Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SDG 5: Gender Equality – A Precondition for Sustainable Forestry

Taking SDG 5 seriously in relation to forests brings to the forefront what is usually taken for granted in forest debates: people, their relationships to one another and to the forests that determine forest outcomes. In this chapter, we bring to light the invisible labour and relations that underpin good forest management. We show how systemic and contextual factors such as health, gender-based violence and unpaid care work by forest peoples in the forests and outside are crucial to the welfare of forests and forest dependent peoples. So far, little progress has been made in implementing SDG5 targets within forestry. Political will is needed to transform unequal relationships and to support demands for forest justice. There is a need to challenge privilege based on sex, class, ethnicity or caste and to destabilize inequitable micro- and macro-economic structures such as commodification and support democratic forest governance to work towards greater sustainability. It is also important to keep in mind that well-intentioned efforts, such as gender programmes can have adverse effects if not cognisant of contextual power relations. The welfare and dignity that achieving SDG 5 would bring to forest peoples and livelihoods is essential to ensuring better managed and sustainable forests.
Estimation-Action-Reflection: Towards Deep Interaction Between Conversational and Recommender Systems

Recommender systems are embracing conversational technologies to obtain user preferences dynamically, and to overcome inherent limitations of their static models. A successful Conversational Recommender System (CRS) requires proper handling of interactions between conversation and recommendation. We argue that three fundamental problems need to be solved: 1) what questions to ask regarding item attributes, 2) when to recommend items, and 3) how to adapt to the users' online feedback. To the best of our knowledge, there lacks a unified framework that addresses these problems. In this work, we fill this missing interaction framework gap by proposing a new CRS framework named Estimation"Action" Reflection, or EAR, which consists of three stages to better converse with users. (1) Estimation, which builds predictive models to estimate user preference on both items and item attributes; (2) Action, which learns a dialogue policy to determine whether to ask attributes or recommend items, based on Estimation stage and conversation history; and (3) Reflection, which updates the recommender model when a user rejects the recommendations made by the Action stage. We present two conversation scenarios on binary and enumerated questions, and conduct extensive experiments on two datasets from Yelp and LastFM, for each scenario, respectively. Our experiments demonstrate significant improvements over the state-of-the-art method CRM [32], corresponding to fewer conversation turns and a higher level of recommendation hits.
On Local versus Global Satis ability [Preliminary Version]

We prove an extremal combinatorial result regarding the fraction of satis able clauses in boolean CNF formulae enjoying a locally checkable property, thus solving a problem that has been open for several years. We then generalize the problem to arbitrary constraint satisfaction problems. We prove a tight result even in the generalized case.
Portfolio analysis for the business planning development in the sphere of higher education under the digital economy conditions

The development of new organizational and economic methods of a higher education institution managing that meets the requirements of the digital economy is becoming a serious problem, the solution of which is possible, including the use of the portfolio analysis. The article proposes the author's entrepreneurial model of the university as the process of key competencies creating in its main functional areas. To develop business planning at the stages of entrants admission and within the framework of distribution activities, it is proposed to use the author's methodological tools based on portfolio analysis. The monitoring of the universities is carried out on the basis of the construction of n-dimensional matrices, with the help of which business units (directions of specialists training in higher education in integrated groups of specialties) can be compared with each other according to different criteria. For this purpose the use of the matrix of the “Boston Consulting Group” is being considered. The results of the calculations show that its use allows highlighting the services of the vocational education, which are in demand in the labor market, and, therefore, affecting the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes.
Empirical Analysis of the Phillips Curve in the Czech Republic

The information about inflation and unemployment is always impatiently expected, analyzed and commented not only by economists but also by inhabitants of the country. This article goes back to the original idea of the Phillips curve as a tool for empirical verification of the relationship between inflation and unemployment. The question that arises is whether the unemployment rate can be used to explain the changes in the inflation rate and on the contrary, in the Czech Republic. The verification of this relationship will be carried out on the basis of econometric models on the basis of the annual time series from 1995 to 2012. In the multivariate modeling of economic time series it is useful to distinguish between short-term and long-term relationships. It is natural that when examining the relationship between economic time series the cointegrated series are interesting. Keywords—Phillips Curve, inflation, unemployment, time series, model ADL, cointegration.
VOICES OF THE FOUNDERS: EARLY DISCOURSES IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Educational technology is such a young and amorphous field that confusion about its objects of study, its audience, and the parameters of its operations is almost as common today as it was for Charles Schuller during World War II. Yet at the onset, only a few educators with a common goal to improve education through technology generated national interest in their cause, devised curricula, started graduate programs, and produced a spate of diverse texts while establishing new terrain in the academy. While academic audiovisual and educational technology programs started in the 1950s and proliferated in the 60s, the intellectual groundwork for this area emerged in the late 20s and peaked in the 40s with the capstone event of programmatic and extensive war research. Since texts produced during this time, 1932 to 1947, and oral accounts of this period form a solid base for the establishment of an academic field, we will consider these documents in our examination of the early history of educational technology.
Discontinuities in the Ozone Concentration Time Series from MERRA 2 Reanalysis

