Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ship demolition activity. An evaluation of the effect of currency exchange rates on ship scrap values

The demolition market assists in balancing the supply and demand in the shipping industry and from that perspective is a major driver of market equilibrium and the level of freight rates. Even so, literature related to ship demolition, focuses mainly on the environmental and regulatory aspects of the topic. Literature related to the economic analysis of the industry and the factors affecting demolition activity is rather limited and sporadic. From this perspective the current paper is helpful to further build up insight of the shipbreaking industry. The decision to sell a ship for scrap is driven by a number of factors with the most important being the state of the market cycle. The offered scrap price for the ship will also affect the decision of the shipowner. In this paper we support the view that ship scrap prices are affected by the currency exchange rates at the main demolition countries. We apply regression to evaluate our hypothesis. The regression results indicate a strong relation between ship scrap price and currency exchange rates of the main demolition countries albeit with some differentiations between vessel sizes.
Alcohol Use, Human Capital, and Wages

This article develops and estimates a model of wage determination that isolates the effects of alcohol use on wages as mediated through human capital accumulation. Although generally insignificant, estimation results suggest that moderate alcohol use while in school or working has a positive effect on the returns to education or experience, and therefore on human capital accumulation, but heavier drinking reduces this gain slightly. Based on these results, alcohol use does not appear to adversely affect returns to education or work experience and therefore has no negative effect on the efficiency of education or experience in forming human capital.
First-Principle Calculation of Structural, Mechanical, Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Cobalt Sub Hydrides Co2H and Co3H

In this present work, we perform first-principles calculations of the structural, electronic, mechanical and mechanical properties of Cobalt sub-hydrides (Co2H and Co3H) based on the density functional theory with local spin density (LSDA), and generalized gradient (GGA) approximations. The optimized structural parameters, densities of states, elastic constants (Cij) and mechanical properties (Young’s modulus Y, Shear modulus G, Poisson’s ratio ν) were obtained for the first time and analyzed. Our calculation shows that the insertion of hydrogen in low-concentration into cobalt leads to the expansion of unit cell volume and the bulk modulus as a function of this concentration. A resulting strong reduction of magnetization characterizes these subs-hydrides.
DISCOVERY OF A PROBABLE 4–5 JUPITER-MASS EXOPLANET TO HD 95086 BY DIRECT IMAGING

Direct imaging has only begun to inventory the population of gas giant planets on wide orbits around young stars in the solar neighborhood. Following this approach, we carried out a deep imaging survey in the near-infrared using VLT/NaCo to search for substellar companions. Here we report the discovery of a probable companion orbiting the young (10–17 Myr), dusty, early-type (A8) star HD 95086 at 56 AU in L′ (3.8 μm) images. This discovery is based on observations with more than a year time lapse. Our first epoch clearly revealed the source at ≃ 10σ, while our second epoch lacks good observing conditions, yielding a ≃ 3σ detection. Various tests were thus made to rule out possible artifacts. This recovery is consistent with the signal at the first epoch but requires cleaner confirmation. Nevertheless, our astrometric precision suggests that the companion is comoving with the star with a 3σ confidence level. The planetary nature of the source is reinforced by a non-detection in the Ks-band (2.18 μm) images according to its possible extremely red Ks–L′ color. Conversely, background contamination is rejected with good confidence level. The luminosity yields a predicted mass of about 4–5 MJup (at 10–17 Myr) using “hot-start” evolutionary models, making HD 95086 b the exoplanet with the lowest mass ever imaged around a star.
Translation And Validation Of The Malay Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist For Civilians

Objectives: There are a number of validated questionnaires available for the screening of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and the PTSD Checklist for Civilians is one of them. However, none was translated into the Malay Language and validated for use in the Malaysian population. The aim of this study is to translate and validate the Malay PTSD Checklist for Civilians (MPCL-C). Methods: The PCL-C was translated into the Malay Language and back-translated. The reliability and validity of the MPCL-C were then determined by administering them to those who presented at the emergency department for motor vehicle accident at least one month before. Results: The MPCL-C has good face and content validity. In terms of reliability, it is also good, with Chronbach’s alpha values of 0.90, 0.77, 0.75 and 0.74 for the full scale, re-experiencing, avoidance and arousal domains respectively. Conclusions: The MPCL-C is a valid and reliable instrument to screen for PTSD in motor vehicle accident victims for the studied population. Please click PDF below to download the full paper.
La enseñanza de la fonética española a hablantes de Escocia e Irlanda del Norte [Teaching Spanish phonetics to speakers of Scotland and Northern Ireland]

