Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measurement of Consumption efficiency in Price-Quantity Space: A Distance Function Approach

In standard consumer demand analysis, it is implicitly assumed that consumers behave optimally and, thus, efficiently. However, optimality is a restrictive assumption to make for consumers’ actual behaviour. This study moves away from this restrictive assumption and develops a theoretical model for the analysis of consumer’s inefficiency in price-quantity space. The consumption efficiency measures which are developed allow consumer’s efficiency to be studied not only in terms of budget that is wasted (i.e., as in the past attempts to study consumption efficiency in price-quantity space), but also in terms of quantities that are wasted. As regards to the empirical measurement of consumer’s efficiency, an approach is proposed under which estimation of a distance function representing consumer’s preferences is carried out via treatment of the unobserved utility level as a random error term.
Spatial Mobility in the Formation of Agent-Based Economic Networks

We extend the model of spatial social network formation of Johnson and Gilles (Review of Economic Design, 2000, 5, 273-299) by situating each economic agent within one of a set of discrete spatial locations and allowing agents to maximise the utility that they gain from their direct and indirect social contacts by relocating, in addition to forming or breaking social links. This enables the exploration of scenarios in which agents are able to alter the distance between themselves and other agents at some cost. Agents in this model might represent countries, firms or individuals, with the distance between a pair of agents representing geographical, social or individual differences. The network of social relationships characterises some form of self-organised persistent interaction such as trade agreements or friendship patterns. By varying the distance-dependent costs of relocation and maintaining social relationships we are able to identify conditions that promote the formation of spatial organisations and network configurations that are pairwise stable and efficient. We also examine the associated patterns in individual and aggregate agent behaviour. We find that both relative location and the order in which agents are allowed to act can drastically affect individual utility. These traits are found to be robust to random perturbations.
A Window into the Emergence of Agile Software Development Landscape in Indonesia

Since the introduction of the Agile Manifesto over a decade ago, software industries around the world have started to change their software development process from traditional to Agile methods. A number of research studies conducted in Asia Pacific countries such as Malaysia, India, and New Zealand have provided valuable insight into Agile adoption and practice in these countries. However, very little is known about the state of Agile adoption in Indonesia. This study aims to investigate the adoption of Agile methods among 21 software practitioners in Indonesia using survey method. This includes the perceptions and level of awareness in using Agile methods as well as the challenges in adopting these methods. We found that major challenges revolved around the people, organizational and customer related issues. Findings from this study can be used as evidence about Agile adoption and practice in Indonesia and as a roadmap for future Agile-focused research studies.
Child Health and Maternal Labour Supply: A Chi Square Approach

This study attempts to examine the socioeconomic effects of child health on maternal labour supply in rural Cameroon, using the ￻χ ² approach. The subject of child health and its influence on maternal labour supply and family income after child birth is of growing importance due to the significant increase in child health problems in sub Saharan Africa and Cameroon in particular. We used primary data, collected in Tombel with a random sample survey of 100 questionnaires. Based on our objectives and hypothesis, the ￻χ ² test of independence is used to determine the relationship between child health and maternal labour supply and family inc ome. The result obtained on child health - maternal labour relationship shows that￻χ ² calculated value (6.68) is greater than the ￻χ ² critical value (3.841) implying that there is a strong correlation between child health and maternal labour force participat ion. Further, the contingency coefficient (CC) of 25% compared to the contingency maximum (Cmax) of 70.7% also reveals a positive relationship. On the other hand, the result obtained from child health and family income relationship shows that the ￻χ ² calculated value (92.43) is greater than the ￻χ ² critical value (3.841), implying a significant relationship between child health and family income. Similarly, the contingency coefficient of 28% compared to the contingency maximum of 70.7% means a positively moderate relationship. Socio Economically, this result implies that poor child health affects negatively the time spent by women in activities such as agricultural practices, food preparation, marketing and consequently the income of the household…. etc. On the basis of this results, we recommend that; decision makers should encourage mutual health registration in the rural zones so as to reduce the rate of self -medication; mothers should be educated on preventive health and first aid measures as propagated by PLAN-Cameroon.
Comparing thin- and thick-skinned thrust tectonic models of the Central Apennines, Italy

