Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Basel III, And Banking Risk; Do Basel III Factors Could Predict the Risk of Middle-Eastern Countries?

The research is financed by the Nation Natural Science Foundation of China under number 71173060. Abstract The global financial crisis in 2008 shows that the successive agreements Basel I, and II failed to stop the global financial collapse. Therefore, this research tries to answer the study question that; can Basel III enhancement give the banking sectors stability? Our data includes 324 listed from the largest banks across Middle East. Results from PLS-SEM analyses demonstrate bank risk is positive relationship related to charter value, information systems and Internal/External control systems. We find negative relationship among bank risk and market discipline. Following our finding, the result shows there is no relationship between bank risk and bank capital and the results suggest that Charter Value is the most important predictor of bank risk. Keywords: Basel III, Bank Risk, Bank capital, charter value, information system, control system, market discipline, Middle East.
METHODOLOGY FOR DETERMINING POLYBROMINATED DIPHENYL ETHERS IN FISH AND FISH PRODUCTS BY GAS-LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY

The target of the present study is to develop the methodology for determining polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in fish and fish products for the control of impurities content in foodstuff and environmental objects in general. We analyzed chromatography conditions (temperature conditions, effect of speed and split ratio of the gas-carrier flow using HP-1 capillary columns, DB5, HP-50+, DB-1) and the extract purification methods, lipids-destructive and non-destructive, at determination of PBDEs. We suggested the method for determining 2,2,4,4-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-47), 2,2,4,4,5-pentabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-99) and decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) in fish and fish products by gas chromatography with electron-capture detector. The method is based on PBDEs extraction of the sample with hexane-acetone (3:1), extract purification with concentrated sulfuric acid (phase ratio hexane-sulfuric acid: 5:1). The second purification step is done by using solid-phase extraction with cartridges “SiOHH2SO4/SA” and hexane as an eluent. Gas-chromatographic analysis for BDE-47 and BDE-99 determination is carried out with a low-polar capillary column DB-5 (30m x 0.25mm x 0.25mm) when setting the column temperature. In determining BDE-209, a nonpolar capillary column DB-1 (15 m x 0.25 mm x 0.1 m) is used during programming the column temperature. Estimation of BDE-47 and BDE-99 content is done under the internal standard (2,2, 3,4,4-pentabromodiphenyl ether (BDE85)), BDE-209 by absolute calibration. In determining BDE-209 we use calibration matrix. The concentration range of calibration solutions for determining BDE-47 and BDE-99: 0.005-0.05 g/cm3, BDE-209: 0.05-0.3 g/cm3. The methodology allows measurement of BDE-47 and BDE-99 in the range of 0.0002-0.05 mg/kg of the product concerned; BDE-209 in the range of 0.002-0.3 mg/kg. The metrological profile of the method is rated.
Origin of high oscillator strength in green-emitting InGaN∕GaN nanocolumns

Optical characterization has been performed on an InGaN∕GaN nanocolumn structure grown by nitrogen plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy not only in macroscopic configuration but also in a microscopic one that can be assessed to a single nanocolumn. The photoluminescence (PL) decay monitored at 500nm is fitted with a double exponential curve, which has lifetimes of 0.67 and 4.33ns at 13K. These values are two orders of magnitude smaller than those taken at the same wavelength in conventional InGaN∕GaN quantum wells (QWs) grown toward the C orientation. PL detection of each single nanocolumn was achieved using a mechanical lift-off technique. The results indicate that the very broad, macroscopically observed PL spectrum is due to the sum of the sharp PL spectrum from each nanocolumn, the peak energy of which fluctuates. Moreover, unlike conventional QWs, the blueshift of a single nanocolumn is negligibly small under higher photoexcitation. These findings suggest that carrier localization as well as the pi.
PTF: an Extensible Component for Sharing and Using Knowledge on Pedo-transfer Functions

