Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CP violation in the B system

The phenomenon of CP violation is crucial to understand the asymmetry between matter and antimatter that exists in the Universe. Dramatic experimental progress has been made, in particular in measurements of the behaviour of particles containing the b quark, where CP violation effects are predicted by the Kobayashi–Maskawa mechanism that is embedded in the standard model. The status of these measurements and future prospects for an understanding of CP violation beyond the standard model are reviewed.
Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in the Middle East: a systematic review

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of key cardiovascular risk factors in the Middle East region. We conducted a systematic review of the literature through searches in the MEDLINE/PubMed and PARLINE databases between January 1980 and April 2005. Cohort studies published from 1980, in English, which included at least 1000 participants that reported the prevalence of at least one of the following; diabetes mellitus, obesity (body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2), hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and smoking in the Middle East region. Data were abstracted using standardized data abstraction forms. Studies were combined using random-effect models. In total, 51 studies (267 537 participants) were included. On the basis of a random-effect model, the overall prevalence of obesity was 24.5% [95% confidence interval (CI): 21.8-27.5; I 2: 99.3%; 24 studies], diabetes mellitus was 10.5% (95% CI: 8.6-12.7%; I 2: 99.4%; 24 studies), hypertension was 21.7% (95% CI: 18.7-24.9; I 2: 99.5%; 24 studies), smoking was 15.6% (95% CI: 12.3-19.6%; I 2: 99.7%; 21 studies). Smoking was more common in men than women, whereas obesity and hypertension were more common in women. The overall prevalence was not calculated because of marked variations in the definition of dyslipidemia among studies. There is a high prevalence of diabetes mellitus, obesity, hypertension, and smoking in the Middle East. The prevalence of obesity and hypertension was higher in women, whereas prevalence of smoking was higher in men. These data suggest that cardiovascular disease will be a major health problem in the Middle East.
Plant biology and pathology / Biologie et pathologie végétales Impact of water deficit intensity on durum wheat seminal roots

Experiments were performed under controlled conditions to study seminal roots traits of durum wheat genotypes grown under four water conditions. Seminal root length, root-to-shoot dry matters ratio and piliferous layer cell size were measured. Root volume was assessed at three soil depths. Water stress has affected significantly root traits and piliferous layer cell size and this impact depends on its intensity. Severe water stress reduced markedly root traits. Water treatment by genotype interaction was observed. Middle-East genotypes responded differently from Algerian ones. Our results and those obtained elsewhere on the same
The Transmission of Production Fluctuations and Technical Change in a Village Economy: A Social Accounting Matrix Approach

Rural poverty in India remains a pervasive and pressing problem of development, despite the favorable performance of agricultural production which has nearly doubled in the last 2 decades.1 Defining the poverty line as the level of income that permits an intake of 2,250 calories per day, the incidence of poverty was 39% in the late nineteenfifties. Two decades later, the latest available estimates, for 1977-78, show that 39% of the population is still below the poverty line.2 Because the increase in agricultural production is concentrated in areas with irrigation or assured rainfall, much of the poverty is located in the unirrigated, semi-arid regions of irregular rainfall, and it remains an important social issue. The apparent failure of economic growth per se to decrease the incidence of poverty, among other reasons, led policymakers in India, as elsewhere, to formulate in the mid-seventies specific antipoverty programs that focused on creating employment and production assets for the poor. The search for solutions to the problem of rural poverty requires both a better understanding of its dynamics and of the effectiveness and limitations of these and other programs. This article, a case study of a village, is a step in this direction. It presents simulations of the impact of weather-induced fluctuations in production and of the process of investment and accumulation in the village which reveal the most vulnerable groups in need of compensatory programs. It also shows the important welfare effects that investment programs can have on the village economy. Any study of rural poverty in India must contend with the fact that it is not a homogeneous phenomenon. In addition to the geographical variation in its incidence and causes, rural poverty is also socially highly differentiated. Even in a small geographical region such as a village, systematic differences arise between groups of poor house-
Immigration, Internal Migration, and Local Labor Market Adjustment During the Great Recession

This paper uses geographic variation in the severity of the Great Recession to examine the eect of local demand conditions on migration. Consistent with the existing literature, we nd large dierences by skill group. High-skilled natives are quite responsive to employment opportunities whereas low-skilled natives’ location choices are essentially unaected by the distribution of local demand shocks. In sharp contrast to the results for natives, we nd that low-skilled immigrants, primarily those born in Mexico, respond strongly, with elasticities similar to those of high-skilled workers. These results are robust to the inclusion of controls for immigrant diusion, local policies directed at immigrants, and an examination of pre-recession trends. We also address the potential endogeneity of local demand to immigrant locations using an instrumental variables strategy. Finally, we nd that this geographic redistribution operated primarily through movement among immigrants resident in the US prior to the recession, although slower immigration rates from Mexico to cities with larger demand declines contributed roughly 20 percent of the reallocation.
The effect of voluntary termination of pregnancy on female sexual and emotional well-being in different age groups

