Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reconstruction of the S-Matrix of n-Port Waveguide Reciprocal Devices from 2-Port VNA Measurements

Two approaches to reconstruct the S-matrix of N -port waveguide reciprocal devices from 2-port S-matrix measurements are proposed and discussed. The main advantage of the proposed approaches is that measurements are done always at the same two ports, without moving the device. The remaining N -2 ports are loaded with different loads, either matched or short. The first approach, based on a manipulation of the 2-port S-matrices, requires N -2 matched and two other loads, while the second approach, based on the evaluation of an equivalent circuit, requires N -2 short and two other loads. The measurement technique is based on standard loads (short, shift and matched) in the waveguide calibration kit of the 2-port VNA.
Collaborative concept mapping: an education research team leveraging their collaborative efforts

Collaborative concept mapping (CCM) has been a tool deployed by educators to enhance learning in such situations as primary science classes, supported learning environments and asynchronous computer-mediated learning. Of its outcomes, CCM has produced rich group discussion about ideas and possibilities pertinent to the topic or problem at hand. The majority of research into CCM has been explicitly pointed at enhancing learning. This chapter takes a different tack by reporting on how the authors used CCM to seek understandings of its utility in enabling collaborative research by creating synergies within a research team located in the Faculty of Education at the University of Southern Queensland. The following questions were used to focus the research: • What was the research team’s experience of collaborative concept mapping? • What propositions did the team construct about teamwork and collaboration? • How did the interactions among team members facilitate meaning-making about teamwork and collaboration? The data consisted of this team’s collaborative concept map and recordings of the dialogue during the process of constructing the map. Analysis revealed the team’s emerging propositions about teamwork and collaboration and also contributed understandings of the co-constructed patterns of talk that produced this dynamic map. The chapter concludes that collaborative concept mapping is a useful tool for research and other team development, and possibly for the collaborative conceptualisation of future team research projects.
Portfolio Insurance Strategies by a Large Player

Market liquidity risk refers to the degree to which large size transactions can be carried out in a timely fashion with minimal impact on prices. Emphasized by the G10 report in 1993 and the BIS report in 1997, it is one factor of destabilization in the financial markets, as illustrated recently by the Asian crisis, the failure of the hedge fund LTCM during the Russian crisis. So in order to assess welfare implications of portfolio insurance strategies, it would be to estimate the dynamic hedging activity in securities markets through a specific parsimonious and realistic model. In the paper, large traders hold sufficient liquid assets to meet liquidity needs of other traders, and so bear the risk of their imbalanced derivatives portfolio. As a result of their dynamic hedging strategies, through endogenous non-linear positive feedback effects, they buy and sell derivatives at prices shifted by an amount that depends on their net holding. We show how dynamic hedging may directly and endogenously give rise to empirically observed bid-offer spreads, of which we then analyse the two main underlying factors: inventory holding costs and informational asymmetry, thus requiring specific strategic trades in order to tackle portfolio insurance strategy paradox. More specifically we offer partial hedging strategies, such as “feedback volatility” pricing and state-dependent threshold value strategies, illustrating a trade-off between maximizing expected gains and minimizing mis-hedging risk. Moreover we also discuss delicate positions’ gamma hedging, which requires creating vega positions in order to profit from the "feedback" volatility, in both long and short term. Finally we model the information asymmetry linked to the specific structure of the options portfolio and devise intertemporal arbitrage strategies for the large player.
Cyclicality of Fiscal Policy in Israel

This paper tests the cyclicality of fiscal policy in Israel. We find that government deficits are mildly counter-cyclical, mainly in recessions. Expenditures, and in particular, public investment, are pro-cyclical. However, we find that both the government deficit and expenditures have become more counter-cyclical after 1985, a period that is characterized by improved fiscal discipline, following the Economic Stabilization Program. We interpret this result as an indication that Israel is nowadays in a transition from pro-cyclical fiscal policy, as in many developing countries, to counter-cyclical fiscal policy, as is more common in developed countries.
Should unemployment insurance cover partial unemployment

A considerable share of the labor force consists of underemployed part-time workers: employed workers who, for various reasons, are unable to work as much as they would like to. Offering unemployment benefits to part-time unemployed workers is controversial. On the one hand, such benefits can strengthen incentives to take a part-time job rather than remain fully unemployed, thus raising the probability of obtaining at least some employment. On the other hand, these benefits weaken incentives for part-time workers to look for full-time employment. It is also difficult to distinguish people who work part-time by choice from those who do so involuntarily.
VIGILANT® HERBICIDE FOR CONTROL OF TWO WILDING CONIFER SPECIES, CONTORTA PINE AND DOUGLAS FIR