The geological structure of the Central Apennines along a section line across the Lazio-Abruzzi carbonate plat- form has traditionally been interpreted using a thin-skinned thrust tectonic model, in which the sedimentary cover has been detached from an undeformed basement below. Such models have been used to predict that very large amounts of crustal shortening (e.g. 172 km over a section 173 km long) have occurred. Alternatively, in this paper we reinterpret the surface geology and well data along the same section line us- ing a thick-skinned thrust tectonic model. Restoration of this section shows that the amount of shortening (37 km over a section 158 km long) is considerably lower than previously predicted; this is accomplished by open buckling of the car- bonate platform, tighter folding of the basin scarp stratig- raphy, and reactivation of pre-existing extensional faults. Age bracketing on thrust fault movement allows shortening rates for the two different models to be calculated; these are < 6 mm yr 1 for the new interpretation, but over 24 mm yr 1 for the equivalent thin-skinned model. This latter value is significantly greater than shortening rates reported for most other thrust belts, suggesting that thick-skinned tectonics is a more satisfactory explanation for the structure of this area. The two most important implications of this are that sub- thrust hydrocarbon plays are largely absent in the area, and Neogene contractional deformation in this part of the Apen- nines resulted in much less crustal shortening than previously predicted.
Agreement Technologies for Coordination in Smart Cities

Many challenges in today’s society can be tackled by distributed open systems. This is particularly true for domains that are commonly perceived under the umbrella of smart cities, such as intelligent transportation, smart energy grids, or participative governance. When designing computer applications for these domains, it is necessary to account for the fact that the elements of such systems, often called software agents, are usually made by different designers and act on behalf of particular stakeholders. Furthermore, it is unknown at design time when such agents will enter or leave the system, and what interests new agents will represent. To instil coordination in such systems is particularly demanding, as usually only part of them can be directly controlled at runtime. Agreement technologies refer to a sandbox of tools and mechanisms for the development of such open multiagent systems, which are based on the notion of agreement. In this paper, we argue that agreement technologies are a suitable means for achieving coordination in smart city domains, and back our claim through examples of several real-world applications.
Limitations of the 1 % experiment as the benchmark idealized experiment for carbon cycle intercomparison in C4MIP

Abstract. Idealized climate change simulations are used as benchmark experiments to facilitate the comparison of ensembles of climate models. In the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5), the 1 % per yearly compounded change in atmospheric CO2 concentration experiment was used to compare Earth system models with full representations of the global carbon cycle in the Coupled Climate–Carbon Cycle Model Intercomparison Project (C4MIP). However, this “1 % experiment” was never intended for such a purpose and implies a rise in atmospheric CO2 concentration at double the rate of the instrumental record. Here, we examine this choice by using an intermediate complexity climate model to compare the 1 % experiment to an idealized CO2 pathway derived from a logistic function. The comparison shows three key differences in model output when forcing the model with the logistic experiment. (1) The model forced with the logistic experiment exhibits a transition of the land biosphere from a carbon sink to a carbon source, a feature absent when forcing the model with the 1 % experiment. (2) The ocean uptake of carbon comes to dominate the carbon cycle as emissions decline, a feature that cannot be captured when forcing a model with the 1 % experiment, as emissions always increase in that experiment. (3) The permafrost carbon feedback to climate change under the 1 % experiment forcing is less than half the strength of the feedback seen under logistic experiment forcing. Using the logistic experiment also allows smooth transition to zero or negative emissions states, allowing these states to be examined without sharp discontinuities in CO2 emissions. The protocol for the CMIP6 iteration of C4MIP again sets the 1 % experiment as the benchmark experiment for model intercomparison; however, clever use of the Tier 2 experiments may alleviate some of the limitations outlined here. Given the limitations of the 1 % experiment as the benchmark experiment for carbon cycle intercomparisons, adding a logistic or similar idealized experiment to the protocol of the CMIP7 iteration of C4MIP is recommended.
A File System Using GPU-Accelerated File-wise Reliability Scheme

This work revises the original file-wise reliability scheme to cope with larger pages in storage devices nowadays, and implements it as a file system prototype: CRSFS. There are four layers in CRSFS: GPU primitive for Cauchy Reed-Solomon (CRS) coding, CrystalGPU framework, CRS coding layer and AFS FUSE layer. CRSFS provides GPU acceleration on the CRS encoding/ decoding operations by using the CUDA program: GPU primitive for CRS coding. Besides, it is integrated with FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) framework and Rx (extended remote procedure call) protocol in AFS FUSE layer to provide high flexibility on storage system configurations. Hence, most programs can benefit from it without rewriting their read/
Calculating the Electrostatic Potential Profiles of Double Layers from Simulation Ion Density Profiles