Teaching Spanish phonetics to Scottish and Northern Irish speakers. This paper deals with one of the most frequently forgotten areas in the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language: pronunciation. The phonetic/ phonological distance between the L1 and the L2 of the learners is of paramount importance to master the sounds of the L2; however, it is the phonetic/phonological distance between the dialectal region of the speaker's L1 (DR1) and the L2 of the speaker that will have the biggest influence in this learning process. After comparing linguistic peculiarities of the English language in general, and of the Scottish and Northern Irish variety in particular, with those of Castilian Spanish, we proceed to analyse the interlanguage of students of Spanish from Scotland and Northern Ireland. This enables us to understand the positive and negative transferences and assist us in creating a catalogue of the interferences to be corrected. Finally, to eliminate the interferences present in speakers of this regional variety of British English, we present a list of exercises based on coarticulatory processes.
Dome C Site Characterization in 2006 with Single-Star SCIDAR

We present observations made in 2006 with the single-star SCIDAR (SSS) at Dome C in Antarctica, allowing us to determine optical turbulence C N 2 ( h ) and velocity V(h) profiles from ice levels up to about 25 km above sea level (a.s.l.). SSS is a 16 inch telescope placed on an equatorial mount that continuously tracks the Canopus star. About 90,000 individual profiles are analyzed from March to September, where surface-layer contribution to seeing can be separated from the rest of the atmosphere. Medians of high angular resolution parameters relevant to astronomy are statistically studied, such as seeing (1.0′′), isoplanatic angle (6.9′′), and wavefront coherence time (3.4 ms). For a telescope placed above the turbulent surface layer, superb conditions are encountered (medians of seeing better than 0.3′′, isoplanatic angle better than 6.9′′, and coherence time larger than 10 ms). Astronomical conditions are twice as good at the beginning of the night, with ε0 ≈ 0.5′′, θ0 ≈ 11.5′′, and τ0 ≈ 15 ms. SSS wind-velocity profiles are consistent with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration analysis up to 17 km (a.s.l.), within a ± 2 m s - 1 error bar. Coherence étendue (which is a combination of ε0, θ0, and τ0), well adapted to adaptive optics performances, is likely 4 times better at Dome C than at the already-known observatories such as Mauna Kea or ORM.
Practical aspects of choice feeding in poultry and its future role.

‘The practical application of choice feeding to poultry the chcxice of unground grain and a protein, vitamin and inineral concentrate (plus granular calcium for laying birds) is discussed. Layers should be exposed during the growing period to all the feedstuffs they laay I encounter and should have the three choices before them at all times. Some problems nay be experienced in distributing the feedstuffs in laying cages with so:ne mechanical feeders, but these problems can be overcome. Choice feeding is readily applied to birds on litter. A method of scattering firin protein pellets and whole grain is suggested for choice feeding broiler breeders.
6-quark Dark Matter

It has recently been proposed that the relatively inert, highly symmetric, neutral flavor singlet scalar hadron made of uuddss quarks may have a mass < 2 (m_p + m_e). This is consistent with QCD theory, and with existing accelerator and non-accelerator constraints. For mass in the 1.5-1.8 GeV range, the observed DM relic abundance and the observed DM to ordinary matter ratio can emerge naturally. Dark matter freezes out before primordial nucleosynthesis and does not significantly impact primordial abundances, so the conventional argument that DM is non-baryonic does not apply. The interaction cross section between DM and the gas in the Galaxy is such that the dark matter in our local neighborhood is naturally co-rotating with the solar system, to a sufficient degree that DM may not have enough energy to be detected in applicable DM experiments. Interaction with the gas in galactic disks provides the first (non-MONDian) explanation for the striking correlation in the small-scale structure of rotation curves and the inhomogeneous distribution of gas, and also accounts (unlike MOND) for instances of galaxies not exhibiting such correlations. Depending on the cross-section, a DM-baryon interaction can produce a dark matter disk as suggested by recent studies, and has many or all virtues of self-interacting DM (SIDM) for removing inconsistencies of LCDM. Lab experiments to discover this particle are discussed.
Impacts of climate change on !sh

3. Pelagic (blue-water) species are showing distributional shi#s, with mackerel now extending into Icelandic and Faroe Island waters (with consequences for management), sardines and anchovies invading Irish and North Sea environments, and anchovies establishing breeding populations in the southern North Sea. Teasing apart the relative in$uences of the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and Global Warming as drivers for these changes is an important challenge.
Operational risk: measurement issues, Basel II and UAE banks

