Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Empirical Analysis of Import Demand Behavior of LDCs

This paper examines the long-run stability of import demand function in Least Developed Countries (LDC) using recently developed panel cointegration techniques. We test for cointegration using two data sets: a) annual data for 15 countries between 1965 and 2004; and b) annual data for 22 countries between 1984 and 2004. We find that cointegration is present and that, indeed, there is a stable import demand function in these economies. The income elasticity ranges from 1.26 to 1.69 and price elasticity ranges from -0.72 to -0.75.
Research on the Relationship among Phone Addiction, Social Anxiety and Loneliness in High School Students

Phone addiction causes significant social and psychological damage to people who excessively use mobile phones. Rapid social rhythm, busy daily life, and complex interpersonal relationships make people, especially the student groups, increasingly dependent on mobile phones, and also gradually change their communication behaviors. This paper uses the way of psychological empirical study to investigate 220 students in a Beijing high school through the Mobile Phone Addiction Index, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale and UCLA Loneliness Scale. The results show that: (1) the ratio of phone addiction among phone users of high school students is about 17.95%, and it varies significantly from different school department; (2) there is no correlation between phone addiction and social anxiety; (3) there is a higher sense of loneliness in classmates who have phone addiction. It can be seen that in modern society, mobile phone has become the main tool of social communication, and that it has little effect on social anxiety. Loneliness is one of the main reasons for phone addiction of high school students. Therefore, this paper suggests that in order to prevent high school students from excessively relying on the phone, the school need to take measures to limit the time of students using mobile phones; and strengthening the intimate relationship among school, family and students can help to reduce phone addiction by lowing the loneliness of students.
Demographic Characteristics, Play Patterns, and Social Experiences of Chinese MMO Players

Knowledge of who plays and how is necessary for a meaningful understanding of behaviors in the virtual world (e.g. Williams et al., 2009). Despite increasing use of Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) in China, systematic investigation of the demographic characteristics, play patterns and social experience of Chinese players is limited. Based on a web survey of players of a popular Chinese MMO (N = 18,819), this study examines the demographic distribution of Chinese MMO players and its relationship to their play patterns and social experience. The results suggest that compared to male players, Chinese female players engage in more text chat, are more likely to play with both offline and new friends, and perceive a higher salience of social capital. Older players engage in less chat and are less motivated by social interaction and story narratives. But they are more likely to play with their romantic partners and have a higher trust of other people in the game and in the same guild. Implications of the findings are discussed with a focus on the potential socio-cultural influence on virtual behaviors.
A MORPHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO BUSINESS MODEL CREATION USING CASE-BASED REASONING

This study aims to provide a structured methodology for a business model creation. Based on a morphological analysis of business model, we propose the methodological chart named as business model creation template with which one can generate a variety of business model alternatives. The template consists of a set of predefined building blocks which describes the strategic patterns and/or constituent elements of a business model. Those building blocks have been collected and verified through comprehensive analysis of real-world business model cases and relevant literature. Furthermore, we develop case-based reasoning system for supporting a new business model creation. The system aims to provide the business model planner of intuitive cases in creating a new business model. Based on a case base that contains about a hundred of real business models, the system receives an input query from a business model planner, and retrieves similar cases to the query based on case matching mechanism. In the case study, we actually generate the new business model alternatives for apparel company that want to commercialize their newly designed product.
Flow injection determination of selenium by successive retention of Se(IV) and tetrahydroborate(III) on an anion-exchange resin and hydride generation electrothermal atomization atomic absorption spectrometry with in-atomizer trapping-Part 1. Method dev

A sample solution was passed at 20 ml min through a column (150 × 4 mm) of Amberlite IRA-410Stron anion-exchange resin for 60 s. After washing, a solution of 0.1% sodium borohydride was passed through the column for 60 s at 5.1 ml min. Following a second wash, a solution of 8 mol l 21 hydrochloric acid was passed at 5.1 ml min for 45 s. The hydrogen selenide was stripped from the eluent solution by the addition of an argon flow at 150 ml min and the bulk phases were separated by a glass gas–liquid separator containing glass beads. The gas stream was dried by passing through a Nafionw dryer and fed, via a quartz capillary tube, into the dosing hole of a transversely heated graphite cuvette containing an integrated L’vov platform which had been pretreated with 120 mg of iridium as trapping agent. The furnace was held at a temperature of 2508C during this trapping stage and then stepped to 20008C for atomization. The calibration was performed with aqueous standards olution of selenium (selenite, SeO3) with quantification by peak area. A number of experimental parameters, including reagent flow rates and composition. , nature of the gas–liquid separator, nature of the anion-exchange resin, column dimensions, argon flow rate and sample pH, were optimized. The effects of a number of possible interferents, both anionic and cationic were studies for a solution of 500 ng 1 of selenium. The most severe depressions were caused by iron (III) and mercury (II) for which concentrations of 20 and 10 mg 1 caused a 5% depression on the selenium signal. For the other cations (cadmium, cobalt, copper, lead,. magnesium, and nickel) concentrations of 50–70 mg 1 could be tolerated. Arsenate interfered at a concentration of 3 mg, whereas concentrations of chloride, bromide, iodide, perchlorate, and sulfate of 500–900 mg l could be tolerated. A linear response was obtained between the detection limit of 4 ng 1, with a characteristic mass of 130 pg. The RSDs for solutions containing 100 and 200 ng 1 21 selenium were 2.3% and 1.5%, respectively.
School Food Environment Promotion Program: Applying the Socio-ecological Approach

