Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How does corporate social responsibility create value for consumers

Purpose – Research examining corporate social responsibility (CSR) demonstrates a relatively consistent level of positive support by consumers. However, CSR is poorly defined and little is known about the mechanisms by which this response occurs. This paper seeks to understand how consumers define CSR and how it can enhance the overall value proposition for consumers.Design/methodology/approach – The value typology developed by Sheth et al. is integrated with qualitative data to enhance understanding of these value paths. Interviews were conducted with consumers through the heart of the current recession, when consumers were particularly aware of value when making purchase decisions.Findings – The way in which CSR manifests itself determines consumer support. CSR can provide three forms of value to consumers: emotional, social, and functional. Each of these enhances or diminishes the overall value proposition for consumers. Further, value created by one form of CSR can either enhance or diminish other pro.
On the effect of receiver impairments on incoherent QAM systems

Incoherent QAM is a differentially detected, multilevel modulation format that can improve spectral efficiency in optical communication systems. The effect of three receiver impairments on the performance of an incoherent QAM system is assessed in this paper for the first time. Specifically, the impairments studied are an unbalanced Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI,), the phase detuning of the MZI and the amplitude imbalance of the Balanced Photodetectors (BPD). Extensive simulations were carried out and results indicate that incoherent QAM is quite robust in respect to the aforementioned impairments, with the phase detuning being the most critical parameter leading to peiformance degradation
Salinity evolution in the Tagus estuary relative to climate change

Climate change repre s nts a potential threat for estuaries, via potential landward intrusion of saltwater, inundation of low-lying areas, acceleration in the nutrients cycling and disruption of aquatic ecosystems. The Tagus estuary, one of the largest estuaries in Europe, ho lds a major natural reserve and supports diverse activities, some of which may be nega tively affected by the landward intrusion of saltwater (e.g. agr iculture). In this study, a new three-dimensional hydrodynamics baroclinic model is implemented and va lidated in the Tagus estuary. A preliminary analysis of the salinity distribution relative to different river flows and sea level rise is also performed. Results show that the model adequately represents the main patterns observed, with significant improvements from previous applications. The classification of the estuary, based on the Venice system, shows contrasting situations regarding the salinity distribution for extreme river flows, and the progression further upstream of the saltwater due to mean sea level rise.
Watch Your Step! Terrain Traversability for Robot Control

Watch your step! Or perhaps, watch your wheels. Whatever the robot is, if it puts its feet, tracks, or wheels in the wrong place, it might get hurt; and as robots are quickly going from structured and completely known environments towards uncertain and unknown terrain, the surface assessment becomes an essential requirement. As a result, future mobile robots cannot neglect the evaluation of terrain’s structure, according to their driving capabilities. With the objective of filling this gap, the focus of this study was laid on terrain analysis methods, which can be used for robot control with particular reference to autonomous vehicles and mobile robots. Giving an overview of theory related to this topic, the investigation not only covers hardware, such as visual sensors or laser scanners, but also space descriptions, such as digital elevation models and point descriptors, introducing new aspects and characterization of terrain assessment. During the discussion, a wide number of examples and methodologies are exposed according to different tools and sensors, including the description of a recent method of terrain assessment using normal vectors analysis. Indeed, normal vectors has demonstrated great potentialities in the field of terrain irregularity assessment in both on‐road and off‐road environments.
The Dimensional Structure of Children's Perceptions

ABSTRACT It was hypothesized that if perceived reality is an important factor in determining children's reactions to television, radical differences inthe structure of perceived reality should lead to 'radical differences in its functioning as well. Questionnaires were answered by 153 children from first, third* and sixth grades in a suburban Wisconsin rommunity and 33 children from a university nursery school in California. The research demonstrated that children's conceptions of television's reality are multi-dimensional. Therefore, instead of assuming that perceived reality acts and is acted on in only one way, future research mast take this cognitive complexity into account. MO
What is good corporate governance? A study of corporate governance quality and its metrics

One of the questions that more divergences has posed in the study of corporate governance is determining what is understood as “good” corporate governance and how this “quality” is measured. In order to address the question of what good corporate governance is we have undertaken an exploratory and comparative study of the way different theories conceptualise corporate governance quality. We have also identified the different metrics of corporate governance quality and have assessed their limitations. We conclude that the mainstream theoretical approach in defining corporate governance quality is agency theory. We also conclude that, despite its limitations, practitioners take advantage of agency theory premises. Driven by their own business purposes, they suggest a definition of corporate governance quality based on the company’s financial performance. Furthermore, the endogeneity between corporate governance quality and firm performance reveals that the agency conception of corporate governance quality provides a misleading understanding of what good corporate governance is and how it is measured. Thus, we propose the behavioural approach as the methodology to enhance a better understanding of governance practices and their impact on stakeholders, i.e., as a more effective way to understand what good governance is.
Gender wage distributional gap : a new approach for the gender wage gap applied to Ecuador

