Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On stabilisation policy: Are there conflicting implications for growth and welfare?

The paper examines the choices for fiscal stabilisation policy that maximise aggregate welfare and long-run growth. This is done in the context of a stochastic dynamic general equilibrium model where premeditated learning provides the engine of human capital accumulation and growth, and technology shocks provide the impulse source of fluctuations. Contrary to existing conventional wisdom, the results indicate a conflict between the two policy objectives: the choice of no stabilisation, associated with maximum growth, is also associated with minimum welfare. Welfare maximisation requires a full stabilisation response to the occurrence of business cycles.
Possibility Forecasting of Progressive Neurological and Psychopathological Disorders in Chronic Mercury Intoxication

Objectives of the research was to identify the most informative criteria of progression of chronic mercury intoxication and the possibility of its prediction using neuropsychological and neurophysiological methods. For research were chosen 3 groups of patients with different degrees of severity of mercury intoxication. It is conducting a study of the emotional sphere, using the technique MMPI and the level of depression according to V. Zung, neuropsychological testing, EEG with the definition of auditory, visual, cognitive evoked potentials, somatosensory evoked potentials were assessed. Informative criteria were calculated using discriminant analysis. The main markers of pathological changes in the early stages of the disease in an internship working in contact with mercury for more than 10 years, are: exceeding the normative values of 2 and 8 scales MMPI from 70 points and more, exceeding the level of depression V. Zung from 54 points or more, reduction of attention concentration below 279 points, increase in the indicator of long-term, visual memory, finger gnosis and impressive speech from 0.5 points and above, and an increase in latency peak N11 somatosensory evoked potentials of 12 ms or higher, the increase in P2 visual evoked potentials from 260.0 ms and above, and decrease in the index of alpha rhythm on the EEG below 32%. With the combination of all four of these indicators of the likelihood of mercury poisoning was 91.3%. To predict the development of psycho-neurological symptoms, patients in contact with the mercury, it is necessary to conduct an annual comprehensive examination, including neuropsychological and neurophysiological methods.
Nano-hydroxyapatite preparation from biogenic raw materials

Hydroxyapatite (HAp) was successfully produced from recycled eggshell, seashell and phosphoric acid. The phases obtained depended on the ratio of calcined eggshell/ seashell to phosphoric acid, the calcination temperature and the mechanochemical activation method (ball milling or attrition milling). The HAp structures were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microsopy and infrared spectroscopy. Attrition milling was more effective than ball milling, yielding nanosize, homogenous and pure Hap.
Large U.S. Bank Holding Companies During the 2007-09 Financial Crisis: An Overview of the Data

Large banking organizations were at the center of the recent financial crisis in the United States. Their role in the economy and how to regulate them has been the subject of active debate. We study the financial performance of U.S. bank holding companies with more than $10 billion in assets during the period between the beginning of 2005 and the end of 2011. The objective is to provide some perspective on the impact of the crisis on these companies and the way they dealt with and emerged from such stressful times.
Investigating the earthquake catalog of the National Observatory of Athens

Abstract. The earthquake catalog of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) since the beginning of the Greek National Seismological Network development in 1964, is compiled and analyzed in this study. The b-value and the spatial and temporal variability of the magnitude of completeness of the catalog is determined together with the times of significant seismicity rate changes. It is well known that man made inhomogeneities and artifacts exist in earthquake catalogs that are produced by changing seismological networks and in this study the chronological order of periods of network expansion, instrumental upgrades and practice and procedures changes at NOA are reported. The earthquake catalog of NOA is the most detailed data set available for the Greek area and the results of this study may be employed for the selection of trustworthy parts of the data in earthquake prediction research.
Policy Monitor—Green Buildings: Economics and Policies

This article presents an overview of green building economics and policies through a survey of theoretical and empirical evidence concerning green building practices. We define green building policy as policies that affect the entire life of the building, from design and construction to operation and deconstruction. We examine the economics of green buildings in the United States, with particular emphasis on market failures in the building sector such as information problems and externalities. We also discuss how policy instruments are used to address these market failures. We present original data on the types and potential impacts of these policy instruments in the United States, along with a brief review of international green building programs. We conclude by describing challenges for the empirical study of green buildings and priorities for future research and policy in this area.
A decade of seascape genetics: contributions to basic and applied marine connectivity

