Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Solving Real Options Models of Fisheries Investment When Salvage Value Is Difficult to Estimate

Real options models arguably provide a useful framework for understanding individual fishermen’s investment and participation decisions, which play an important role in fisheries management issues ranging from capacity reduction to stock assessment. While these models appear to predict actual behavior reasonably well, one important difficulty in applying them is that the salvage value of the fishing enterprise (or the opportunity cost of fishing, which when capitalized can be treated as a salvage value) is often difficult to assess. For example, there may be few sales in a market for boats or licenses, and there may be little information on other employment opportunities available to fishermen. This paper adopts a fisherman’s exit decision as a framework for exploring solution techniques for real options models when salvage value is difficult to estimate. We first present a simple model of the exit decision as a disinvestment problem, and then describe this model’s solution by minimization and finite difference methods, including an iterative nonlinear least squares approach that allows rapid solution for a wide range of putative deterministic salvage values. We then allow salvage value to follow its own stochastic process, again exploring this example with both minimization and finite difference techniques. Our general conclusion is that minimization methods are much preferable when they apply, but that in most fisheries applications it will be necessary to resort to finite difference, finite element, or Monte Carlo methods.
Collaborative Filtering Algorithm Based on Item Attribute and Time Weight

Collaborative filtering is a recommendation algorithm which is used in personalized system. To solve the problem of low accuracy caused by sparse data in the user-item matrix of traditional collaborative filtering algorithm, this paper presents a hybrid algorithm. Firstly, it uses the data based on the similarity of item’s attributes to fill the matrix. And then a weight decrease by the time is given to increase the effectiveness of the measurement, thereby to improve the accuracy of the collaborative filtering algorithm. Experimental results show that the algorithm proposed in this paper can improve the accuracy of recognition and enhance the quality of the recommendation system. Keywords—Collaborative filtering; Sparse data; Item attribute; Time weight
Comparing Efficiency of Public Universities Among European Countries: Different Incentives Lead to Different Performances

This paper analyses the relationship between the public funding systems of higher education in Italy and the Netherlands and their universities' performances. Empirically, an efficiency analysis on 13 Dutch and 58 Italian public universities is conducted. The findings show that the relative efficiency of Italian and Dutch universities is strongly influenced by the policy perspective adopted. If the goal is to realise the European goals and minimise resources employed for obtaining a high number of graduates, Dutch universities turn out to be more efficient. However, Italian universities are much more efficient if the priority is to minimise the costs for a given level of activity, such as number of students.
A further study of control for a pendulum-driven cart

Recently, the control of a 'pendulum-driven cart' has attracted some considerable research interest. One of the reasons is that the mechanism studied is very similar to that of an 'actively-driven capsule robot' which is still under development and will have wide potential medical applications. In this paper, we study the pendulum-driven cart system from a control viewpoint, and use it as a benchmark to explore a new robust control approach which achieves better performance than those presented in a previous paper. The controller designed is also robust against uncertainties in plant parameters and very simple to implement. The extensive simulation studies and experimental results have demonstrated the proposed control approach.
Carbon and nitrogen reserves of leafy spurge ( Euphorbia esula ) roots as related to overwintering strategy 1

Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.), a serious perennial weed of temperature range and pasture lands, has continued to colonize despite various control strategies. The persistence of this species can be attributed in part to the presence of an extensive root system containing abundant organic reserves. These components, established towards the end of the growing season, are remobilized to support early spring growth. Carbohydrates comprise the bulk of reserve material with late fall increments in free sugars being associated with reductions in starch content. Nitrogenous components undergo significant seasonal fluxes, with free amino acids and soluble proteins reaching maxima during late fall. Asparagine, glutamic acid, serine, ornithine, proline, arginine and aspartic acid all contribute significantly to the storage of nitrogen. Changes in nitrate content are associated with the overwintering process. These observations are indicative of the role that nitrogen plays in the overwintering strategy and regenerative capacity of leafy spurge roots.
Development and Validation of a Food Frequency Questionnaire for Assessing Dietary Calcium in Children