Background Despite of healthy nutrition recommendations have been offered in recent decades, researches show an increasing rate of unhealthy junk food consumption among primary school children. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of health promotion intervention on the school food buffets and the changes in nutritional behaviors of the students. Materials and Methods In this Quasi-interventional study, eight schools agreed to participate in Tabriz city, Iran. The schools were randomly selected and divided into an intervention and a control group, and a pretest was given to both groups. A four weeks interventional program was conducted in eight randomly selected schools of the city based on the socio-ecological model. A check list was designed for the assessment of food items available at the schools’ buffets, a 60-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to assess the rate of food consumption and energy intake. Results evaluation and practice were analyzed using the Wilcoxon, Mann Whitney-U and Chi-square tests. Results The findings revealed reduction in the intervention group between before and after intervention with regard the range of junk food consumption, except for the sweets consumption. The number of junk foods provided in the schools buffets reduced in the intervention group. After the intervention on the intervention group significant decreases were found in the intake of energy, fat and saturated fatty acids compared to the control group (p = 0.00). Conclusion In order to design effective school food environment promotion programs, school healthcare providers should consider multifaceted approaches.
Are web stabilimenta attractive to praying mantids

Certain species of orb-weavers add extra silk structures, termed a stabilimentum or web decoration, to their webs. In the genus Argiope stabilimenta are silken structures of densely woven zig-zag ribbons. The adaptive value of these stabilimenta is still unclear and controversially discussed. In the course of time, many functional hypotheses have been proposed for silk stabilimenta. Because of their high visibility they are claimed to act as a visual signal for insects. So most recent hypotheses consider them as prey attractants although also predators (e.g. mantids) have been shown to be attracted by these structures. Bruce et al. (2001) reported that the praying mantid Archimantis latistylus was attracted to decorated webs of Argiope keyserlingi in a Y-maze choice test. In Argiope-species spiders construct different basic shapes of stabilimenta which can be cruciate, linear or discoid. The predator attraction hypothesis was supported by testing cruciate forms of A. keyserlingi. To test these predictions also for linearly shaped stabilimenta, the web decorations of the palearctic wasp spider A. bruennichi were tested in a laboratory experiment, adopting the Y-maze setup of Bruce et al. (2001) to make it comparable. Also a taxonomically similar predator was used for the test, Mantis religiosa (Mantodea: Mantidae). M. religiosa showed no preference for webs with stabilimenta, but only a very small number of individuals reached one of the both maze exits at all, rendering universally valid conclusions difficult. Generally, Mantis showed a scarce locomotor activity in the Y-maze apparatus and no signs of any predatory response, which indicates that the experimental design might be problematic for studying behavioural elements of praying mantids.
Primary culture of ovarian follicular cells of Sterlet, Acipenser ruthenus to develop an in vitro system

The aim of the present study was to develop an in vitro system for functional investigation of ovarian follicular cells in Sterlet, Acipenser ruthenus. Oocytes for the primary culture were obtained from the ovaries of a 6 years old Sterlet 729 g in weight and 47 cm in total length. The oocytes were in advanced vitellogenesis stage (PI >10). A part of the ovary (containing about 300 follicles) was removed, ovarian follicles isolated by manually removing those from the interstitial tissue and washed with sterile phosphate buffered saline (PBS) containing antibiotics and Amphotericin B. Follicular cells were separated by treating oocytes with 0.25% trypsin-EDTA in Ca2+ and Mg2+ free PBS and cultured in medium L-15 supplemented with 20% FBS, streptomycin sulphate (Gibco, 100 mg.ml-1), penicillin G potassium (Gibco, 100 IU.ml-1) and Amphotericin B (Gibco, 2.5 mg.ml-1) at 22 °C. The concentrations of Testosterone (T), Estradiol-17β (E2), Progesterone (P4) and 17α-hydroxyprogestron (17αOHP) in the medium were measured at days 3, 5 & 7 by the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay. According to the results, the ovarian follicular cells of Sterlet proliferated in L-15 medium were steroidogenically active as expressed by the secretion of T, E2, P4 & 17αOHP. Testosterone was the dominant hormone secreted by cultivated follicular cells, which was correlated closely with the end of vitellogenesis in the isolated oocytes. Decrease in production of these hormones was greater at days 3 & 4 in comparison with those at days 5 & 6. By successfully culturing ovarian follicular cells of Sterlet in L-15 culture medium, an in vitro system was developed which enables functional studies to be carried out similar to the in vivo situation in the ovarian follicles.
Suboptimal Kalman Filter for Dual Estimation under Dynamical Uncertainties

