Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is the Anchoring Vignettes Method Sensitive to the Domain and Choice of the Vignette?

Analysis of self-assessments may yield biased results when respondents use the response categories of survey questions in different ways. An anchoring vignette is a short description of relevant aspects of a hypothetical person’s life and can be used to correct self-assessments for heterogeneity in reporting behaviour.The paper studies the validity of the parametric model for the anchoring vignette method. Rather than testing separately the assumptions of this model, we take the following two approaches. First, we study whether different vignettes within a certain domain lead to similar adjusted self-assessments. Second, we study whether different adjusted self-assessments, each adjusted by using a single vignette, are closer to a measure of the actual situation than the unadjusted self-assessments. We use data from the 2004 and 2007 waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe for three domains of health: cognition, breathing and mobility. Our results indicate that the anchoring vignette method is sensitive to the choice of the vignette for cognition and breathing, whereas the results for mobility are more encouraging.
The Problem of Estimating Causal Relations Using Models Involving Accounting Semi-Identities

Researches will not draw the correct inferences about the values of coefficients estimated in a linear regression when both the dependent and the independent variable are part of an accounting identity (or accounting semi-identity close to a full one). The coefficients cannot tell us about a causal relation as the two variables will change together to satisfy the identity. A good example of a model that suffers from this problem is the Fazzari, Hubbard and Petersen (1988) investment-cash flow sensitivity model. The econometric problems in estimating accounting identities are not new, and have been highlighted in the debate about the Cobb-Douglas production function estimation. The causal influence on the dependent variable when variables do not form part of the accounting semi-identity can be estimated correctly if the independent variable in the accounting semi-identity leaves a large part of the dependent variable unexplained. A feasible way to solve the problem is to disaggregate the identity by replacing either the dependent or the independent variable by an appropriate substitute that is not part of the identity.
The Rise and Fall of Pyrgopsella Youngi – Rediscovery of a Lost Species

The coral-inhabiting barnacle Pyrgopsella annandalei was collected in 1888 off the reefs of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean, diagnosed in 1906, and described in full in 1907. Since then, this barnacle has not been recorded. In 2006, several specimens of Pyrgopsella were found embedded in the hermatypic coral Symphyllia radians. Based on morphological differences between this material and the drawings and written description of P. annandalei, the specimens from Symphyllia were assigned to a new species, P. youngi. The discovery of a single individual of Pyrgopsella in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London, labeled “cotype,” and its comparison to the recent material from Symphyllia, revealed that the differences between P. annandalei and P. youngi represent no more than intraspecific morphological variation. This conclusion is supported by a comparison of the DNA sequences of the CO1 and 12S rRNA genes from specimens representing both morphological varieties. It is concluded that P. youngi is a junior synonym of P. annandalei, and the latter name should be used in its place.
Forage Yield, Growth Rate, and Nitrogen Uptake of Faba Bean Intercrops with Wheat, Barley, and Rye in Three Seeding Ratios

Annual cool-season grain legumes like faba bean (Vicia faba L.) grown in mixtures with winter cereals such as wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), or rye (Secale cereale L.) may offer advantages over cereal-alone crops grown for forage production. A 2-yr field study was conducted to evaluate the effects of intercropping faba bean with each of the above cereals in three seeding ratios (i.e., 75:25, 50:50, and 75:25) on growth rate, plant height, chlorophyll content, forage yield, and N uptake. Growth rate of faba bean and cereals was lower in the mixtures than in the monocultures, especially in the faba bean-barley mixtures because of the strong competitive ability of barley. Chlorophyll content was lower in faba bean compared with the cereals, and there was no difference among seeding ratios. Plant height of faba bean was higher in the intercrops compared with its monocrop at 3 wk after tillering (WAT), whereas at 6 WAT, the trend was different since faba bean plants in the monocrop were higher than in the intercrops. Rye monocrop and rye-faba bean intercrops provided the greatest forage yield. Although the three intercrops of faba bean with rye had lower crude protein (CP) content than the faba bean monocrop, they provided the highest CP yields per hectare because of their higher forage yield than the faba bean monocrop.
Between Pressure and Flexibility: Provider Scheduling in the Sharing Economy

