Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
BASES FOR ALTERNATIVE NONPARAMETRIC MINCER FUNCTION BASES PARA

This work undertakes a nonparametric regression in order to assess the viability of this technique in modeling a simplified Mincer Function of earnings applied to the NBA players’ wages. The main advantages of using this technique is that it does not rely on assumptions and the statistical inference is not sensitive to distributions disturbances due to violations of the assumptions. The results of the nonparametric estimation are compared to a classical OLS regression. We found evidence that the OLS estimator did not fulfilled the assumptions that this method requires, therefore, the statistical inference form this estimation could lead to wrong conclusions (due to lack of efficiency), unless some correction that solves the violation to the assumptions is applied to the model. On the other hand, the confidence intervals obtained from the nonparametric regression are more accurate and less sensitive to variability and magnitude of the variables. Consequently, the nonparametric estimation would be an alternative to model the behaviour of the wages avoiding strong assumptions that could lead to wrong statistical inference conclusions.
Post Political Content among Youth in Facebook

The vibrancy of information and communication technology has made it possible for interactive internet use in daily communication. Users’ involvement in online interaction via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Linkedt has specifically been seen to have some implications on communication and interaction. This research focuses on the use of new media as platforms to facilitate the dissemination of information, where access is unrestricted and users are free to voice out their opinions and increase their levels of political participation. The aim of this research is to explore the extent of youths’ perceptions on national political climate via a social media platform which is Facebook. In-depth interviews with youths aged 15 to 30 years old were carried out to collect data. This research adopted the approach used in Media System Dependency Theory by (Ball-Rokeach, 1985). The findings from this research showed that new media i.e. Facebook was accepted as a democracy space for political information in which youths took active online political participation. The findings were supported by the responses from the respondents which showed youths’ tendency towards using their image and display content on Facebook as reasons to use Facebook as a platform for political participation. Keywords: Youth; Facebook; Media System Dependency Theory; political participation; social media
Effects of changes in land-use, age-structure and management on carbon dynamics of European forests

In European forests, carbon storage has increased uninterruptedly during the last 60 years, but the contribution of multiple factors affecting the carbon dynamics is not clear. The main aim of this research was to study effects of changes in land-use, age-structure and management on carbon dynamics of European forests. The specific research tasks were: i) to reconstruct the age-structure of European forests beginning in 1950, by combining available national inventory data with state-of-the-art backcasting, and to study how the mean forest age has changed since the 1950 s (Paper I); ii) to evaluate the role of afforestation on the development of mean forest age and effects of changes in forest area and structure (both age-structure and age/volume relationship) on the development of forest carbon stocks in two European case study countries (Paper II); iii) to quantify the effects of rotation length on the carbon stocks of forests (trees, soil) and wood products, and to estimate the effects of changing rotation length on climate change mitigation (Paper III), and iv) to quantify the average CO2 emissions from wildfires in Mediterranean countries, and estimate the potential of prescribed burning to mitigate CO2 emissions (Paper IV). Results show that in European forests, the share of old forests (>100 years) has decreased from 21% in 1950 to 16% in 2010, and the mean age has decreased from 62 to 59 years (Paper I). However, there exists large variation in these results at country level. In two case study countries, Finland and Czech Republic, the development of mean age was affected by afforestation, although it did not change the observed trend of mean age. In both countries, the increase of mean growing stock volume had a larger effect on the increase of forest biomass carbon stock than afforestation (Paper II). In this work, it was also found that the average carbon stocks of tree biomass could be increased by increasing the rotation length. However, this may in some cases decrease carbon stocks of soil and wood products (Paper III). In Mediterranean countries, the use of prescribed burning could also decrease the emissions from forest fires, affecting considerably also the carbon balance of the LULUCF sector (Paper IV). Despite the uncertainties related to employed data and models, this work provided valuable insights on the effects of changes in land-use, age-structure and management on the carbon dynamics of European forests. In overall, the increase of forest carbon stocks can be largely explained by the smaller harvests compared to forest growth, but the contribution of different factors varies significantly between the countries. Findings of this work call for more systematic and accurate estimation of the carbon dynamics and balance of European forests, and factors explaining them, in order to better estimate and utilize the possibilities offered by European forests for climate change mitigation.
DE-MYSTIFYING THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH: DOES EX POST MORAL HAZARD INDEED EXIST IN KOREAN PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE MARKET?

