Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chemical abundances of planet-host stars. Results for alpha and Fe-group elements

In this paper, we present a study of the abundances of Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Co, and Ni in a large set of stars known to harbor giant planets, as well as in a comparison sample of stars not known to have any planetary-mass companions. We have checked for possible chemical differences between planet hosts and field stars without known planets. Our results show that overall, and for a given value of [Fe/H], the abundance trends for the planet hosts are nearly indistinguishable from those of the field stars. In general, the trends show no discontinuities, and the abundance distributions of stars with giant planets are high [Fe/H] extensions to the curves traced by the field dwarfs without planets. The only elements that might present slight differences between the two groups of stars are V, Mn, and to a lesser extent Ti and Co. We also use the available data to describe galactic chemical evolution trends for the elements studied. When comparing the results with former studies, a few differences emerge for the high [Fe/H] tail of the distribution, a region that is sampled with unprecedented detail in our analysis.
Hierarchical 2d Mesh Representation, Tracking and Compression for Object-based Video

This paper proposes methods for designing, tracking and coding hierarchical 2D content-based mesh representations. The design procedure consists of constructing a ne-to-coarse hierarchy of Delaunay meshes, using image-and shape-based criteria for mesh geometry simpliication. Hierarchical tracking employs a coarse-tone strategy with mesh-based motion vector optimization. We introduce new techniques to maintain the initial mesh hierarchy and topology during tracking by imposing certain constraints at each stage of the procedure. The hierarchical compression technique is based on a nearest-neighbor ordering of mesh node points. This ordering serves to identify the mesh boundary nodes as well as establishing spatial predictors for diierential coding of node coordinates and motion vectors. The proposed hierarchical mesh representation, which has applications in object-based video manipulation, indexing, and compression, provides improved tracking performance (compared to a non-hierarchical representation), and allows progressive (scalable) transmission of the object geometry (including shape) and motion information as well as variable level-of-detail rendering. Experimental results are presented to compare the tracking and compression performance of hierarchical versus non-hierarchical mesh representations, and to demonstrate the trade-oo between image quality and mesh bit rate for 2D mesh-based video object rendering.
Beetroot-Carrot Juice Intake either Alone or in Combination with Antileukemic Drug ‘Chlorambucil’ As A Potential Treatment for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is one of the chronic lymphoproliferative disorders (lymphoid neoplasms). It is characterized by a progressive accumulation of functionally incompetent lymphocytes. Patients with leukemia often seek unconventional treatments not prescribed by hematologist in order to improve their cancer treatment outcome or to manage symptoms. In the present report, a 76-year-old patient was diagnosed with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL). Beetroot-carrot juice is used as a complementary and or/alternative therapy used in conjunction with conventional leukemic treatment (chlorambucil) that has been a standard first-line chemotherapeutic agent for patients with CLL and known to have serious and undesirable side-effects. After one month and 15 days of administration of beetroot-carrot juice therapy, the patient had improved appetite, a sense of general well-being and increased vigor daily activities. Furthermore, beetroot-carrot juice was used as an adjuvant to chlorambucil resulted in a substantial reduction in leukocytes and lymphocytes count in peripheral blood and improvement in the relevant biochemical parameters. Beetroot-carrot juice can be used as an effective treatment for CLL alone or in combination with chlorambucil when taken orally with regular diet on daily basis.
Probing the near-infrared stellar population of Seyfert galaxies

We employ Infrared Telescope Facility SpeX near-infrared (NIR; 0.8-2.4 μm) spectra to investigate the stellar population (SP), active galactic nuclei (AGN) featureless continuum (FC) and hot dust properties in nine Sy 1 and 15 Sy 2 galaxies. Both the STARLIGHT code and the hot dust as an additional base element were used for the first time in this spectral range. We found evidence of correlation among the equivalent widths (W λ ) Si I 1.59 μm x Mg I 1.58 μm, equally for both kinds of activity. Part of the W NaI2.21 μm and W CO 2.3 μm strengths may be related to galaxy inclination. Our synthesis shows significant differences between Sy I and Sy 2 galaxies: the hot dust component is required to fit the K-band spectra of ∼90 per cent of the Sy 1 galaxies, and only of ∼25 per cent of the Sy 2; about 50 per cent of the Sy 2 galaxies require an FC component contribution ≳20 per cent, while this fraction increases to about 60 per cent in the Sy 1; also, in about 50 per cent of the Sy2, the combined FC and young components contribute with more than 20 per cent, while this occurs in 90 per cent of the Syl, suggesting recent star formation in the central region. The central few hundred parsec of our galaxy sample contain a substantial fraction of intermediate-age SPs with a mean metallicity near solar. Our SP synthesis confirms that the 1.1 μm CN band can be used as a tracer of intermediate-age SPs. The simultaneous fitting of SP, FC and hot dust components increased in ∼150 per cent the number of AGNs with hot dust detected and the mass estimated. The NIR emerges as an excellent window to study the SP of Sy I galaxies, as opposed to the usually heavily attenuated optical range. Our approach opens a new way to investigate and quantify the individual contribution of the three most important NIR continuum components observed in AGNs.
AN ALMA SURVEY OF SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES IN THE EXTENDED CHANDRA DEEP FIELD-SOUTH: THE AGN FRACTION AND X-RAY PROPERTIES OF SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES

The large gas and dust reservoirs of submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) could potentially provide ample fuel to trigger an active galactic nucleus (AGN), but previous studies of the AGN fraction in SMGs have been controversial largely due to the inhomogeneity and limited angular resolution of the available submillimeter surveys. Here we set improved constraints on the AGN fraction and X-ray properties of the SMGs with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and Chandra observations in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South (E-CDF-S). This study is the first among similar works to have unambiguously identified the X-ray counterparts of SMGs; this is accomplished using the fully submillimeter-identified, statistically reliable SMG catalog with 99 SMGs from the ALMA LABOCA E-CDF-S Submillimeter Survey. We found 10 X-ray sources associated with SMGs (median redshift z = 2.3), of which eight were identified as AGNs using several techniques that enable cross-checking. The other two X-ray detected SMGs have levels of X-ray emission that can be plausibly explained by their star formation activity. Six of the eight SMG-AGNs are moderately/highly absorbed, with NH > 1023 cm−2. An analysis of the AGN fraction, taking into account the spatial variation of X-ray sensitivity, yields an AGN fraction of for AGNs with rest-frame 0.5–8 keV absorption-corrected luminosity ⩾7.8 × 1042 erg s−1; we provide estimated AGN fractions as a function of X-ray flux and luminosity. ALMA's high angular resolution also enables direct X-ray stacking at the precise positions of SMGs for the first time, and we found four potential SMG-AGNs in our stacking sample.
Facile Synthesis of g-C3N4 Nanosheets/ZnO Nanocomposites with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity in Reduction of Aqueous Chromium(VI) under Visible Light

Graphitic-C3N4 nanosheets (CN)/ZnO photocatalysts (CN/ZnO) with different CN loadings were successfully prepared via a simple precipitation-calcination in the presence of exfoliated C3N4 nanosheets. Their morphology and structure were thoroughly characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and photoluminescence spectra (PL). The results showed that hexagonal wurzite-phase ZnO nanoparticles were randomly distributed onto the CN nanosheets with a well-bonded interface between the two components in the CN/ZnO composites. The performance of the photocatalytic Cr(VI) reduction indicated that CN/ZnO exhibited better photocatalytic activity than pure ZnO under visible-light irradiation and the photocatalyst composite with a lower loading of CN sheets eventually displayed higher activity. The enhanced performance of CN/ZnO photocatalysts could be ascribed to the increased absorption of the visible light and the effective transfer and separation of the photogenerated charge carriers.
Teachers and Student Outcomes: Evidence using Swedish Data

Essay 1 analyzes how student achievement is affected by resource increases in the Swedish compulsory school, due to a special government grant. The analysis is based on register data between 1998 and 2005. The study shows that the increased resources have not had a statistically significant positive effect on the average student’s achievement. Increased resources have, however, improved student achievement for students with low educated parents. If teacher density is increased with 10 percent, students with low educated parents are expected to increase their grade point average ranking with about 0.4 percentile units.Essay 2 finds that the share of non-certified teachers in Swedish compulsory public schools has grown considerably during the last decade and studies whether this pattern may be explained by restrictions in the supply of certified teachers. This is done using a targeted government grant as an exogenous teacher demand shock. Our results show that the grant decreased the share of non-certified teachers more in areas characterized by relatively high unemployment rates among certified teachers. These findings suggest that teacher supply restrictions do indeed matter for the composition of the teaching staff.Essay 3 examines how the teaching staff composition, with respect to certification, affects student achievement in compulsory Swedish schools. We apply an instrumental variable approach to estimate the causal effect of non-certified teachers on student achievement. We find that a one percentage point increase in the share of non-certified teachers, is expected to decrease the average student’s GDP ranking with about 0.6 units, a substantial effect considering the large differences in certification rate that do exist between schools and municipalities. The effect also appears to be stronger for students with highly educated parents.Essay 4 estimates the effects of early age tutoring on grades, educational attainment, earnings, early retirement and death. We use data on boarding home students in the 1940s. At these boarding homes, students had daily scheduled time for doing their homework and a directress was employed to help with the students’ homework. The placement at the boarding homes had no direct connection to students’ skills, which enables us to study the effects of the pedagogical stimuli at the boarding homes. We find that tutoring at an early age in life is important as a way of equalizing skills upon leaving school.
Exploring Intercultural Competence Among Students in Malaysian Campuses