Abstract Introduction: To evaluate the impact of voluntary termination of pregnancy (VTOP) on the psycho-sexological well-being of females before/six months after the abortion. Methods: A sample of 194 women was recruited from three obstetrics and gynaecological divisions. The women were evaluated for the variables “sexual functioning” with the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), “depression” with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and “anxiety state” with the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) at time 0 (the beginning of the abortion procedure) and time 1 (six months after the abortion). Since 24 women refused to fill out the questionnaires, the final sample was composed of 170 women. Results: The women showed a slight although significant improvement in the mean FSFI score from time 0 (16.7 ± 12.9) to time 1 (20.9 ± 13.8) (p < 0.001) which paralleled with a slight decrease in the incidence of clinically significant sexual dysfunction [49% (84/170) (time 0) versus 34.1% (58/170) (time 1)], (McNemar’s test; p = 0.0241). The sub-group of younger women (18–25) showed a lesser increase in FSFI score from time 0 to time 1. In addition, both depression (p = 0.048) and anxiety (p < 0.001) significantly decreased over time. However, the female sexuality remained impaired since more than two thirds (69.5%) of women were sexually dysfunctional six months after VTOP. Discussion: Voluntary TOP may influence the sexuality of younger females differently from how it influences that of older women. Hence, the sexuality of younger female should be regularly supervised in follow-up examinations.
Deforestation and Forest Land Use: Theory, Evidence, and Policy Implications

The topic of deforestation is seldom examined from the perspective of prices and responses to resource scarcity. This omission creates important errors in policy. Resource scarcity induces investments in both commercial and subsistence uses of the forest once prices overcome the costs of establishing property rights, forest management, and the returns from alternative agricultural uses of the land. Therefore deforestation will induce price increases and investments in forestry well before deforestation attains its physical limit. These prices and costs will alter the boundaries among several important classes of forest land: sustainable private forestry, the forested commons, unsustainable open-access forests, and unused residual forest. The greatest impact on the world's forests will come from refocusing the policy dialogue on the cost factors that determine these boundaries, including agricultural support policies, local concentrations of nonmarket environmental resources, and policy failures that distort incentives to invest in forestry. In locations where reforestation induces large price changes, policymakers must remain attuned to the likelihood that deforestation-induced change in the prices of forest products and forest policies may cause significant shifts in the activities of the poorest people.
The real exchange rate of the rand and competitiveness of South Africa's trade

In the last 10 years since South Africa transformed into a democracy, the rand has seen an increase in volatility of its real exchange rate. These fluctuations in the rand’s real exchange rate have raised questions as to whether they signify significant misalignment of the currency and thereby undermine competitiveness of South Africa’s exports abroad. This is a pertinent question in the South African context because foreign trade has been critical to the growth of the economy. Efforts to address current high levels of unemployment and widespread poverty among the majority of the population have depended upon this growth. This study investigates the extent to which fluctuations in the rand’s real exchange rate have impacted on the competitiveness of South African trade flows by determining whether, at some point, the rand had been misaligned, and the likely consequences of such a misalignment. Using data from 1972 to 2003, and an equilibrium correction model of the rand’s real exchange rate drawn on existing literature, the study finds that, from 1994 to 1996, and also in 1998, the rand’s real exchange rate became undervalued by an average 10%. By early 2002, the extent of overshooting had reached 20%. However, the strong recovery of the rand at the start of 2002 reversed this overshooting and instead pushed the real exchange rate above its equilibrium by an average 16 to 17% at the end of 2003. This suggests significant loss of trade competitiveness during 2003 and needed a nominal depreciation to correct the imbalance.
USEFULNESS OF DISCLOSURE ITEMS IN FINANCIAL REPORTS: A COMPARISON BETWEEN JORDAN AND KUWAIT

This paper examines the perceived usefulness and reliability of a set of twenty‐three financial disclosure items, as well as five sources of information, for investment decisions using a sample of eighty‐nine institutional and individual Investors in two Middle Eastern countries, Jordan and Kuwait. Data were collected through questionnaires and were analyzed using parametric and nonparametric statistics to test for differences between the two users groups within each country and between the two countries. The results indicate that there is a somewhat significant difference in the perceived importance of the special financial reports, as a source of information, between Institutional and individual investors in both countries (p ≤ .092). The results also indicate that there is a significant difference in the perceived usefulness of seven items out of twenty three financial items between investors in Jordan and Kuwait (p ≤ .065). However, the difference in the perceived reliability of the items was signific.
Male sex hormone and nephropathy in Cohen diabetic rat. (Genetically selected sucrose fed).

