piston models. Two types of pistons were analysed. The first piston was made entirely of aluminium. The second one was a split piston, made of steel and aluminium. Simulation studies were performed using Abaqus software. Boundary conditions were taken from previously made simulations conducted in AVL Fire software. The wall temperature of the piston was mapped from CFD combustion model. The results of the analyses were illustrated by the distribution of temperature fields on a piston surface. The distribution of temperature fields on the piston surface shows that maximum temperatures are located on sharp edges of a piston bowl, values of maximum temperatures are 402 and 512 °C for aluminium and composed piston respectively.
Prosodic and pragmatic values of discourse particles in French

This paper analyses prosodic properties of three discourse particles (DP) in French: 'alors' ('so'), 'bon' ('well') and 'donc' ('thus'), according to their different pragmatic functions. DP occurrences of these words extracted from a large speech database have been annotated manually with pragmatic labels. For each DP, prosodic characteristics of occurrences of each pragmatic function (conclusive, introductive, etc.) are automatically extracted. Then, for each DP and each pragmatic function, the most frequent F0 forms are retained as the representative forms. Results show that a pragmatic function, common to several discourse particles, gives rise to a uniform prosodic marking, and this lead to suppose that such DPs are most of the time commutable.
Latino Judges on the Federal District Court: ¿Cómo Deciden?

As the Latino population in the United States grows, it is increasingly important to understand how the unique experience of Latino judges translates into legal decisions. This experience has included, until recently, a bipartisan prioritization to appoint Latinos to the federal judiciary. For the first time, we analyze the judicial decision-making of Latino judges with enough observations to provide robust results. We find that the differences in priorities between the two parties have typically meant more conservative Latino judges on the bench. Using the Carp-Manning U.S. District Court Case Database, we analyze the decisions of Latino judges to determine policy areas where they diverge from their non-Latino counterparts. We find strong evidence that, under certain partisan, ideological, and policy-specific conditions, Latino judges decide differently than non-Latino judges.
Simulating pluralism: the language of democracy in hegemonic authoritarianism

ABSTRACT This article analyses the language authoritarian leaders use to legitimate their rule. It examines the official speeches of autocrats in hegemonic regimes and compares them to the rhetorical styles of leaders in closed or competitive regimes and democracies. While recent autocracy research has drawn most attention to the phenomenon of competitive authoritarianism, the survival strategies of hegemonic regimes are less explored. Thus, the study focuses on the simulation of pluralism as a key feature of hegemonic regimes. By installing non-competitive multiparty systems which merely pretend pluralism, these regimes maintain a strong grip on power. The study finds that the leaders of hegemonic regimes use a surprisingly democratic style of language to sustain this façade of pluralism. The dictionary-based quantitative text analysis of 2074 speeches of current leaders in 22 countries illustrates that compared to other autocracies, hegemonic regimes overemphasize the (non-existing) democratic procedures in their country to fake a participatory form of government and gain national and international legitimacy. The subsequent case studies of Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and Russia further reveal the differences in context and motives for autocrats in hegemonic, closed, and competitive regimes to use autocratic or democratic styles of language.
Bayesian Structural VAR Models: A New Approach for Prior Beliefs on Impulse Responses

Structural VAR models are frequently identified using sign restrictions on impulse responses. Moving beyond the popular but restrictive Normal-inverse-Wishart-Uniform prior, we develop a methodology that can handle almost any prior distribution on contemporaneous responses. We then propose a new sampler that explores the posterior just as efficiently as done by the existing algorithm for the Normal-inverse-Wishart-Uniform case. We use this exible and tractable framework to combine sign restrictions with information on the volatility of the data, giving less prior mass to impulse effects that are inconsistent with the data from a training sample. This approach sharpens posterior bands and makes sign restrictions more informative. We apply the methodology to the oil market and show that oil supply shocks have a non-negligible effect on oil price dynamics.
The Dynamics of Embedded Rules: How Do Rule Networks Affect Knowledge Uptake of Rules in Healthcare?

Rules &#8211; in organizations and elsewhere &#8211; often become connected to other rules pertinent to similar or related action, and often they form rule networks that structure entire organizations and jurisdictions. Although rule networks are a common phenomenon, their effects on rule change have found little attention so far. How do rules change when they become embedded in rule networks? We build on prior conceptions of performance programs, organizational learning, and organizational knowledge to explore how rule network characteristics affect different types of knowledge uptake revisions of rules. Our analysis is quantitative and longitudinal and draws on archival data of clinical practice guidelines in a Canadian regional healthcare organization. Our findings indicate that the inbound networks of guidelines significantly affect their revisions. Our study suggests that rule networks shape the speed and direction of knowledge uptake of rules. Rules are dynamic, and their elaboration is path dependent and network dependent.
Selecting between student and normal mixture distributions

ABSTRACT It is widely recognized that financial data distributions have heavier tails than normal distributions. These tails can be modeled as Student distributions and normal mixture distributions. However, selecting between these distributions has not been previously studied. To this end, this study proposes an information-criterion approach. The efficacy of the proposed method for selecting the number of mixture components is examined via simulation studies that compare the conventional hypothesis test. Empirical results using Japanese stock returns data are also provided.
Relative age and incarceration: born on the wrong side of the calendar

ABSTRACT Using public information from birth certificates and prison records from Florida, we adopt a reduced-form approach to estimate the effect of relative age on the probability of incarceration in adulthood (until age 30–40). We use a Regression Discontinuity Design around the cutoff date for Kindergarten enrollment (Sept. 1). We find strong evidence of relative-age effects among black males convicted of drug-trafficking offenses. For that group, being born after Sept. 1 decreases the probability of incarceration by roughly 12–20%. We find weak or no relative-age effects for other groups and types of offenses.
Consequences of persistent antigen presentation following administration of HIV-1-derived lentiviral vectors

Lentiviral vectors (LVs) are promising tools for in vivo gene delivery, either to correct genetic defects or for vaccination. Intravenous administration of LVs results in stable transduction and expression of the transgene in antigen presenting cells (APCs) from the spleen. Therefore, it was decided to investigate the reasons for and the consequences of sustained antigen expression in these cells after systemic in vivo administration of LVs. Intravenous injection of a LV encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP) resulted in transduction of lymphocytes, macrophages and all subsets of dendritic cells (DCs) in the spleen, detected 5 days later. In the case of macrophages and DCs, the percentage of transduced cells increased between 5 and 30 days after injection. The transduction of dividing precursors contributes to the persistence of the transgene-expressing DCs, as shown by BrdU incorporation. Expression of ovalbumin (OVA) resulted in a reduced number of transgeneexpressing cells after 30 days. However, the remaining transduced cells stimulated proliferation and activation of OVA-specific CD8+ T cells up to 3 months after LV administration, in spite of a reduction in the activation status of transduced DCs over time. Mice also maintained cytolytic activity against OVA-pulsed targets following a single immunisation. In conclusion, this thesis shows that LVs can transduce DCs and macrophages, leading to persistent antigen expression. These modified APCs are functional and capable of activating T cells. Therefore, LVs can be used as tools for persistent genetic modification of APCs, opening the opportunity for their use in long-term immunomodulation.