Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Productivity Gap and Vertical Spillover : Evidence from Vietnam Bin Ni

Technology spillover induced by foreign direct investment has been proved to be an important channel to boost the productivity growth of local firms in the host country, especially in the context of developing economies. However, the empirical evidence remains inconsistent as to what extent the scale of spillover is affected by the productivity gap between foreign investors and local firms. This paper attempts to make clear such mechanism by applying Vietnamese firm-level data. Focusing on Asian investors, we show that the relationship between the productivity gap and vertical spillover takes an inverted-U shape. To be specific, we use stepwise chow test to decide on the cutoff value of total factor productivity (TFP) as the grouping criteria, and divide investors into low, middle and high-TFP groups. The results reveal that local suppliers in Vietnam can benefit the most from the Asian investors with middle-level TFP, whereas the benefits from the other two groups fade away. The finding is strongly robust even after we control the other spillover-influential factors such as firms' own effort to innovate, foreign firms' ownership, country and industry heterogeneity, and no matter whether we use stochastic frontier or Levinsohn & Petrin measurement of TFP. It thus provides novel evidence that investors with advanced technology do not necessarily diffuse their know-how to local partners. This implies it is important that both Vietnamese local firms and investors with superior technology work in the same direction to stimulate more corporations with each other. Keywords: technology spillover, productivity gap, firm-level data, Vietnam. JEL Classification Numbers: D22, F21, F64, Q56. † The Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University (jiadaniel@hotmail.com).
WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN MALAYSIA: AN EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE OF THE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES USED BY MICRO AND SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS IN KUCHING-SARAWAK

This study examined the management strategies used by Malaysian women entrepreneurs, who own micro and small businesses in Kuching, Sarawak. It also analyzed the effects of these strategies on their businesses. Qualitative method was used to conduct this study. As such; interview and observation were used to collect data from 31 respondents, and nonprobability sampling method, specifically purposive sampling method, was used to select the respondents, due to inadequate information about them. This study focused on two sectors, which include the retail and service sectors. The findings of this study showed that the strategies used by respondents in the retail and service sectors are the same (i.e. Differentiation, focus, product or service development, market development, and market penetration), but they apply them in different ways, due to the size and nature of their businesses. Those in the retail businesses use the aforementioned strategies to improve the perception of customers towards the quality of their products and to expand their businesses. On the other hand, those in the service businesses use the strategies to position themselves in the minds of customers as companies that offer high quality services and to also expand their businesses.
Performance Analysis of IEEE 802.15.4 MAC Protocol Under Light Traffic Condition in IoT Environment

In this paper, we propose analytic models for throughput and latency performance of the IEEE 802.15. 4 MAC protocol operating under very low duty cycles In the Internet of Things applications. Our analytic models are intended for IEEE 802.15. 4 MAC protocol in beacon-enabled star topology with light traffic conditions. Accuracy of the analytic models are verified through extensive simulations using the network simulator ns-2. A strong agreement between simulation results and our theoretical analysis is observed. In addition, we compare throughput and latency performance of two different CSMA/CA protocols in IEEE 802.15. 4 and IEEE 802.11. This is motivated by a significant discrepancy of the CSMA/CA mechanism: IEEE 802.15. 4 and IEEE 802.11. We observe a remarkable difference in throughput between two protocols. The simulation results also demonstrate an interesting fact that increasing the packet size will degrade the throughput of IEEE 802.15. 4 due to the nature of the CSMA/CA mechanism, while a throughput improvement is usually expected.
Online Sketch Recognition with Incremental Fuzzy Models

In this paper, we present a novel method for recognition of handwritten sketches. Unlike previous approaches, we focus on online retrieval and ability to build our model incrementally, thus we do not need to know all the data in advance and we can achieve very good recognition results after as few as 15 samples. The method is composed of two main parts: feature representation and learning and recognition. In feature representation part, we utilize SIFT-like feature descriptors in combination with soft response Bag-of-Words techniques. Descriptors are extracted locally using our novel sketch-specific sampling strategy and for support regions we follow patch-based approach. For learning and recognition, we use a novel technique based on fuzzy-neural networks, which has shown good performance in incremental learning. The experiments on state-of-the-art benchmarks have shown promising results.
Acceptance by the Public of the Virtual Delivery of Public Services

