Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Countries Exporting More Manufactured Products Grow Faster

This paper empirically examines the hypothesis that countries exporting a larger share of manufactured products in total exports grows faster. Both cross-country and panel data analyses find evidence in support of the hypothesis for developing countries. The results are robust to the inclusion of a range of growth determinants. It is also shown that Asia fs superior performance up to the mid-1990s can be explained largely by a rise in manufacturing export share, as well as human capital accumulation and lower inflation rates. The paper fs findings support the view that not only trade openness but also export composite matters for growth.
Mercosur's meat exports to the EU: Assessment of policies affecting trade flows 1

Abstract This paper examines EU meat imports from the Mercosur countries in regard to income growth, import price changes, and tariff reductions. The objective is to model behavioural relationships underlying the meat exports to the EU from the Mercosur countries by using 1988 to 2008 annual trade data. Econometric models are constructed for two meat products - beef and poultry meat. The results indicate that the EU does not distinguish beef between the individual Mercosur countries, and the estimated elasticities justify the assumption that the EU distinguishes Mercosur countries beef imports from non-Mercosur countries. There is a clear demand response to income and price changes in the EU and relative-price changes affect the volume of meat exports from the individual Mercosur countries, implying that the exporter’s market share is influenced by price competitiveness. Tariff barriers are not as obstructive to trade compared to non-tariff barriers such as food safety. Due to recurrent outbreaks of animal diseases and the fact that outbreaks are difficult to foresee, food safety and assured standards of quality combined with environmental compliance are the main strives for the Mercosur countries to tackle currently and in the future. Key words: EU, Mercosur, meat imports, econometric models, tariffs, non-tariff barriers
Impact of Kazakhstan’s Integration into the Eurasian Economic Community on the Competitiveness of the Country’s Agriculture

The aim of the article is to identify the impact of Kazakhstan’s integration into the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC) on the competitiveness of the country’s agriculture. To achieve target aim scientific works of foreign scholars on the problems of integration and its impact on the national economy have been analyzed. The study found that regional integration has positive and negative effects that can lead to further progressive development of the country and its industries, but also exacerbate existing conflicts and crises. To evaluate the adaptability of Agriculture of Kazakhstan to the country’s membership in the EAEC, indicators of industry competitiveness were analyzed: crop yields, livestock productivity, profitability, amount of state support, index of net exports, production of main agricultural products per capita. It was revealed that in agriculture of Kazakhstan competitiveness is lower than in Russia and Belarus in many positions. The world economy has positive experience of management and development of agriculture in terms of integration. Good example is the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), conducted in the European Union, thanks to which Europe hasn’t simply provided itself with all the necessary food, but has become a major supplier of agricultural products to the world market. The article proves the positions of the CAP, which are recommended for use within the EAEC. Currently, in order to support agriculture in Kazakhstan it is necessary to create incentives for the consolidation of small farms, contribute to increase in incomes and salaries for farmers and agricultural workers, increase the amount of state support, significantly expand the range of agricultural products, purchased by the state.
Recreation as a Spatial Good: Distance Effects on Changes in Recreation Visitation and Benefits

The effects of travel distance on visitation and associated recreation benefits are tested for a large national park. Visitor responses to a survey depicting various natural resource scenarios at Rocky Mountain National Park were used to estimate the effects of distance traveled on nature-based tourism behavior and benefits. Distance was a significant determinant in both the visitation and contingent valuation models. Long-distance visitors were more stable in their visitation patterns in the face of natural resource changes. Marginal recreational benefits per trip increased with distance but at a decreasing rate. However, in-state visitors accrued higher annual benefits because of greater trip frequency. The relative importance of visitor types can help private and public decision-makers better respond to different visitor needs. The findings also provide a unique perspective on consumer spatial tradeoffs and the national value of recreational resources.
Assessment of prevalence and forms of violence against married men in Olorunda Local Government of Osun State, Nigeria

Very little is known about the actual number of men who are in domestic relationship in which they are abused or treated violently by women especially in a developing country like Nigeria. Globally, at least one in six men has experienced some form of gender-based abuse during his lifetime. Men and boys who have experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence suffer a range of health problem, often in silence. This study aims to determine the perception, existence and experience of domestic violence against men among married men in Olorunda Local Government Area, Osun state. It was a descriptive cross-sectional survey with 211 married men selected by multi-stage sampling technique using semi-structured questionnaire. Only 16 (7.6%) have ever heard about the term “Violence against Men” while 109 (51.7%) have heard of the term “Violence against Women”. Verbal abuse is the commonest form (82%), though physical and sexual forms were also present. About a third experienced intolerable form of violence, more than 60% did not report the incident. Polygamy, educational status and consumption of alcohol by either or both partners were significant determinants of behaviour. Public enlightenment as well as advocacy by governmental and non-governmental organizations is a necessary strategy to improve report and control this menace in the society.
Rheology investigation of waste LDPE and crumb rubber modified bitumen

