Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distribution and Abundance of Burrowing Mayflies (Hexagenia spp.) in Lake Erie, 1997–2005

ABSTRACT Burrowing mayflies (Hexagenia limbata and H. rigida) recolonized sediments of the western basin of Lake Erie in the 1990s following decades of pollution abatement. We predicted that Hexagenia would also disperse eastward or expand from existing localized populations and colonize large regions of the other basins. We sampled zoobenthos in parts of the western and central basins yearly from 1997–2005, along the north shore of the eastern basin in 2001–2002, and throughout the lake in 2004. In the island area of the western basin, Hexagenia was present at densities ≤1,278 nymphs/m2 and exhibited higher densities in odd years than even years. By contrast, Hexagenia became more widespread in the central basin from 1997–2000 at densities ≤48 nymphs/m2 but was mostly absent from 2001–2005. Nymphs were found along an eastern basin transect at densities ≤382/m2 in 2001 and 2002. During the 2004 lake-wide survey, Hexagenia was found at 63 of 89 stations situated throughout the western basin (≤1,636 nymphs/m2, mean = 195 nymphs/m2, SE = 32, N = 89) but at only 7 of 112 central basin stations, all near the western edge of the basin (≤708 nymphs/m2), and was not found in the eastern basin. Hexagenia was found at 2 of 62 stations (≤91 nymphs/m2) in harbors, marinas, and tributaries along the south shore of the central basin in 2005. Oxygen depletion at the sediment-water interface and cool temperatures in the hypolimnion are probably the primary factors preventing successful establishment throughout much of the central basin. Hexagenia can be a useful indicator of lake quality where its distribution and abundance are limited by anthropogenic causes.
Direct-fed microbial on the health status, productive performance and internal egg characteristics of layer chickens under hot humid environmental conditions

Dietary direct-fed microbial (DFM) and antibiotics supplementation on health status, egg laying performance and internal egg characteristics under hot humid environmental conditions were studied. Three hundred (300) layer birds at point of lay (22 weeks old) were used for the study in a completely randomized design. There were four dietary treatments which are; Basal diet (BD), BD + DFM at the rate of 1.5 ml/kg, BD + antibiotics at the rate of 10 mg/kg feed and BD + DFM+ antibiotics at the same rate as above. Feed intake was significantly (p 0.05) influenced by dietary treatments. Eggs laid by birds fed DFM diet were significantly (P<0.05) heavier and consistent throughout the experimental period. Serum and egg cholesterol concentration were significantly reduced by DFM supplemented diet (64 and 409 mg) as compared with the control (75 and 483 mg), antibiotics (74 and 481 mg) and DFM+ antibiotics combined diet (70 and 430 mg). Intensity of yolk colour was higher for eggs laid by birds fed DFM supplemented diet. It was concluded that DFM could be a suitable alternative to antibiotics supplementation for improved health status and productive performance of layer chickens under hot and humid environmental conditions. Key words: Direct-fed microbial, layer chickens, egg cholesterol, sub-therapeutic antibiotics.
Distribution of jets and magnetic fields in a coronal hole

Context. Recent observations of ubiquitous jets in coronal holes suggest that they play an important role in coronal heating and solar wind acceleration. Aims. The aim of our study is to understand the magnetic connectivity and the formation of jets in coronal holes. The study of jets also helps to understand the magnetic field configuration in the coronal hole. Methods. A coordinated observation between EIS and SUMER was carried out in a polar coronal hole to investigate both the transition region and the corona. Spectropolarimeter (SP) data allowed us to examine the relationship between the distribution of jets and magnetic fields in the photosphere. Results. Coronal jets as well as explosive events and cool upflows were identified from EIS and SUMER data. The location of these events are correlated with network fields in the photosphere. Conclusions. Footpoints of coronal jets are connected to patches of vertical kG fields in the photosphere, which are thought to anchor open fields in the upper corona. Explosive events and cool upflows occur in network regions which harbor low-lying fields in the transition region.
Preference and Promoting of E-Learning as a Training Medium in the Hospitality Industry with Special Reference to Four and Five Star Hotels in Tamil Nadu - India

