Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Uncorrected Hyperopia and Preschool Early Literacy Results of the Vision in Preschoolers e Hyperopia in Preschoolers ( VIP-HIP ) Study The VIP-HIP Study Group * Writing Committee : Marjean

Purpose: To compare early literacy of 4and 5-year-old uncorrected hyperopic children with that of emmetropic children. Design: Cross-sectional. Participants: Children attending preschool or kindergarten who had not previously worn refractive correction. Methods: Cycloplegic refraction was used to identify hyperopia ( 3.0 to 6.0 diopters [D] in most hyperopic meridian of at least 1 eye, astigmatism 1.5 D, anisometropia 1.0 D) or emmetropia (hyperopia 1.0 D; astigmatism, anisometropia, and myopia <1.0 D). Threshold visual acuity (VA) and cover testing ruled out amblyopia or strabismus. Accommodative response, binocular near VA, and near stereoacuity were measured. Main Outcome Measures: Trained examiners administered the Test of Preschool Early Literacy (TOPEL), composed of Print Knowledge, Definitional Vocabulary, and Phonological Awareness subtests. Results: A total of 492 children (244 hyperopes and 248 emmetropes) participated (mean age, 58 months; mean standard deviation of the most hyperopic meridian, þ3.78 0.81 D in hyperopes and þ0.51 0.48 D in emmetropes). After adjustment for age, race/ethnicity, and parent/caregiver’s education, the mean difference between hyperopes and emmetropes was 4.3 (P 1⁄4 0.01) for TOPEL overall, 2.4 (P 1⁄4 0.007) for Print Knowledge, 1.6 (P 1⁄4 0.07) for Definitional Vocabulary, and 0.3 (P 1⁄4 0.39) for Phonological Awareness. Greater deficits in TOPEL scores were observed in hyperopic children with 4.0 D than in emmetropes ( 6.8, P 1⁄4 0.01 for total score; 4.0, P 1⁄4 0.003 for Print Knowledge). The largest deficits in TOPEL scores were observed in hyperopic children with binocular near VA of 20/40 or worse ( 8.5, P 1⁄4 0.002 for total score; 4.5, P 1⁄4 0.001 for Print Knowledge; 3.1, P 1⁄4 0.04 for Definitional Vocabulary) or near stereoacuity of 240 seconds of arc or worse ( 8.6, P < 0.001 for total score; 5.3, P < 0.001 for Print Knowledge) compared with emmetropic children. Conclusions: Uncorrected hyperopia 4.0 D or hyperopia 3.0 to 6.0 D associated with reduced binocular near VA (20/40 or worse) or reduced near stereoacuity (240 seconds of arc or worse) in 4and 5-year-old children enrolled in preschool or kindergarten is associated with significantly worse performance on a test of early literacy. Ophthalmology 2016;123:681-689 a 2016 by the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Intercolonial Aggression in the Subterranean Termite Heterotermes Aureus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

Foraging parties of the subterranean termite, Heterotermes aureus, are present throughout the year in the southwestern United States, but peak foraging activity coincides with the summer "monsoon" season when the weather is warm with ample precipitation (Haverty et al., 1974). Average foraging territory for a colony of H. aureus is estimated to be approximately 12.5 square meters and each colony apparently maintains a discrete boundary with other conspecific colonies (Haverty et al., 1975). How these termites achieve colony isolation is unknown, although aggressive interactions have been observed between groups of conspecifics (Nutting, unpublished observations). Intraspecific territoriality and aggressive behavior have been described in other termites (Clement, 1978; Darlington, 1982; Greaves, 1962; Howick and Creffield, 1980; Levings and Adams, 1984; Nel, 1968; Thorne, 1982) and in several other social insects (Holldobler and Lumdsen, 1980; Levings and Traniello, 1981). The events preceding an encounter between individuals, the recognition and discrimination factors, and the consequences of aggression are not well understood in H. aureus. This study was done to examine the aggressive behavior between H. aureus colonies from different field locations and describe intercolony interactions of both paired individuals and simulated foraging groups.
Markov Decision Processes with Time-varying Transition Probabilities and Rewards