There have been heated debates on whether private health insurance creates moral hazard effects. Despite its importance, however, the moral hazard problem of private health insurance is still controversial and understudied. To empirically examine whether or not moral hazard exists in the Korean private health insurance market, we employed two-stage regression for endogeneity control and the Heckman two-step procedure for sample selection bias control, which are expected to produce consistent estimates. All estimation results do not allow us to detect the presence of the moral hazard effects and imply that people hold private health insurance simply as “safety net”.
Nitrogen yield and nitrogen use of chickpea compared to pea, barley and oat in Central Europe

European agriculture suffers from a substantial deficit of protein sources for livestock and the projected changes in agro-climatic conditions in Central Europe include a higher risk of drought. To address these challenges, the drought resistant legume crop chickpea was compared with pea, barley and oat regarding its nitrogen (N) yield, protein yield and N use and utilization efficiency under Central European growing conditions. The two year trial was conducted in eastern Austria with calcium ammonium nitrate or the depot fertilizer Basacote® Plus 6M at two levels of N rate each besides an unfertilized control. In 2006, chickpea had the lowest grain yield and grain N yield among the four crops while under drought conditions in 2007 chickpea attained a higher grain protein yield that surpassed those of barley and oat. Under both, the more humid conditions in 2006 and the drier weather in 2007, chickpea maintained a constant partial factor N use efficiency (PFNUE: grain yield per unit fertilizer N) and a consistently high N utilization efficiency (NUtE: grain yield per unit N in the above-ground dry matter) for grain production whereas these parameters were severely decreased by drought with pea, barley and oat. Results indicate that chickpea could be an alternative in a future more dry climate for achieving a reasonable protein yield in Central Europe through its ability to maintain high PFNUE and NUtE under conditions of drought.
Assessment of the safety of tawa-tawa ( Euphorbia hirta L . ) decoction as alternative folkloric medicine

Euphorbia hirta L. , plant is a pantropic weed, widely distributed in the Philippines. Folkloric use of tawatawa (E. hirta L.), as alternative treatment and prevention for various ailments has been promoted and patronized due to the increasing trend in the quest for inexpensive alternative medicines compared to commercial drugs. Nowadays, the traditional decoction preparation has been widely used however, the safety of its oral use against normal microflora, is still ambiguous despite traditional practice hence, this study. The disc diffusion method was used to determine the antibacterial activity against gram positive and gram negative bacteria (standard strains and clinical isolates). Antibacterial activity was tested on E. coli, S. aureus, B. subtilis and P. aeruginosa. Results show that there was no formation of any zone of inhibition as observed after 24 hrs. Thus, this justifies the traditional use of the plant as decoction treatment for various ailments. Various concentrations of crude extracts diluted in distilled water were also tested for comparison purposes but it yielded the same results as the decoction procedure. Since, the results were negative for any antibacterial potential, the use of tawa-tawa decoction for oral intake should be highly recommended in the treatment of various conditions without the risk of altering the normal flora of microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract. Hence, it is safe to use.
SNPs detected in the SIRT1 and H-FABP genes and their association with growth traits in Yak.

The aims of this study were to investigate whether the Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) and Hear fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP) genes could be used as candidate genes in the breeding of yak. In 409 indigenous Chinese yaks, two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified through DNA sequencing technology, including a SNP within the 5’UTR of SIRT1 (g.1906A>G), and a SNP in the exon 1 of H-FABP (g.6643C>T). The chi-square test suggested that all the variations were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P>0.05). An association analysis suggested that g.1906A>G of SIRT1 gene and g.6643C>T of H-FABP gene exhibited significant correlation with body weight and body length (P<0.01). These results indicated that these SNPs could be used as meritorious and available genetic markers in yak growth traits breeding.
Origin of the ‘Ghost Plagioclase’ Signature in Galapagos Melt Inclusions: New Evidence from Pb Isotopes

Olivine-hosted melt inclusions from both Fernandina and Santiago islands in the Galapagos Archipelago have compositions indicating that plagioclase played an important role in the magmatic evolution of these volcanic islands.The major and trace element chemistry of the Santiago melt inclusions indicates simple plagioclase assimilation. In contrast, Fernandina inclusions have compositions for which the plagioclase appears to be present only as a ‘ghost’ trace element signature (i.e. ‘ghost plagioclase’signature). Two competing hypotheses have been proposed to explain this unique signature: (1) incorporation of an ancient recycled plagioclase-rich cumulate into the mantle; (2) shallow-level interaction between melts and plagioclase-rich cumulates in the present-day lower oceanic crust. Here we present new Pb isotope measurements for olivine-hosted melt inclusions from Fernandina and Santiago islands to distinguish between the two models.The new Pb isotope data are within the range previously reported for whole-rock basalts from those islands. Melting and mixing models involving ancient ( 0·5^1 Ga) recycled plagioclase-rich cumulates cannot reproduce the observed trace element and Pb isotopic characteristics of the Fernandina melt inclusions with a ghost plagioclase signature. Shallow-level diffusive interactions between basalt and present-day plagioclase-rich cumulates provide the simplest explanation for the observed trace element compositions and Pb isotope ratios of melt inclusions from Fernandina and Santiago islands.
Experimental Evaluation of PI Tuning Techniques for Field Oriented Control of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors

This paper presents the experimental evaluation of a commonly used methodology to tune the PI regulators of the Field Oriented Control (FOC) strategy for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSMs). The methodology used is based on the Absolute Value Optimum (AVO) and Symmetric Optimum (SO) criterions. These methods employ a simplified model of the plant to be controlled. Due to the complexity and non-linearities present in the FOC PMSM drive some divergence between the ideal response and the real results will occur. In this paper a comparison between simulated and experimental results is carried out to evaluate the goodness of the solution obtained. The divergences observed between simulations and the results obtained in the experimental setup are shown and it is attempted to justify the causes of them. Overall it is concluded that the method provides a satisfactory initial commissioning of the PI regulators for the drive system under study.
Directional Dependence of Shear Waves in a 3 D Blood Vessel Model 3

ARFI (Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse) and SSI (Supersonic Shear Imaging) methods enable us to evaluate the mechanical properties of soft tissues noninvasively. Because a locally homogeneous medium is assumed, the shear modulus of the medium can be directly deduced from the shear wave speed. However, shear waves in arterial walls are affected by dispersion effects. The reason is that multiple reflections and mode conversions within the thin wall cause the shear wave propagation much more complex than in the unbounded medium. As a result, the arterial wall serves as a dispersive waveguide, and thus each frequency component propagates at a different speed[1]. A number of methods based on guided waves (e.g., Lamb waves, leaky Lamb waves, etc.) have been proposed to estimate the viscoelastic properties of the arterial wall using 2D plate models[1,2]. The actual structure of the artery, however, is a long tube rather than a thin plate. The cylindrical structure of the artery results in the directional dependence of shear wave propagation: the shear waves in the arterial wall can be mainly divided into longitudinal components and circumferential components. Furthermore, similarly to Lamb waves, there are three different mode types in a hollow cylinder: longitudinal (axisymmetric), torsional (axisymmetric), and flexural mode (non-axisymmetric)[3]. Because the acoustic radiation force is applied orthogonally to the arterial wall, the longitudinal flexural mode, we think, can characterize the mechanical properties of the arterial wall, just like the antisymmetric mode of Lamb waves in a 2D plate as explained in [1]. As a preliminary study, we performed finite element method (FEM) analysis to observe the shear wave propagation in our 2D plate and 3D hollow cylinder models, which means linear elastic materials and vacuum boundary conditions were used. Finally, we could observe (1) the complex propagation of shear waves due to the dispersion effects in both models, (2) the directional dependence in the 3D model. -------------------------------------------------------------jang.keun. 24r@st.kyoto-u.ac. jp 2. FEM Analysis
DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY OF TWO BRIEF PSYCHOME- TRIC MEASURES OF DEPRESSION AND ASSOCIATION WITH COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING: A STUDY INVOLVING ELDERLY MEDICAL OUTPATIENTS

We compared the diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and the Mini-Mult Depression Scale (Mini-D) in a sample of 87 geriatric medical outpatients who were classified as depressed or non-depressed with the DSM-III-based Symptom Checklist for Major Depressi ve Disorders (SCMDD). In addition, we evaluated the relationship between GDS and Mini-D depression classifications and performances on three tests of the overall cognitive functioning. Although GDS and Mini-D classifications were in moderate agreement with those of the SCMDD (71%), the former measure produced more false-positive errors and the latter produced more false-negative errors. Because neither the GDS nor the Mini-D affords entirely satisfactory diagnostic accuracy, appreciation of these operating characteristics will enable practitioners to select the instrument that yields the most acceptable balance of Type I and Type II errors within their particular clinical settings. Although participants demonstrated signs of a mild cognitive compromise, no relationship was noted between depression classification and overall cognitive functioning. We believe that this finding reflects our dichotomous, rather than conti nuous, operationalization of “depression”.
S33-1 The impact and status of introduced waterbirds in Africa, Asia Minor, Europe and the Middle East

As part of a British government-funded project, the number and distribution of introduced waterbird species in 77 of the 116 countries in the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) was determined from responses to questionnaires sent to government officials and ornithologists. Meeting predefined criteria, 112 species of introduced waterbirds were recorded. European countries held the most, with an average of 7.7 species per country. Across the AEWA area, the most common introductions were the mandarin duck (Aix galericulata) — 17 countries, Canada goose (Branta canadensis) —16, and mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and mute swan (Cygnus olor) — 15. The costs of introductions normally outweigh benefits, and we recommend that existing legislation for controlling introductions be augmented and better enforced.
Two- and three-dimensional computation of solitary wave runup on non-plane beach