Article history: Received 26 June, 2017 Accepted 8 November 2017 Available online 8 November 2017 In this article, waste plastics (low-density polyethylene, LDPE) and crumb rubber have been utilized to solve one of the most important environmental issues and to improve bitumen performance properties by these low cost materials. At first, modified bitumen samples were made using high shear mixer, then classic and performance tests were performed on them. It has been observed that adding low-density polyethylene and crumb rubber to the bitumen leads to improvement of classical characteristics. Then, after conducting dynamic shear rheometer test on modified bitumen samples, it was found that the sample containing 3% LDPE and 3% crumb rubber has the best performance. Conducting short-term and long-term aging experiments on samples containing 3% LDPE showed improved performance at high temperature services. After BBR test, more appropriate performance grade is observed for the sample containing 3% LDPE 3% crumb rubber. © 2018 by the authors; licensee Growing Science, Canada.
Constructing Education as Human Capital in a Transitional Society: A Case Study of Somaliland's Education Reconstruction

The purpose of this article is to critically examine Somaliland's post-conflict education reconstruction. The work includes documentary analysis of the Somaliland Education Policy. The authors also draw on the National Teacher Education Policy and the Somaliland National Education Development Plan. The analysis of these documents is primarily informed by discourse analysis theory developed by Fairclough. It is argued that the policy text analyses indicate and favour an enterprise-oriented education ideology. This emphasises competitiveness in market environments both nationally and individually. Educational ideologies are closely related to political ideologies. The authors argue that since the collapse of the socialist government of Somalia in 1990, Somaliland has developed a new political ideology strongly informed by neo-liberal views. This research attributes the development of new education and political ideologies to the significant local-national and global interactions between the local education stakeholders, the Somaliland diaspora community and international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) that support the education sector.
Overcoming Limits of Arbitrage: Theory and Evidence

Limits to arbitrage arise because financial intermediaries may face funding constraints when mispricing worsens. Using a model with limits to arbitrage, where we allow arbitrageurs to secure capital even in case of underperformance, we show that arbitrageurs that are more protected from withdrawals have more mean-reverting and volatile returns. Using data on hedge fund performance, we find robust support for these hypotheses: Funds with contractual impediments to withdrawals, and funds with performance-insensitive outflows, recover more quickly after a bad year and have more volatile returns. Our evidence is consistent with the idea that some hedge funds overcome the limits to arbitrage.
Rationality and Momentum in Real Estate Investment Forecasts

This study examines the rationality and momentum in rental and capital value forecasts of commercial real estate investment market in the United Kingdom. The adopted approach employs three dimensional panel data methods, by attributing the time series dimension to the sequential re-issues by a forecaster of a certain target forecast. The empirical method allows a multiplicity of assumptions regarding the covered by the data target time periods, forecast horizons, forecasters or groups of those to be examined with simultaneous use of the overall panel of data, without the need of segmenting the data set. The investigation includes macro-economic attribution factors to the temporary levels of forecast accuracy, such as Gross Domestic Product and the Default Spread. The empirical findings demonstrate that forecasters tend to maintain their biases over subsequent issues of the same target forecast, regardless of the lowering forecasting horizon. The results also indicate that forecasting accuracy is positively correlated with macro-economic conditions at the time of prediction.
Facile Synthesis of Polypyrrole/Titanate Core-Shell Nanorods and Their Electrorheological Characteristics

In this work, polypyrrole (PPy)/titanate (TN) composite nanorods were successfully synthesized using cetyl trimethyl-ammonium bromide (CTAB) as a structure-directing agent by in situ chemical oxidative polymerization. The structural characterization indicated that the new composite rods were core (TN)-shell (PPy) nanostructure with the average diameter in the range of 250-300 nm. Further, this semiconducting composite can be used as a dispersed phase in silicone oil for a new electrorheological (ER) fluid, and its ER behavior was investigated under steady and oscillatory shear. It was found that the PPy/TN fluid showed typical ER characteristics under an external electric field.
Modeling and understanding persistence of climate variability