Wilding conifers are usually killed without herbicide by severing the stem below the lowest green needles. This is difficult, for example, when multistemmed trees are growing on unstable or rocky substrates. Under such circumstances a picloram gel formulation (Vigilant® herbicide gel) was applied to freshly cut surfaces of stumps of contorta pine (Pinus contorta) and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). Stumps were pruned so that some green needles remained on the stump below the cut. Treatments were applied in May 2002. After 6 months, many herbicide-treated plants showed leaf distortion and yellowing. After 18 months, 97% of the 75 herbicide-treated contorta pine plants were dead compared with only 13% (n=30) of those receiving no herbicide. The herbicide killed 100% of the 15 treated Douglas fir plants compared with 3% death rate for the 15 receiving no herbicide.
Spectral density of the QCD Dirac operator at the NLO in chiral perturbation theory

We compute the spectral density of the QCD Dirac operator by using partially quenched chiral perturbation theory (PQChPT) at the next-to-leading order (NLO). We focus on the theory with two degenerate dynamical flavors supplemented with an additional quenched one. The definition of the partially quenched (PQ) chiral theory and the computational strategy adopted here are slightly different from those that can be found in the literature [1, 2]. The spectral density is extracted from the analytic continuation of the PQ chiral condensate following Refs. [3, 4], where some of the results obtained here can be found.
Seasonal Variation of Noise-Air Quality and State of Exposure to Noise-Air Pollution at Curbside Open-Air Microenvironment of Kolkata City, India

Seasonal variation of combined Noise-Air quality, chances of correlated exposure and quality of combined exposure to Noise-Air pollution at the curbside open-air microenvironments of Kolkata city, India was examined in this study. Accordingly air quality in terms of concentration of PM2.5 and NO2, equivalent traffic noise level, and traffic volume were estimated in summer and winter at the microenvironment of 38 locations of the city in two peak and one non-peak traffic hours. Corresponding meteorological data on air temperature, relative humidity and wind speed was recorded form a roof-top automated weather monitoring station. Data of the two peak and one non-peak traffic hours of the same monitoring season and station were averaged accordingly to wipe out the peak non-peak hour variations in the observation. Combined noise-air quality of the microenvironments of the city was very poor (City Noise-Air Index: 0.19±0.13) in winter and poor (0.20±0.18) in summer. Moderate positive Pearson’s correlation of 0.42 between concentration of NO2 and traffic noise level in summer indicated chances of correlated exposure to this environmental stressors in the season. Quality of combined exposure to Noise-Air pollution was poor (Combined Exposure Factor: 0.08±0.14) in winter and good (0.35±0.37) in summer. Improved combined Noise-Air quality and quality of combined exposure to Noise-Air pollution at the curbside microenvironment in summer was attributed to higher wind speed; otherwise, no significant seasonal variations were observed in traffic volume and traffic noise level.
Prediction of Load-Carrying Capacity in Steel Shear Wall with Opening Using Artificial Neural Network

The effects of different parameters on steel plate shear wall (SPSW) are investigated. The studied parameters are thickness of plate, location of the opening, thickness of diagonal stiffeners, and thickness of circular stiffener. Load-carrying capacity of the SPSW is studied under static load using nonlinear geometrical and material analysis in ABAQUS and the obtained simulation results are verified. An artificial neural network (ANN) is proposed to model the effects of these parameters. According to the results the circular stiffener has more effect compared with the diagonal stiffeners. However, the thickness of the plate has the most significant effect on the SPSW behavior. The results show that the best place for the opening location is the center of SPSW. Multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network was used to predict the maximum load in SPSW with opening. The predicted maximum load values using the proposed MLP model were compared with the simulated validated data. The obtained results show that the proposed ANN model has achieved good agreement with the validated simulated data, with correlation coefficient of more than 0.9975. Therefore, the proposed model is useful, reliable, fast, and cheap tools to predict the maximum load in SPSW.
Income Inequality and Health: Strong Theories, Weaker Evidence