Seascape genetics, a term coined in 2006, is a fast growing area of population genetics that draws on ecology, oceanography and geography to address challenges in basic understanding of mar- ine connectivity and applications to management. We provide an accessible overview of the latest develop- ments in seascape genetics that merge exciting new ideas from the field of marine population connectivity with statistical and technical advances in population genetics. After summarizing the historical context leading to the emergence of seascape genetics, we detail questions and methodological approaches that are evolving the discipline, highlight applications to conservation and management, and conclude with a summary of the field's transition to seascape ge- nomics. From 100 seascape genetic studies, we assess trends in taxonomic and geographic coverage, sam- pling and statistical design, and dominant seascape drivers. Notably, temperature, oceanography and geo - graphy show equal prevalence of influence on spatial genetic patterns, and tests of over 20 other seascape factors suggest that a variety of forces impact connec- tivity at distinct spatio-temporal scales. A new level of rigor in statistical analysis is critical for disentangling multiple drivers and spurious effects. Coupled with GIS data and genomic scale sequencing methods, this rigor is taking seascape genetics beyond an initial focus on identifying correlations to hypothesis-driven insights into patterns and processes of population
Reality and Surreality of 3-D Displays: Holodeck and Beyond

Most 3D displays are really just 3D models projected on 2D devices. Such 2D views sample key features of human vision processing of 3D scenes, via techniques such as converging lines and hidden surfaces, to depict relative depth. Yet, human vision actually processes more information from 3D scenes than can be captured by 2D sensors or presented on 2D displays. Approaches to true 3D and their applications will be reviewed. The Holodeck of science fiction will be examined for ultragrand technical challenges. Beyond the surreal concept of the Holodeck is the reality that significantly better 3D display systems are possible.
Problems Caused by the Management of Multi-Campus University in China

In China, Multi-campus university has become a universal phenomenon in the process of development of higher education. The development of multi-campus university has achieved the transformation from elite education to popular education, expanded educational living space, and developed the competitive advantages of universities. Therefore, researching the management of multi-campus university is very meaningful to improve the overall benefit of running universities. This paper starts from the implication of multi-campus university, and analyzes the types of management and the existing problems of multi-campus university in China. Furthermore, the paper proposes some corresponding recommendations.
Enabling sustainable user interaction with domestic heating controls

The way we live greatly effects the carbon emissions of our homes; heating accounts for nearly 60% of domestic energy consumption in the UK. This consumption is directly influenced by occupants through the use of their control systems. Using realworld data from buildings and observational data from users this research proposes guidelines for the design of more inclusive domestic heating controls. Two usercentred studies have been completed to date; one using controls under lab conditions and the other in a low-carbon housing development. In both studies controls were found to exclude users due to the cognitive demands placed on them, therefore creating an unnecessary barrier to reducing heat energy consumption in the home. The design principles proposed aim to help designers consider user needs when designing the interfaces of heating controls and energy management systems. By designing more inclusive and usable controls considerable energy savings could be made in the domestic context.
Liquidity Risk Measurement for Mutual Funds Investing in Less-Liquid Assets

I apply two models from the existing academic literature to assess liquidity risk in groups of mutual funds as well as in individual high yield mutual funds. These models are a serial correlation model with an AR(1) process and a lagged effects model. These models were most recently applied in the field of hedge fund research to measure liquidity risk and to evaluate the performance of aggregated groups of hedge funds, organized by investment strategy. I apply these models in the recently developing area of liquid alternative mutual funds and at the level of the individual mutual fund. A perceived benefit to investors in the liquid alternative funds is the structural, daily-redemption liquidity of the fund shares. Yet, the liquidity of the underlying securities portfolios held by these funds is not apparent to the investors and may expose the investor to heightened liquidity risk. The models perform well and will be applied to identify liquidity risk in a further ongoing study of the performance and liquidity of individual mutual funds. Liquidity risk assessment should play a vital role in performance evaluation and fund selection
Discourse and Institutions

We argue that the processes underlying institutionalization have not been investigated adequately and that discourse analysis provides a coherent framework for such investigation. Accordingly, we develop a discursive model of institutionalization that highlights the relationships among texts, discourse, institutions, and action. Based on this discursive model, we propose a set of conditions under which institutionalization processes are most likely to occur, and we conclude the article with an exploration of the model's implications for other areas of research.
Optimized finite-difference operator for broadband seismic wave modeling

