Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Education as absorptive capacity and its role for economic growth

Might a country’s economic growth behave in a different manner depending on the evolution of its absorptive capacity? In this research, education is considered as a channel for economic growth since it is a key element for a country’s absorptive capacity. Then, we hypothesize the existence of a threshold for absorptive capacity, so that once it is exceeded, economic growth shows certain (and different) characteristics. Addressing this question requires moving from the traditional linear framework to a nonlinear one and, in this sense, we resort to Smooth Transition specifications. The empirical results point to the existence of nonlinearities in the relationship between absorptive capacity and economic growth. According to the behavior of the country’s absorptive capacity, economic growth displays different dynamics; this asymmetric evolution is clearly appreciated in the two dimensions of absorptive capacity taken into account (i.e., secondary and tertiary), although it is more pronounced in case of tertiary education. Our evidence provides important insights for higher education such as the fact that both secondary and tertiary education matter for countries’ economic growth and that nonlinearities of this relationship should be taken on board.
Disinfection By-Products of para-Hydroxybenzoate Esters (Parabens): Synthesis and Mass Spectrometric Study

A simple and efficient procedure for the chlorination of para-hydroxybenzoate esters (parabens) with sulfuryl chloride is described. Fourteen monochlorinated or dichlorinated parabens were synthesized and their mass spectrometric characteristics were determined. This work enabled the definitive identification and quantification of the chlorinated parabens in environmental samples.
The winner's curse under behavioral institutions

Empirically, social dilemma under information asymmetry are often much less pronounced than theory predicts. Traders experience a winner’s curse and maintain eciency enhancing exchange of commodities when theory predicts none. Especially under competition, cursed parties undergo severe losses and thereby fund social welfare. Hence, if one cures the winner’s curse, one often decreases social welfare. Here, I test how market eciency can be maintained without individual losses. In a competitive common value auction, parties sidestep both market ineciency and a winner’s curse by judging quality-by-price, and setting price-by-quality. JEL Classication: D61,D82,L13
Can Health Claims for Foods Help Consumers Choose Better Diets

Consumers are becoming health-conscious and most agree that eating healthily is a better way to manage illness than using medication. This has led to the increased acceptance and consumption of functional foods with health-promoting capabilities, demonstrated by impressive growth in sales world wide. Functional foods certainly have the potential to assist in disease management or reduction of risk and their use is being increasingly recommended in both medical and dietetic practice. There is an observed ‘push’ from food companies seeking out new markets and profit opportunities, with a concurrent market ‘pull’ from an educated, health-conscious consumer with a higher disposable income. However consumer attitudes to health claims for foods need to be understood if the promise of functional food to improve health is to be realised. One their own, health claims on foods are unlikely to have any significant impact on eating behaviour. The potential barriers are many, including lack of awareness or notice of the claims, misunderstanding of their meaning, and lack of interest or trust in the claims. Long term behaviour change can only be achieved through a comprehensive education and marketing effort. It has been suggested that examination of successful campaigns can provide some generalisations about how to ensure that claims are effective: • Claims target a specific population segment • Claims receive significant media attention • Claims are introduced with an aggressive marketing campaign • Claims highlight quantitative health benefits • Claims relate to personally relevant health problems.
Diagnosis of supra-aortic artery stenosis: comparison of magnetic resonance angiography imaging methods with conventional digital subtraction angiography

Background: The aim of this study was to compare conventional digital subtraction angiography (DSA) with the multi-planar reformation (MPR) and maximum intensity projection (MIP) reconstruction of servical magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) in terms of detecting supra-aortic artery stenoses. Methods: In the study, 21 patients who had underwent 3D MRA and conventional DSA were retrospectively assessed. Axial MPR, coronal MIP reconstruction and contrast enhanced 3D MRA subtraction images of a total of 333 artery segments were independently assessed by 2 separate radiologists. Conventional DSA results were accepted as gold standard results. The overall and individual Kappa values of all methods were calculated. Results: Results of the conventional DSA analysis indicated total occlusion in 9 (2.7%), severe stenosis in 16 (4.8%), moderate stenosis in 90 (27.1%), mild stenosis in 105 (31.5%) and no stenosis in 113 (33.9%) arteries. While the k values of all methods were high which demonstrated strong relationships with the DSA method; the coronal MIP reconstruction method was found to be superior to other methods. The 3D MRA subtraction method did not yield better results in any of the individual comparisons. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the coronal MIP reconstruction method has higher correlation with conventional DSA results compared to the other two methods and may be used as an accurate first-line diagnostic method for supra-aortic artery stenoses.
DRY MASS ESTIMATES OF SOME TROPICAL AQUATIC INSECTS