Much has been written about intercultural competence in the academic literature, yet, our present knowledge of the subject matter was vastly drawn from the most prominent views of the Western scholars. Accordingly, many calls have been made to reconsider the predominantly defined concept in different cultural contexts, particularly in the Southeast Asia region such as Malaysia. Therefore, this study aims to explore how the local undergraduate students of various ethnicities reflect on their everyday experience within the context of Malaysian campuses. In this study, the pyramid model of intercultural competence developed by Deardorff in 2006 is used to examine the students’ experiences with their foreign friends and their sensemaking of intercultural competence. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with selected undergraduate students from three universities in the Northern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The research identified two important themes: establishing connection and developing communicative skills. The findings contribute into re-consideration of Deardorff’s model. While the model emphasizes more on psychological factors, the findings indicate that language proficiency is viewed as an important factor in the process of interaction between local students and their foreign counterparts. The implication of this study highlights the idea that students’ ability to develop language and communication skills will allow them to be more intercultural competent. This study adds Malaysian perspective to the current understanding of intercultural competence. Keywords: Intercultural competence, intercultural experience, interaction, Western perspective, Malaysian perspective.
Mechanisms behind the testing effect: an empirical investigation of retrieval practice in meaningful learning

The testing effect—more learning by testing as compared to restudying—is a well-established finding. A typical testing procedure in the context of meaningful learning comprises a recall task after an initial study phase. Different theories refer to different mechanisms when explaining the positive effects of such recall tasks. In the context of learning from expository texts, we tested three mechanisms as suggested by a variety of prominent approaches: the elaborative-retrieval theory, the theory of transfer-appropriate processing, and the unspecific-goal perspective. We experimentally varied the type of testing task (short-answer task vs. free-recall task, both compared to a restudy task) in a within-subject design (N = 47 university students). We replicated the testing effect. We found no evidence for a transfer-appropriate processing effect or an unspecific-goal effect. The testing effect disappeared when statistically controlling for mental effort. Initially non-tested material was also fostered by testing (spreading activation effect). These findings indicate that testing helps learning when learners must invest substantial mental effort, as suggested by the elaborative retrieval theory. For educational purposes, testing tasks should be assigned that require the learners to invest substantial mental effort.
Intravenous immunoglobulin therapy for severe Clostridium difficile colitis

Background—Many individuals have serum antibodies against Clostridium difficile toxins. Those with an impaired antitoxin response may be susceptible to recurrent, prolonged, or severe C difficile diarrhoea and colitis. Aims—To examine whether treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin might be effective in patients with severe pseudomembranous colitis unresponsive to standard antimicrobial therapy. Patients—Two patients with pseudomembranous colitis not responding to metronidazole and vancomycin were given normal pooled human immunoglobulin intravenously (200–300 mg/kg). Methods—Antibodies against C difficile toxins were measured in nine immunoglobulin preparations by ELISA and by cytotoxin neutralisation assay. Results—Both patients responded quickly as shown by resolution of diarrhoea, abdominal tenderness, and distension. All immunoglobulin preparations tested contained IgG against C difficile toxins A and B by ELISA and neutralised the cytotoxic activity of C difficile toxins in vitro at IgG concentrations of 0.4–1.6 mg/ml. Conclusion—Passive immunotherapy with intravenous immunoglobulin may be a useful addition to antibiotic therapy for severe, refractory C difficile colitis. IgG antitoxin is present in standard immunoglobulin preparations andC difficile toxin neutralising activity is evident at IgG concentrations which are readily achieved in the serum by intravenous immunoglobulin administration.
External Sustainability: A Stock Equilibrium Perspective