High-resolution image and waveform inversion of smallscale targets requires the handling of high-frequency seismic wavefields. However, conventional finite-difference (FD) methods have strong numerical dispersions in the presence of high-frequency components. To reduce these numerical dispersions, we optimized the constant coefficients of the FD operator by maximizing the wavenumber coverage within a given error limitation. We set up three general criteria to enhance the convergence of the algorithm and reduce the optimization effort. We selected the error limitation to be 0.0001, this being the smallest in the literature, which led to perfect agreement between theoretical analyses and numerical experiments. The accuracy of our optimized FD methods can even reach that of much higher order unoptimized FD methods, which means great savings of computational efforts and memory demand. These advantages become even more apparent with 3D modeling, especially for saving memory demand.
Corporate Female Leadership Effects Considering PSI20 and IBEX35 Companies' Performance

Using a sample of 47 Portuguese and Spanish firms for the period 2010 to 2017, the authors study the relationship between female presence on board and firm's accounting (ROA and ROE) and market-based (MTB and Tobin's Q) performance. They find that women on the board of directors is positively related to firm's performance, as well as the gender of the CFO and the proportion of women on the listed key professionals, when we consider the market measures of performance, not being so consistent for accounting performance measures. Results were sensitive to the performance measure used. The results reinforce the political options of European Commission gender established quotas, revealing that in the Iberian countries these quotas are not being effectively implemented, even if results suggest that women on board in fact exert positive influence over market performance. This also led us to think that financial markets may also react in a positive way when the CFO of the company is a woman instead of a man, despite the sample limitations both in terms of gender and number of firms.
INTELLIGENT AND PERSONALIZED TRAVEL PLANNING SYSTEM FOR TOURISM THROUGH A COGNITIVE INSPIRED FRAMEWORK

The tourism industry has become a vital economical factor for certain countries which have been blessed by the beauty of Mother Nature, including Sri Lanka. Nevertheless; to ensure sustainable development of tourism together with the infrastructure development, one main factor to be improved is the dissemination of information on dynamic tour planning. This paper mainly focuses on the hypothesis that dynamic travel planning can be managed through a cognitive inspired framework. Furthermore; this model will consider the dynamic mental interests of the user to facilitate a comprehensive tour planning together with consideration for the services of accommodation, transportation, recreation, etc. This proposed system developed on top of a cognitive model with agent technology. The realized cognitive model contains a Short Term Memory together with three Episodic, Semantic, and Procedural entities as Long Term Memory. To promptly enable the communication among heterogeneous entities a unified structure for ontology has been realized and relevant entities can use that when updating their information or extending the functionality. A prototyped tour planning application has been developed to scrutinize the effectiveness of a cognitive framework. It shows that this approach is adaptable in dynamic environments together with personalized user interests and novelty in the solution.
OPTICAL FLOW APPLIED TO TIME-LAPSE IMAGE SERIES TO ESTIMATE GLACIER MOTION IN THE SOUTHERN PATAGONIA ICE FIELD

In this work, we assessed the feasibility of using optical flow to obtain the motion estimation of a glacier. In general, former investigations used to detect glacier changes involve solutions that require repeated observations which are many times based on extensive field work. Taking into account glaciers are usually located in geographically complex and hard to access areas, deploying time-lapse imaging sensors, optical flow may provide an efficient solution at good spatial and temporal resolution to describe mass motion. Several studies in computer vision and image processing community have used this method to detect large displacements. Therefore, we carried out a test of the proposed Large Displacement Optical Flow method at the Viedma Glacier, located at South Patagonia Icefield, Argentina. We collected monoscopic terrestrial time-lapse imagery, acquired by a calibrated camera at every 24 hour from April 2014 until April 2015. A filter based on temporal correlation and RGB color discretization between the images was applied to minimize errors related to changes in lighting, shadows, clouds and snow. This selection allowed discarding images that do not follow a sequence of similarity. Our results show a flow field in the direction of the glacier movement with acceleration in the terminus. We analyzed the errors between image pairs, and the matching generally appears to be adequate, although some areas show random gross errors related to the presence of changes in lighting. The proposed technique allowed the determination of glacier motion during one year, providing accurate and reliable motion data for subsequent analysis.
Nano-Rheological Behaviour of Cassava Starch-Zinc Nanocomposite Film under Dynamic Loading for High Speed Transportation of Packaged Food