A B S T R A C T Background and Objectives: This study aimed to develop and validate a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for measuring calcium intake in 9-13 years old children in Tehran, Iran. Materials and Methods: A 56-item FFQ containing main contributors of calcium in Iranian diet was designed. Criterion validity of the calcium specific FFQ was evaluated through comparing its result with five 24-h recalls as the reference method. Reproducibility was measured by twice administration of FFQ, one month apart. The study was performed in the selected primary and middle schools of Tehran city. Subjects included 184 children aged 9-13 years (90 girls and 94 boys), who were recruited through two-stage systematic cluster sampling from 20 primary and middle schools. Results: Mean calcium intake was 922.8±322.3 and 876.0±491.8 mg/d for the 24-h recalls and FFQ, respectively, indicating a mean difference of 46.7±458.7 mg/d (P<0.001). Corrected Pearson’s correlation was 0.57. Cross-classification analysis of the FFQ and 24-h recalls classified 80% of the subjects in the same or adjacent category, and 6% in the extreme quartiles. The FFQ correctly identified 85% of the children consuming less calcium than the age-specific Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) (1300 mg/d). Pearson’s correlation for repeated administrations was 0.65. Cross-classification analysis of the repeated administration of FFQ classified 81% of the subjects in the same or adjacent quartiles, and 3.3% in the extreme categories. Conclusions: The FFQ underestimates mean calcium intake of a group, and has limited use to estimate calcium intake for individuals. However, it has acceptable validity and reproducibility for epidemiologic studies to assess a group’s mean calcium intake.
Analysis of horn type waveguide with impulse excitation

The aim of this research is theoretical investigation of dynamics of the horn type waveguides with impact excitation. For this purpose, a scheme of system with piezoelectric transducer for burst-type electrical signal generation is presented. Such a system could be used in generation of burst-type electric signals or direct control for some kind of stepper motors, e.g. piezo motors. In this paper horn (waveguide), which could be used in a system, for burst type electrical signal generation, is theoretically investigated in different way – end of the horn with smaller cross sectional area is excited with the impulse excitation and displacement is obtained at the end with greater cross sectional area.
Synthesis of Circular Arrays with Simulated Annealing Optimization Algorithm

This paper presents an analysis and a synthesis of circular arrays of printed antennas. The simulated annealing technique which is a probabilistic methodology to solve combinatorial optimization problems, has been applied to optimize the amplitude of weights coefficients of the elements of the circular array in order to improve the antenna performances and to obtain a beam pattern that meet given requirements. It is seen that the optimization method is effective in designing such arrays. The power of the simulated annealing method lies in its ability to avoid the local minima and to converge to the global minimum of the cost function, thanks to the exploitation of simulated annealing potentialities and high flexibility.
The Effects of Background Television on the Quantity and Quality of Child-Directed Speech by Parents

Prior research has identified negative effects of background television (TV) exposure on toddler toy play and parent–child interactions and has documented a negative association between early TV exposure and language development. It is hypothesized that background, adult-directed TV reduces the quantity and quality of parent language addressed to their young children. To test this hypothesis, the current study compared parent language directed at 12-, 24-, and 36-month-old toddlers (N = 49) in the presence and absence of background TV. In the presence of background TV, the number of words and utterances spoken per minute by the parent decreased as did the number of new words per minute. However, mean length of utterances did not differ. Because parent input is an important factor for language acquisition, development may be negatively affected by background TV exposure.
CHILEAN MARINE MOLLUSCA OF NORTHERN PATAGONIA COLLECTED DURING THE CIMAR-10 FJORDS CRUISE