This paper’s main objective is to analyze the gender wage gap and its behavior in Ecuador for the last decade. This work studies if the gender wage gap has followed international trends, and therefore diminished between 2007 and 2016. Moreover, the main contribution is the understanding of the gender wage gap from a new perspective, through the use of simple variance decomposition.
Removal of Taste and Odour Compounds by Conventional Granular Activated Carbon Filtration

In recent years, musty-earthy tastes in drinking water have become a seasonal problem (September to November) for communities that draw their water from the upper St. Lawrence River. The source of the problem is attributed to the presence of geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol (MIB) at concentrations ranging from 5 to 60 ng/L. In 1997 and 1998, the Cornwall Water Purification Plant added granular activated carbon (GAC) to conventional gravity filters to control taste and odour compounds. We report on a study to test the efficiency of these conventional GAC-capped filters to reduce geosmin and MIB concentrations in finished water as a function of filter age, initial chlorine residual and contact time. GAC–capped filters removed on average 60% of the MIB and 80% of the geosmin from the source water after 2 and 12 months of filter operation. However, testing after 24 months operation showed reduced efficiency. Amounts removed ranged between 13 and 20% (15% average) for MIB and 50 to 57% (54% average) for geosmin in these filters. Testing also suggested that filter efficiency was greater with longer contact times and with higher chlorine residuals (in the range 0.1 to 0.6 mg free Cl2/L). In addition to carbon age, chlorine residual and contact time, flow channelization and slow release of the taste and odour compound load (particularly MIB) from the GAC bed may affect apparent filter efficiency.
Generalization of the statistical moment-based damage detection method

A novel structural damage detection method with a new damage index has been recently proposed by the authors based on the statistical moments of dynamic responses of shear building structures subject to white noise ground motion. The statistical moment-based damage detection (SMBDD) method is theoretically extended in this paper with general application. The generalized SMBDD method is more versatile and can identify damage locations and damage severities of many types of building structures under various external excitations. In particular, the incomplete measurements can be considered by the proposed method without mode shape expansion or model reduction. Various damage scenarios of two general forms of building structures with incomplete measurements are investigated in consideration of different excitations. The effects of measurement noise are also investigated. The damage locations and damage severities are correctly identified even when a high noise level of 15% and incomplete measurements are considered. The effectiveness and versatility of the generalized SMBDD method are demonstrated.
Succession in Wetlands: A Gleasonian Appraoch

A qualitative model of succession in freshwater wetlands is proposed, based on the life history features of the species involved. Three key life history traits can be used to characterize wetland species: life-span, propagule longevity, and propagule establishment requirements. By com- bining these three life history traits, 12 basic wetland life history types are recognized. For each life history type, the future state (presence only in the form of propagules in the seed bank, presence as adult plants, or complete absence) of each species type in a wetland can be predicted if environmental conditions change. Most of the information needed to apply this model to a particular wetland can be obtained by an examination of a wetland's seed bank. Several examples of succession in North American and African wetlands are presented to illustrate the application of the model.
A framework for increasing understanding of self-drive tourism markets

This paper aims to identify a framework for analysis of case study research into self-drive tourism and its associated markets. The history and significance of drive tourism markets around the world are briefly identified, and statistics are provided to support increased attention being paid to these markets. The lack of existing research is identified, with significant recent exceptions being this special issue of the Journal of Vacation Marketing and a collection of articles edited as a book by Carson et al.1 In order to gain greater understanding of the diversity of self-drive tourism markets and their behaviour in destinations, the framework for analysis suggests attention be paid to location (destination) description; visitor characteristics; access, including distance aspects; nature of visitor flows; expenditure patterns; attractions; accommodation; promotion; history; investment; physical infrastructure; cooperation between stakeholders; level of public sector involvement; and economic impacts and innovation.
Analysis of adoption and impacts of improved cassava varieties

This paper analyzes the adoption and welfare impacts of improved cassava varieties in Zambia using data from a sample of 500 farm households. Using different treatment effect estimators—endogenous switching regression, propensity score matching, and inverse probability weighting, the paper shows that adoption of improved cassava varieties leads to significant gains in crop yields, household income, and food security. Results further show that improved cassava varieties have significant poverty-reducing impacts in Zambia. Stimulating agricultural growth largely depends on policies that stimulate adoption of improved cassava varieties.
A Holistic Approach on Review of Solanum virginianum. L.