This research was undertaken to determine the nano–rheological behaviours of cassava starch–zinc–nanocomposite films under dynamic loading for assessing their suitability as food packaging materials in high speed transportation. The films, with thickness ranging between 15 ± 0.22–17 ± 0.13 µm, were prepared by casting mixtures of 24 g cassava starch, 45–55% (w/w) glycerol and 0–2% (w/w) zinc nanoparticles in plastic moulds of 8–12 mm depths. The effects of the nanoparticles, thickness and glycerol on the rheological properties of the films, including the Young’s modulus, creep, hardness and plasticity index were determined using nanoindentation technique. The results show that the Young’s modulus and hardness of the films varied inconsistently with glycerol concentration and nanoparticles due probably to their isotropic nature and sensitivity to slight change in load. The plasticity index was lower for 15 µm film, which absorbed 40 pNm and dissipated 0.5 pNm during loading and unloading stages, respectively. The response of the 15 µm film to creep was higher than 16 µm and 17 µm films, and this may be consequence of lower wear at higher loads. This implies that the nanocomposite film might be suitable for high speed transportation of packaged food. consequent damages of the packaging materials, particularly during the handling and transportation of food. Nanoindentation provides a convenient tool for probing the basic rheological properties and the extent of stress-induced phase transition in small volumes of nanocomposite materials. Thus, this research was carried out to determine the nano-rheolog-ical behaviour of cassava starch-zinc nanocomposite films under dynamic loading for high speed transportation of packaged food. The films, whose dried thicknesses were in the range of 15–16 µm, were prepared by casting mixtures of 24 g of cassava starch, 45–55% w/w of glycerol and 0–2% w/w of zinc nanoparticles. The responses of cassava starch-zinc nanocomposite films to dynamic loading were determined, thus assessing their suitability for high speed packaging application. The increase in the concentrations of glycerol (>45%) and zinc nanoparticles (>1%) in the formulation might be responsible for the increased strain rate sensitivity of the 15 µm film. The hardness and Young’s modulus of the films varied inconsistently with the concentrations of glycerol and zinc nanoparticles at 15, 16 and 17 µm thickness, because of the increased displacement with a slight change in the applied load. The strain energy absorbed was lower for the 15 µm film, which absorbed 40 pNm during the loading part of the hysteresis loop, than for the 16 and 17 µm films. Also, only 0.5 pNm of the strain energy was finally dissipated during the unloading part of the loop. The creep response of the 15 µm film makes it viscoelastic enough to withstand death loads or wear at higher loads. Conse-quently, the film can be used for the high speed packaging of food and food products.
Applying precision feeding techniques in growing-finishing pig operations

The high cost of feed ingredients, the use of non-renewable sources of phosphate and the dramatic increase in the environmental load resulting from the excessive land application of manure are major challenges for the livestock industry. Precision feeding is proposed as an essential approach to improve the utilization of dietary nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients and thus reduce feeding costs and nutrient excretion. Precision feeding requires accurate knowledge of the nutritional value of feedstuffs and animal nutrient requirements, the formulation of diets in accordance with environmental constraints, and the gradual adjustment of the dietary nutrient supply to match the requirements of the animals. After the nutritional potential of feed ingredients has been precisely determined and has been improved by the addition of enzymes (e.g. phytases) or feed treatments, the addition of environmental objectives to the traditional feed formulation algorithms can promote the sustainability of the swine industry by reducing nutrient excretion in swine operations with small increases in feeding costs. Increasing the number of feeding phases can also contribute to significant reductions in nutrient excretion and feeding costs. However, the use of precision feeding techniques in which pigs are fed individually with daily tailored diets can further improve the efficiency with which pigs utilize dietary nutrients. Precision feeding involves the use of feeding techniques that allow the provision of the right amount of feed with the right composition at the right time to each pig in the herd. Using this approach, it has been estimated that feeding costs can be reduced by more than 4.6%, and nitrogen and phosphorus excretion can both be reduced by more than 38%. Moreover, the integration of precision feeding techniques into large-group production systems can provide real-time off-farm monitoring of feed and animals for optimal slaughter and production strategies, thus improving the environmental sustainability of pork production, animal well-being and meat-product quality.
Twitter’s big hitters

We describe the results of a new computational experiment on Twitter data. By listening to Tweets on a selected topic, we generate a dynamic social interaction network. We then apply a recently proposed dynamic network analysis algorithm that ranks Tweeters according to their ability to broadcast information. In particular, we study the evolution of importance rankings over time. Our presentation will also describe the outcome of an experiment where results from automated ranking algorithms are compared with the views of social media experts.