Computer simulations of the planar double layer geometry provide the charge profile with statistical noise. To compute the mean electrostatic potential profile from the charge profile, one must solve Poisson’s equation with appropriate boundary conditions (BC). In this work, we show that it is advantageous to use the Neumann or Dirichlet BCs at the boundaries of the simulation domain with an integrated version of Poisson’s equation. This minimises errors from the simulation’s noisy density profiles, in contrast to traditional convolution integrals that amplify the noise. The Neumann BC, where the electric field is prescribed, can be used in both the constant surface charge and constant electrode voltage ensembles. In the constant voltage ensemble, where the potential difference between the confining electrodes is prescribed, one can also use the Dirichlet BC, where the potentials at the boundaries are set. We show that the new methods provide converged results for the potential profile faster than the convolution integral does.
QUALITY OF 'MANTI' (MEAT-FILLED PASTA PRODUCT) AS AFFECTED BY MODIFIED ATMOSPHERE PACKAGING DURING REFRIGERATED STORAGE

The fresh ‘manti’ pieces were blanched in boiling water for 5 min and dehydrated in an oven at 125 °C to adjust water activity to 0.91. The samples were packaged under different atmospheres (C: air as control, M1: 70% CO 2 +30% N 2 +0% O 2 , M2: 70% CO 2 +25% N 2 +5% O 2 , M3: 100% N 2 ). Packages have been stored in a refrigerator at +4 ± 1 °C for 35 days during which headspace gas composition, total aerobic meshophilic bacteria (TAMB), total yeast-mold, moisture, pH, lipid oxidation and sensory analyses were carried out. Yeast-mold and TAMB counts were 1.40 log cfu/g and 4.62 log cfu/g in samples packaged in air after 35 days, respectively. Yeast-mold and TAMB counts were below 2 log cfu/g in M1, M2 and M3 during 35 days. The 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) values of the samples in all modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) were lower than the samples in the control packages after 35 days. Sensory qualities of uncooked and cooked samples were significantly higher in M1 and M2 than C and M3 during 35-day storage. Overall, microbiological, chemical and sensory quality of the samples packaged with M1 and M2 were maintained successfully during 35-day storage.
On the Efficiency of Standard Form Contracts: The Case of Construction

Most contracts that individuals enter into are not written from scratch but depend upon forms and terms that have been successful in the past. In this paper we study the structure of the form construction contracts published by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). We show that these contracts are an efficient solution to the problem of procuring large, complex projects when unforeseen contingencies are inevitable. This is achieved by carefully structuring the ex post bargaining game between the Principal and the Agent. The optimal mechanism corresponding to the AIA construction form is consistent with decisions of the courts in several prominent, but controversial, cases, and hence provides an economic foundation for a number of the common-law excuses from performance. Finally, the case of form contracts for construction is an example of how markets, as opposed to private negotiation, can be used to determine efficient contract terms.
AROUND THE LUSI ERUPTION AREA , EAST JAVA , INDONESIA

Alluvium is a geological feature characterized by high risk vulnerability influenced by the earthquakes. Porong and surrounding areas where the eruption of Lumpur Sidoarjo's (Lusi) occurred are areas covered by alluvium sediment of Brantas Delta, as consequences this area is a weak zone characterized by high risk vulnerability as well. This is also supported by the present of Watukosek fault system in this area. To proved, we deployed 71 temporary seismic stations distributed in and around Sidoarjo area. The Horizontal Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR) analysis revealed that the natural frequency in Lusi area is about 0.4Hz, this is lower than other part areas. The analysis also revealed that this area have soil amplification about 5.2 and soil vulnerability index about 56, these are higher compared with other part areas. These results support that this area is a weak zone. Because of its location in a weak zone, this implies that Lusi became sensitive to external perturbation for example the earthquake events would have greater impact to this area.
Management Functions of Information System Components as an Integration Model

Management functions develop first, as systematic steps to carry out management activities, while information components system follow later as part of management elements, where both must be integrated in order to make its practical implementation more clear. Management Functions and Information System Components as an integra tion model are (1) to explain Management Functions, Information System Components, Goals and Benefit related to Information System and (2) to explain integration process of Management Functions with Information System Component to get goals and benefits as an integrated model. Research method using expert method has done an integration of management function, which includes the cycle of P, O, A, C, E and I, to run management process, must be step by step, and as a cycle. Information components include S, H, F, B, and T and must have minimum requirement. Management of Information System needs goals and benefits that can be calculated clearly and specifically. To get goals and benefits in excellence performance are needed the integrated process to coordinate management functions and information system components, as an Integrated Model with an example in applications of software in Nosocomial Infection Control for Hospital, as the figure below.
Population genetic structure in European lobsters: implications for connectivity, diversity and hatchery stocking