Soil data availability for modelling purposes is often insufficient for the application of physical or semi-empirical models simulating soil hydrology. Standard soil surveys frequently do not include hydrological characteristics of the soil, such as either parameters of water retention and conductivity functions or, simpler than the former, estimates of soil water content at field capacity and wilting point. Even when at least part of such data is available, a quality control is needed to ensure not only that values fit within expected ranges, but also to check for consistency across parameters in a specific soil. The use of pedotransfer functions (PTF) allows estimating "what we need from what we have", that is, it allows estimating soil hydrological parameters from soil data often available. The literature makes available a large number of PTF, and new ones are being proposed. Such PTF range from very simple empirical functions, to complex soil physical models. Users must select a PTF to be used based on both available data and their a-priori knowledge about the soil to be simulated. Still, the choice of the PTF to be used is at times controversial, and users may want to compare the estimate made by several PTF against the same data. Also, users may want to test their own PTF, may be specific for a set of soils and thus perfectly adequate for application in a specific contest, against well known ones. An extensible and easily reusable library encapsulating a collection of PTF can be an important tool to support development and operational use of soil-related models, and to share the increasing knowledge about PTF. The objective of this paper is to illustrate the free available component PTF (PedoTransfer Functions). The component is available for both Windows . NET and JAVA platforms, and it is made available with some proof of concept applications (inclusive of source code) in C#, VB.NET and Java, which show how to extend the component and how to use it. The software component presented in this paper meets the following main requirement: i) easy to reuse; ii) with a clear ontology of the variables used in each PTF, where units, value range, and significance, are unambiguously defined; iii) extensible by third parties independently, allowing for an open system to which scientists can contribute; iv) freely available for non-commercial use.
Teachers, Race, and Student Achievement in a Randomized Experiment

Recommendations for the aggressive recruitment of minority teachers are based on hypothesized role-model effects for minority students as well as evidence of racial biases among nonminority teachers. However, prior empirical studies have found little or no association between exposure to an own-race teacher and student achievement. This paper presents new evidence on this question by examining the test score data from Tennessee's Project STAR class-size experiment, which randomly matched students and teachers within participating schools. Specification checks confirm that the racial pairings of students and teachers in this experiment were unrelated to other student traits. Models of student achievement indicate that assignment to an own-race teacher significantly increased the math and reading achievement of both black and white students.
Thermal evolution of porous anodic aluminas: a comparative study

The comparative study presented in this work concerning the thermal evolution of sulfuric, oxalic and phosphoric porous anodic aluminas, points out some differences among their physico-chemical and structural properties which were not previously reported. Empirical formulas calculated from the thermal analysis of all the anodic aluminas under study indicate that sulfuric aluminas have a significant higher content of dopant anionic species, oxygen excess, and hydroxyl groups than the oxalic and phosphoric aluminas, indicating that porous sulfuric anodic aluminas should have a higher structural disorder and hydrophilic character than its counterparts. For all samples, transition alumina phases are formed around 900 ‐ C and fi-alumina above 1200 ‐ C, but in these transformations sulfuric and oxalic aluminas follow a different evolution from phosphoric alumina. In the former case, the formation of transition aluminas occurs with the almost simultaneous thermal decomposition of sulfates and oxalates and finally a pure fi-Al2O3 phase is formed; while for the phosphoric alumina, the phosphate does not decompose even at 1400 ‐ C, when a fi-Al2O3phase unpurified with AlPO 4 is observed. Infrared spectroscopy studies show that the coordination modes of the sulfuric and oxalic dopant species start to change well before their thermal decomposition, while, in the case of the phosphoric alumina, aluminum phosphate starts to form at the same time as the transition alumina phases.
Effect of different icing conditions on lipid damage development in chilled horse mackerel ( Trachurus trachurus ) muscle

This study was aimed at investigating the effect of including a mixture of natural organic acids (citric, ascorbic and lactic) in the icing medium employed during the chilled storage of horse mackerel ( Trachurus trachurus ). To this end, two aqueous solutions including 0.005% and 0.020% (w/v) of each acid (P-1 and P-2 conditions, respectively) were employed as icing systems. The effects on lipid damage development in fish muscle were monitored for up to a 13- day storage period; complementary chemical quality and sensory acceptance analyses were carried out. According to peroxide and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance assessment, a slight inhibitory effect was concluded as a result of the acid mixture present in the chilling medium. At the same time, P-2-treated fish showed a longer shelf life than their counterparts belonging to P-1 and control conditions. No effect of the acid presence in the icing system could be outlined on the nucleotide degradation or the free fatty acid formation.
Vegetation and topography interact with weather to drive the spatial distribution of wildfires in the eastern boreal forest of Canada

It is crucial to better understand and predict how burnt areas in the boreal forest will evolve under a changing climate and landscape. The objective of the present study was to predict burnt areas at several spatial and temporal scales in the Quebec continuous boreal forest and to compare the influence of weather, vegetation and topographic variables by including them and their interactions in logistic regressions. At the largest spatial scale (350 km2), the best model explained 66% of the data variability and was able to predict burnt areas with reasonable accuracy for 11 years (r = 0.48). Weather and vegetation or topographic variables had an equivalent importance, though no single vegetation or topographic variable was mandatory to the model performance. Interactions between weather and non-weather variables largely improved the model, particularly when several weather indices were used, as the sign of the interaction with a non-weather variable could differ between weather indices. Vegetation and topography are therefore important predictors of fire susceptibility, but risk factors may vary between wind- and drought-driven fire weather. Including at least some vegetation and topographic variables in statistical models linking burnt areas to weather data can greatly improve their predictive power.
To Exercise or Not During Pregnancy