Solanum virginianum L (Syn.:- Solanum xanthocarpum Schrad. & H. Wendl.), commonly known as wild eggplant or nightshade plant, is a prickly herb found in most of the parts of the Asia and Australia of the world. It belongs to family Solanaceae, has spines throughout the plant. Fruits are globularand edible, flowers appear in cymes or sometimes solitary and are blue in colour, leaves are elliptical or ovate and are full of spines, stems appear green when young and brownish when matured. Various phytoconstituents have been found, the major constituents is alkaloid. It has vital role in various traditional as well as medicinal uses for curing internal and external physiological disorders. This plant has also used for phytoremediation as it possess the ability to degrade carbofuran residues in rice field soil and therefore the plant species may further be investigated for its phytoremidial role.
Online Appendix : Macroeconomic Effects of Bankruptcy and Foreclosure Policies

max  No def. , keep house: W own G (b+ y, h,m, ω, z) No def. , sell house, buy: W buy G (η + b+ y, z) No def. , sell house, rent: W rent G (η + b+ y, z) Chapt. 7, no mort. def. : (1η≤χW keep 7 (h,m, y, ω, z)+ (1− 1η≤χ)W liquidate 7 (y, χ, z)) Chapt. 13, no mort. def. : W own 13 ((1− φ)y, h,m, ω, z, φ) Mort. def. : EJ [(1− J )W rent F (bF + y, z) + J max { W rent F (bF + y, z),W liquidate 7 (y, 0, z) }]
Hamiltonian of two spinning compact bodies with next-to-leading order gravitational spin-orbit coupling

A Hamiltonian formulation is given for the gravitational dynamics of two spinning compact bodies to next-to-leading order (G/c{sup 4} and G{sup 2}/c{sup 4}) in the spin-orbit interaction. We use a novel approach (valid to linear order in the spins) which starts from the second-post-Newtonian metric (in Arnowitt-Deser-Misner coordinates) generated by two spinless bodies and computes the next-to-leading order precession, in this metric, of suitably redefined ''constant-magnitude'' 3-dimensional spin vectors S{sub 1}, S{sub 2}. We prove the Poincare invariance of our Hamiltonian by explicitly constructing 10 phase-space generators realizing the Poincare algebra. A remarkable feature of our approach is that it allows one to derive the orbital equations of motion of spinning binaries to next-to-leading order in spin-orbit coupling without having to solve Einstein's field equations with a spin-dependent stress tensor. We show that our Hamiltonian (orbital and spin) dynamics is equivalent to the dynamics recently obtained by Faye, Blanchet, and Buonanno, by solving Einstein's equations in harmonic coordinates.
Job Satisfaction and Related Environmental Factors in Hospitality Industry

Job satisfaction among employees is a field of great interest, since it is considered a very important concept for every business. The purpose of this article is to measure the overall job satisfaction of employees at Aquamare Beach Hotel. Furthermore, the author tries to determine the relationship between job satisfaction and the environmental background of the hotel, which consists of workrelated characteristics and personal/demographic variables.
Identification of the Main Biotic Integrity Stressors and their Relationships using Cluster and Neuron Analysis with Self-Organizing Maps in Ohio, Maryland and Minnesota

Big environmental databases from different public agencies were obtained in the states of Minnesota, Ohio and Maryland. Biotic indices along with physical and chemical environmental variables and habitat metrics were some of the data available. We used Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) to group the data into physically and chemically homogeneous stressor groups. These were either groups of similar SOM neurons (clusters) or the SOM neurons themselves. When working with clusters of neurons, the biotic index’s values statistical differences among clusters were identified using multiple range tests. Subsequently, the same procedure was applied to all the available environmental variables. Variables with similar homogeneous groups distributions to the biotic integrity indices was interpreted as a variable with an important effect on biotic integrity. The neuron-based analysis focused on regressing the neuron environmental variables values versus the neuron-based biotic index. The parameters with highest correlations were considered as most important. Both methodologies seemed to work well, especially in the case of Ohio and in the cluster-based analysis in Minnesota. Maryland also showed promising results and the separation of the sites in different strata clearly showed how the stressors are different in coastal sites than in the rest. The neuron-based analysis usually identified the same stressors in biotic integrity as the cluster-based analysis. Moreover, some of the relationships among offstream and in-stream environmental variables as well as some of the in-stream physical variables and chemical elements could be explained. The SOM is a very powerful tool in identifying highly dimensional, with high natural variability, non-linear problems by means of data organization and pattern recognition Acknowledgements The research contained in this report was sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/National Science Foundation/U.S. Department of Agriculture STAR Watershed Program by a Grant (No. R83-0885-010) to Northeastern University. The authors greatly appreciate this support. The findings and conclusions contained in this report are those of the authors and not of the funding agencies, nor the STAR program. The authors would like to express their thanks to all agencies that kindly provided their data, including the Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources, Maryland Biological Stream Survey, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and United States Geological Survey. TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Carry Trade and Uncovered Interest Parity When Markets Are Incomplete