El extremo sur de Sudamerica representa una de las areas subantarticas mas interesantes desde un punto de vista ecologico y biogeogranco. A pesar de ello, el conocimiento que se tiene sobre la biodiversidad del area, y en particular de los habitats marinos submareales, es relativamente pobre. En el ano 2004 se realizo un proyecto de investigacion sobre biodiversidad como parte del crucero Fiordos Cimar-10, organizado y financiado por el Comite Oceanografico Nacional de Chile (CONA). En este articulo se describen los resultados obtenidos sobre de los moluscos submareales. Las muestras fueron obtenidas en el invierno del 2004, a bordo del buque Agor 60 "Vidal Gormaz". El area de estudio se localizo en el extremo norte de la Patagonia chilena, desde el Seno de Relocanvi (41 °31' S) hasta la Boca del Guafo (43°49'S), en la plataforma continental comprendida entre 22 y 353 m de profundidad. Los moluscos fueron recolectados en 23 estaciones de muestreo empleando una rastra Agassiz. Se registro un total de 67 especies, consistentes en 4% Polyplacophora (Leptochitonidae, Ischnochitonidae), 58% Gastropoda (Lepetidae, Fissurellidae, Trochidae, Turbinidae, Calyptraeidae, Capulidae, Naticidae, Ranellidae, Cerithiopsidae, Epitoniidae, Muricidae, Buccinidae, Columbellidae, Nassariidae, Volutidae, Cancellariidae, Turridae, Pyramidellidae, Acteonidae, Chilinidae), 36% Bivalvia (Nuculidae, Yoldiidae, Malletiidae, Tindariidae, Limopsidae, Phylobryidae, Mytilidae, Pectinidae, Propeamussidae, Lucinidae, Thyasiridae, Neoleptonidae, Carditidae, Condylocardiidae, Veneridae, Tellinidae, Lyonsiidae, Pandoridae, Cuspidariidae) y 1% Scaphopoda (Rhabdidae). Nuestros resultados muestran que las especies submareales presentan una elevada proporcion con caracter austral (magallamco). Del total de 67 taxa registrados, 45 especies son estrictamente magallamcas o antarticas (67%) y 16 presentan una amplia area de distribucion que se extiende al sur del area de estudio (24%). Solo seis de las especies (9%) son estrictamente de la provincia biogeografica peruana.
A survey of various data communication schemes in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have significant potential in many application domains such as agriculture, health, environmental monitoring, battlefield surveillance, and wild fire detection. They, however cannot be used in large geographical areas due to the short communication range of sensors. In addition, sensor networks have been the lack of available network management and control tools, such as for determining the degree of data aggregation prior to transforming it into useful information. Designing different network management tools such for routing, localization, and data aggregation are, therefore, required in large scale WSNs. Only a few of the existing data aggregation methods have been developed for a large scale WSN. In this paper we have do a review of some literature and techniques for data aggregation in large scale WSN .
THE DIFFERENCES IN THE DETECTABILITY OF PERFORATION SHOTS AND MICROSEISMIC EVENTS IN THE SURFACE MONITORING: THE ATTENUATION EFFECT

Detection of the seismic signal from perforations or string shots is crucial for calibration of velocity model for surface or downhole monitoring. While in the borehole recordings perforation shots have higher signal to noise ratio of the P-waves than microseismic events, in the surface monitoring recordings it is often opposite. We investigated amplitude spectra of microseismic events and perforation shots in the downhole data and found that amplitude ratios in the band of 20-30 Hz relative to band 100-200 Hz are stronger for the microseismic events. Thus we suggest that detectability of the perforations in surface recorded data is limited by attenuation of the higher frequency signal which increases exponentially with frequency. This suggests that longer duration of calibration shots can improve detectability of string shots at the surface. ARTICLE INFO
Contributing Factors to the Recent High Level of Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) and Power Dissipation Index (PDI) in the North Atlantic