Relationships of body mass and head capsule width were developed for Thraulodes sp. , Haplohyphes sp. (Ephemeroptera), Leptonema sp. , Phylloicus sp. Nectopsyche sp. (Trichoptera), and Anacroneuria sp. (Plecoptera). The organisms were collected with a Surber net (0.1296 m2 and 0.286 mm mesh size) on the Orituco river, Venezuela. The number of specimens used in the analysis for the species studied, was different (from 84 to 103 specimens). Regression analysis indicated that all relationships were best expressed by a power function rather than by linear or exponential equation. Analyses of the relationships reveal interspecific differences among insects of the same order. Species-specific relationships are recommended to be used whenever possible since, depending on the species, the underestimation of mass could be as much as 56%.
South Ilan Plain High-Resolution 3-D S-Wave Velocity from Ambient Noise Tomography

The Ilan Plain in northeastern Taiwan is located at a pivotal point where the Ryukyu trench subduction zone, the northern Taiwan crustal stretching zone, and the ongoing arc-continent collision zone converge. In contrast to the North Ilan Plain, the South Ilan Plain exhibits a thin unconsolidated sedimentary layer with depths ranging from 0 - 1 km, high on-land seismicity and significant SE movements relative to Penghu island. We deployed a dense network of 43 short-period vertical component Texan instruments from June to November 2013 in this study, covering most of the South Ilan Plain and its vicinity. We then used the ambient noise tomography method for simultaneous phase and group Rayleigh wave velocity measurements to invert a high-resolution 3-D S-wave for shallow structures (up to a depth of 2.5 km) in the South Ilan Plain. We used the fast marching method for ray tracing to deal with ray bending in an inhomogeneous medium. The resulting rays gradually bend toward high velocity zones with increasing number of iterations. The high velocity zone results are modified by more iterations and the resolutions become higher because ray crossings are proportional to ray densities for evenly distributed stations. The final results agreed well with known sedimentary basement thickness patterns. We observed nearly EW trending fast anomalies beneath the mountainous terrain abutting to the South Ilan Plain. The Chingshui location consistently exhibited a low S-wave velocity zone to a depth of 1.5 km.
Application of unsaturated soil mechanics for agricultural conditions

The soil stress state is innucnced by the number of phases Apart from the three independent phases, namely solid. water. and air, usually ascribed to soil, a rourth phase has been postulated as being of importance in understanding thc behaviour or an unsaturated soil. This additional phase is described as the air-water inlcrphase (i.e., contractile skin) and provides a normal stress due to the pore-water pressure (Fredlund and Rahardjo 1993a). While a sa'ura'ed soil possesses positive pore-water pressure, an unsaturated soil is charactcrized by negative pore-water pressure which exerts a tensile pull at all air-water interfaces in (he soil profile (Fig. I). The surface tension on the contractile skin pulls the particles together providing additional strength to an unsaturated soil compared to a saturated soil where, in contrast, the positive pore-water pressure reduces the strength. At the air~water interface of an unsaturated soil, the pore air pressure I/a is greater than the pore water pressure, If\\'. The difference in these two indcpendent pressures (Ua-lfl\") is referred 10 as the soil mat ric suction. There is increasing acceptancc ror applying mat ric suction as an independcnt stress state variable in describing (he behaviour of an unsaturated soil.
Application of tuned mass dampers in high-rise construction

The article considers the use of tuned mass dampers in high-rise construction for significant acceleration and amplitude of vibrations of the upper floors under dynamic wind influences. The susceptibility of people to accelerations in high-rise buildings and possible means of reducing wind-induced fluctuations in buildings are analyzed. The statistics of application of tuned mass dampers in high-rise construction all over the world is presented. The goal of the study is to identify an economically attractive solution that allows the fullest use of the potential of building structures in high-rise construction, abandoning the need to build massive frames leading to over-consumption of materials.
Evidence of solar and tropical‐ocean forcing of hydroclimate cycles in southeastern Australia for the past 6500 years

Evidence of solar and tropical‐ocean forcing of climate cycles has been found in numerous palaeoclimate records. Numerical modelling studies show physical mechanisms by which direct and indirect solar forcing may affect climate, while there is mounting evidence of solar forcing of tropical ocean‐atmosphere teleconnections. This study has developed a 6500 year record of dust deposition, a proxy for regional hydroclimate variability for the Snowy Mountains region of Australia. Spectral analysis of the record provides evidence of statistically significant cycles in dust deposition of 35–43 years, 62–73 years, 161 years and 2200 years. These correlate with variability in solar irradiance and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). We present evidence to support physical links between variability in solar irradiance and change in the hydroclimate of southeast Australia and suggest that the effects of global warming and solar maxima on atmospheric circulation over extra‐tropical regions may exacerbate these impacts.
The Effect of Job Characteristics on Managers’ Intent to Leave the Organization: The Mediating Role of the Four Dimensions of Organizational Commitment