We consider online Markov decision process (MDP) problems where both the transition probabilities and the rewards are time-varying or even adversarially generated. We propose an online algorithm based on an online implementation of value iterations and show that its dynamic regret, i.e. its total reward compared with that of the optimal (nonstationary) policies in hindsight, is upper bounded by the total variation of the transition probabilities and the rewards. Moreover, we show that the dynamic regret of any online algorithm is lower bounded by the total variation of the transition probabilities and the rewards, indicating that the proposed algorithm is optimal up to a constant factor. Finally, we test our algorithm in a power management problem for a data center and show that our algorithm reduces energy costs and ensures quality of services (QoS) under real electricity prices and job arrival rates.
Evaluation of the phenotypic variation in a caper ( Capparis spinosa L . ) population growing in south of Tehran using multivariate analysis

Capparis spinosa L. (CS) (Capparaceae) locally known as “Kebbar” is a common perennial shrub in the Mediterranean regions, growing both wild and cultivated, with medicinal and aromatic properties. Although its ancient habitat is thought to be the dry areas of western or central Asia, the plant has a wide natural distribution from the Atlantic coasts of the Canary Islands and Morocco to the Black Sea to the Crimea and Armenia, and eastward to the Caspian Sea and into Iran Romeo et al. (2007).
The Current Issues of Indonesian EFL Students ’ Writing Skills : Ability , Problem , and Reason in Writing Comparison and Contrast Essay

The aim of this study is to investigate issues of Indonesian EFL students’ writing skills, covering ability, problem and reason why they got problems in writing comparison and contrast essay. The convergent parallel of mixed methods was used to explore these issues by involving 52 EFL students of IAIN Samarinda who enrolled the academic essay writing course. The three research instruments; essay writing test, open-ended questionnaire and interview were used in the data collection. The findings of this study revealed that the Indonesian EFL students’ writing ability was good that categorized with the mean score 77.83. However, some of them encounter problems in writing aspects including content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. Their reasons in experiencing these problems are not only limited knowledge of writing aspects and comparison and contrast essay itself, but also they had own personal reasons; lack of writing practice, writing dislike, writing anxiety, negative writing perception, low writing motivation, insufficient time given in writing test, and also inadequate teaching writing process taught by their lecturers. Indeed, the teaching writing improvement that involved EFL students and lecturers should be well-integrated Rostanti Toba, Widya Noviana Noor, La Ode Sanu 58 Dinamika Ilmu, Volume 19(1), 2019 in order to alleviate the students’ essay writing problems related to their reasons and to improve their writing ability. Factors caused the writing difficulties will be discussed further and some suggestions will be given on this research.
The Effect of Corporate Governance on the Extent of Environmental Reporting In the Nigerian Oil Industry

This paper seeks to examine the effect of corporate governance on environmental reporting. This study makes use of board size, board independence, and audit committee independence to proxy for corporate governance. The findings of the study show that board size, board independence, audit committee independence and managerial ownership concentration have positive and significant relationship with environmental reporting. Based on the findings, the recommendation is that companies that want to improve on their environmental reporting quality should pay closer attention to corporate governance mechanisms (in this case board size, independence and audit committee independence) and on ownership concentration within the companies.
EFFECT OF HUMIC ACID ON MICRONUTRIENT AVAILABILITY AND GRAIN YIELD OF WHEAT ( TRITICUM AESTIVUM L . )