The authors consider external sustainability from the perspective of equilibrium in net foreign asset positions. Under their approach, an external situation is sustainable if it is consistent with international and domestic investors' achieving their desired portfolio allocation across countries. They develop a reduced-form model of net foreign asset positions whose long-run equilibrium condition expresses the ratio of net foreign assets to the total wealth of domestic residents as a negative function of investment returns in the country relative to the rest of the world, a positive function of investment risk, and an inverse function of the ratio of foreign-owned to domestically owned wealth. To estimate this equilibrium condition, the authors use a newly constructed data set of foreign asset and liability stocks for a large group of industrial and developing countries, from the 1960s to the present. They also develop summary measures of country returns and risks. Their econometric methodology is an application of the Pooled Mean Group estimator recently developed by Pesaran, Shin, and Smith (1999), which allows for unrestricted cross-country heterogeneity in short-term dynamics while imposing a common long-run specification. The estimation results lend considerable support to the model, especially when applied to countries with low capital controls or high or upper-middle income. The results for countries with high capital controls and, especially, lower-income countries are less supportive of the stock equilibrium model. As a by-product of the model's estimation, the authors obtain estimates of the long-run equilibrium ratios of net foreign assets to wealth, conditional on the observed values of the country's relative returns, risks, and wealth. Then, for a selected group of industrial and developing countries, they evaluate the extent to which actual ratios diverge from their long-run counterparts - and hence the sustainability of current net foreign asset positions.
SHOOTING ANALYSIS OF LITHUANIAN NATIONAL BASKETBALL MEN’S TEAMS IN DIFFERENT AGE CATEGORIES

Background. One of the most important problems for players, coaches and scientists is improving the accuracy of shooting the basket. It is the most important technique for playing basketball, and its dependence on performance is multifaceted. Methods. All 37 games in the 2015 European Championships in U16, U18, U20 and men’s national team were analyzed. Data was selected from the official boxscores of FIBA (International Basketball Federation). The following absolute game-related statistics were gathered: free-throws, 2-point and 3-point field goals (both successful and unsuccessful). The obtained values of the rate of success of 2-point, 3-point and free throw shooting were tested by the non-parametric Mann–Whitney U-test. The statistical analyses were performed using SPSS for Windows, version 20.0, and statistical significance was set at p < . 05. Results. Comparing the number and accuracy of shots taken from 2-point distance, we found that there was no significant difference between men of different ages (p > .05). Most 3-point shots were done by U16 youth team, the least was in men’s national basketball team, a significant difference in the indicators (p < .05) was found between all the teams, except between men’s national team and U18 (p > .05). Comparing free-throws’ indicators between different age groups, most throws were done by U16 team, the least were done by the U20 team (p < .05); however, there were no differences between the other significant indicators (p > .05). Comparing free-throws accuracy indicators between the different age groups of basketball teams, significant differences in indicators were found between men’s national basketball team and U20, U16 (p < .05). Conclusions. The count of 2-point shots made in Lithuanian different age basketball national team games was more or less similar. Most 3-point shots were made by U16 team and the national men’s team made least 3-pointers. The indicators of accuracy did not have a significant difference between national teams, except for free throws: men’s national team made these shots most accurately, opposite situation was with U16 team.
Neural Correlates of Visual versus Abstract Letter Processing in Roman and Arabic Scripts

In alphabetic orthographies, letter identification is a critical process during the recognition of visually presented words. In the present experiment, we examined whether and when visual form influences letter processing in two very distinct alphabets (Roman and Arabic). Disentangling visual versus abstract letter representations was possible because letters in the Roman alphabet may look visually similar/dissimilar in lowercase and uppercase forms (e.g., c-C vs. r-R) and letters in the Arabic alphabet may look visually similar/dissimilar, depending on their position within a word (e.g., - vs. - ). We employed a masked priming same–different matching task while ERPs were measured from individuals who had learned the two alphabets at an early age. Results revealed a prime–target relatedness effect dependent on visual form in early components (P/N150) and a more abstract relatedness effect in a later component (P300). Importantly, the pattern of data was remarkably similar in the two alphabets. Thus, these data offer empirical support for a universal (i.e., across alphabets) hierarchical account of letter processing in which the time course of letter processing in different scripts follows a similar trajectory from visual features to visual form independent of abstract representations.
Trajectories and keyframes for kinesthetic teaching: A human-robot interaction perspective

Kinesthetic teaching is an approach to providing demonstrations to a robot in Learning from Demonstration whereby a human physically guides a robot to perform a skill. In the common usage of kinesthetic teaching, the robot's trajectory during a demonstration is recorded from start to end. In this paper we consider an alternative, keyframe demonstrations, in which the human provides a sparse set of consecutive keyframes that can be connected to perform the skill. We present a user-study (n = 34) comparing the two approaches and highlighting their complementary nature. The study also tests and shows the potential benefits of iterative and adaptive versions of keyframe demonstrations. Finally, we introduce a hybrid method that combines trajectories and keyframes in a single demonstration.
Handoff in cellular systems

Handoff is an essential element of cellular communications. Efficient handoff algorithms are a cost-effective way of enhancing the capacity and QoS of cellular systems. This article presents different aspects of handoff and discusses handoff related features of cellular systems. Several system deployment scenarios that dictate specific handoff requirements are illustrated. An account of handoff-related resource management tasks of cellular systems is given. Implementation of the handoff process is explained. Several mechanisms for evaluation of handoff-related system performance are described.