Little is known about the determinants of acceptance by the general public of virtual delivery of governmental services. The authors conduct an empirical study of the factors that influence the willingness of individuals to consent to a para-authentic virtual experience with a public sector employee as part of the delivery of a public service. This study is based on the theory of social presence and on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). The authors test these hypotheses using 224 questionnaires completed by persons who have filed a police report using synchronous video-mediated communication (VMC). This multiple regression analysis shows that four variables are likely to predict willingness to use virtual interaction as a part of the delivery of a public service: performance expectations, social presence, social influence, and anxiety. Two findings were especially interesting. First, affective predictors, as opposed to cognitive predictors, were found to be of increasing importance for the acceptance by the public of virtual service delivery. Second, social presence emerged as the strongest affective predictor. This study’s empirical findings support the a priori assumption that affective predictors, as opposed to cognitive predictors, are relatively more important in predicting the intention to use virtual technologies, when contrasted with conventional technologies.
ROOT AND ROOT CANAL MORPHOLOGY AND ITS VARIATION OF THE HUMAN MANDIBULAR CANINE: A LITERATURE REVIEW

The objective was to review the literature of the root and root canal morphology of the human Mandibular canine. Published studies cite the anatomy and morphology of the mandibular canine tooth. Individual case reports of anomalies were included to demonstrate the extreme range of variation. Almost all of the teeth in the anatomic studies were single rooted (94.8 %). The incidence of two roots (5.2 %) was extremely rare. Anatomic studies of the internal canal morphology found that a single canal was present in 89.4 % of the teeth, while 10.6 % of the teeth had two or more canals. However, the root and root canal morphology of the mandibular canine can be extremely complex and requires careful assessment. As an Endodontist, one should be aware of all the probable nooks and crannies of the complex root canal, its protean permutations, and combinations, to render the finest possible treatment. As is the case with any other treatment, endodontic therapy; if performed in the properly delineated and precise manner spells more than 99 % success rate. This review article attempts to bring out the possible nuances of the complex root canal system and various methods of reckoning with these significantly essential details.
Reliability Evidence for Examination Cut Scores within a Medical School

Establishing credible cut scores for performance-type examinations in health professions education can be challenging. The authors aimed to compare the pass-fail cut-score reliability with the maximum reliability cut-score from multiple-choice tests (MCTs) designed on different undergraduate disciplines. Using the cross-sectional evaluation of 1370 tests from six disciplines from Porto medical school, Portugal, in 2010, the pass-fail cut-score reliability was obtained from the one-parameter logistic model of item response theory model. The test information curve achieved maximum reliability for ability levels ranging from -1.40 to -0.01 standard deviations below the average. The pass-fail cut score for estimated ability ranged from -1.36 to 0.25. These results showed that all MCTs had a pass and fail threshold of competence, and that was appropriate for the maximum information obtainable from the examination to occur at the pass and fail level; nevertheless, the maximum information was not achieved in the pass and fail level.
An in vivo RNAi approach to study gene function in hematopoiesis