The sharing economy offers individuals various opportunities to generate additional income through sharing their personal possessions with strangers. The flexibility promised by sharing platforms, to share when and how often individuals prefer, has been highlighted as the key advantage of the sharing economy model. However, for sharing platforms which rely on ongoing and reliable sharing among private individuals, a tension can be observed between platforms encouraging and discouraging this flexibility. Simultaneously, the ostensible flexibility and informality of the sharing economy must in-creasingly reconcile itself with the reality of over-work and full-time engagement, whereby individuals may face pressure to provide a mixture of platform and individual factors. In this contribution, we conduct an initial exploration into this tension between flexibility and pressure in the sharing econo-my. Using data across twelve European countries, we differentiate perceptions of flexibility and con-trol among those who share their assets. The findings indicate that perceived pressure to provide var-ies by country, sharing frequency, motivation, most frequently used platform, and is based on whether individuals depend on the income from sharing. Perceived schedule control varies by age, education, country, and motivation. Taken together, the results show a picture where those most involved and dependent on sharing their assets feel the most pressured, while young, lesser educated providers also have least perceived schedule control. Thus, our study presents providing in the sharing economy as a more hierarchical activity than one might assume based on media and platform narratives.
Yajna and Mantra Therapy Applications on Diabetic and Other Disease Subjects: Computational Intelligence Based Experimental Approach

Three studies/Yagopathy Experiments were performed on some patients suffering with diabetes and various other diseases with an age range of 44 to 70 years. All patients were trained for reciting Gayatri mantra for 3 days. All the patients performed Yagya with special havan samagri made with herbs for giving relief to diabetic patients. The medicinal fumes that emanated from the Yagya enveloped the patients and patients inhaled the fumes after completion of Yagya. They also chanted Gayatri Mantra for 10 minutes which calmed their body and mind, did pranayams and then did a few asanas specifically recommended for those disease patients. This is the Yagyopathy treatment given to patients who on completion of the treatment camp reported significant lowering of blood sugar levels and over all relief in their problem symptoms such as fatigue, lethargy, knee pain, constipation, negative thoughts, migrane, anxiety, obesity etc.
Variation in cell composition and utilization of N and P for growth of Selenastrum capricornutum

Cell material from different phases of growth for the green alga Selenastrum capricornutum Printz was analysed for major elements and chlorophyll a content. The ranges in percentage of the dry weight were 50–80%, 4.4–8.8%, 0.24–3.0%, and 0.20–3.23% for C, N, P and chlorophyll a, respectively. The dry weight per cell varied 2.3 times between different growth phases. A N/P-quotient of about 10 (by weight) was found to be a critical level for Selenastrum when these elements were the most limiting nutrients for growth. 31 different organic N-compounds were tested as single N sources in growth experiments with Selenastrum. At least 19 of them could be utilized to varying extent for algal growth. Three organic P-compounds of six tested, were utilized for algal growth. Yield coefficients (mm3 cell volume/mg limiting nutrient element) for Selenastrum were determined with NO3, -N (yN= 134). NH4-N (YN= 111) and PO4-P (YP= 2580).
Net Job Creation in the U.S. Economy: Lessons from Monthly Data, 1950-2011

This paper studies the monthly net job creation (NJC) at the aggregate and the sectoral levels in the U.S. over the period 1950-2011. The paper has few important findings. First, NJC did not show a significant trend over the last six decades, which led to a fall in the NJC rate. Second, NJC was very volatile and it could change course even in the span of one month. Third, there was no clear pattern about the co-movement between NJC and the change in the unemployment rate. Fourth, the averages of total NJC and private NJC since late 2010 were significantly higher than their respective historical averages and the volatility in NJC since the end of the Great Recession was not unusual by historical standards. Fifth, while the evidence about the effects of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on employment is inconclusive, some sectors appeared to benefit from it. Finally, the most frequent drop in the unemployment rate was by 0.1 percent, and drops of more than 0.2 percent should not be highly expected.
Parthenogenetic Ischnura hastata revisited: present status and notes on population ecology and behaviour (Odonata: Coenagrionidae)

Abstract Populations of Ischnura hastata found in the Azores archipelago represent the only known example of parthenogenesis in the order Odonata. In this paper, we present results from fieldwork done on the islands of São Miguel, Pico, Santa Maria, and Graciosa, aimed at characterizing population ecology and habitat preferences of this species. Sampling of several ponds in the islands of São Miguel and Pico showed that I. hastata occurred in oligotrophic ponds, but was absent from all eutrophic ponds sampled, many of which have been impacted by cattle grazing and water extraction by humans. This suggests that parthenogenetic populations are highly sensitive to eutrophication, which may be different from suggested habitat preferences of sexual populations for this species. Mark-recapture studies showed I. hastata to occur in high densities in the studied populations. Although life expectancy of mature females was estimated at less than one week, their high fecundity and fertility could potentially explain the large number of individuals observed in some of the studied sites. Submerged oviposition seems to be a common behaviour, probably evolved as an adaptation to unfavourable climatic conditions and to avoid egg desiccation caused by water depletion. In summary, this work represents a first attempt to study the ecology and population biology of parthenogenetic populations of I. hastata, and may help us to understand the unique conditions under which these populations could have evolved and how to best insure their conservation.
Non-synchronous degradation of centrioles during mating in Physarum polycephalum