In the Cohen diabetic rat (genetically-selected sucrose fed) ovariectomy caused a significant decrease in the incidence of nephropathy, from 52% in the unovariectomized, to 16% in the ovariectomized rat, [X2 (d.f. = 1) = 7.21905 P/0.01]. Testosterone administration to the ovariectomized diabetic animal resulted in a significantly increased incidence of nephropathy, from 16 to 92% [X2 (d.f. = 1) = 28.04427 P/0.01]. This change in incidence of nephropathy was directly correlated with a corresponding decrease or increase in the plasma oestradiol levels (in the ovariectomized and in the ovariectomized-testosterone treated diabetic animals, respectively). No such correlation was found with carbohydrate metabolism disturbances (as demonstrated by spontaneous blood glucose and spontaneous insulin) or with plasma testosterone levels.
Second order harmonics reduction technique using model predictive control for household energy storage systems

This paper proposes an output current ripple reduction algorithm using model-based predictive control (MPC) for an energy storage system (ESS). In single-phase systems, the DC/AC inverter has a second-order harmonic at twice the grid frequency of a DC-link voltage caused by pulsation of the DC-link voltage. The output current of a DC/DC converter has a ripple component because of the ripple of the DC-link voltage. The second-order harmonic adversely affects the battery lifetime. The MPC predicts the output current of next state from a converter model. The optimal duty is determined by minimizing the error between the reference and the predicted current. Due to the calculated optimal duty, the dynamic response is fast. The proposed algorithm has an advantage of reducing the second-order harmonic of the output current in the variable frequency system. The proposed algorithm is verified from the PSIM simulation with the 3 kW ESS model.
Exact Formulas for Expected Hedging Error and Transactions Costs in Option Replication

In this paper, I derive exact formulas for expected hedging error and transactions costs in option replication for the Black-Scholes economy with exogenously fixed trading points. I derive the formulas using two different volatilities which allow the hedger to use a transactions costs adjusted volatility to determine the hedge portfolio. The expected hedging error is written in an easily recognized form. The four terms in the expectation can be interpreted as terms from Black and Scholes' (1973) formula with adjusted parameters. This interpretation holds for all future hedging periods even though the expectation is conditional on the stock price at the time of the hedging scheme's initiation. I also derive an approximation of the expected transactions costs. This approximation has a simple interpretation: for each of the future hedging periods, the approximate expected transactions costs incurred at the end of each hedging period are proportional to the option's gamma with adjusted parameters, multiplied by the squared expected value of the underlying asset. For the risk neutral economy with no volatility adjustment, I show that present values of the approximate expected transactions costs are identical for each of the future hedging intervals. Moreover, I illustrate that the approximation to the expected transactions costs is accurate except for hedging periods close to the maturity of the contingent claim. Here, the exact expectation tends to be larger than the approximation, even though the expectation is taken only with knowledge of the initial stock price. Finally, I derive an approximation of the variance of the hedging scheme's cash-flow (the hedging error minus the transactions costs) for each of the future hedging periods. This approximation facilitates evaluation of the tradeoff between cost and variance of the replication strategy.
Chronic Low-Dose MPTP in Nonhuman Primates: A Possible Model for Attention Deficit Disorder

Schneider and Kovelowski (1990) showed that chronic low-dose N-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) administration to monkeys caused cognitive dysfunction without significant motor impairment on tasks thought to be related to the caudate-frontal axis. The cognitive difficulties were similar to those seen in monkeys with frontal lesions, normal young monkeys, and normal young children. The caudate-frontal dysfunction is consistent with the cognitive difficulties that are thought to exist in children with attention deficit disorder (ADD). The caudate-frontal dysfunction is also consistent with the distribution of decreased cerebral blood flow and, presumably, decreased metabolism that has recently been found in children with ADD. In monkeys given chronic low-dose MPTP, pilot neurochemical studies have suggested abnormalities in dopamine and norepinephrine metabolism, the two neurotransmitters most frequently linked with ADD. We suggest that chronic low-dose MPTP induced cognitive dysfunction in primates may not only be a model for the cognitive disturbances that accompany Parkinson's disease but may also aid in understanding the cognitive dysfunction seen in children with ADD. (J Child Neurol 1991;6(Suppl):S80-S87).
Measurement and Comparison of Risk Reduction by Means of Farm Yield, Area Yield, and Weather Index Crop Insurance Schemes - The Case of Kazakhstani Wheat Farms