Inrecentdecades,tropicalcyclone(TC)activityintheNorthAtlantichasshownamarkedpositiveanomaly in genesis number, mean lifespan, number of intense hurricanes, and mean maximum intensity. The accumulated cyclone energy (ACE), which is defined as the sum of the square of the maximum surface wind velocity throughout the lifetime of a TC, is one of the measures that can be used to synthesize these factors. Similar to the ACE, the power dissipation index (PDI), which is defined as the integrated third power of maximum surface wind velocity, has also been used to describe TC activity. The basin-total ACE and PDI for the North Atlantic have also followed a large positive anomaly during the period 1995‐2012; however, the relative importance of factors such as TC genesis number,TC track property(e.g., duration and lifespan), and TC intensity remains unclear in terms of their contribution to the positive anomalies in ACE and PDI. This study uses a new empirical statistical approach to analyze the TC data and finds that the increase in the TC genesis numberis primarily responsiblefor the positiveanomalies in ACEand PDI.Other factors,such asTC track property and TC intensity, appear to be minor influences.
Contributions numériques en compatibilité électromagnétique impulsionnelle. Paradigme pour la caractérisation temporelle d'équipements

Le travail presente dans cette these concerne la mise en oeuvre numerique de techniques temporelles pour des applications en compatibilite electromagnetique (CEM) impulsionnelle, essentiellement pour des etudes en chambre reverberante a brassage de modes (CRBM). Prenant le contre-pied des approches frequentielles, adaptees par nature aux etudes de cavites resonantes, l’idee directrice de ce memoire a ete d’etudier des moyens temporels originaux d’investigation de CRBM en vue de proposer de nouveaux paradigmes pour la caracterisation d’equipements. Originellement developpe en acoustique, le processus de retournement temporel (RT) recemment applique aux ondes electromagnetiques permet une focalisation spatiale et temporelle de ces dernieres d’autant meilleur que le milieu de propagation est reverberant. Les chambres reverberantes (CR) sont ainsi des endroits ideaux pour l’application du processus de RT. Apres une necessaire etude des nombreux parametres qui gouvernent ce dernier couplee a la definition de methodologies numeriques specifiques, les applications du RT en CRBM sont exposees. En particulier, l’interet d’une focalisation selective pour des tests en susceptibilite rayonnee est demontre. L’importance des coefficients d’absorption et de diffraction des equipements en CRBM justifie leur caracterisation precise et efficace. A cette fin, la mise en oeuvre d’un calcul temporel de section efficace totale de diffraction (TSCS en anglais) est detaillee. L’application de cette nouvelle technique a differentes formes de brasseurs de modes permet au final de confronter ces resultats avec ceux obtenus a l’aide de tests normatifs CEM.
Predators and people: conservation of large carnivores is possible at high human densities if management policy is favourable

In a recent analysis Woodroffe (2000) found a positive relationship between historical patterns of large carnivore extinction probability and human population density. However, much of the data in this analysis came from a period when carnivore extermination was a management objective. In order to explore the hypothesis that large carnivores can persist at high human densities when the management regime is more favourable we have repeated the analysis using up‐to‐date data from North America and Europe. In North America we found that large carnivore populations have increased after favourable legislation was introduced, despite further increases in human population density. In Europe we found no clear relationship between present carnivore distribution and human population density. We therefore believe that the existence of effective wildlife management structures is more important than human density per se.
Printing Technologies on Flexible Substrates for Printed Electronics

Printing technologies have been demonstrated to be highly efficient and compatible with polymeric materials (both inks and substrates) enabling a new generation of flexible electronics applications. Conductive flexible polymers are a new class of materials that are prepared for a wide range of applications, such as photovoltaic solar cells, transistors molecular devices, and sensors and actuators. There are many possible printing techniques. This chapter provides an opportunity to review the most common printing techniques used at the industrial level, the most commonly used substrates and electronic materials, giving an overall vision for a better understanding and evaluation of their different features. Several technological solutions (contact/noncontact) and its critical challenges are also presented. Inkjet Printing Technology (IPT) has been receiving a great attention and therefore higher focus is given to this technology. An overview of IPT is presented to evidence its importance and potential as a key-technology on the research field for printed electronics development, as well as on large scale industrial manufacturing. A background and a review on prior work are presented along with used materials, developed applications and potential of IPT technology. The main features of the different printing technologies, advantages and main challenges are also compared.
Evaluation of Level Bund Conservation Structure for Maize and Sorghum Production in Moisture Deficit Areas of Hawi Gudina District, Eastern Ethiopia