Artificial discontinuities in time series are a great problem for trend analysis because they influence the values of the trend and its significance. The aim of this paper is to investigate their occurrence in the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA 2) ozone concentration data. It is the first step toward the utilization of the MERRA 2 ozone data for trend analysis. We use the Pettitt homogeneity test to search for discontinuities in the ozone time series. We showed the data above 4 hPa are not suitable for trend analyses due to the unrealistic patterns in an average ozone concentration and due to the frequent occurrence of significant discontinuities. Below this layer in the stratosphere, their number is much smaller, and mostly, they are insignificant, and the patterns of the average ozone concentration are explainable. In the troposphere, the number of discontinuities increases, but they are insignificant. The transition from Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Radiometer (SBUV) to Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura data in 2004 is visible only above 1 hPa, where the data are not suitable for trend analyses due to other reasons. We can conclude the MERRA 2 ozone concentration data can be used in trend analysis with caution only below 4 hPa.
A Case of Rhinocerebral Mucormycosis in a Normal Host.

Mucormycosis usually occurs in patients with diabetic acidosis or in immunosuppressive conditions such as malignant disease, steroid therapy or cytotoxic therapy. This paper describes our experience with rhinocerebral mucormycosis (RCM) in an apparently normal host, and an accompanying literature survey. A 68-year-old man was admitted because of pain in the right buccal region. Computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a shadow in the right maxillary sinus, which was expanding into his right orbit, cavernous sinus and middle cranial f ossa, with signs of destruction of the ethmoidal and maxillary walls. His definite diagnosis was RCM, due to the detection of the genera Rhizopus by an open biopsy of his maxillary sinus. He was treated by debridement of the right pansinuses, and an intravascular administration of amphotericin B (AMPH). There was kidney dysfunction as a side effect of the AMPH, but a total dose of 899 mg of AMPH was administered by discontinuation for a month and alternate-day therapy. He did not undergo orbital exenteration; he had normal visual acuity and ocular movement. There was no recurrence 18 months after the treatment.RCM is a fatal disease, and the mortality rate is 38% even given a correct diagnosis and treatment. About 4.5% to 18% of RCM cases have no predisposing factors according to the literature. RCM in normal hosts has a lower mortality rate than in patients with diabetes, but early diagnosis and treatment are still imperative.
Title: Low-Cost Testing of ADCs and DACs Task ID: 1171.001

Abhijit Chatterjee Georgia Institute of Technology _______________________________________________________________________ Testing high-speed, high-resolution data converters for dynamic specifications needs high performance tester, the cost of which can be prohibitively high. In this research work, several test strategies were developed to reduce the overall production testing cost. A static linearity testing methodology aimed at reducing the test time of A/D converters was developed. It uses the architectural information of A/D converters, and measures specific codes instead of all the codes. As the use of high-performance test equipment during production testing incurs large cost, a test methodology was developed to test high-performance A/D converters using low-performance, thereby, low-cost test equipment. This involved post processing of measurement data. The effect of ground bounce on accuracy of specification measurement was analyzed, and a test strategy to estimate the A/D converter specifications more accurately in presence of ground bounce noise was developed. The proposed test strategies were simulated using behavioral modeling techniques in MATLAB and were implemented on commercially available A/D converter devices. The hardware experiments validated the proposed test strategies.
Trade Induced Technological Change: Did Chinese Competition Really Increase European Innovation?

Bloom, Draca, and Van Reenen (2016) find that Chinese competition induced a rise in patenting, IT adoption, and TFP by up to 30% of the total increase in Europe in the early 2000s. Yet average patents per firm fell by 94% for the most China-competing firms in their sample, but also by 94% for non-competing firms. Their findings for patents appear to be driven by the decision to normalize patents by adding one (i.e., patents+1). Since China-competing firms had fewer patents to begin with, adding one induces bias, making it appear as though patents declined by a smaller percentage in the China-competing sectors. When we estimate a negative binomial regression using patents as the dependent variable, correcting several coding errors, we find no (or even negative) correlation between Chinese competition and patent growth.
EVIDENCE FOR GERMANY