This paper presents a method of designing a suboptimal Kalman filter (SKF) for nonlinear systems, including uncertainties on the system parameter dynamics. In general, governing dynamics behind real-world phenomena has significant associated uncertainties and all we can presume is the approximation to system models. We thus need a robust filter that is capable of rapidly following up the unknown system model parameters while adequately estimating the system states as well. The SKF is suboptimal in terms of standard square errors that the KF minimizes at each time step and this suboptimization results in the enhancement of filter's parameter adaptation ability. The nonlinearity of system models is handled by using an unscented transforming statistical linearization without losing the Gaussianity of states to be estimated. We confirm the effectiveness of the proposed filter by numerical simulations.
Electrochemical Process For Removal Of Color From Effluent Of Maize Based Starch Processing Unit

Electrochemical (EC) process for color removal of biodigester effluent of maize (corn) based starch industry wastewater (BDE-MSIWW) was investigated in a 1.5 dm 3 electrolytic batch reactor using aluminum as a sacrificial electrode . Experiments were conducted by the varying pH (4-10) and current density (CD) 51-255 A/m 2 (1-5 A) at 2.2 cm electrode gap. The color reduction of 97 %, 98 %, 67 %, 68 % and 44 % obtained at pH 4, 5, 7.8, 9 and 10 respectively. The color reduction also increased with current density. The best settling of slurry obtained at pH 9 and poorest at pH 4.
Spawning season and larval occurrence of blood cockle (Anadara granosa) off the Selangor coast, Peninsular Malaysia

We performed a plankton survey of blood cockle larvae, Anadara spp. , and histological observations of the gonads of adult blood cockle, Anadara granosa , in the coastal waters off Sungai Buloh, Peninsular Malaysia from October 2010 to April 2011. The histological observations indicated the main spawning period in both sexes was from November to March. In addition, the occurrence of blood cockle larvae peaked in November and March. Furthermore, a comparison of the distribution between umbo-stage and full-grown larvae suggested the umbo-stage larvae diffused offshore and return to coastal sites where they settle and mature into full-grown larvae.
Subjective work experiences, career orientations, and psychological career resources of working adults

The primary objective of the present study was to assess whether career orientations and psychological career resources relate to individuals’ subjective work experiences. A quantitative survey was conducted on a random sample of 2 997 participants at predominantly managerial and supervisory level in the South African service industry. The measuring instruments consisted of a subjective work experiences scale, the Career Orientations Inventory and Psychological Career Resources Inventory. The results indicated career orientations and psychological career resources as significant predictors of the participants’ subjective work experiences. The results make an important contribution to existing literature on career well-being and subjective career success. Career guidance and counseling, and organisational career development support have become of crucial importance in the changing employment climate in order to maximise individuals’ chances of experiencing job and career satisfaction and success over the life course (Sinclair 2009). More recently, interest in the subjective aspects of career success and satisfaction has gained greater salience in contemporary career research. This can be ascribed to the more turbulent career context resulting in careers being less ordered and predictable (Arnold and Cohen 2008; Arthur, Khapova and Wilderom 2005; Coetzee and Bergh 2009; Hall and Chandler 2005 Kidd 2008; Sinclair 2009). Contemporary measures of people’s subjective experiences of their careers and working lives tend to focus on the career self-concept or identity, the internal career orientation and the core self-evaluations relating to people’s psychological career resources or career meta-competencies (Coetzee 2008, Coetzee and Schreuder 2009b; Fugate, Kinicki and Ashforth 2004; Kanye and Crous 2007; Kuijpers and Scheerens 2006; Sinclair 2009; Van Dam 2004; Van der Heijde and Van der Heijden 2006). People’s experiences of subjective career success have also been linked to people’s subjective experiences of their careers and working lives which also relate
Additional Leave as the Determinant of Retirement Timing—Retaining Older Workers in Norway