The experiment was conducted in 2011-2012 cropping seasons in moisture deficit area of Hawi Gudina district Dhega Dheba PA, Western Hararghe Zone. The study was conducted to evaluate effect of level bund conservation structure on grain yield of maize and sorghum in moisture deficit areas for improving productivity. The treatments were level bund and farmer’s practice with testing crop maize (melkasa-4 variety) and sorghum (Abshir variety) on three farms used as replication. The data on yield (Qt ha -1 ), stand count at harvest & number of cobs/heads per hectare were collected for maize and sorghum varieties. The study revealed that, the mean number of stand count at harvest and cobs/heads per hectare directly affected the yield obtained from both crops; and cultivars receiving treatment level bund conservation structure matured later (i.e. from 1-3 days later) compared to farmers’ practice. It was also found that the mean yields of maize and sorghum (Qt ha -1 ) on treatment level bund were 28.5% and 51% more than farmers practice respectively, in 2011 cropping season. Likewise, during second growing season (2012), it was found that the mean of maize yield (Qt ha -1 ) on treatment level bund conservation structure was 26.8% more over farmers practice and mean yield of sorghum (Qt ha -1 ) was 53% over farmers practice. Thus, this conservation structure is found promising to be used in moisture deficit areas and recommended with early maturing crops for their improved productivity. Keywords: Level bund, days to maturity, moisture stress, yield
Relative affluence measures and an identification of growth pattern

The analysis of growth patterns is a branch of research of great practical importance: the identification of factors that influence changes in the income distribution making them pro-poor or pro-rich can be a crucial element in the process of designing a social policy. It seems natural that analyzing the problem of the relative situation of the poorer with respect to the richer involves – for a given definition of the poorer and the richer – a comparison of the situation of both groups. It is not, however, exactly reflected in actual methodologies aiming at identifying growth patterns. The paper is aimed at proposing a method of identification of a growth pattern by analyzing the direct relation between income (or some other measure of wealth) of the poorer and of the richer. At this end the basic idea of Zenga’s inequality index is applied. Proposed relative affluence measures allude to the intuitive concept of the proportion of two averages: upper and lower – with respect to a given quantile of the income distribution. In this sense it directly refers to the relation poorer-richer and can be intuitively understood, even by non-specialists. In this paper relative affluence measures are applied to the analysis of growth patterns in Poland and the focus is on situation of the poor. The proposed measures can nevertheless be also applied to the analysis of the relative situation of the rich. In such a case the proposed measures would be measures of relative affluence in the full sense of these words.
A NEW APPROACH TO CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT IN MAGICA GEL DOSIMETER IMAGE WITH MRI TECHNIQUE

Background: Sensitivity and resolution are two main parameters that have to be measured in gel dosimetry. However, the resolution in gel is strongly dependant on gel composition. Selection of optimum method in dose response readout and proper values of parameters can result in noise reduction as well as improvement of contrast, and spatial resolution considerably. Materials and Methods: MAGICA polymer gel dosimeters were manufactured and irradiated to different doses using a 60 Co therapy unit. Imaging was performed in a 0.5T MRI with 8 echoes in air and water as a hydrogenous environment. Imaging condition was kept constant, as much as possible, in both imaging modalities. Results: Images obtained from these two procedures were compared quantitatively. R2- dose curves have three different sections, sensitivity obtained in these three sections were 1.039, 1.671, 1.260 Gy-1S-1 and 1.032, 1.729, 1.37 Gy -1 S -1 for water and air respectively. Calibration errors were investigated and graphically were compared in two different methods. Conclusion: Imaging in water medium for doses lower than 17 Gy led to a small reduction in spatial resolution was exchanged to a considerable increase of contrast in R2 map. For doses higher than17 Gy, imaging in water or air was preferred depending on the importance of contrast or spatial resolution. Iran. J. Radiat. Res., 2008; 6 (3): 151­156