Hamatopoiese beschreibt den entwicklungbiologischen Vorgang der Differenzierung hamatopoetischer Stammzellen zu den verschiedenen Blutzellytpen [Tavian et al., 2010]. Aufgrund der Kurzlebigkeit von Blutzellen, mussen taglich mehrere Millionen Blutzellen neu vom Knochenmark gebildet werden. Dieser hohe “Turnover” erfordert ein stetiges Gleichgewicht zwischen den Prozessen Wachstum, Differenzierung und Zelltod, um die Homoostase des dynamischen Blutsystems zu garantieren [Dingli and Pacheco, 2010]. Eine Storung dieses Gleichgewichts kann verschiedene hamatologische Erkrankungen wie Lymphome, Leukamien oder Autoimmunerkrankungen zur Folge haben [Kondo et al., 2003]. Anhand eines blut-spezifischen, RNAi-basierenden Screens in der Drosophila Larve wurden 356 konservierte Gene identifiziert, die an der Regulation der Blutbildung in der Fruchtfliege beteiligt sind [Elling et al., unveroffentlicht]. Die fehlende Expression einiger dieser Gene in den Blutzellen der Larve fuhrte zur Entstehung einer sogenannten “Fliegenleukamie”, die sich durch eine stark vermehrte Bildung von Makrophagen-ahnlichen Plasmatozyten und das Auftreten von stark pigmentierten Tumoren, sogenannten “melanotic tumors”, auszeichnet. Zu den Genen, die zu einem besonders starken Phanotyp in der Fliege fuhrten, zahlen der Proteaseinhibitor Papilin, zwei transkritionelle Koregulatoren namens Symplekin und Ssrp1, und mehrere Faktoren, die an der Regulation der Endozytose beteiligt sind, namlich die kleine GTPase Rab5a, das SNARE Protein Syntaxin 7 sowie zwei Untereinheiten des HOPS/ CORVET-Komplexes namens Vps16 und Vps33a. Durch die Analyse von Knochenmarkchimaren, haben wir getestet, ob die genannten Gene auch bei der Blutbildung in Saugetieren eine Rolle spielen. In unseren Versuchen wurde die Expression des jeweils zu untersuchenden Gens in Vorlauferzellen aus dem Knochenmark hinunterreguliert. Anschliesend wurde die Fahigkeit dieser Vorlauferzellen in die verschiedenen Blutzelllinien zu differenzieren durch deren Transplantation in Mause getestet. Vorlauferzellen, die eine verminderte Expression von entweder Symplekin, Rab5a oder Vps16 aufwiesen, entwickelten sich bevorzugt zu reifen oder unreifen myeloiden Blutzellen, wahrend diese Vorlauferzellen seltener zu B- oder T-Lymphozyten differenzierten. Dies ist ein Hinweis darauf, dass die sogenannte “lineage decision” beeintrachtigt sein konnte. Auserdem forderte die Herabregulation der selben Gene eine vermehrte Bildung von naturlichen Killerzellen in der Milz der Rezipienten. Weiters konnten wir zeigen, dass die Granulozytenpopulation im peripheren Blut von Papilin Knockout-Mausen vermindert ist. Dieser Befund korrelierte mit einem niedrigeren Prozentsatz von myeloiden Vorlauferzellen im Knochenmark dieser Mause im Vergleich zu Wildtyp-Mausen. Unsere Resultate deuten darauf hin, dass die konservierten Gene, die ursprunglich als Regulatoren fur die Blutbildung und Homoostase in Fruchtfliegen identifiziert wurden, auch eine Role in der Regulation der Hamatopoiese in Saugetieren spielen.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Recent Work Title Rate of Mass Loss Across the Instability Threshold for Thwaites Glacier Determines Rate of Mass Loss for Entire Basin Permalink

Rapid change now underway on Thwaites Glacier (TG) raises concern that a threshold for unstoppable grounding line retreat has been or is about to be crossed. We use a high-resolution ice sheet model to examine the mechanics of TG self-sustained retreat by nudging the grounding line just past the point of instability. We find that by modifying surface slope in the region of the grounding line, the rate of the forcing dictates the rate of retreat, even after the external forcing is removed. Grounding line retreats that begin faster proceed more rapidly because the shorter time interval for the grounding line to erode into the grounded ice sheet means relatively thicker ice and larger driving stress upstream of the boundary. Retreat is sensitive to short-duration re-advances associated with reduced external forcing where the bathymetry allows regrounding, even when an instability is invoked.
Insights of asphaltene aggregation mechanism from molecular dynamics simulation