The primary purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of job-related characteristics on the employees’ intent to leave the organization. In order to accomplish this purpose a survey questionnaire was adapted and administered to 750 employees of various commercial banks of Pakistan. Out of the 750 questionnaires administered 700 were received with a response rate of 93.33%. Structural Equation Modeling was applied using AMOS 16 software. The results revealed a highly significant effect of job characteristics on intent to leave the organization in the presence of the mediation of the four dimensions of organizational commitment. The results can prove to be useful for the human resource managers to review the job description and revise or redesign the job characteristics that would help the organizations to retain employees in the organization.
Real-time recognition of human gestures for collaborative robots on assembly-line

We present a framework and preliminary experimental results for real-time recognition of human operator actions. The goal is, for a collaborative industrial robot operating on same assembly-line as workers, to allow adaptation of its behavior and speed for smooth human-robot cooperation. To this end, it is necessary for the robot to monitor and understand behavior of humans around it. The real-time motion capture is performed using a "MoCap suit" of 12 inertial sensors estimating joint angles of upper-half of human body (neck, wrists, elbows, shoulders, etc.). In our experiment, we consider one particular assembly operation on car doors, which we have further subdivided into 4 successive steps: removing the adhesive protection from the waterproofing sheet, positioning the waterproofing sheet on the door, pre-sticking the sheet on the door, and finally installing the window "sealing strip". The gesture recognition is achieved continuously in real-time, using a technique combining an automatic time-rescaling similar to Dynamic Time Warp (DTW), and Hidden Markov Model (HMM) for estimating respective probabilities of the 4 learnt actions. Preliminary evaluation, conducted in real-world on an experimental assembly cell of car manufacturer PSA, shows a very promising action correct recognition rate of 96% on several repetitions of the same assembly operation by a single operator. Ongoing work aims at evaluating our framework for same actions recognition but on more executions by a larger pool of different human operators, and also to estimate false recognition rates on unrelated gestures. Another interesting potential perspective is the use of workers' motion capture in order to estimate effort and stress, for helping prevention of physical causes of some musculoskeletal disorders.
Detailed cloud resolving model simulations of the impacts of Saharan air layer dust on tropical deep convection – Part 1: Dust acts as ice nuclei

Abstract. Observational studies suggest that the Saharan Air Layer (SAL), an elevated layer (850–500 hPa) of Saharan air and mineral dust, has strong impacts on the microphysical as well as dynamical properties of tropical deep convective cloud systems along its track. In this case study, numerical simulations using a two-dimensional Detailed Cloud Resolving Model (DCRM) were carried out to investigate the dust-cloud interactions in the tropical deep convection, focusing on the dust role as Ice Nuclei (IN). The simulations showed that mineral dust considerably enhanced heterogeneous nucleation and freezing at temperatures warmer than −40 °C, resulting in more ice hydrometeors number concentration and reduced precipitating size of ice particles. Because of the lower in the saturation over ice as well as more droplet freezing, total latent heating increased, and consequently the updraft velocity was stronger. On the other hand, the increased ice deposition consumed more water vapor at middle troposphere, which induces a competition for water vapor between heterogeneous and homogeneous freezing and nucleation. As a result, dust suppressed the homogeneous droplet freezing and nucleation due to the heterogeneous droplet freezing and the weakened transport of water vapor at lower stratosphere, respectively. These effects led to decreased number concentration of ice cloud particles in the upper troposphere, and consequently lowered the cloud top height during the stratus precipitating stage. Acting as IN, mineral dust also influenced precipitation in deep convection. It initiated earlier the collection because dust-related heterogeneous nucleation and freezing at middle troposphere occur earlier than homogeneous nucleation at higher altitudes. Nevertheless, the convective precipitation was suppressed by reduced collection of large graupel particles and insufficient fallout related to decreased sizes of precipitating ice hydrometeors. On the contrary, dust increased the precipitation in stratiform precipitation through deposition growth. Overall, the comprehensive effects of mineral dust suppressed the precipitation by up to 22%.
Designing and Applying an ‘Extremist Media Index’

Even though notions of extremism are subjective and relative, we can still be systematic in the way we approach them. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how such a systematic mechanism can be compiled and visualised. I propose a set of definitions, in an ‘Extremist Media Index’, to grade ideological media material conveying religious-political sentiments according to some very basic criteria concerning stages of activism and the nature of religio-political discourse. I test the reliability of these criteria and apply the Index to publications by Anwar Al-Awlaki and associated with far-right extremism in order to display the range of sentiments conveyed and how these can be understood through systematic grading.
On-line energy discrimination at DAQ front-end level on pixelated TOF-PET systems