Operational risk is as old as the banking industry itself and yet the industry has only recently arrived at a definition of what it is. Still the controversy about the definition is not over. Ever since the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) adopted a new set of regulatory capital standards, organizations have begun identifying and evaluating methodologies to measure operational risk. The guidelines of the BIS are quite lucid about what constitutes operational risk. It is proved without doubt that the operational risk management improves the quality and stability of earnings, thereby enhancing the competitive position of the bank and facilitating its long term survival. The collapse of Bearings and the derivatives disasters were one among several factors that led to the revision of Basel-I and giving the due importance to operational risk measurement and management. But the problem lies in the standard measure of operational risk. The BIS major emphasis on regulatory capital has created adequate interest and motivation in the measurement of the Operational risk. While capital is important, it is merely one defense against risk and is unlikely to be the preferred solution. An increase in capital will not in itself reduce risk; only management action can achieve that. The control of operational risk is fundamentally concerned with good management, which involves a tenacious process of vigilance and continuous improvement. To quote Mr. Jacques Longerstaey, managing director of Putnam and GARP’s Risk Manager of the year for 2005 “One lesson that all of us have learned in the financial services industry is that problems . have been management problems –not risk measurement or identification problems. In a number of cases, we have seen clear evidence of shortcomings in processes being a result of lack of management enforcement rather than of a lack of identification or measurement. ” Operational risk management can be said to move through three conceptual stages of development. The first stage is the sound management practices; the second stage is concerned with data collection and analysis; and the third stage involves modeling and predicting the future. The most important and difficult task in the quantification of operational risk is to find a reasonable model for the business activity. There is a growing dissatisfaction as far as the Basic Indicator approach and the Standardized approach are used to calculate the regulatory capital for Operational risk. The important step in the measurement of operational risk is the collection of internal loss data for operational risk, but it still reflects what has happened in past. Data quality and data frequency are some other important issues. The reservations of US central bank on the implementation of the Basel 2 and also because of the QIS 4 the Basel 2 implementation seems difficult on time. The present paper tries to evaluate the existing quantification models and would like to recommend the model for the UAE banks that satisfies the supervisors and BIS.
AN AMBIENT INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM TO SUPPORT TEAM TRAINING IN CYCLING

ERMANY In den letzten Jahren werden vermehrt hoch entwickelte Tech-nologien eingesetzt, um das Training im Radsport zu unterstut-zen. Parameter wie Leistung, Geschwindigkeit, Puls werden nicht nur im Hochleistungsbereich, sondern zunehmend auch im Freizeit- und Breitensport online wahrend des Trainings er-fasst und zur Optimierung der Belastung des einzelnen Sport-lers herangezogen. Obgleich der Fokus im Radsport haupt-sachlich auf der Leistung des einzelnen Athleten liegt, wird im Training auch haufig in der Gruppe gefahren. In einer typischen Teamkonstellation hangt die Beanspruchung des einzelnen Fahrers von der Position in der Gruppe und bedingt u. a. durch Fuhrungswechsel vom Leistungszustand der gesamten Mann-schaft ab (Neumann, 2000). Zur Optimierung des Gruppentrai-nings wurde ein Team Cycling Training System (TCTS) entwi-ckelt, das auf einem kommerziellen Leistungsmesssystem ba-siert und uber eine funkbasierte Kommunikation alle Fahrer miteinander verbindet. Basierend auf Trainingsvorgaben und aktuellen Messwerten fur jeden einzelnen Sportlers wurde ein Algorithmus entwickelt, der durch Fuhrungswechsel und Ge-schwindigkeitsregulation das Training fur die gesamte Gruppe so optimieren soll, dass individuelle Abweichungen von der vorgegebenen Leistung und Herzfrequenz minimiert werden. Neben physiologischen und biomechanischen Leistungspara-metern wird das subjektive Beanspruchungsempfinden anhand einer BORG-Skala (Borg 1998) erfasst und bei der Trainings-steuerung berucksichtigt. Nach den bisherigen Ergebnissen mit dem ersten Prototyp konnte das TCTS vor allem in Bereich des Nachwuchstrainings erheblich zur Effektivierung des Trainings beitragen. Correspondence Address: Thomas Jaitner (jaitner@sowi.uni-kl.de) Fachgebiet Sportwissenschaft, Technische Universitat Kaiserslautern, Postfach 3049, 67663 Kaiserslautern Germany
Assessing the plausibility of virtual acoustic environments

Aiming at the perceptual evaluation of virtual acoustic environments (VAEs), ‘plausibility’ is introduced as a quality criterion that can be of value for many applications of virtual realities. We suggest a definition as well as an experimental operationalization for plausibility, referring to the perceived agreement with the listener’s expectation towards an equivalent real acoustic event. A listening test methodology for the criterion-free assessment of the deviation from this non-explicit, inner reference is proposed. It requires the rating of corresponding real and simulated stimuli in a Yes/No test paradigm, and the analysis of the results according to signal detection theory. The specification of minimum effect hypotheses allows the testing of plausibility with any desired strictness. The approach is demonstrated with the perceptual evaluation of a system for dynamic binaural synthesis in two different development stages.
Explaining divergent bargaining outcomes for agency workers: The role of labour divides and labour market reforms