Asphaltene aggregation process was studied using molecular dynamics techniques. Four different structures were used. The first three molecules have a continental structure, with condensed aromatic cores, while the forth has an archipelago structure, with small groups of aromatic rings connected with saturated chains. The molecules were constructed in an atomistic framework, in which atoms are described individually. Interaction forces were calculated at 300 K and 200 atm; Van der Waals and electrostatic interactions were evaluated separately. For all four molecules the solubility parameter was calculated. It was found that Van der Waals interactions due to the presence of aromatic rings and electrostatic forces caused by the presence of heteroatoms such as oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur, are equally relevant in the aggregation of asphaltene molecules. For all molecules it was found asphaltene systems are more stable in aggregation state than in monomeric state. For continental structures, the presence of long ramifications obstructs the formation of asphaltene aggregates. For archipelago structures, the flexibility of the molecules enables the aggregation with other structures. The presence of heteroatoms creates a repulsive force that hinders the aggregation process. The molecular volume and the cohesive energy are also sensitive to the geometric configuration and the composition of the species, which affects the solubility parameter.
Supplemental Text S 1

To examine the influence of NHST misinterpretations on scientific debates, we consider two identical and independent studies of an effect that actually exists, i.e., its null hypothesis is false. In each case, some statistical test for the existence of the effect gives either a significant or non-significant result. The results of the two studies may be compared by: (i) a proper statistical test checking whether effects in two cases are the same (correct method), or (ii) by checking whether the studies agree as to the obtained statistical significance (incorrect method).
The Intergenerational Transmission of Jobs, Employment and Earnings*

We use a large administrative data base on a cohort of young Canadian men to document and explain the degree to which their adult earnings are related to the earnings of their fathers. Our theoretical analysis of intergenerational earnings mobility modifies the often-used Becker and Tomes model to recognize that parents may influence the job search decisions of their children, passing on labour market information and in the extreme finding jobs with employers for which they have also worked. We draw testable implications from this theory in the context of both perfect and imperfect capital markets, and examine them empirically. We find that about 40% of these men have at some point been employed with an employer for which their father also worked, and using appropriate maximum likelihood methods show that intergenerational transmission of employers reduces the degree of generational mobility. We also show that this offers an explanation for non-linearities in the father-son earnings relationship observed but not explained by the existing literature.
Attenuated Motor Cortical Responsiveness to Motor and Cognitive Tasks in Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Abstract Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by excessive and uncontrollable worries. Recent research revealed impaired intracortical facilitation of bilateral motor cortices (M1) in GAD. Therefore, we aimed to elucidate whether M1 cortical activations could be a reliable and clinically-feasible biomarker for GAD. Forty GAD patients and twenty healthy control subjects were recruited. Bilateral M1 cortical activations in response to 4 different tasks, including finger tapping (FT), verbal fluency test (VFT), dual tasks with simultaneous FT and VFT (DT), and DT with pretreated pressure to enhance worries (DTp), were measured by multichannel functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Task-induced total hemoglobin changes (Δ [Hb]) were used as the index of cortical activations. The quantitative Δ [Hb] results revealed that GAD had abnormally decreased Δ [Hb] over bilateral M1. Repeated-measure ANCOVA revealed a significant main effect of group on bilateral M1 Δ [Hb] results (left M1: F=11.026, p=0.002; right M1: F=9.843, p=0.003), indicating that GAD had significantly lowered M1 Δ [Hb] across all tasks. The ROC analysis revealed that M1 Δ [Hb] in response to VFT demonstrated good sensitivity/specificity in predicting a diagnosis of GAD. In conclusion, attenuated M1 cortical responsiveness to motor and cognitive tasks as a characteristic feature of GAD could have the diagnostic value in clinically settings.
Health Related Quality of life and Associated Factors among Iranian University Students