This paper shows that the liberalisation of foreign direct investment (FDI) tends to make the effect of labour costs on domestic investment and labour demand more negative. Using data from Germany, it then provides evidence that is consistent with this view. First, high unit labour costs increase FDI outflows and lower FDI inflows. Second, the effect of unit labour costs on domestic manufacturing investment was more negative in the high-FDI 1980s than in the low-FDI 1970s, and this change was concentrated in high-FDI industries. The implied effect on long-run labour demand is substantial. * Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, Tel. 0171-9556718, Fax 0171-9557595, e-mail hatzius@lse.ac. uk
The emission of volatile organic compounds from Quercus robur plants affected by Phylloxera quercus and temperature

In this study, green leaves volatiles (GLV) and isoprene emissions were studied in Quercus robur leaves subjected to biotic stress (different infection degree of Phylloxera quercus) combined with abiotic stress (temperature). Results obtained have been shown that GLV emission rates from Q. robur infected leaves are increasing along with the number of leaves infected spots compared to control. A cumulative effect of abiotic and biotic stress has been noticed.
Micro-enterprise development training and entrepreneurial competencies among low-income households in Malaysia

Low-income households form a significant portion of the Malaysian population. To improve the socio-economic condition of low-income households, development organizations in Malaysia offer a wide range of development trainings, discussions and group or center meetings. This study aims to examine the impact of enterprise development training programs on entrepreneurial competencies among Peninsular Malaysia microentrepreneurs. ,Adopting a cross-sectional design, the authors collected data from 300 randomly selected microentrepreneurs from the list of microentrepreneurs provided by eKasih (the National Poverty Data Bank), across four states of Peninsular Malaysia. Quantitative data were collected through structured interviews with the respondents from October to November 2017. ,The findings revealed that enterprise development training programs significantly affected three of six entrepreneurial competencies (i.e. opportunity recognition competency, organizing competency and relationship competency). These findings highlight the importance of enterprise development training programs towards microentrepreneurs in increasing their competencies. ,Through its insights, the study enriches the understanding of low-income communities in emerging economies, while offering significant practical implications. Based on findings, it is recommended that development organizations should therefore continue the current microenterprise development training programs. With improved entrepreneurial competencies, microentrepreneurs can thrive amidst competition yet sustaining business performance.
Transfer-pricing in chains

Chains have a perpetuate interest in the Netherlands. Agricultural chains consist of connected independent units in the agri-food sector whose aim is to realise vertical coordination of behaviour. We argue that common goal-striving behaviour does not necessarily satisfy individual goal-objectives. Transferprices can allocate profits in such a way that chain performance is disturbed. Chain-management has to cope with the allocation of profits, otherwise chainrelationships are broken up due to unsatisfied units. In this paper the role of the transfer-price for intermediate products is investigated as a profit-allocation mechanism.
VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF POWERPOINT EFFICACY SCALE

This study aimed to adapt the student perception of PowerPoint efficacy scale into Turkish and conduct its validity and reliability tests. The scale aims to probe into student perception of multimedia in undergraduate classroom. The scale included 19-items yielded in three factors in 5-point Likert type response format. The translation was completed by eight experts and backtranslation by one language expert. For testing the Turkish-translated version, 261 undergraduate students educated in undergraduate programs selected with convenience sampling were studied. The data were collected online through Google Forms in the academic year 2017-2018. Confirmatory factor analysis for validity test indicated that the model fit the data well, having acceptable or perfect fit indices, χ 2 /df = 2.04, RMSEA = . 06, RMR =. 03, SRMR = . 04, TLI = . 94, CFI = . 94, GFI = . 89, AGFI = . 86, and NFI = . 90. Reliability tests indicated that coefficient alpha values of three factors were found to be . 87 for the first factor, . 89 for the second factor, . 88 for the last factor, and . 94 for the whole scale which yielded high reliability. Overall, the scale was found to be valid and reliable in Turkish culture.
Decomposition of Neem Leaf (Azadirachta Indica A.Jus) in

Litter Decomposition in forest ecosystems adds nutrients to plants, and represents a significant source of atmospheric CO2. Despite its essential role in carbon and nutrient cycling, leaf litter decay in reserve forest ecosystems remains poorly studied. A completely randomized block design field experiment was conducted in Hafir Doka forest reserve, (latitudes '' ̏56 "15 015 and" ̏26 "15 015 N. and longitude 32o 24" 23 "̏ and 32o 13" 23 "E.). The aim of the study is to evaluate organic decomposition of neem leaf and the factors affecting it. One set of 36 litter bags each containing 20 gm. air dried neem leaf were buried 20 cm deep under the canopy of Acacia tortilis subsp. spirocarpa while another set of 36 bags were used as control, during the period November 2017February 2018. Random samples of 14 bags were retrieved and taken to laboratory to extract their faunal contents. Soil and air temperature and soil moisture were measured during the sampling events. Decomposers fauna were extracted using Tullgern funnel. Data obtained were statistically analyzed using SPSS design at p= 0.05 and compared according to Pearson correlation coefficient. Results showed that nematodes (Aphasmida), mites (Acari: Oribatida) and Collembola (Insecta, Entomobryidae) were extracted as animal decomposers.
WP 2007-05 Design issues in bonus contracts