Hotel and tourism industries in India are one of the greatest long term assets that cater large scale of employment and generate revenue to a great extent. But there is a lack of skilled labor for this industry. The profile and skill of the employees can have a difference in learning, so this study mainly attempts to organize the gender difference and the classification of the employees profiles and its association on E-learning has been assessed in this study. The Indian Hospitality industry is plagued with shortage of skilled workers as it will lead to an increase in staff cost and in-house training. Therefore, in-house training should use a tool which will give flexible and effective training to the employees so that they can compete with the global changes and requirements. The aim of the study is to identify the preferred place by employees to undergo E- Learning as a training tool in the four and five star corporate group hotels and Ways to promote E-Learning as a training medium in the hospitality industry. Hypotheses were framed to measure the difference among male and female employees. The 121 employees of 15 corporate hotel groups are included for survey. Whereas, Fisher’ exact test was employed to analyse the proportional difference with respect to gender on the E-learning as a training medium in hospitality industry.The outcome of the research reveals that Learners who spent more time interacting with course content achieve higher grades than those who spent less time with the content. Regardless of the type of interaction, WBT’s experiences resulted in a more positive view of online E-Learning.
Visiting a Farm

iSSN: 0798-1759 This journal is blind refereed. Abstract. Most citizens in modern societies have little personal knowledge or experience of animal farming. This study explores the social construction of animal farming by studying how citizens perceive and evaluate modern farming after visiting a farm in real life. We wanted to understand how (non-farming) citizens develop an opinion of modern dairy farming when experiencing dairy farming in real life and practice, and how they translate what they see, smell and feel into an evaluative perception and mental image. We therefore conducted dairy farm visits with citizen panels in Norway and the Netherlands and asked the panel members to register what they saw, heard, smelled and felt and what they appreciated (or not) on the farm. The aspects that respondents registered could be grouped into four themes: the animals and their products, the rural landscape, farm practices and the farmer. When respondents described their experiences of these aspects on a specific farm, they appeared to look at them from three angles: modernity, tradition and naturality. Most respondents wanted farms to be modern, traditional as well as natural, but they were ready to negotiate and to accept compromises. Many respondents considered the farmer to be responsible for reconciling modernity, tradition and naturality. By taking different topics and issues into account and looking at animal farms from multiple angles, the respondents’ developed a balanced and nuanced opinion of animal farming. The image that they constructed was not dualistic (arcadia versus factory) but pluralistic, thus at the same time more complex but also more flexible than expected. We expect that the development of a pluralistic image and balanced opinion was facilitated through the direct experience of dairy farming and farm life. Visiting a Farm: An Exploratory Study of the Social Construction of Animal Farming in Norway and the Netherlands Based on Sensory Perception
Evolutionary Micro-founded Technical Change and The Kaldor-Verdoorn Law: Estimates from an Artificial World

This paper proposes to identify the micro-level sources for the dynamic increasing returns occurring at an aggregate level. The paper reverts to a micro model of technological change in-line with the evolutionary literature on industrial dynamics. The data generated through numerical simulations are used to identify the sources of increasing returns as measured by the Kaldor-Verdoorn Law. In this respect we also aim to provide some plausible micro-foundations to this Law. The paper shows that: (i) Dynamic increasing returns appear as an emergent property of the model; (ii) micro-characteristics of technical change, as the amplitude and the frequency of changes, as well as selection mechanisms significantly shape these increasing returns.
Usefulness of fair values for predicting banks’ future earnings: evidence from other comprehensive income and its components

Abstract This paper examines whether fair value adjustments included in other comprehensive income (OCI) predict future bank performance. It also examines whether the reliability of these estimates affects their predictive value. Using a sample of bank holding companies, we find that fair value adjustments included in OCI can predict earnings both 1 and 2 years ahead. However, not all fair value-related unrealized gains and losses included in OCI have similar implications. While net unrealized gains and losses on available-for-sale securities are positively associated with future earnings, net unrealized gains and losses on derivative contracts classified as cash flow hedges are negatively associated with future earnings. We also find that reliable measurement of fair values enhances predictive value. Finally, we show that fair value adjustments recorded in OCI during the 2007–2009 financial crisis predicted future profitability, contradicting criticism that fair value accounting forced banks to record excessive downward adjustments.
Aerodynamic roughness length estimation from very high-resolution imaging LIDAR observations over the Heihe basin in China

Abstract. Roughness length of land surfaces is an essential variable for the parameterisation of momentum and heat exchanges. The growing interest in the estimation of the surface turbulent flux parameterisation from passive remote sensing leads to an increasing development of models, and the common use of simple semi-empirical formulations to estimate surface roughness. Over complex surface land cover, these approaches would benefit from the combined use of passive remote sensing and land surface structure measurements from Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) techniques. Following early studies based on LIDAR profile data, this paper explores the use of imaging LIDAR measurements for the estimation of the aerodynamic roughness length over a heterogeneous landscape of the Heihe river basin, a typical inland river basin in the northwest of China. The point cloud obtained from multiple flight passes over an irrigated farmland area were used to separate the land surface topography and the vegetation canopy into a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and a Digital Surface Model (DSM) respectively. These two models were then incorporated in two approaches: (i) a strictly geometrical approach based on the calculation of the plan surface density and the frontal surface density to derive a geometrical surface roughness; (ii) a more aerodynamic approach where both the DEM and DSM are introduced in a Computational Fluid Dynamics model (CFD). The inversion of the resulting 3-D wind field leads to a fine representation of the aerodynamic surface roughness. Examples of the use of these three approaches are presented for various wind directions together with a cross-comparison of results on heterogeneous land cover and complex roughness element structures.
An extremely rare association of TSH-secreting pituitary adenoma, metastatic neuroendocrine tumor and Cushing’s syndrome in a patient with MEN-1 gene mutation

Multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN)-1 syndrome is a rare disorder, due to the loss of function of the tumor suppressor menin. It consists of the association of two or more endocrine tumors, often presenting in a familial setting, being inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion. The most frequent manifestations of MEN-1 syndrome are primary hyperparathyroidism, followed by pituitary adenomas (mainly prolactinomas) and gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors, but several other associated conditions have been reported. Herein we describe the case of a male patient, affected by sporadic MEN-1, diagnosed with primary hyperparathyroidism, TSH-secreting pituitary adenoma and bilateral adrenal hyperplasia causing Cushing’s syndrome, due to a de novo MEN-1 gene mutation. The patient has been successfully treated with first generation somatostatin analog Octreotide LAR (30 mg every 28 days) -with stabilization of the known neuroendocrine lesions and shrinkage of the pituitary adenoma- and with bilateral adrenalectomy. The patient is still regularly followed-up at our Endocrine Unit, and his clinical conditions are stable.
The Complex Role of Complexity

During professional service encounters, integrating customers into the process of service provision is both important and challenging, as the complexity of professional services can impair value creation at the service provider–customer interface. This study addresses this problem by examining how service complexity impacts customer cognitive capacity and finally important marketing outcomes. Through an examination of 310 interactions between service providers and customers of a retail bank, this study shows that customers’ cognitive capacity is drastically reduced at moderate levels of perceived complexity. Subsequently, a lack of cognitive capacity decreases customer satisfaction with the encounter and loyalty intentions toward the company, two important drivers of company profitability. Results further show that service providers’ ability to adapt to the specific nature of the encounter helps customers to conserve cognitive capacity. This study hence contributes to service literature by emphasizing the central role of perceived service complexity and establishing the importance of customers’ cognitive capacity in professional service encounters. From a managerial perspective, this study underlines the importance of decreasing service complexity to avoid the negative consequences of mentally overtaxing customers and shows how service providers can effectively use adaptive selling to manage customers’ cognitive capacity at the service provider–customer interface.
The Dynamic Factor Network Model with an Application to Global Credit Risk

We introduce a dynamic network model with probabilistic link functions that depend on stochastically time-varying parameters. We adopt the widely used blockmodel framework and allow the high-dimensional vector of link probabilities to be a function of a low-dimensional set of dynamic factors. The resulting dynamic factor network model is straightforward and transparent by nature. However, parameter estimation, signal extraction of the dynamic factors, and the econometric analysis generally are intricate tasks for which simulation-based methods are needed. We provide feasible and practical solutions to these challenging tasks, based on a computationally efficient importance sampling procedure to evaluate the likelihood function. A Monte Carlo study is carried out to provide evidence of how well the methods work. In an empirical study, we use the novel framework to analyse a database of significance-flags of Granger causality tests for pair-wise credit default swap spreads of 61 different banks from the United States and Europe. Based on our model, we recover two groups that we characterize as “local” and “international” banks. The credit-risk spillovers take place between banks, from the same and from different groups, but the intensities change over time as we have witnessed during the financial crisis and the sovereign debt crisis.
The Adequacy of Comparison Group Designs for Evaluations of Employment-Related Programs

This study investigates empirically the strengths and limitations of using experimental versus nonexperimental designs for evaluating employment and training programs. The assessment involves comparing results from an experimental-design study-the National Supported Work Demonstration-with the estimated impacts of Supported Work based on analyses using comparison groups constructed from the Current Population Surveys. The results indicate that nonexperimental designs cannot be relied on to estimate the effectiveness of employment programs. Impact estimates tend to be sensitive both to the comparison group construction methodology and to the analytic model used. There is currently no way a priori to ensure that the results of comparison group studies will be valid indicators of the program impacts.
Aerobic degradation potential of the herbicides mecoprop, dichlorprop and bentazone in groundwater from chalk aquifers

The aerobic degradation potential of mecoprop, dichlorprop and bentazone was studied at concentration of 1 µ g/L in laboratory batch experiments with groundwater from chalk aquifers. Within the incubation period of 129 days, 14 C-mecoprop concentration decreased to 60-80% in the microcosms with groundwater collected from two monitoring wells (Well 1 and 2). Dichlorprop degradation was neither observed under aerobic nor anaerobic conditions, while 17-27% of the initial concentration of 14 C-bentazone was removed. The results indicated a degradation potential of mecoprop and bentazone under aerobic conditions.
Processes underlying deception: an empirical analysis of truth and lies when manipulating the stakes