There is growing evidence that activity during pregnancy is beneficial for mother and baby; however, less than half of pregnant women meet guidelines for exercise during pregnancy. Objective: In order to improve the health of women and children, we need a better understanding of the barriers to women participating in activities during pregnancy. Therefore, our aim was to determine women’s perceived barriers to physical activity during gestation. We hypothesize that most women either do not know exercise is safe during pregnancy or women do not know what specifically is safe to do during pregnancy. Methods: A 16-item questionnaire was placed in several Ob/Gyn clinics in the Kansas City area. Respondents were women between 18 and 40 years of age who were pregnant or had recently delivered and had no pregnancy complications. Results: Respondents varied in age, BMI, marital status, pregnancies, ethnicity, education, healthcare insurance, and annual household income. We were able to analyze data from 201 surveys. Most participants (97%) perceived their health as good to excellent; yet, 50% were overweight or obese. The most common reason given for women choosing not exercise during pregnancy was lack of time, dislike of exercise, unsure why, and not knowing what to do. However, women who did not exercise spent significantly less time than exercisers doing sedentary and daily living activities than women who exercised while pregnant. If women exercised before pregnancy, then they were 4.5 times more likely to continue during pregnancy. If their health care provider talked about exercise during pregnancy, then women were 7.5 times more likely to continue exercise during gestation. Conclusions: We found that most women are unsure about exercise during pregnancy or do not know what to do during pregnancy. Although most women feel they do not have time to exercise during pregnancy, nonexercisers spent less time doing daily activities compared to exercisers. Most importantly, women were almost 8 times more likely to exercise if this topic was discussed by their obstetric provider. To increase the number of women exercising while pregnant, future studies should aim at efficient ways to discuss and encourage women to follow the recommended guidelines of safe exercises while pregnant.
Modelling Information Assets for Security Risk Assessment in Industrial Settings

Industry has begun in the last years to take into consideration the use of Public Information Infrastructures (including the Internet) for remotely monitoring, managing and maintaining their technical systems. Concurrently, technical and business information systems are getting interconnected both through private and public networks. As a result, industry is exposed to internal and external cyber-threats, and the security assessment of the ICT infrastructures assumes a predominant relevance. However, underlying every useful security methodology there is a system description which decomposes the system in term of services, component, relationships and assets. In this paper, we focus our attention on a particular type of system asset to which, to our knowledge, the usual security assessment methodologies do not pay sufficient attention, the information asset. Such an asset, in fact, represents the core of every ICT infrastructure (commands sent to components are information assets, data stored into databases are information assets, data flowing through the network are information assets); therefore we believe that its proper description and analysis is key for assuring reliable results for security assessments. Starting from some classical definitions of information and knowledge, we examine this type of asset aiming at identifying the more suitable representation with respect to its security attributes. In more detail, we identify as interesting properties the interdependence between information assets, their life cycles, their dynamics (i.e. the flows of the information assets within the system), their topological location (in term of subsystems that hosts the information assets) and the correlation between the information assets and the vulnerabilities affecting the components of the system. We provide then a formal modelling framework for describing the characteristics of the information assets under a security assessment perspective.
Thermal transport in graphene nanoribbons supported on SiO2

We present a theoretical model for thermal transport in graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) on SiO2 based on solving the phonon Boltzmann transport equation. Thermal transport in supported GNRs is characterized by a complex interplay between line edge roughness (LER) and internal scattering, as captured through an effective LER scattering rate that depends not only on the surface roughness features, but also on the strength of internal scattering mechanisms (substrate, isotope, and umklapp phonon scattering). Substrate scattering is the dominant internal mechanism, with a mean free path (mfp) of approximately 67 nm. In narrow supported GNRs ( W 1 μm) is dominated by substrate scattering and spatially isotropic. Thermal transport in supported GNRs can be tailored by controlling the ribbon width and edge roughness. We conclude that narrow ribbons act as longitudinal heat conduits while wide ribbons act as good omnidirectional heat spreaders.
Desmarestia japonica subsp. angustifolia (Desmarestiales, Phaeophyceae), a new subspecies from Korea

