Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Inflation Persistence in the Inflation Process in the New EU Member States

The aim of this paper is to compare inflation persistence between the New Member States (NMS) that joined the European Union in 2004 and 2007 and selected euro area members. If the levels of inflation persistence between the two groups are different, the NMS may encounter problems with fulfilling the Maastricht criterion on inflation and – after entering the euro area – with inflation divergence. We argue that the specific economic situation of the NMS in the last 15 years necessitates careful selection of inflation persistence measures. Two measures are estimated. The first one is based on a simple univariate statistical model of inflation with a time-varying mean. The second one assumes that inflation follows a fractionally integrated process and measures inflation persistence within an ARFIMA model. Statistical tests suggest that the model with a time-varying mean is preferable to the ARFIMA model for almost all countries. The estimation results show that inflation persistence is not an issue for all of the NMS. On the one hand, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Malta, Romania, and Slovakia exhibit persistence levels similar to those in the selected euro area countries. On the other hand, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovenia encounter a problem with high persistence stemming from both high intrinsic and high expectations-based inflation persistence.
Impact of Financial Inclusion on Consumption Expenditure in Kenya

The main agenda of this study is to explore the impact of both single (transactionary, credit, savings and investment, insurance and pension) and composite (portfolio usage) measures of financial inclusion on household welfare in Kenya. To address this, the study makes use of repeated household Financial Access datasets over 2009-2016 to apply dynamic panel regression methods. The results show that the observed differences in welfare varies by financial product with the credit channel taking the lions share. A zero to one change from non-usage (control) to usage (treatment) of credit, transactionary and insurance products among Kenyan households was found to be statistically significant in raising household welfare ceteris paribus. Similarly, the coefficient of the constructed index of financial inclusion was found to be both positive and statistically significant in explaining household welfare. Given the significant role financial inclusion plays in enhancing welfare, the study recommends a reduction in transactionary costs through an increase in the range of formal financial products to raise competition in financial markets. Policies targeting welfare improvement through finance should also be aligned to specific financial inclusion transmission channels to be more effective as opposed to policy formulation based on economic aggregates.
Modeling the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil
 spill

Two oil particle trajectory forecasting systems were developed and applied to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Both systems use ocean current fields from high-resolution numerical ocean circulation model simulations, Lagrangian stochastic models to represent unresolved sub-grid scale variability to advect oil particles, and Monte Carlo-based schemes for representing uncertain biochemical and physical processes. The first system assumes two-dimensional particle motion at the ocean surface, the oil is in one state, and the particle removal is modeled as a Monte Carlo process parameterized by a one number removal rate. Oil particles are seeded using both initial conditions based on observations and particles released at the location of the Maconda well. The initial conditions (ICs) of oil particle location for the two-dimensional surface oil trajectory forecasts are based on a fusing of all available information including satellitebased analyses. The resulting oil map is digitized into a shape file within which a polygon filling software generates longitude and latitude with variable particle density depending on the amount of oil present in the observations for the IC. The more complex system assumes three (light, medium, heavy) states for the oil, each state has a different removal rate in the Monte Carlo process, three-dimensional particle motion, and a particle size-dependent
Opportunity costs of growth-overfishing : socioeconomic evaluation of the beach-seine fishery, Bay of Ranobe, Madagascar