Many researchers and advocates believe that income inequality affects individual health, but empirical evidence has been inconclusive. A large body of research has found that income inequality is negatively correlated with average life expectancy, partly because a transfer of income from the poor to the rich is likely to harm the health of the poor more than it improves the health of the rich. A smaller body of work has investigated socioeconomic disparities in life expectancy, which widened in many countries after 1980, at the same time that income inequality was increasing. These two lines of work should be seen as complementary, because high and rising income inequality is unlikely to affect the health of all socioeconomic groups equally. Understanding the effects of income inequality on health requires attention to the mechanisms that affect the health of different income groups, changing average health, disparities in health, or (more likely) both. Rising income inequality can affect individuals in two ways. Direct effects change individuals’ own income. Indirect effects change other people’s income, which can then change a society’s politics, customs, and ideals, altering even the behavior of those whose own income remains unchanged. Indirect effects can thus change both average health and the slope of the relationship between individual income and health.
Pre-service teachers’ practical knowledge as emerged from teaching lessons in the practicum

Teacher Education programs worldwide strive to guarantee high quality standards in the pre service teaching preparation by including both research and practical contents in their syllabi. However some research works have demonstrated that Student Teachers show limitations to fully understand and react to real situations in the school settings. In this paper we present some of the results from a European Project (ACTTEA 2012-2015) which foremost purpose is to know how pre-service teachers learn from their practicum experience, that is to say, what kind of practical knowledge they activate when they engage in practical teaching situations. Eighty seven Student Teachers participated in this study for Spain. Similar samples were gathered in the other partner countries: Finland, The Netherlands and Estonia. The task to be performed consisted in planning a lesson; delivering it and record it; watch the video-recording within two days; selecting two critical incidents (one positive and one negative) that could summarize the most important events of the lesson; and reflect over the incidents. For this last (analytical phase) three conditions were used: a. Individual reflection on action; b. peer reflection, and c. mentoring guided reflection. Participants were equally distributed to the conditions (27, 30 and 30 respectively). Topical analysis was used to identify the emergent themes in the reflective dialogues. Kappa reliability tests confirmed the replicability of the analysis followed. Six categories were used to identify practical knowledge in the topics: recalls and appraisals (narrative knowledge), rules and artifacts (inferential knowledge) and practical reasoning and theoretical reasoning (explicative knowledge). Main results indicate that the three conditions generated similar numbers of reflective comments (37.54% for individual reflection; and 31.22% for peer reflection and mentor reflection) however the type of knowledge followed a particular distribution: Narrative knowledge was significantly higher (203; 71.22%) than the other main two groups: explicative knowledge (70; 24.55%) or inferential knowledge (12; 4.2%). The implication out of it is that learning complex and generalizable practical knowledge (inferential knowledge) is more difficult to naturally prompt in reflective dialogues. Furthermore, it is even more difficult for Student Teachers to think of the ways the own-experience (practical reasoning) or educational theories (theoretical reasoning) can justify the actions performed in classroom.
On some nonlocal systems containing a parabolic PDE and a first order ODE

Two models of reaction-diffusion are presented: a non-Fickian diffusion model described by a system of a parabolic PDE and a first order ODE, further, porositymineralogy changes in porous medium which is modelled by a system consisting of an ODE, a parabolic and an elliptic equation. Existence of weak solutions is shown by the Schauder fixed point theorem combined with the theory of monotone type operators.
Evidence of horizontal and vertical transport of water in the Southern Hemisphere tropical tropopause layer (TTL) from high-resolution balloon observations