Many of the leading models of the carry trade imply that, contrary to the empirical evidence, a country's currency depreciates in times of high consumption and output growth, a manifestation of the Backus and Smith (1993) puzzle. We propose a modification of these models to account for financial market incompleteness and show that such a modification can induce positive correlation between currency appreciation and consumption or output growth while, at the same time, helping resolve the Backus and Smith (1993) and Brandt, Cochrane and SantaClara (2006) puzzles. Furthermore, in many of the existing models, the assumed fundamental cross-country differences (output volatility, growth, and risk attitude) responsible for interest rate differentials also appear at odds with the data. We document that default risk and financial openness are strongly related to interest rate differentials and carry trade profits in the data. The incomplete markets model we propose is consistent with these novel empirical facts.
Developing a Generic Design Pattern for a Learning Object to Support Student Reflection

This paper reports on findings of a funded project to discover and implement a generic pattern for learning objects to support reflective writing. This research is built on a recent project (Hardbattle, Fisher, & Chalk, 2010), which investigated the relationship between reflective writing skills and programming skills and aimed to encourage deep learning and to support and improve reflective report writing in first-year computing students. The reflective practice learning object (RPLO), which was developed via that earlier project based on a constructivist perspective, has attracted positive responses from academics and developers. It worked successfully towards improving students’ engagement and skills in both programming and reflective writing. However, it was not easily adaptable for reuse as it was written in Flash and in a specific context. In order to expand the interactive learning experience to benefit students on other courses, the aim of this subsequent project has been to investigate a generic pattern for reflective practice learning objects. It is expected that the new template will allow lecturers easily to re-purpose and create reflective practice learning objects to suit different topics or subject areas.
Identification of Avian Salmonella Isolates by PCR-RFLP Analysis of a fliC Gene Fragment

The genus of Salmonella is very polymorphic and comprised of a number of genetically closely related serotypes. It is one of the emerging pathogen in food-borne disease which is often found in contaminated chicken eggs. Salmonella enterica is considered one of the major pathogens in public health worldwide. A total of 31 Salmonella isolates identified by specific antisera, which included Salmonella enteritidis (51.6%), Salmonella typhimurium (25.8%), Salmonella infantis (19.4%) and Salmonella colindale (3.2%). DNA was extracted using phenol- chloroform- isoamylalchol method. All the isolates showed fliC gene (1500bp) by using specific primers. PCR products were subjected to digestion using HhaI restriction endonuclease. PCR- RFLP results showed 3 patterns between all isolates. Our research gained in this study demonstrated that using HhaI restriction endonuclease could differentiate Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella colindale but there is similarity between pattern of Salmonella typhimurium and Salmonella infantis .
On Efficient Bayesian Inference for Models with Stochastic Volatility

An efficient method for Bayesian inference in stochastic volatility models uses a linear state space representation to define a Gibbs sampler in which the volatilities are jointly updated. This method involves the choice of an offset parameter and we illustrate how its choice can have an important effect on the posterior inference. A Metropolis–Hastings algorithm is developed to robustify this approach to choice of the offset parameter. The method is illustrated on simulated data with known parameters, the daily log returns of the Eurostoxx index and a Bayesian vector autoregressive model with stochastic volatility.
Strained Interaction: Evidence That Interpersonal Contact Moderates the Death-Disability Rejection Link

Objective: Our objective was to examine whether brief yet significant contact between a confederate seated in a wheelchair and a nondisabled participant may attenuate the relationship between death reminders and disability rejection found in previous research. Method: One hundred two participants were randomly assigned to a mortality salience or control condition and were then seated in a room with a confederate. In half the cases, the confederate sat in a wheelchair, and in the other half in a regular chair. Furthermore, half the participants were assigned to either a collaborative task with the confederate, or to an individual task condition. At the end of the session, participants were asked to evaluate the confederate. Results: Death primes led to a more negative evaluation of the confederate in a wheelchair in the individual task condition. However, this effect was attenuated in the collaborative task condition. Conclusions: The death– disability rejection link is not deterministic and may be attenuated through meaningful contact between people without disabilities and people with physical disabilities (PWD). The findings suggest that terror management theory is a particularly useful framework for understanding and intervening in the strained interaction between PWD and nondisabled individuals.