Beach-seine fishing is a technique that has been used for thousands of years. With the advent of plastic monofilament and mosquito netting, a modern-day beach-seine is, ostensibly, one of the most destructive and non-selective fishing gears. As beach-seines are hauled-in from shore, intertidal seagrass beds are often damaged, which play an important role in providing food and shelter to juvenile fishes. In the Bay of Ranobe the technique often employed by newly-established unskilled fishermen is beach-seining. This research used a combination of ecological and socioeconomic assessments to determine and describe the relative importance and impact of the beach-seine fishery for the Bay of Ranobe area. The findings of this research indicated that beach-seine techniques were used predominantly by migrant people from tribes that were not traditionally reliant on sustenance fishing. The analysis of the beach-seine catch showed to be mostly juvenile fishes. Anecdotal evidence suggests overall catches have been declining in the Bay of Ranobe due to heavy fishing pressure. Targeting juvenile fishes may exacerbate the problem and significantly impair fish stock recovery. An understanding of the socioeconomic importance and ecological impact of beach-seining activities will provide governmental and non-governmental organizations with the necessary information to develop mitigation strategies and help with ensuring the long-term stability of fish stocks in the Bay of Ranobe. I dedicate this thesis to my parents,
Classification of Bulk Metallic Glasses by Atomic Size Difference, Heat of Mixing and Period of Constituent Elements and Its Application to Characterization of the Main Alloying Element

Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) have been classified according to the atomic size difference, heat of mixing (� H mix ) and period of the constituent elements in the periodic table. The BMGs discovered to date are classified into seven groups on the basis of a previous result by Inoue. The seven groups are as follows: (G-I) ETM/Ln-LTM/BM-Al/Ga, (G-II) ETM/Ln-LTM/BM-Metalloid, (G-III) Al/Ga-LTM/BMMetalloid, (G-IV) IIA-ETM/Ln-LTM/BM, (G-V) LTM/BM-Metalloid, (G-VI) ETM/Ln-LTM/BM and (G-VII) IIA-LTM/BM, where ETM, Ln, LTM, BM and IIA refer to early transition, lanthanide, late transition, group IIIB–IVB and group IIA-group metals, respectively. The main alloying element of ternary G-I, G-V and G-VII, ternary G-II and G-IV, and ternary G-VI BMGs is the largest, intermediate and smallest atomic radius compared to the other alloying elements, respectively. The main alloying element of ternary BMGs belonging to G-I, G-V, G-VI and G
High doses of lidocaine as a constant rate infusion in propofol/fentanyl anaesthetized sheep: cardiorespiratory effects.

O objetivo desse estudo foi investigar os efeitos cardiorrespiratorios e a reducao na dose de propofol, mediante a infusao continua de altas doses de lidocaina (200 ? g/kg/min) em associacao ao propofol/ fentanil. Para tanto, foram utilizados 12 ovinos machos castrados (peso medio de 32,1 ± 4,9 kg), distribuidos em dois grupos de seis animais, designados como grupo GPF e GPFL em estudo clinico, prospectivo e aleatorio. Todos os animais foram pre-medicados com xilazina (0,05 mg/kg, i.m.). A inducao anestesica do grupo GPF constou de propofol (3 mg/kg) e fentanil (2,5 ? g/kg) adminitrados por via intravenosa e a anestesia foi mantida com a infusao continua de propofol (500 ? g/kg/min) e fentanil (0,15 ? g/kg/min). No grupo GPFL foram induzidos a anestesia com propofol (3 mg/kg), fentanil (2,5 ? g/kg) e lidocaina (2,5 mg/kg), i.v. ; apos 10 minutos de manutencao anestesica, neste grupo a dose de propofol foi reduzida em 25% (500 ? g/kg/min para 375 ? g/kg/min). Os parâmetros cardiorrespiratorios foram coletados 15 minutos apos a medicacao pre-anestesica (T0) ate o termino do procedimento cirurgico (T7). Os tempos correspondentes foram: T0 – 15 minutos apos a administracao da medicacao pre-anestesica; T1 – imediatamente apos a inducao anestesica e entubacao orotraqueal; T2 – 15 minutos de anestesia; T3 – durante a tracao do figado; T4 – durante o pincamento do intestino; T5 – sutura da musculatura; T6 – final da sutura de pele e T7 – 15 minutos do termino da anestesia. Em todos os animais foi observado apneia apos a inducao necessitando de ventilacao mecânica. Em relacao a frequencia cardiaca e pressao arterial media, nao houve diferenca estatistica em nenhum dos grupos comparativamente ao valor basal (p > 0,05); os valores medios da pressao arterial foram superiores no grupo GPF no momento T6 (p < 0,05). A infusao continua de altas doses de lidocaina em associacao ao propofol/fentanil foi suficiente para reduzir a dose do propofol em 25%, sem alterar de maneira significativa os parâmetros cardiorrespiratorios.
The mediating effects of perceived quality and risk on purchase intentions between prototypical and me-too brands