During mating in Physarum polycephalum, centrioles are lost from both the cytoplasm and the mitotic poles. We studied the timing of the loss of this organelle using immunofluorescence microscopy. Structural loss was complete after the 2nd plasmodial mitosis and occurred in a non-synchronous manner within individually developing cells. After mating, the number of centriolres in some cells increased to 4, indicating that two pairs of centrioles had fused. The number of centrioles did not increase after the 1st plasmodial mitosis, suggesting that although centrioles do exist in some plasmodia during the early stage, they are not replicated and do not function as mitotic poles. Most of the remaining centrioles retained a connection with the cell nucleus.
Fintech as a Strategy of Financial Inclusion in the Age of Digitalization

Inclusive growth is at the top of international organizations’ agenda in recent years and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is no exception. Since the 2008 global financial crisis revealed the intrinsic limitations of market-driven economic system despite its own merits incomparable to other alternatives, civil society and policymakers altogether have called for more shrewd policy actions that can achieve two critical public policy goals at once: promoting financial empowerment of the less privileged and enhancing competition in the financial market. While the emergence of fintech in financial markets in the past few years cannot be attributed to the competence of financial regulators and policymakers as to this call, what fintech has already achieved in terms of financial inclusion and competence of financial markets through disruption of traditional financial market structure demonstrate the importance of fintech as a strategy and policy tool of achieving the goal of inclusive growth. This strategy of achieving financial inclusion and financial market competition via fintech is more relevant to the APEC member countries because the region includes fast-growing fintech markets such as China, India, and Russia. Moreover, the growing significance of fintech services for SMEs (Business-to-Business, B2B) implies that fintech services have more relevance to the APEC economies as SMEs account over 97% of enterprises and employ over half of the workforce in the region.
Sunlit soil surface extraction from remotely sensed imagery of perennial, discontinuous crop areas; the case of Mediterranean vineyards

Abstract – In the Mediterranean wine producing region, soil surface remote sensing for hydrological modelling is hampered by thediscontinuous canopy of the perennial vine stocks. Very high spatial resolution imagery allows the recording of ground resolutionelements that comprise only soil in between vine stocks. To enable the comparison of the resolution element's spectral propertieswith known bi-directional properties of different types of soil surface, pixels representing the pure and sunlit soil surface have first tobe extracted from the imagery. Multi-scale analysis proved to provide a robust and satisfactory segmentation method. Conditionalper-field adjustment of a multi-scale image mask allows the extraction of the image segments corresponding to the sunlit soil surface,whatever its state or composition. Moreover, the vegetation cover can be estimated with an error of at most 10% if the geometric con-figuration is taken into account. remote sensing / soil / vine / segmentation / multi-scale analysisResume – Extraction de la surface du sol eclairee dans des images de teledetection de cultures perennes et discontinues ; lecas du vignoble mediterraneen.
Do the LCAPM Predictions Hold? Replication and Extension Evidence

First, we replicate the Liquidity-adjusted Capital Asset Pricing Model (LCAPM) tests of Acharya and Pedersen (2005) using their original methodology and covering both their original time period and a more recent period. We successfully qualitatively replicate the descriptive and the first-stage tables and figures, but are not successful in replicating the second-stage tables that perform cross-sectional tests. In the large majority of cases, our replication evidence fails to support that the main LCAPM predictions all hold simultaneously. Next, we extend tests of the LCAPM following the Lee (2011) methodology and expanding to: (1) three different time periods spanning 90 years, (2) add NASDAQ stocks, (3) use four alternative liquidity measures, and (4) add risk or characteristic factors. Our extension evidence always fails to support that the main predictions of the Lee two-beta LCAPM and of the four-beta LCAPM hold at the same time. Overall, we fail to support that liquidity risk matters in the specific functional form predicted by the LCAPM. However, we are silent on the more general question of whether liquidity risk matters in some different functional form. We make publicly available our SAS code.
Building Legitimacy and State Capacity in Protracted Fragility: The Case of Afghanistan