Bonus plans have become a popular tool for compensating managers and employees. While other accounting studies on bonus plans typically focus on earnings management, for example by examining the association between cash bonuses and stock returns or the incentive for management to manage earnings, our study discusses specific issues that are relevant in designing and understanding bonus plans based on financial performance measures. Bonus contracts should be designed so they align the interest of management and owners. In practice, this is far more difficult than it sounds. We discuss issues that require special attention in preparing bonus contracts: Choice of performance measure(s), accounting issues, link between performance and bonus, and bonus threshold. Our study should be of interest to managers, compensation committees, investors and others interested in bonus plans. A proper bonus plan is essential to ascertain that management compensation is closely linked to management’s ability to create value.
The Importance of Natural Antioxidants in the Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury in Animal Models: An Overview

Patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) face devastating health, social, and financial consequences, as well as their families and caregivers. Reducing the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress are essential strategies for SCI treatment. Some compounds from traditional medicine could be useful to decrease ROS generated after SCI. This review is aimed at highlighting the importance of some natural compounds with antioxidant capacity used in traditional medicine to treat traumatic SCI. An electronic search of published articles describing animal models of SCI treated with natural compounds from traditional medicine was conducted using the following terms: Spinal Cord Injuries (MeSH terms) AND Models, Animal (MeSH terms) AND [Reactive Oxygen Species (MeSH terms) AND/OR Oxidative Stress (MeSH term)] AND Medicine, Traditional (MeSH terms). Articles reported from 2010 to 2018 were included. The results were further screened by title and abstract for studies performed in rats, mice, and nonhuman primates. The effects of these natural compounds are discussed, including their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic properties. Moreover, the antioxidant properties of natural compounds were emphasized since oxidative stress has a fundamental role in the generation and progression of several pathologies of the nervous system. The use of these compounds diminishes toxic effects due to their high antioxidant capacity. These compounds have been tested in animal models with promising results; however, no clinical studies have been conducted in humans. Further research of these natural compounds is crucial to a better understanding of their effects in patients with SCI.
Elementary Mathematics Pre-Service Teachers’ Learning from Cases

The use of cases in pre-service teacher education programs has increased dramatically in the past decade. Cases and case discussions are viewed widely as powerful tools for engaging teachers in serious reflection on the complexity of classroom life (Henningsen, et al., 2000; Kleinfeld, 1992; Sykes & Bird, 1992; Richert, 1991). Definitions of what a case is vary in the teacher education literature, but most would agree that cases are representations of authentic practice that may be used a site for inquiry and reflection. Cases may represent large or small chunks of teaching, they may be authored from a variety of perspectives, and they may or may not be designed to highlight specific issues or be exemplars of particular practices. Cases are embodied in a variety of forms including video, audio, narrative re-telling, CD-ROM, transcripts and other artifacts and records of practice. The use of such tools is consistent with recent calls for practice-based professional development in mathematics (Smith, 2001; Ball & Cohen, 1999; Barnett, 1998). At the same time, relatively little research has been conducted on what mathematics teachers actually learn from the experience of reading, analyzing, and reflecting on cases.
The Effect of Trucks Dispatch Decisions on Pavement Damage and Other Externalities

Author(s): Cohen, Linda R. , PhD; Roth, Kevin D. , PhD | Abstract: External costs of freight trucks include air pollution, highway damage, and congestion. While diesel taxes reduce both the pollution and congestion externalities, we show that they worsen highway damage. We investigate the impact of fuel prices on cargo shipments using weight-in-motion data from New York and California. We obtained sensor readings on over 1.4 billion vehicle events. These data allow us to track daily changes in the weight and number of trucks at specific locations. We explain the average daily weight differential between New York and California as a function of the diesel price differential using unexpected weather as an instrument. We find that when fuel prices increase 10 percent, fuel use by heavy trucks declines 3.1 percent and average truck weight increases 3.2 percent. While total truck traffic decreases by around 1 percent, on net there is 19.6 percent more road damage. The dispatch effect changes the welfare comparison of using fuel taxes versus efficiency standards to control carbon emissions. WE find that a reduction in per-mile shipping cost from the standard causes freight to be reallocated across more trucks so that schedules are enhanced—that is, the rebound occurs on both a quality and a quantity dimension. In consequence, road damage declines. While there is considerable uncertainty about the cost of external congestion and safety of trucks, we find that fuel efficiency standards dominate fuel taxes as a policy to reduce carbon emissions for a wide range of parameter estimates.