The study examines brand familiarity, extrinsic attributes, perceived quality and risk for their effects on purchase intentions between prototypical and me-too brands. Since the MP3 player was selected as the product category and the majority of users comprised young adults, a survey was administered to a general student population at three universities in Australia. While perceived equivalent quality had a positive mediating effect on brand familiarity-purchase intentions for the me-too brands, it had a negative mediating effect on extrinsic attributes-purchase intentions for the prototypical brand. Finally, perceived financial/performance, social/physical, time and psychological risks produced negative mediating effects on the perceived equivalent quality-purchase intentions relationship for the prototypical brand, while social/physical risk produced a positive mediating effect for the me-too brands.
Bias Correction in Monthly Records of Satellite Soil Moisture Using Nonuniform CDFs

It is important to eliminate systematic biases in the field of soil moisture data assimilation. One simple method for bias removal is to match cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) of modeled soil moisture data to satellite soil moisture data. Traditional methods approximate numerical CDFs using 12 or 20 uniformly spaced samples. In this paper, we applied the Douglas–Peucker curve approximation algorithm to approximate the CDFs and found that three nonuniformly spaced samples can achieve the same reduction in standard deviation. Meanwhile, the matching results are always closely related to the temporal and spatial availability of soil moisture observed by automatic soil moisture station (ASM). We also applied the new nonuniformly spaced sampling method to a shorter time series. Instead of processing a whole year of data at once, we divided it into 12 datasets and used three nonuniformly spaced samples to approximate the model data’s CDF for each month. The matching results demonstrate that NU-CDF3 reduced the SD, improved R, and reduced the RMSD in over 70% of the stations, when compared with U-CDF12. Additionally, the SD and RMSD have been reduced by over 4% with R improved by more than 9%.
Large eddy simulation of the tidal power plant deep green using the actuator line method

Tidal energy has the potential to provide a substantial part of the sustainable electric power generation. The tidal power plant developed by Minesto, called Deep Green, is a novel technology using a ‘flying’ kite with an attached turbine, moving at a speed several times higher than the mean flow. Multiple Deep Green power plants will eventually form arrays, which require knowledge of both flow interactions between individual devices and how the array influences the surrounding environment. The present study uses large eddy simulations (LES) and an actuator line model (ALM) to analyze the oscillating turbulent boundary layer flow in tidal currents without and with a Deep Green power plant. We present the modeling technique and preliminary results so far.
The Examination of the Predictive Factors of Body Mass Index among the High School Students in Bandar Abbas

Object: This study examined the relationship between normal BMI and nutritional behavior (NB), nutritional knowledge (NK), attitude toward nutrition (ATN), physical exercise (PE) and demographic variables of age and gender among the high school students of Bandar Abbas city, Iran. Method: in a correlation study, 286 high school students (143 boys and 143 girls) were randomly selected and responded to the study questionnaire. These volunteer students were then weighed and had their height measured using a standard protocol to calculate BMI. Data were analyzed by Logistic Regression, Enter Method. Results: Variables such as NB, NK, ATN and PE were significantly found to be positive predicted with normal BMI while age and gender variables were not predicted normal BMI. Conclusion: from between the predicted variables roles of nutritional behavior and physical exercise were more important than others to explain the normal BMI variance. It seems that intervention programs is necessary with more emphasis on mentioned important variables (NB and PE) and can be a multidimensional approach to the implementation of such programs on the health status of students.
Perception of the Real World— Understanding Historic Environments, an Informal Design Studio: Walking Istanbul Series