Abstract. High-resolution in situ balloon measurements of water vapour, aerosol, methane and temperature in the upper tropical tropopause layer (TTL) and lower stratosphere are used to evaluate the processes affecting the stratospheric water budget: horizontal transport (in-mixing) and hydration by cross-tropopause overshooting updrafts. The obtained in situ evidence of these phenomena are analysed using satellite observations by Aura MLS (Microwave Limb Sounder) and CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) together with trajectory and transport modelling performed using CLaMS (Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere) and HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) model. Balloon soundings were conducted during March 2012 in Bauru, Brazil (22.3° S) in the frame of the TRO-Pico campaign for studying the impact of convective overshooting on the stratospheric water budget. The balloon payloads included two stratospheric hygrometers: FLASH-B (Fluorescence Lyman-Alpha Stratospheric Hygrometer for Balloon) and Pico-SDLA instrument as well as COBALD (Compact Optical Backscatter Aerosol Detector) sondes, complemented by Vaisala RS92 radiosondes. Water vapour vertical profiles obtained independently by the two stratospheric hygrometers are in excellent agreement, ensuring credibility of the vertical structures observed. A signature of in-mixing is inferred from a series of vertical profiles, showing coincident enhancements in water vapour (of up to 0.5 ppmv) and aerosol at the 425 K (18.5 km) level. Trajectory analysis unambiguously links these features to intrusions from the Southern Hemisphere extratropical stratosphere, containing more water and aerosol, as demonstrated by MLS and CALIPSO global observations. The in-mixing is successfully reproduced by CLaMS simulations, showing a relatively moist filament extending to 20° S. A signature of local cross-tropopause transport of water is observed in a particular sounding, performed on a convective day and revealing water vapour enhancements of up to 0.6 ppmv as high as the 404 K (17.8 km) level. These are shown to originate from convective overshoots upwind detected by an S-band weather radar operating locally in Bauru. The accurate in situ observations uncover two independent moisture pathways into the tropical lower stratosphere, which are hardly detectable by space-borne sounders. We argue that the moistening by horizontal transport is limited by the weak meridional gradients of water, whereas the fast convective cross-tropopause transport, largely missed by global models, can have a substantial effect, at least at a regional scale.
Milk Fat Depression: Etiology, Theories, and Soluble Carbohydrate Interactions

Milk fat depression is a metabolic disorder characterized by a sustained reduction in milk fat and has challenged producers and scientists for over a century. Nutritionists have incorporated supplemental fat in dairy rations for years as a means to increase the energy density of the diet, but often decreased fiber digestibility or milk fat depression was observed. The rumen microbial populations were thought to play a major part in why producers had difficulty using high levels of unsaturated fat. Many different theories evolved throughout the century into the causes of milk fat depression that often appears ex nihilo. Such theories involved concepts centered on substrate limitation, low rumen pH, and specific bioactive fatty acids. The biohydrogenation theory became one of the more widely accepted explanations for milk fat depression. Since the discovery of certain fatty acid isomers that induce milk fat depression more investigations have aimed at how different nutrients interact in the rumen and affect the production of these milk fat inhibiting isomers. Readily available carbohydrates such as sugar, starch, neutral detergent soluble fiber, and rumen availability of these carbohydrate fractions, all effect the microbial populations within the rumen that are involved in the process of biohydrogenation. This review summarizes the knowledge available on milk fat depression, microbial influences, how soluble carbohydrate fractions influence on biohydrogenation.
Implementing a Software Verification and Validation Management Framework in the Space Industry

Software designed for use in space related applications has a particular set of requirements regarding dependability and reliability, due mostly to the high cost of the finished products and to the difficulties of performing maintenance. In this setting, verification and validation activities become increasingly important and increasingly expensive. At the same time, the industry is under pressure to reduce expenditure without compromising the quality of its products. One option to reduce cost without reducing the overall quality was to develop a framework for the optimization of verification and validation activities. One such framework, called VAMOS [1], was developed at an earlier stage. The current paper presents the implementation of the framework, together with the modifications that were made to ensure success and the reasoning behind those modifications.
The educational transformation of work: towards a new synthesis

Formal education not only educates individuals, it reconstitutes the very foundations of society through a pervasive culture of education with a legitimate capacity to reconstruct work and its central components such as ideas about human productive abilities, new organisations and management, widespread professionalism and expertise, and the emerging educated workplace. The ubiquitous massive growth and spread of education has transformed the world into a schooled society, and in turn the schooled society has transformed work. The implications of the educational revolution and empirical findings from a range of recent research studies are applied to – the narrow version of human capital theory and education‐as‐myth sociological theory – two widely employed theories of education and work over the past 40 years. And a new theoretical synthesis that takes into account the empirical realities of the schooled society is proposed.
GEOLOGICAL, GEOCHEMICAL AND MINERALOGICAL OF THE IRON ORE DEPOSIT OF SABAH, AL-BAYDA'AAREA, YEMEN.

Ali M. Al-Hawbani 1 and Ali M. Qaid 2 . 1. Dept. of Geology &Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Thamar University, Yemen. 2. Dept. of Civil Engineering, Al-Hajar (Qabitah) Community College. Manuscript Info Abstract . Manuscript History