Faced with a rapidly aging labor force, increasing the labor supply of older workers has become an important goal for European countries. Offering additional leave to older workers with the option of withdrawing a contractual pension (contractual early retirement pension AFP) has become a widespread retention measure in Norwegian companies. Thus far, no studies documenting the effects of individual retention measures on early retirement behavior have been published. The aim of this article is to examine whether offering additional leave impacts the relative risk of withdrawal of a contractual pension. The analysis uses a difference-in-differences approach and examines whether offering additional leave to counteract early retirement impacts the retirement decisions of 61- and 62-year-olds within the next two years of their employment, controlling for a range of different individual and company characteristics. This is achieved by comparing changes and differences in the individual relative risk of retiring early on the contractual pension (AFP scheme) in the period 2001–2010 among older workers in companies with and without the retention measure. The analysis shows an overall average increase in the relative risk of a 61- or 62-year-old worker retiring on the contractual pension between 2001 and 2010; however, among older workers employed in companies offering additional leave there has been a decrease in the relative risk. The effect of additional leave is evident both before and after controlling for the selected individual and company characteristics. Thus, the analysis shows that offering additional leave as a retention measure reduces the individual relative risk of withdrawing a contractual pension (AFP) in the next two years of employment among older workers between the age of 61 and 62 years.
How do HIV and AIDS impact the use of natural resources by poor rural populations? The case of wild animal products

As a result of heightened financial and food insecurity, populations adversely affected by HIV and/or AIDS may be more likely to utilise wild natural resources to supplement their diet and livelihoods. Should this effect be pronounced, HIV and AIDS may pose a serious environmental threat. We explored the hypothesis that the presence of factors in the household, such as chronic illness in and recent mortality of individuals in a high HIV-risk age group, as well as the fostering of orphans, are associated with increased utilisation of wild animal products (WAPs) at the household level. We randomly surveyed 519 households from four sites in rural South Africa, recording household socio-economic status, the utilisation of wild animal products and health and demographic factors attributed to HIV or AIDS. Binary logistic regressions were used to test if households with markers of HIV and/or AIDS affliction were more likely to have a higher incidence and frequency of WAP utilisation relative to non-afflicted households, after adjusting for socio-economic and demographic variables. We found that, although households with markers of HIV and/or AIDS were generally poorer and had higher dependency ratios, there was no evidence to support the hypothesis that WAP harvesting was associated with either poverty, or markers of HIV and/or AIDS affliction. Our findings suggest that generalisations about a possible interaction between HIV and/or AIDS and the environment may not uniformly apply to all categories of natural resources or to all user groups.
Determinants of European Banks' Bailouts Following the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis

Extraordinary amounts of public funds and/or assistance were made available to banks since the onset of the 2007–8 financial crises. Governments worldwide have launched a massive bailout package to support banks in distress. Using a probit model, this article investigates the likelihood of bailouts following the financial crisis. Our results lead us to conclude that the governance characteristics of banks, specifically the characteristics of boards, bank risks, as well as bank-level and country-specific banking sector features, explain the likelihood of bailouts in the European banking sector. In particular, we find that board banking experience, longer directors’ tenure, less busy boards, and the existence of a corporate governance committee decrease the likelihood of banks participating in a bailout programme. Inversely, board independence, credit, and liquidity risks increase the probability of banks being bailed out. Furthermore, fewer limitations on banking freedom and greater openness of the banking sector have a harmful impact on the occurrence of bailouts. Our study therefore suggests relevant policy implications, which might help supervisors, regulators, and other public authorities in avoiding costly bailouts.
Reduction VEGF-A expression induced by saffron aqua extract with low frequency electromagnetic field in MCF-7 cell line

Background: Studies both invivo and invitro indicated anticancer and antitumor properties of saffron and its component against different human cancer cells which is wildly used as a drug to promote health and fight diseases from ancient time. Angiogenesis, formation of new blood vessels, is regulated by the balances of many stimulating and inhibiting factors. While physiological angiogenesis is under strike control, disruption of this control causes proliferation of a network of blood vessels penetrating into cancerous growth. One of the main factors which are involved in the process of angiogenesis in both physiologic and pathologic condition is VEGF-A. On the other hand, bio electromagnetic fields have been shown to be clinically beneficial in the mT amplitude range. The aim of this study was finding out if synergic effects of saffron aqueous extract and low-frequency electromagnetic field could decrease angiogenesis via reduction of VEGF-A gene expression.
Do Field Experiments on Labor and Housing Markets Overstate Discrimination? A Re-examination of the Evidence

Since 2000, more than 80 field experiments across 23 countries consider the traditional dimensions of discrimination in labor and housing markets—such as discrimination based on race. These studies nearly always find evidence of discrimination against minorities. The estimates of discrimination in these studies can be biased, however, if there is differential variation in the unobservable determinants of productivity or in the quality of majority and minority groups. It is possible that this experimental literature as a whole overstates the evidence of discrimination. The authors re-assess the evidence from the 10 existing studies of discrimination that have sufficient information to correct for this bias. For the housing market studies, the estimated effect of discrimination is robust to this correction. For the labor market studies, by contrast, the evidence is less robust, as just over half of the estimates of discrimination fall to near zero, become statistically insignificant, or change sign.