Design education is the most important part of architectural education. Formal architectural education (training), followed by an architect in the candidate’s training period, is a whole consisting of theoretical and practical courses. In spite of this programme package, in design education, student acquires to experience the design by his/her own and this is the only way to learn how to design. In this context, aside from formal architectural education informal studies such as workshops, seminars, conferences, exhibitions, competitions, excavation, etc. have an undeniable importance. In design education, “informal studies” have some outstanding results on developing design thinking skills, learning by doing, creating motivation, intuitive knowledge and self-confidence and at the same time these studies are a suitable tool for the LLP—lifelong learning programme. In this paper, as an informal study example two workshops will be discussed to evaluate the contributions of such informal studies on student’s individual and collective learning styles, design thinking techniques and practices.
Neuro-endocrine and neuro-immune pathways contribute to the pathophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder characterized by recurrent abdominal pain, bloating and disturbed bowel habit, symptoms which impact on the quality of life of sufferers. The pathophysiological changes underlying this multifactorial condition are complex and include increased sensitivity to luminal and mucosal factors which result in altered colonic transit and visceral pain. Moreover, dysfunctional communication in the bidirectional signaling axis between the brain and the gut, which involves efferent and afferent branches of the peripheral nervous system, circulating endocrine hormones and local paracrine and neurocrine factors, including immune and perhaps even microbial signaling molecules have a role to play in this disorder. This mini-review will examine recent advances in our understanding of the pathophysiology of IBS and assess how crosstalk between hormones, immune and microbe-derived factors and their neuromodulatory effects on peripheral nerves may underlie IBS symptomatology.
Engineering integrated pure narrow-band photon sources

Engineering and controlling well-defined states of light for quantum information applications is of increasing importance as the complexity of quantum systems grows. For example, in quantum networks, high multi-photon interference visibility requires properly devised pure photon sources. In this paper, we present a theoretical model for a spontaneous parametric down conversion source based on an integrated cavity-waveguide, where single narrow-band, possibly distinct, resonant modes for the idler and the signal fields can be generated. This mode selection takes advantage of the clustering effect, due to the intrinsic dispersion of the nonlinear material. We show that, by engineering the clustering effect in an integrated cavity-waveguide and by using a standard detector, one can efficiently generate heralded pure single photons even with a continuous-wave pumping mode. The photon source proposed in this paper is extremely flexible and could easily be adapted to a wide variety of wavelengths and applications, such as long-distance quantum communication.
Big Data : Do Google Searches Predict Unemployment?

There are over 100 billion searches on Google every month. This thesis examines whether Google search queries can be used to predict the present and the near future unemployment rate in the US. Predicting the present and near future is of interest, as the official records of the state of the economy are published with a delay. To assess the information contained in Google search queries, the thesis compares a simple predictive model of unemployment to a model that contains a variable, Google Index, constructed from Google data. In addition, descriptive cross-correlation analysis and Granger non-causality tests are performed. To study the robustness of the results, the thesis considers state-level variation in the unemployment rate and Google Index using a fixed effects model. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the results is studied with regard to different search terms. The results suggest that Google searches contain useful information on the present and the near future unemployment rate. The value of Google data for forecasting purposes, however, tends to be time specific, and the predictive power of Google searches appear to be limited to short-term predictions. The results demonstrate that big data can be utilized to forecast economic indicators.
Population Dynamics, Winter Ecology and Social Organization of Coats Island Caribou