Pixelated PET systems produce higher count rates as they integrate several detecting channels per detector module. An increased data flow from the detectors posses higher needs on the bandwidth requirements. We aim to optimize the bandwidth usage efficiency by filtering on the fly the detected events with non valid energies. PET systems with a SiPM-ASIC readout scheme are being extensively used to get enhanced images on Time-Of-Flight PET scanners. These kind of digital readout systems are specially interesting for the application of on-line processing techniques given the ease of access to each detected event digital information. This study purses the analysis of on-line processing techniques on the DAQ front-end level for pixelated PET systems with SiPM-ASIC readout. In particular, we worked with a tunable on-line energy discriminating stage. For the optimization of its hardwired internal limits we analyzed the system energy space. We explored different solutions dependent or not on the system's energy calibration. And results obtained through the different filter versions confirm how implementing on-line processing techniques on the DAQ front-end level consumes minimal resources of the front-end electronics. Our experiences showed how the filtering process reduces the bandwidth needs excluding from the data stream all non valid energy events and thus improving the system sensitivity under saturation conditions. Additionally, these experiments highlight how setting proper energy limits we ensure the preservation of the system performance, which maintains its original energy and time resolution. Under the light of these findings we see a great potential on the application of on-line processing techniques for Time-Of-Flight PET at the DAQ font-end level and so we envisaged more complex processing methods.
A THREE DIMENSIONAL MULTISCALE FORMULATION FOR THE NONLINEAR DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF MASONRY STRUCTURES

In this work, a three dimensional multiscale formulation is presented for the analysis of masonry structures based on the multiscale finite element formulation. The method is develloped within the framework of the Enhanced Multiscale Finite Element Method. Through this approach, two discretization schemes are considered, namely a fine mesh that accounts for the micro-structure and a coarse mesh that encapsulates the former. Through a numerically derived mapping, the fine scale information is propagated to the coarse mesh where the numerical solution of the governing equations is performed. Inelasticity is introduced at the fine mesh by considering a set of internal variables corresponding to the plastic deformation accumulatimg at the Gauss points of each fine-scale element. These additional quantities evolve according to properly defined smooth evolution equations. The proposed formalism results in a nonlinear dynamic analysis method where the micro-level state matrices need only be evaluated once at the beginning of the analysis procedure. The accuracy and computational efficiency of the proposed scheme is verified through an illustrative example.
A DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF A PRICE SUPPORT PROGRAM ON PRICE DYNAMICS AND PRICE VOLATILITY

This study presents an econometric analysis of the effects of a government price support program on price dynamics and price volatility. Price support programs, a common feature of agricultural policy, provide a lower-bound censoring of the distribution of market prices. An econometric model of market prices is developed using a dynamic Tobit specification under time-varying volatility. The model is applied to the U.S. non-fat dry milk market. It is used to investigate the impact of market liberalization on price dynamics and price volatility in the presence of private and public stocks. The econometric results show how the price support program and stocks (both private and public) affect expected price volatility.
Packing parameters effect on injection molding of polypropylene nanostructured surfaces

In today´s industry, applications involving surface patterning of sub-µm to nanometer scale structures have shown a high growth potential. To investigate the injection molding capability of replicating sub-µm surface texture on a large scale area, a 30x80 mm 2 tool insert with surface structures having a diameter of 500 nm was employed. The tool insert surface was produced using chemical-based-batch techniques such aluminum anodization and nickel electroplating. During the injection molding process, polypropylene (PP) was employed as material and packing phase parameters (packing time, packing pressure) were investigated. The replicated surface topographies were quantitatively characterized by atomic force microscopy using specific three-dimensional surface parameters and qualitatively inspected by scanning electron microscopy. Results showed that the degree of replication from the tool to the polymer part was mainly influenced by packing pressure level and distance from the gate.
All hands on deck: Employee engagement on cruise ships

The present in-situ study examined employee engagement of a cruise ship workforce. 246 crew members and officers in different department’s on-board a contemporary market cruise ship filled in a questionnaire during their voyages. Exploratory factor analysis has been applied to test factors of engagement and findings indicated that a four-factor solution (Communication and progress, Capacity to engage, Engaged behaviour, Trust and feeling of freedom) is the best explanation. Furthermore an IPA matrix outlined areas for improvement. The study has found that there is an opportunity for cruise organisations to increase the engagement of their employees by improving factors related to Communication and progress, Capacity to engage and Engaged behaviour. These findings have important implications for cruise tourism theory and practice. Key words: Employee engagement on cruise ship, cruise tourism, principal components analysis, importance-performance analysis.