A field experiment was conducted at Institute of Soil Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan during 2009 to 2012 to assess the improvement of the nutrients (Zn, Fe, Mn and B) availability for wheat crop with and without application of humic acid. Its effects ultimately on optimum grain yield for consecutive three years. Humic acid was tested with inorganic fertilizers as solid HA(s) 50 percent and liquid HA (l) 8 percent. There were six treatments of inorganic fertilizers with humic acid solid and liquid i.e. T1 (No fertilizer), T2 (NPK), T3 (NPK+ solid HA), T4 (NPK+ liquid HA), T5 (NPK+B+Zn) and T6 (NPK+B+Zn+ solid HA). Data on yield contributing components, grain and straw yield, uptake of different nutrients in grain were recorded. Results showed that integrated use of humic acid solid and inorganic fertilizers gave significantly similar yield. Three years pooled data showed that maximum yield contributing component were found in T4 (NPK + liquid HA) resulting in 82.6 cm palnt height, 10 tillers per plant, 11.7 cm spike length, 49 grains per spike and 59.4 g weight per 1000 grain. Three years pooled wheat grain data showed that maximum grain yield (4.11 t/ha) was obtained in T4 followed by T5 (3.78 t/ha). Maximum nutrients were recorded in case of soil application of humic acid alongwith T4 showing 8 percent N, 82 percent Fe and 5 percent increase in Boron (B) over T4. It was concluded that humic acid increased N, Fe and B concentration and uptake in wheat grain. However, this increase did not contribute towards yield.
A FIRST-GUESS FIELD PRODUCED BY MERGING DIGITAL FILTER AND NUDGING TECHNIQUES ( ' ) VALDIR INNOCENTINI

A method combining the nudging and digital filter techniques is proposed to obtain the first-guess for a limited area model (LAM). The method consists on the integrate the LAM model starting with a previous run valid at 6 hours before the first-guess target time, over a 12 hours period applying the filter, and nudging, only on the first 6 hours span, an analysis valid at the target time produced by a global model. The boundary conditions are also provided by the same global model. The advantages of the method are i) the prognostic fields given by the LAM are corrected by the global analysis consistent with the boundary conditions, and ii) it makes the initialization. Tests with a simple grafity wave model reveal the Gibbs phenomenon, which is well controlled by the Lanczos window in an initialization by digital filter, enhancing with the proposed method. Whereas this shortcoming occurs mainly at shorter waves, it can be reduced by horizontal diffusion. The method is implemented in a LAM and the results indicated that the scheme is efficient, cheap, and the Gibbs phenomenon seems to have been successfully controlled by the numerical artifices usually implemented in a LAM, with no need for further dumping. The two advantages mentioned above are achieved.
Assessing Hospitality Training and Practices in Ghana

The main aim of the study was to assess hospitality training and hospitality practices in Ghana. In terms of approach, the study adopted a survey methodology and the population of the study consisted of hospitality teachers and managers involved in the hospitality industry in Ghana. Questionnaires were the main instrument used to solicit data from the study’s respondents. A sample size of 227 made up of 126 managers, and 101 teachers was used in the study. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages were used to illustrate the demographic profile of the participants and to answer the research questions in the study. The findings established the existence of a gap between the existing hospitality providers and expectations of practitioners in Ghana. However, the two parties do indeed also share some common views on the current important skills students need to possess as they enter the industry. The researcher recommended tighter collaboration between hospitality providers and hospitality practitioners to address the skill gaps as a matter of urgency.
Methodology for Evaluating Pesticides for Surface Water Protection: Evaluation on Down-the-Drain Products

The Surface Water Protection Program (SWPP) of California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) is developing a more consistent and transparent method for evaluating registration packages. The first version of the Pesticide Registration Evaluation Model (PREM) was released in 2012 (Luo and Deng, 2012a, b). SWPP keeps improving the model by updating modeling approaches and introducing new simulation capabilities. This report summarizes the model development, improvement, and integration after 2012 (Table 1). Some of the model functions, e.g., the urban pesticide uses (Luo, 2014a) and the identification of exposure potentials to estuarine/marine species (Xie and Luo, 2016), have been presented previously. This report will mainly describe their computational integration with PREM. In this report, “previous version” and “updated model” will be used, respectively, in the description of the previous PREM (version 3) and the newly improved PREM (version 5).
VARIATION IN THE SUSCEPTIBILITY 0 F SOME COWPEA ( VIGNA UNGUICULATA ( L . ) WALP ) GENOTYPES TO INFESTATION WITH CERTAIN PESTS IN UPPER EGYPT