Introduction: The aims of the study were to investigate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in students of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences (Iran) and to identify factors that might have associated with their HRQoL. Materials & Methods: In 2010, 364 students with a cluster sampling method enrolled in the crosssectional study. HRQoL was assessed by using SF-39 questionnaire. Multiple logistic regression methods were used to examine the association indicators of HRQoL and socioeconomic characteristics. Results: The highest SF36 scale score was obtained for physical functioning. Univariate analysis showed that there were significant differences in the HRQoL scores by faculty, smoking and regular exercise. Total score and seven health dimensions of SF-36 significantly (P<0.05) correlated with academic achievement. The logistic regression analysis showed that the physical composite score decreased with family income, smoking habit, marital status and employment. Family income and academic achievement increased the risk of having mental composite scores above the median. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that multiple factors were associated with HRQoL in Iranian university students. Appropriate health education programs to largest modifiable risk factors may improve student HRQoL.
THE EFFECTS OF THE PROTIST PARASITE DERMOMYCOIDES SP . , ON THE DUSKY GOPHER FROG ( RANA SEVOSA ) AND THE SOUTHERN LEOPARD FROG ( RANA SPHENOCEPHALA )

Translocations may help recover endangered species, but data on factors affecting success are often limited. A drift fence was used to monitor survival to metamorphosis of Rana sevosa larvae translocated to Pony Ranch Pond (PRP). Tadpoles (N = 1168) were translocated after headstarting them for 1 or 2 months in 1000-L outdoor tanks. Additional tadpoles were marked and returned to nine tanks (N = 180) or translocated to 18 screen cages (N = 62) in the pond. In 2015 (N = 180), tadpoles were placed into 12 cages in each of three ponds: PRP, TNC1, and New Pond, and 10 cages within tanks. Survival to metamorphosis in 2014 was 0.09-0.26% for free-swimming translocated tadpoles, 0.12-0.18% for three natural clutches, and 15.7% for caged tadpoles. Survival to metamorphosis in 2015 was 0.03% for 18 natural egg clutches and 1.67% for caged larvae in Pony Ranch. Survival to metamorphosis was highest in TNC1 Pond (11.67%) and the outdoor tanks (22%). No tadpole survived to metamorphosis in New Pond. Pulses of tadpole mortality in cages corresponded with increase in water level following rain events and increases in pH in 2015. Necropsies of caged tadpoles indicate that mortality of translocated and natural larvae was caused by Dermomycoides sp. Thus, when additional translocation sites are being selected, it may be important to consider the stability of the hydroperiod in the pond. My results help to explain poor translocation success for R. sevosa at various sites, especially for those individuals translocated as
Existence and approximation of solutions to an anisotropic phase field system for the kinetics of phase transitions

This paper is concerned with a phase field system of Penrose–Fife type for a non-conserved order parameter with a kinetic relaxation coefficient depending on the gradient of the order parameter. This system can be used to model the anisotropic solidification of liquids. A time-discrete scheme for an initial-boundary value problem to this system is presented. By proving the convergence of this scheme, the existence of a solution to the problem is shown.
Image Color Correction using Mosaicking Application

Photo mosaic is a technique which uses to divide a photograph into equal sized rectangular sections. Each of rectangular section is replaced with another image that matches the target photo. Color layout and edge histogram was considered to perform the Mosaicking operations. It results with a low intensity value of pixel in the low resolution images. This paper proposes a filtering and convolution based processing for correcting the disparities in image. Images are color segmented using median filtering technique. The filtering operation is used to take away the disparities in image. Inverse color gradient algorithm is used to determine the layer that needs Mosaicking. Convolution and image Mosaicking is performed to all the region of the image. Then the image can be well scrutinized as a high resolution image.
Victim Injury Severity Estimation in Armed Robbery

The association of three ordered categories of victim injury severity namely, no, minor and serious injury with robbery situational characteristics is investigated in this paper. In line with this objective the proportional odds (PO) model was fitted to armed robbery data extracted from a Police unit in Kumasi, Ghana. We formulated a latent variable model from the PO model for thresholds of the categories of victim injury severity. The logit of being at or below a given category was identified by comparing estimated logits of the situational characteristics to the thresholds. The study showed that the logit of victim injury being serious is associated with the use of firearm, knife and other cutting instruments in robberies. Also, the logit of victim injury being minor is associated with the use of blunt objects in robberies. The validity of our model was investigated under the assumption of parallel lines.