[1] In this study, two parsimonious statistical representations of climate variability on interannual to multidecadal timescales are compared: the short-memory first order autoregressive representation (AR1) and the long-memory “power law” representation. Parameters for each statistical representation are fitted to observed surface air temperature at each spatial point. The parameter estimates from observations are found in general to be captured credibly in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 3 (CMIP3) simulations. The power law representation provides an upper bound and the AR1 representation provides a lower bound on persistence as measured by the lag-one autocorrelation. Both representations fit the data equally well according to goodness-of-fit-tests. Comparing simulations with and without external radiative forcings shows that anthropogenic forcing has little effect on the measures of persistence considered (for detrended data). Given that local interannual to multi decadal climate variability appears to be more persistent than an AR1 process and less persistent than a power law process, it is concluded that both representations are potentially useful for statistical applications. It is also concluded that current climate simulations can well represent interannual to multidecadal internal climate persistence in the absence of natural and anthropogenic radiative forcing, at least to within observational uncertainty.
Nutrient Degradability and Performance by the West African Dwarf Goats Fed Rumen Epithelium-based Diets

Nutritive value of Rumen Epithelial Scraping (REP) was assessed using in sacco and in vivo procedures. Concentrates were so formulated that 0% (A), 35% (B), 70% (C), and 100% (D) of Soybean Meal (SBM), were replaced (weight for weight) with REP. In a completely randomized design, 16 West African Dwarf (WAD) goats were randomly allocated to the experimental diets to assess feed intake and digestibility. In a second trial, the concentrates, SBM and the REP were degraded in the rumen of fistulated goats to determine Dry Matter (DM) and Crude Protein (CP) degradability. No significant difference (P< 0.05) was observed in DM and CP consumption of goats on the various dietary treatments. The variation observed for digestible DM and CP among diets were significant (P< 0.05). The highest value of digestibility coefficients of DM and CP were observed in diet B (77.72% and 79.2% respectively). There were significant differences observed (P< 0.05) in the DM and CP degradation characteristics of the different samples incubated in the rumen of goats. Rumen epithelial waste contained more soluble fractions (30.13% DM and 71.04% CP) than soybean meal (29.82% DM and 18.6% CP), and it was shown that increasing REP in the concentrate increases the soluble DM and CP (P< 0.05). The results indicated that REP is nutritive and can replace SBM at reasonable levels in goat production enterprise.
Strategic Solution for Reducing Resistance to Change and Increasing Organizational Commitment of Academicians on Private University Mergers in Indonesia

Nowadays, most of Private Higher Educations (PHE) in Indonesia facing with the threat of bankruptcy due to lack of student number. Indonesia PHE Associations and Government Office for PHE equally recommended private university mergers to resolve the issue. The implementation of private university mergers did not run as expected because of the high resistance coming from Academicians of Universities its self. High Resistance to Change not only blocked the merger process, but also seriously affected Organizational Commitment of academicians post-merger. For the ultimate goal to get solutions for both problems of the private university mergers in Indonesia, the conclusive research has been done on the course of the private university merger in Indonesia and the results are Trust, Perceived Benefit of Change and Organizational Justice simultaneously and partially effect to Resistance to Change and Organizational Commitment. Therefore strategy and operational steps to minimize Resistance to Change and to improve Organizational Commitment focused on increasing Trust, Perceived Benefit of Change and Organizational Justice. Keywords: University Merger, Trust, Perceived Benefit of Change, Organizational Justice, Resistance to Change and Organizational Commitment
Accounting Information Systems and Their Role in the Measurement and Cost Thrifting in Public Shareholding Industrial Companies in Jordan

This study seeks to identify the characteristics and the availability of properties, technical and organizationalrequirements for the accounting information systems necessary to meet the requirements of modern managementof pharmaceutical companies in Jordan. The study showed that these systems are distinguished by thecharacteristics needed to obtain financial and non-financial required by the Administration, and it has the abilityto deal with developments that may arise on the quality of decisions that could be taken, therefore the type ofinformation to be provided, and the development of its systems whether it was in the process of data entry orprocessed or its outputs, as well as it can be available in the companies with the appropriate organizationalstructure for their operations and that there are policies and procedures in line with the nature of the accountinginformation system applied in them. The study recommended the need for conviction of directors of companiesneed to develop a budget for the re-design of their (IT) systems and work to develop most systems in thecompanies to be able to re-design, whenever there is a need, in addition to increase investment in automatedsystems because of their role in obtaining the necessary information fast and accurate.
Solar Photocatalytic Degradation of 4-Chlorophenol in Water with Novel Shell-Core P3HT@TiO2 Nanoparticles