Desmarestia japonica H. Kawai, T. Hanyuda, D. G. Müller, E. C. Yang, A. F. Peters, & F.C. Küpper (2014: 161) was recently reported in Japan, Korea, and China. In this study, we found intraspecific morphogenetic variation in D. japonica. Morphologically, the new taxonomic entity was characterized by narrow filamentous primary and secondary branches (morphotype 2), which was distinct from the broad (ligulate) branches in the original description of D. japonica (morphotype 1). Korean individuals with morphotype 2 were clearly separated from D. japonica with morphotype 1 in the molecular phylogenetic tree using the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 (cox1) gene. Therefore, we propose that this new taxonomic entity be established as Desmarestia japonica subsp. angustifolia subsp. nov. (Phaeophyceae, Desmarestiales) based on its morphological and molecular characteristics.
Issues and Risks Associated with Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin

Bitcoin is an electronic currency designed to use a public protocol that implements it in a totally decentralized manner, so as not to need the control of any central issuing organization that manages it. Though still in development, it has been proven to be a modern payment system referred to have been used in some procedures commonly associated to money laundering or trafficking of illegal substances of various kinds. Thus, in this article, we analyse those features which transform such a cryptocurrency in a useful tool to perform any kind of transactions far from the control of any kind of regulatory agency, as well as we pinpoint some of the fields in which their usage can derive in new illicit behaviours. Keywords-bitcoin; cryptoanarchism; cryptocurrency; fraud; speculation; virtual money.
Inheritance and mapping of stem rust resistance of wheat line PI 410966

Stem rust caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp tritici of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most destructive cereal diseases globally. Concern about the disease has increased since 1999 with the discovery in Uganda of a new virulent race of Pgt, designated as race TTKSK (also known as Ug99). The objectives of this experiment were to characterize the resistance and to determine the chromosomal location of the stem rust resistance in the spring wheat line PI 410966. A mapping population was developed from a cross between PI 410966 and a susceptible wheat line OK3040. An inoculation test with isolate 04KEN156/04 of race TTKSK was conducted at the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory in the F6:7 generation, and the F6:7 phenotypic data were used to genetically map the resistance gene to the centromeric region on chromosome 2BS. The single locus explained the observed F6:7 resistant and susceptible scores. The location of the gene and molecular marker banding profiles of the diagnostic markers suggest that.
Productivity in the Non-Oil Sector in Nigeria: Firm-Level Evidence

This paper examines the determinants of the productivity of Nigerian firms, using three waves of Enterprise Surveys from 2007, 2009, and 2014 and 7,670 firms. The paper uses three alternative measures of productivity, which are found to be highly correlated: labor productivity, value added per worker, and total factor productivity. The more notable trends in the data show: a rise in productivity, with the output of exporting firms decreasing; increasing concentration of production, reflected in the rise of the Herfindahl-Hirschman index by a factor of three; increasing costs of crime, power outages, lack of security, and bribery; significant heterogeneity of these costs along several dimensions, such as firm size, age, location, and the exporting or domestic nature of the market it serves. These costs are inversely related with investment. Regardless of the measure of productivity, its main determinants are the education of the worker, size of the firm, availability of credit, and business climate variables. When labor productivity is used, the stock of capital is also a major determinant of productivity. Within the investment climate variables, power outages and the corruption index are the more significant ones. Power outages are negatively associated with productivity. Bribery is positively related, supporting the"greasing the wheels"hypothesis of bribery as a factor that reduces transaction costs. The impact is nonlinear, as it decreases with firm size. The results also show a positive association between productivity and exporting, but the causality is reversed when the analysis controls for endogeneity: productivity is a weak determinant of the likelihood of a firm becoming an exporter.
Thrust Loads and Foreland Basin Evolution, Cretaceous, Western United States

Two-dimensional modeling of loading during the formation of the Idaho-Wyoming thrust belt shows that regional isostatic compensation by flexure of an elastic lithosphere is sufficient to control the formation of a foreland basin. The flexural rigidity of the lithosphere is inferred to have been approximately 1023 Nm (1030 dyne cm), on the basis of palinspastic comparison of predicted downwarping, due to the thrust plate loads, to the shape of the sedimentary wedge on the west side of the Cretaceous Western Interior seaway. Erosion of part of the uplifted thrust plates redistributed the load, depositing it farther to the east, thereby causing subsidence over a much wider area than could have been accomplished only by the loading by thrust plates. Paleotopography after major Cretaceous thrust events was calculated. The resulting mountainous terrain, gentle alluvial plain, and flat sea floor correspond well with the topography of the modern foreland thrust belt and basin system in the Andes of South America and to paleogeographic reconstructions in the western United States thrust belt. Topography is controlled by the subsurface geometry of the thrust faults, particularly the positions of ramp zones, and by isostatic subsidence.