Five cowpea cultivars were evaluated to clear the reflex of their characteristics to the infestation caused by the main sucking pests, Whitefly, Thrips, Jassids, Aphids, and Spider mite in northern upper Egypt at Assiut governorate during the two successive seasons of 2001 and 2002. Results revealed that the highest pests’ density were recorded on Tvu-21 cultivar. However, the lowest density were the most recorded on Six-Weeks and B-Crowder cultivars. Regarding to the relative susceptibility to these pests six-Weeks and B-Crowder appeared to be resistant cultivars. However, Pinkeye and Ch-Reds appeared a low resistance. The Tvu21 cultivar’s appeared as susceptible one. Also, the results showed that Tvu-21 was the susceptible to A.craccivora. There were no significant differences in number of pods/plant and seeds/pod among the spraying and not spraying plots. Tvu-21 cultivar’s produced the highest weight of 1000-seeds (g) in both seasons. On the other hand, the effects of 7 cowpea tested cultivars on development time, longevity and fecundity of T.urticae were evaluated at 250C. ChReds and IT82 D889 had the shorter life cycle of T.urticae than the other cultivars. Mites reared on Tvu-21, Pinkeye and IT 82 D889 had the highest fecundity (17.22, 16.22, and 15.75 eggs/female, respectively). The mites reared on Ch-Reds had the shorter life span (16.13 days). Based on the obtained results we concluded that the Tvu-21 and Pinkeye cowpea Cultivars were the most suitable hosts for the tested pests and Six-Weeks and B-Crowder were the least suitable.
Firm Trustworthiness and Underreaction to Earnings News : Evidence from Corporate Social Responsibility

We investigate whether the perceived trustworthiness of a firm affects investor underreaction to earnings news. Specifically, using a firm’s corporate social responsibility performance to capture its perceived trustworthiness, we find that post-earnings announcement drift is significantly weaker for firms that appear trustworthy. The effect of firm trustworthiness on underreaction is more pronounced for firms with poor financial reporting quality, low institutional ownership, and high R&D spending. The results are similar using the list of the America’s 100 Most Trustworthy Companies as an alternative measure of firm trustworthiness. Overall, our results suggest that trust mitigates investor underreaction to earnings news.
First record of larvae of Hysterothylacium ( Nematoda : Anisakidae ) with zoonotic potential in the pirarucu Arapaima gigas ( Osteichthyes : Arapaimidae ) from South America

Third-stage larvae (L3) of Hysterothylacium sp. were collected by the first time in juveniles of pirarucu Arapaima gigas farmed in the Rio Preto da Eva, Amazonas state. Ninety-eight (98) out of 100 examined fish showed to be parasitized. Five hundred and ninety larvae of Hysterothylacium sp. were collected from the intestines, stomach and pyloric caeca. The mean intensity of parasite indexes was 6.02 (±5.75) ranging from 1 to 40 larvae per host and the mean abundance was 5.9 (±5.76). The A. gigas is the new host record for larvae of Hysterothylacium sp. in Brazil, and this is the first record of larvae of Hysterothylacium (Nematoda: Anisakidae) with zoonotic potential in the pirarucu from South America.
PREVIOUS CONDITIONS ASSOCIATED WITH A DEVELOPMENT OF A MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE SYSTEM UNDER A SOUTH AMERICAN LOW-LEVEL JET EVENT : A CASE STUDY