The immediate tasks in 2002 in Afghanistan were to stabilise the country and build a legitimate and functioning state, and a viable economy. Despite some significant progress in building state institutions and infrastructure as well as expanding public services, Afghanistan remains fragile and highly susceptible to shocks. In essence, it exhibits some of the characteristics of state fragility: The Afghan government suffers from a deficit of legitimacy; the state has weak fiscal and legal capacities; private investment and economic growth, especially since 2014, has fallen dramatically; insecurity has reinforced both the state’s weakness and deficit of legitimacy; and the state exhibits low resilience to political, security and economic shocks. This paper examine in detail the five key dimensions of state fragility including policy responses and outcomes post-2001 Afghanistan.
Optimization Strategies for Solving Students' Digital Equality and Scholarly Outcomes

Previous work by Lam, February, 2017 and Lam, October, 2016 show that social objects, cultural identities and personality form another kind of Roger Penrose’s three world philosophy. Using the statistical data obtained from the Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in United States, one can determine the relationship between the aforementioned fields. This can be done through the Principal Component Analysis method by using the statistical software “R”. It is hoped that this data can be used to validate the sociological aspect of the three worlds philosophy. Certainly, there are comments made against the proposed theory. This study will investigate some of the main one and suggest possible solutions. Furthermore, by analysing the data, one cannot only study current ICT usage amongst students but even predict their future tendency. In doing so, the way in which social objects influence cultural identity and then later affect the personality through ICT usage can be explored. Because the three fields - social, cultural and psychological have effects on the students’ academic achievements respectively. The three areas both influence in student ICT usage as well as their scholarly results. Indeed, this author finds that the parents’ culture and attitude towards their child’s ICT usage can affect educational performance (Lam, May 2016). As a result, the following separate elements: (1) sociological three world philosophy, (2) parents’ influence, (3) schools’ ICT leadership and (4) studious outcomes can finally coalesce into a new more rationalized connection presented in the form of a framework. This depicts the creative relationship among and helps us inspect how to minimize the digital equality (or inappropriate digital usage) and maximize students’ academic performance. Indeed, realization can be achieved through manipulating both the three world philosophy as well as the parental influence factors. Moreover, school’s successful of ICT pedagogy is related to her leadership that is connected to scholarly results. This means one can optimize (or balance) digital usage and studious outcomes. Then professionals and researchers can develop corresponding strategies such as providing philosophical education for the parents in the handling of child’s ICT usage enquiries etc. Consequently, the digital divide in education created by modern technology usage will be solved.
Web Appendix for Gender Quotas and the Crisis of the Mediocre Man: Theory and Evidence from Sweden

A few recent studies have related gender quotas to parties’ electoral performance. As argued in this work, a quota can either hurt or help a party depending on voters’ bias for or against woman politicians (Maniquet et al. 2008; Esteve-Volart and Bagues 2010; Casas-Arce and Saiz 2015). When politician competence is the outcome, a shift in the number of seats won by the party can impact on selection by increasing or decreasing the level of internal party competition for seats. We analyze the impact of the quota on the Social Democrats’ electoral success by using three alternative outcome variables in equations (5) and (6) in the main text. Table W1 replicates the analysis of Table 3 and Figure 5 in the main text for the Social Democratic party’s (i) vote share in the municipal election, (ii) seat share, and (iii) number of seats. In neither case do we find an impact. The estimates are positive, but small in size is small and not statistically significant.1
Neighbours and Extension Agents in Ethiopia: Who Matters More for Technology Diffusion?

The increased adoption of fertiliser and improved seeds are key to raising land productivity in Ethiopian agriculture. However, as in much of sub-Saharan Africa, the adoption and diffusion of such technologies has been slow. We use data from the Ethiopia between 1999-2009 to examine the role of learning from extension agents versus neighbours for both improved seeds and fertiliser. We use the structure of spatial networks of farmers and panel data to identify these influences and find that while the initial impact of extension agents was high, the effect wore off, in contrast to learning from neighbours.
Third-Degree Price Discrimination with Fairness-Concerned Consumers

This paper studies monopolistic third-degree price discrimination incorporating consumers' fairness concerns: Discriminatory pricing antagonizes consumers and may reduce their demand. In contrast to previous studies, we show that consumers' concerns about price inequity may deter discriminatory pricing by monopolists. Furthermore, a strong aversion to unfair pricing may improve social welfare relative to the case with no fairness concerns, but if the disutility from price inequity is not sufficiently large, social welfare falls.