Abstract. Solitary wave runup on a non-plane beach is studied analytically and numerically. For the theoretical approach, nonlinear shallow-water theory is applied to obtain the analytical solution for the simplified bottom geometry, such as an inclined channel whose cross-slope shape is parabolic. It generalizes Carrier-Greenspan approach for long wave runup on the inclined plane beach that is currently used now. For the numerical study, the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) system is applied to study soliton runup on an inclined beach and the detailed characteristics of the wave processes (water displacement, velocity field, turbulent kinetic energy, energy dissipation) are analyzed. In this study, it is theoretically and numerically proved that the existence of a parabolic cross-slope channel on the plane beach causes runup intensification, which is often observed in post-tsunami field surveys.
The significance of self-annealing in two-phase alloys processed by high-pressure torsion

The Zn-22% Al eutectoid alloy and the Pb-62% Sn eutectic alloy were processed by high-pressure torsion (HPT) over a range of experimental conditions. Both alloys exhibit similar characteristics with significant grain refinement after processing by HPT but with a reduction in the hardness values by comparison with the initial unprocessed conditions. After storage at room temperature for a period of time, it is shown that the microhardness of both alloys gradually recovers to close to the initial unprocessed values. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurements on the Pb-Sn alloy suggest that the self-recovery behaviour is correlated with the fraction of high-angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) after HPT processing. Thus, high fractions of HAGBs occur immediately after processing and this favours grain boundary migration and sliding which is important in the self-annealing and recovery process. Conversely, the relatively lower fractions of HAGBs occurring after annealing at room temperature are not so conducive to easy migration and sliding.
Evaluation of Bcl 2 / BAX genes expression ratio as a marker of inflammatory bowel disease

Background: Apoptosis is an essential physiological process to maintain immune homeostasis. T-cell incorrect apoptosis appears to be involved in chronic inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the Bcl2/BAX genes expression ratio in patients with IBD (Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis) compared to healthy persons. Materials and Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 49 patients with IBD and 20 healthy subjects. Blood samples were collected from the patients and healthy subjects after receiving complete information and obtaining consent. Then, white blood cells were isolated by the Salting Out technique. After RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, the Bcl2/BAX expression level was quantitatively measured by the real-time PCR method in the patients and healthy subjects. Results: The results showed that the Bcl2/BAX genes expression ratio in peripheral blood Tcells was not significantly different in patients with IBD compared to the healthy subjects (P=0.06). Conclusion: It seems that change is not evident in Bcl2/BAX genes expression ratio in peripheral blood T-cells in the patients with IBD.
Fresh or frozen rumen contents from slaughtered cattle to estimate in vitro degradation of two contrasting feeds

The present factorial experiment tested the thawed rumen fluid from frozen rumen contents against fresh rumen fluid from the same slaughtered cattle to estimate in vitro degradation of rapeseed meal (RSM) and grass nuts (GN) as two contrasting feeds at various times. Fresh rumen fluid showed higher (P < 0.05) in vitro dry matter (DMD) and crude protein (CPD) degradation than the thawed rumen fluid at most incubation times. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were found between fresh and differently prepared thawed rumen fluids for mean degradation constants (a, b, c) and effective degradability (P 0.02 ) of feeds. While the thawed rumen fluids had lower (P < 0.01) degradation than the fresh rumen fluid, their degradation values correlated very well (R 2 ≥ 0.95) with those for the fresh rumen fluid. It appeared that the thawed rumen fluid can be used to predict in vitro degradation of the selected feeds when frequent access to slaughtered or fistulated animals is restricted. Nevertheless it would be vital to improve the activity of thawed rumen fluid prior to testing its suitability for numerous feeds before recommending its routine use to estimate degradation of ruminant feeds.
Hemodynamic and autonomic changes induced by Ironman : prediction of competition time by blood pressure variability

[PDF] [Full Text] [Abstract] , July 1, 2006; 291 (1): H451-H458. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol M. Buchheit and C. Gindre and training load Cardiac parasympathetic regulation: respective associations with cardiorespiratory fitness [PDF] [Full Text] [Abstract] , July 1, 2007; 103 (1): 88-96. J Appl Physiol C. Murrell, L. Wilson, J. D. Cotter, S. Lucas, S. Ogoh, K. George and P. N. Ainslie following a mountain marathon Alterations in autonomic function and cerebral hemodynamics to orthostatic challenge