The aim of the present experiment was to examine to what extent participants experience attempted control, cognitive load and arousal when they lie and tell the truth under lowerstakes and higher-stakes conditions. We expected both differences and similarities between truth tellers and liars. We expected that participants would experience these processes to a higher degree when they lied compared to when they told the truth (differences), but we also expected that both liars and truth tellers would be keen to make a convincing impression; and that raising the stakes would affect liars and truth tellers in a similar way (similarities). A total of 128 participants lied and told the truth during an interview (lying and truth telling was counterbalanced). Stakes were manipulated by informing half of the participants that their interviews would be recorded on videotape and would be analysed and evaluated by police officers. The predictions were supported. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ECONOMICAL DETERMINANTS OF DOMESTIC INVESTMENT

This study analyzes the trends of determinants of investments within the period (1980-2010) with focus on post-reform era efforts, both the short-run and long run movement of the investment process, using the co-integration econometrics method to estimate the dynamic of the variables in the study. This is in order to assess their behavior over time, and evaluate how these have either hindered or encouraged the growth of investment in the Jordanian economy.The results confirm previous results found in empirical literature. Namely, the growth rate GDP and exports and their significance in stimulating domestic investments. In addition to Foreign direct investment (FDI), and the development level of the financial sector and human capital in stimulating domestic investment only in the long-run. These results have implications for policy markets, investment prospectors, and foreign and domestic investors.
Towards a set of metrics to guide the generation of fake computer file systems

Fake file systems are used in the field of cyber deception to bait intruders and fool forensic investigators. File system researchers also frequently generate their own synthetic document repositories, due to data privacy and copyright concerns associated with experimenting on real-world corpora. For both these fields, realism is critical. Unfortunately, after creating a set of files and folders, there are no current testing standards that can be applied to validate their authenticity, or conversely, reliably automate their detection. This paper reviews the previous 30 years of file system surveys on real world corpora, to identify a set of discrete measures for generating synthetic file systems. Statistical distributions, such as size, age and lifetime of files, common file types, compression and duplication ratios, directory distribution and depth (and its relationship with numbers of files and sub-directories) were identified and the respective merits discussed. Additionally, this paper highlights notable absences in these surveys, which could be beneficial, such as analysing, on mass, the text content distribution, file naming habits, and comparing file access times against traditional working hours.
Chapter 3.1 Aspects of Damage Assessment

Phytophagous mites are potentially a major pest of the main food, fibre and ornamental crops (Pritchard and Baker, 1955 ). This potential for damage has become increasingly evident during the last few decades. Spider mites may cause severe damage which results in very heavy losses in such crops as citrus, avocado, beans, cotton, apples, pears, plums and many other horticultural and ornamental crops. The damage caused by spider mites has commonly been so obvious (to the extent of complete 'burning' or leaf abcission) that only a limited effort has been made to document the physiological nature of the losses or to determine precisely under what conditions, what levels of density, and in relation to what species, those losses actually occur (Van de Vrie et al., 1972). It is known, however, that spider mites do not commonly cause widespread damage in agroecosystems where productivity is far below. its potential. Two complementary explanations for this phenomenon are usually found ir~ the literature. The first and most common explanation is that in agroecosystems where productivity is far below its potential, regulatory factors such as diseases and predators (parasites are unknown) control the spider mite populations. In agroecosystems where production levels are high broad-spectrum pesticides are usually used. The pesticides have a more adverse effect on the enemies of the spider mites (precia"Lors) rather than on the spider m.ites themselves, thus enabling an outbreak of the latter. The second explanation is that crops which are grown at near-optimal levels, i.e. where growth is not limited by water or nutrients, form an excellent food source for parenchyma-cell-sucking organisms such as spider mites. Under these conditions, regardless of the influence of agronomical measures on mite enemies, the development rate, fecundity, reproduction rate and lifespan are all positively affected and enhance the increase in mite populations which can in tum result in occasional outbreaks (Van de Vrie et al., 1972). Another, not often mentioned reason for the importance of spider mites in highly productive ecosystems concerns man's concept of damage. Well defined economic injury levels (ElL) are normally absent or based on ~pecial­ ists' estimates. Detailed and well performed field experiments to determine damage relation_s are virtually absent (Van de Vrie et al., 1972). Many detailed studies of the various effects of spider mites on tissue and individual plant plots have been carried out under controlled conditions (Tomczyk and Kropczynska, Chapter 1.4. 7), but the consequences of these observations for crops grown under field conditions are rarely evaluated.