The European lobster Homarus gammarus is a marine crustacean prized for seafood, but populations across its range are threatened by fishery overexploitation. The species’ larval stages are planktonic, suggesting considerable dispersal among populations. The potential threats of overexploitation and erosion of population structure due to hatchery releases or inadvertent introductions make it important to understand the genetic structuring of populations across multiple geographic scales. Here we assess lobster population structure at a fine scale in Cornwall, southwestern UK, where a hatchery-stocking operation introduces cultured individuals into the wild stock, and at a broader European level, in order to compare the spatial scale of hatchery releases with that of population connectivity. Microsatellite genotypes of 24 individuals from each of 13 locations in Cornwall showed no fine-scale population structure across distances of up to ~230 km. Significant differentiation and isolation by distance were detected at a broader scale, using 300 additional individuals comprising a further 15 European samples. Signals of genetic heterogeneity were evident between an Atlantic cluster and samples from Sweden. Connectivity within the Atlantic and Swedish clusters was high, although evidence for isolation by distance and a transitional zone within the eastern North Sea suggested that direct gene exchange between these stocks is limited and fits a stepping-stone model. We conclude that hatchery-reared lobsters should not be released where broodstock are distantly sourced but, using Cornwall as a case study, microsatellites revealed no evidence that the normal release of hatchery stock exceeds the geographic scale of natural connectivity.
Water uptake by biomass burning aerosol at sub- and supersaturated conditions: closure studies and implications for the role of organics

We investigate the CCN activity of freshly emitted biomass burning particles and their hygroscopic growth at a relative humidity (RH) of 85 %. The particles were produced in the Mainz combustion laboratory by controlled burning of various wood types. The water uptake at sub- and super- saturations is parameterized by the hygroscopicity parame- ter, (c.f. Petters and Kreidenweis, 2007). For the wood burns, is low, generally around 0.06. The main emphasis of this study is a comparison of derived from measure- ments at sub- and supersaturated conditions ( G and CCN), in order to see whether the water uptake at 85 % RH can predict the CCN properties of the biomass burning particles. Differences in G and CCN can arise through solution non- idealities, the presence of slightly soluble or surface active compounds, or non-spherical particle shape. We find that G and CCN agree within experimental uncertainties (of around 30 %) for particle sizes of 100 and 150 nm; only for 50 nm particles is CCN larger than G by a factor of 2. The magni- tude of this difference and its dependence on particle size is consistent with the presence of surface active organic com- pounds. These compounds mainly facilitate the CCN acti- vation of small particles, which form the most concentrated
Liquidity Crisis: Are Islamic Banking Institutions More Resilient?

The importance of liquidity risk and the threat of ensuing bank-run cannot be overemphasized. The peculiar structure of Islamic banks and their call to the faith of the customers pose interesting questions regarding their behavior during a liquidity crisis and calls for detailed empirical study. Using a natural experiment from Pakistan we attempt to fill this gap and decipher the differential behavior of Islamic and conventional banking institutions during the episodes of liquidity crunch. Our results show that, Islamic banking branches are less prone to the risk of withdrawal during the bouts of liquidity stress and this effect remains there after introducing an array of controls. Moreover, the Islamic operations of same bank tend to attract more deposits than their conventional operations implying that religious branding might have a role in this phenomenon. The results further highlight that the Islamic banking institutions are more likely to grant new loans during episodes of liquidity crisis and that at occasions their lending decisions might be less sensitive to changes in deposits. The results suggest that, greater financial inclusion of faith based groups through Islamic banking, for example, may not only increase their economic well being but may also bring in stability in the financial system.
Complex regional pain syndrome and pregnancy

A 37-year-old patient with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome(CRPS) and continuous intrathecal morphine administration presents to prenatal care pregnant with 16 weeks’ gestation. Besides CRPS, she has other medical conditions like obesity, migraine and angina, using topiramate and diltiazem. The discussion goes through an overview of CRPS and chronic pain management in pregnancy. In the end, we include a summary and recommendations based on a brief review of the literature. Correspondence to: Felipe Favorette Campanharo, Federal University of São Paulo Department Obstetrics, Brazil, E-mail: favorette@hotmail.com
BLOW-UP IN TWO-COMPONENT NONLINEAR SCHRÖDINGER SYSTEMS WITH AN EXTERNAL DRIVEN FIELD

A system of two nonlinear Schrodinger equations in up to three space dimensions is analyzed. The equations are coupled through cubic mean-field terms and a linear term which models an external driven field described by the Rabi frequency. The intraspecific mean-field expressions may be non-cubic. The system models, for instance, two components of a Bose–Einstein condensate in a harmonic trap. Sufficient conditions on the various model parameters for global-in-time existence of strong solutions are given. Furthermore, the finite-time blow-up of solutions is proved under suitable conditions on the parameters and in the presence of at least one focusing nonlinearity. Numerical simulations in one and two space dimensions verify and complement the theoretical results. It turns out that the Rabi frequency of the driven field may be used to control the mass transport and hence to influence the blow-up behavior of the system.