The indigenous caribou population of Coats Island, N.W. T. , suffered major declines from winter mortality in the winters of 1974-75 (a 71% loss) and 1979-80. There was a minor die-off in the winter of 1983-84. Apparently in the major declines the entire calf cohorts (1974 and 1979) died. In the less drastic decline in 1983-84 males, calves and adults, died at greater rates than females. The over-winter losses occurred at different densities and hence were density independent, resulting from snow accumulation and a sparse food supply. Reproductive success was low following severe winters, with 3.7% calves in June 1975 aqd 8.5% in June 1980. In other years, despite poor winter nutrition, the herd was productive: fall calf cow ratios of 76: 100 in 1981,57:100 in 1982 and 102: 100 in 1983. Apparently cows that survived winter starvation were able to recover despite a short growing season, in the absence of insect and predation influences, and to conceive the following autumn. High summer calf survival in the absence of predation, plus the high proportion of cows in the herd (83%), provided the means for rapid recovery in numbers (r=0.21) when winter conditions ameliorated sufficiently that starvation did not occur.
Prevalence of genes encoding Exfoliatin toxin A and Panton-Valentine Leukocidin among Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Baghdad

The pathogenicity of Staphylococcus aureus infections is related to various bacterial surface components (e.g., capsular polysaccharide and protein A), including those recognizing adhesive matrix molecules (e.g., clumping factor and fibronectin binding protein), and to extracellular proteins (e.g., coagulase, hemolysins, enterotoxins, toxic-shock syndrome [TSS] toxin, exfoliatins, and Panton-Valentine leukocidin [PVL] (Archer, 1998).
Classification and characterization of brain tumor MRI by using gray scaled segmentationand DNN

Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu Tampere University of Applied Sciences Master’s Degree Programme in Information Technology Muhammad Naeem Tahir Classification and characterization of brain tumor MRI by using gray scaled segmentation and DNN Master thesis Pages 46 May 2018 Many efforts have been made for image segmentation and classification. Different techniques have been adopted for this purpose. Image segmentation is very valuable especially in biomedical field for diagnosing disease. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is playing very important role in the research of neuroscience for studying brain images. This study of brain MR Images is helpful in brain tumor diagnosis process. Features will be extracted (on the bases of tumor region, texture, color, location and edge) and selected from the segmented images and then classified by using the classification techniques to diagnose whether the patient is normal (having no tumor) or abnormal (having tumor). Implementation of combination of techniques will increase the accuracy of results. In this thesis an effort will make to list and cover previous work of different researchers to improve the accuracy of diagnosis process.
Quality of Semi-Prepared Products from Rainbow Trout Waste (Onchorynchus mykiss) by Using Different Technological Strategics

The consumption of freshwater fish and fish products has gradually grown worldwide over the last decades, generating a proportional waste increase. The objective of the present study was to assess the chemical and bacteriological quality of restructured fish product, meatball-type, pre- pared with rainbow trout (Onchorynchus mykiss) waste added of 1% transglutaminase (MTG), 4% textured soy protein (TSP) and replacing part of the sodium chloride with potassium chloride (75%/25%) as described below: T1—starch addition (control); T2—MTG addition (1%); T3—soy protein addition (4%); T4—soy protein addition (4%) and MTG addition (1%); T5—soy protein addition (4%), MTG addition (1%) and partial replacement of salt (75% NaCl/25% KCl). Total aerobic mesophilic bacteria (TAMB), 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), pH de- termination and quantification of biogenic amines were performed on the day after manufactur- ing (P0) and after 60 days of storage (P1) at −25˚C ± 2˚C. The results showed that there was no sig- nificant difference (p < 0.05) of microbiological quality, TBARS and pH after storage. T4 presented the lowest total biogenic amine content (256.84 mg/kg) whereas T3 and T5 had the highest value (791.36 and 707.19 mg/kg, respectively) in this parameter. Putrescine was the biogenic amine that presented the highest concentration (504.00 mg/kg) in T3 and cadaverine that presented the smallest concentration (0.36 mg/kg) in T4. The use of technological strategies for developing new products with non-commercial fillets kept the most standards, having changes only in some bio- genic amines. * Corresponding author.