Shell-core poly 3-hexylthiophene (P3HT)@TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by a physical deposition method using tetrahydrofuran (THF) as a solvent of P3HT in a P25 TiO2/THF suspension. The P3HT@TiO2 nanoparticles were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV/VIS Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (UV/VIS DRS), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The spectrum of UV/VIS DRS showed that the P3HT@TiO2 nanoparticles are more responsive to visible light and 1% of the P3HT content of P3HT@TiO2 nanoparticles could increase the absorption up to 75% in the band of visible light. 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) was used as the target pollutant in aqueous media to assess the solar photocatalytic activities of the P3HT@TiO2 nanoparticles. Response surface methodology (RSM) with a 3*3 experimental design of Box-Behnken was applied to investigate the effect of critical process parameters ([catalyst], P3HT content, composites catalyst percentage) on treatment performance in terms of 4-CP degradation efficiency. It was found that the optimized reaction conditions were established as a photocatalyst dosage of 1.0 g/L, a P3HT of 0.5% in P3HT@TiO2 and a 25% P3HT@TiO2 of total photocatalyst dosage for a 4-CP degradation efficiency of 95%. Under the optimized reaction conditions, the TOC mineralization efficiency of 4-CP wastewater increased 16.3% as compared to that of TiO2 process for a reaction time of 120 min. As a result, the hybrid of P3HT onto the surface of TiO2 could extend successfully the visible light photoresponse range of TiO2 and could effectively enhance TiO2 solar photoactivity.
Creating Momentum and a positive long-term Impact on the Innovation Capability of Swiss SMEs

As technological change speeds up, having a high innovation capability is crucial for companies. Large companies increasingly invest in creativity labs and become more innovative by developing new products according to the ‘design thinking’ approach. Smalland medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) cannot afford the same due to limited resources. However, even if SMEs cannot own such creativity labs or ‘ideation spaces’, they could use similar external spaces for a short period of time during the early phase of their product development processes (PDPs). Inspired by successful ‘design thinking’ applications in large companies, and a literature-based research clarification, empirical and descriptive studies analyse indepth the current challenges in PDPs of SMEs, and describe the application of an iterative learning approach for establishing the support — an external ideation space for SMEs. Based on the prescription of space and a 2.5 days workshop concept, four empirical studies elucidate how to manage ideation workshops by (i) identifying how to provoke iterations, (ii) validating an iteration-based performance reflection guideline, (iii) revealing characteristics of high-performing iteration sequences, and (iv) identifying user-centred design patterns. Finally, empirical and descriptive studies explore the workshops’ impact dimensions in companies, and measure the longterm impact on the companies’ innovation capability 1–1.5 years after participation. 93% of the responding companies recognise a predominantly positive long-term impact on their innovation capability, whereas the dimensions of direction and culture are affected most. The companies’ size, mindset, economic situation, and workshop goal are important pre-conditions for participation. Idea feasibility, free time in daily business, and an idea champion affect the increase in innovation capability. While the workshops are generally received positively — especially their methodology, moderation, and space, as well as emerging group dynamics — a clearly described structure and documentation of the workshop progress would be appreciated. Follow-up workshops could further increase the impact. Thus, participating in external ideation workshops creates momentum in SMEs and a positive long-term impact on their innovation capability. Moreover, it shows that SMEs which consider innovation to be important, can become more innovative. Those who did, benefit.
Holographic Phase Transition Probed by Nonlocal Observables

From the viewpoint of holography, the phase structure of a 5-dimensional Reissner-Nordstrom-AdS black hole is probed by the two-point correlation function, Wilson loop, and entanglement entropy. As the case of thermal entropy, we find for all the probes that the black hole undergoes a Hawking-Page phase transition, a first-order phase transition, and a second-order phase transition successively before it reaches a stable phase. In addition, for these probes, we find that the equal area law for the first-order phase transition is valid always and the critical exponent of the heat capacity for the second-order phase transition coincides with that of the mean field theory regardless of the size of the boundary region.
Recognition of breast tissue density by mammographic images

The density of breast tissue is an extremely important risk factor for the development of breast cancer. Women who have a significant amount of dense breast tissue are more likely to have cancer than those whose tissues are less dense. This paper presents an automated method for the recognition of breast tissue density. For this purpose, images obtained from the mini-MIAS data base database (Mammogram Image Analysis Society database (UK)) were used. The process that leads to recognition is divided into three phases: 1) segmentation of the breast, 2) extraction of characteristics and 3) classification. The segmentation of the breast was carried out using methods in the spatial domain, after which 11 statistical features were extracted, and finally a neural network was applied for the classification process. The performance of the model was measured 720 B. Luna-Benoso et al. using the k-fold cross validation method and the results were compared with those obtained in other works.