Under what conditions can unions successfully regulate precarious employment? We compare the divergent trajectories of collective bargaining on agency work in the Italian and German metal sectors from the late 1990s. We explain the differences by the interaction between trade unions’ institutional and associational power resources, mediated by employers’ divide-and-rule strategies and by union strategies to (re)build a unitary front. In both countries, the liberalization of agency work allowed employers to exploit labour divides, undermining unions’ associational power and preventing labour from negotiating effectively. However, while Italian unions remained ‘trapped’ in the vicious circle between weak legislation and fragmented labour, German unions were able to overcome their internal divides. The different degree of success depended on the nature of the divides within the labour movements.
lumenHAUS: Uses and Benefits of ICT for Design-Build Educational Environments

By many accounts, American classrooms are not using the most effective means to properly educate and train young graduates and professionals. Common goals involve educational achievement and market advantage for students, with a wide variety of proposed solutions. Among the many solutions, technology in the classroom environment has been touted as one route for translating academic goals to the market. Education in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry is no different: a rise in industry and classroom technology, paired with enrollment, justifies the need to re-focus solutions from technology to provide for the academic and market needs in the built environment. The recent Virginia Tech 2009 Solar Decathlon Competition (VTSD) offered an ideal setting for better understanding effective uses of technology in the translation of these AEC goals. VTSD was a student-led, integrated classroom environment incorporating students of all disciplines in the design and construction of an energy-efficient home. Information and communication technologies (ICT) played a major role in the educational and competitive efforts, all of which could translate to market advantage. This paper aims to explore academic uses and benefits of ICT for increased market acceptance through: 1) presenting common goals to the classroom, design-build education and the 2009 Solar Decathlon competition, 2) presenting various forms of ICT used to accomplish these goals and 3) presenting preliminary results of a survey of market acceptance for incorporated technologies.
An Empirical Contribution to Knowledge Production and Economic Growth

We examine the dynamics of knowledge production for a panel of 19 OECD countries. A new and unique data set is used to proxy the domestic flows of “new-to-the-world” knowledge and ideas. We rigorously address the cross-country heterogeneity in the production of knowledge and the endogeneous nature of this process. The parameters of the knowledge production function point to large cross-country differences. Domestic and foreign stocks of knowledge and ideas have a net positive effect on the production (flows) of new ideas. Countries with a low domestic knowledge base appear to improve their TFP considerably through the accumulation of knowledge. This effect is very modest for countries that already have a sizeable domestic knowledge base. We find ample evidence of duplicate RD a one-size-fits-all approach will not be effective. Production de connaissances et croissance economique: Une contribution empririque Cet article examine la dynamique de la production de connaissances dans un echantillon de 19 pays de l’OCDE, au moyen d’un ensemble nouveau et original de donnees servant a representer les flux interieurs de connaissances et donnees « nouvelles pour le monde entier ». L’heterogeneite entre pays de la production de connaissances et le caractere endogene du processus sont examines a la loupe. Les parametres de la fonction de production de connaissances font ressortir de grandes differences entre les pays. Les stocks interieurs et etrangers de connaissances et d’idees ont un effet positif net sur la production (les flux) de nouvelles idees. Les pays dotes d’une base de connaissances nationale modeste semblent ameliorer considerablement leur PTF par l’accumulation de connaissances. Cet effet est tres limite pour les pays qui disposent deja d’une base de connaissances nationale d’une certaine importance. Les auteurs observent de nombreux elements montrant une duplication de la R-D, mais aucun signe de croissance endogene. Etant donne le caractere heterogene de la production de connaissances parmi les pays de l’OCDE, la politique de R-D devra etre adaptee aux specificites de chaque pays ; Il n’existe de formule unique applicable a tous.
Manipulación del cadáver y práctica funeraria entre los antiguos canarios: la perspectiva osteoarqueológica

espanolEn este trabajo se analizan algunos aspectos de las practicas funerarias de la poblacion prehispanica de Gran Canaria. Los resultados de las ultimas excavaciones, y en especial los de la necropolis de Maspalomas (s. XI-XV d.C. cal.), han sido examinados bajo la optica de la arqueotanatologia con el proposito de identificar los tratamientos aplicados al cadaver en la practica sepulcral. Este estudio se limita a la evidencia del uso de mortajas, centrandose en la observacion de los restos esqueleticos y sus variaciones tafonomicas. EnglishThis paper analyzes the mortuary practices of the prehispanic inhabitants of Gran Canaria. The documentation from the most recent excavations, and especially from Maspalomas necropolis (c. XI-XV BC cal.), has been analyzed according to the archaeothanatology principles in order to establish specific details about the treatment of the body in burial customs. This particular study is limited to the evidence for wrapping of the corpse before the burial focusing on the observation of the human skeletal remains.