We analyse area yield insurance contracts and weather index insurance contracts in terms of risk reduction for wheat farms in Kazakhstan over the period 1980-2002. We combine the common mean-variance approach with a stochastic dominance approach to ensure the consistency of the empirical results with expected utility theory. Results indicate (1) the need for combining both approaches, because for some insurance schemes, the mean-variance results of one-third of the farmers are not necessarily consistent with EU theory. (2) Bootstrapping shows that an expected positive variance reduction is not statistically significant for up to one-third of the farms. Both results indicate that previous methods probably overestimate the effectiveness of crop yield and weather index insurance schemes, in particular for insurance schemes with basis risk. From a practical point of view, (3) area yield insurance based on the county (rayon) yield provides substantially higher variance reduction than reported in the literature, indicating that area yield insurance contracts might be more appropriate in Kazakhstan because of the high systemic yield risk there - an effect of exposure to drought. (4) There are no substantial differences in the results generated by means of different weather indexes. (5) However, compared to farm yield insurance with a low strike yield in order to reduce moral hazard, weather index insurance can be a reasonable alternative for farmers.
Changing the Microfoundations of Corporatism: The Impact of Financial Globalisation on Swedish Corporate Ownership

The Swedish financial market has undergone a comprehensive transformation in terms of both national and international financial transactions since the 1980s when Sweden began deregulating its financial system. The deregulation and abolition of capital controls accelerated the inclusion of the Swedish economy into the global market place. Many believe that it is this event which changed the conditions for much of the country’s economic policy. A large number of articles and books have been published on the direct and indirect effects that the development of financial globalisation has had on monetary, exchange rate and fiscal policy in Sweden, as well as on other countries. It is often claimed that the growth of global capital flows has restricted the room for manoeuvre of national politicians and hence this is responsible for the shift of power from the state and its citizens to the market that has taken place over the past few decades. Most of these analyses, however, focus on the liberalisation of so-called speculative capital, that is, short-term capital and currency flows between countries. This article will instead focus on the development of the Swedish stock market during the twentieth century and its effect on the ownership structures among listed companies in the private sector. It is an aspect of the globalisation of the Swedish economy that has remained relatively unnoticed. Deregulation has had positive effects on the expansion of the stock market and has resulted in an increase in opportunities relating to global equity trading and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. There has been a general trend towards more diffused ownership. The trend has also in some cases been complemented by institutional reforms, such as the abandonment of differentiated voting rights. As a result, several of the traditional Swedish large-scale enterprises have, in recent years, gone through substantial changes of their ownership structure. One of the more prominent examples of this development, discussed below, is the decision by some major listed companies to abolish golden shares—an extreme form of dual
Employment Difficulties Experienced by Employed Homeless People: Labor Market Factors That Contribute to and Maintain Homelessness

Labor market issues and challenges are primarily understood at an individual level, entrenched socially in policies and initiatives that seek to improve the workplace skills of people having difficulty attaching to the labor market, including people experiencing homelessness. In fact, the labor market is perceived to alleviate a person's situation of homelessness. In 2008 and 2009 qualitative data was collected from 61 employed people experiencing homelessness in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to better understand the intersection between the labor market and housing-related experiences. Respondents identified aspects of the labor market that were contributing to their current and ongoing situation of homelessness. Implications for practitioners are discussed to help address labor market attachment difficulties experienced by homeless people.
Supporting Innovation Through Hr Policy: Evidence from the UK

This paper focuses on the relationship between the importance of innovation for organizations and their human resources policy. Drawing on survey findings, we examine the coherence of organizations’ utilization of HR recruitment, training and performance management policies to support and enhance firms’ innovation performance. Through a social–psychological perspective, we situate our findings in two diverse areas: the psychological literature, exploring the measurement of innovation, and second, with regard to the internal (with each other) and external (with broader organizational objectives) integration of distinct HR policy elements. Our surveyed organizations indicate that, whilst attaching importance to innovation, they fail to consistently translate this importance into coherent HR policies. Typically, HR policy rewarded non-managerial employees for innovation, whilst managerial staff were expected to do so as a matter of course. This inconsistency is one source of resistance which blocks the generation of new ideas, and their implementation, organization-wide.
Myths and Poor Policy Affecting the Future of School Superintendents

Follow this and additional works at: http://ecommons.udayton. edu/eda_fac_pub Part of the Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Educational Leadership Commons, Education Economics Commons, Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration Commons, Higher Education Administration Commons, Other Educational Administration and Supervision Commons, Special Education Administration Commons, and the Urban Education Commons