A significant number of mesoscale convective systems (MCS) over subtropical latitudes that cover important extensions, develop in concert with the presence of a particular subset of the South American Low Level Jet (SALLJ) that penetrates into subtropical latitudes (generally called Chaco Jet Events, CJE). Favorable atmospheric conditions for convection at these latitudes, in the synoptic scale, are mainly dominated by the presence of a frontal zone close to northern Patagonia, a baroclinic wave train with a trough immediately to the west of the Andes at midlevels; low-level circulation that is characterized by a strong deceleration of the wind over northern Argentina; and the presence of a very unstable air mass all over Southeastern South America (SESA). Velasco and Fritsch (1987) and Nieto Ferreira et al. (2003) recognized the presence of the SALLJ in events of mesoscale convective complexes over SESA and Torres (2003) found a high percentage (around 80%) of occurrence of CJEs during the development of heavy precipitating subtropical MCS.
Profiling and segmentation of international tourists in Lesotho

Tourists are not homogenous; they have different needs and wants regarding their ideal holiday. It therefore implies that tourists are heterogeneous and their needs keeps on changing overtime. Given the above, market segmentation becomes an important strategy to assess the differences and or similarities of the tourists. Market segmentation means the grouping of tourists into smaller market segments based on similarities in terms of needs but also separating market segments based on dissimilar needs from the other market segments. Market segmentation has been used in the tourism industry to maximise on opportunities for competitive advantage but also to ensure that the needs of tourists are met. It is therefore important to understand visitor needs and motivations that attract them to visit a particular destination. This is important to ensure sufficient demand for the destination but also to position the destination correctly in the market place. Further to this, the understanding of the pull factors for tourists to visit a particular destination is crucial for successful marketing and promotional strategies by the destination. The aim of this study was to profile the market segments of international tourists to Lesotho and what motivates them to visit the country. The study adopted a quantitative research methodology and used questionnaires as a data collection instrument. The survey was carried out over a 12 months period from April 2016 to April 2017, at eight border posts, namely: Calendonspoort, Maputsoe Bridge, Maseru Bridge, Peka Bridge, Qacha’s Nek Gate, Sani Pass, Vanroovens Gate, and Moshoeshoe International Airport. A total of 5,264 questionnaires were successfully completed. Questionnaires were distributed throughout the whole year with approximately 500 completed each month. The research only focused on those visitors who stayed overnight during their visit in Lesotho. The results infer that the main segment of international visitors to Lesotho are leisure and visiting friends whilst religion and business tourists are the secondary segments.
Application of Incremental Dynamic Analysis to an RC-Structure

Of great interest in Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering (PBEE) is the accurate estimation of the seismic performance of structures, and in particular, the mean annual frequency (MAF) of exceeding a speci ed structural demand or a certain limit-state capacity (e.g., Immediate Occupancy or Collapse Prevention, FEMA [1, 2]). To accomplish the task several important methods have emerged, a promising one being Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA), Vamvatsikos and Cornell [3], a computer-intensive procedure that offers thorough (demand and capacity) prediction capability by using a series of nonlinear dynamic analyses under suitably multiply-scaled ground motion records. While it is a simple concept, performing an IDA requires several important steps: 1 Create an appropriate model for the structure under investigation. 2 Select a suite of ground motion records. 3 For each record, incrementally scale it to multiple levels and run a nonlinear dynamic analysis each time. Stop incrementing when numerical non-convergence is rst encountered. 4 Select a ground motion Intensity Measure IM (e.g., Sa(T1,5%), the 5%-damped rst-mode spectral acceleration) and a Damage Measure DM (e.g., θmax, the maximum over all stories peak interstory drift ratio) and postprocess the results of the dynamic analyses: i Interpolate the resulting IM, DM points to generate an IDA curve for each individual record. ii De ne limit-states and estimate the corresponding capacities on each IDA curve. iii Summarize the IDA curves and limit-state capacities across all records into 16%, 50% and 84% fractiles. iv Integrate with the results of Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis and calculate MAFs of exceeding each limit-state. 5 Use the IDA data to better understand the behavior of the structure.
Enhancing a BPEL4WS Engine Supporting the Execution of Flexible WS-flows According to the ReFFlow Model

This work provides an implementation of the ReFFlow model for adaptable WS-flows. This implementation is incorporated into a BPEL-compliant engine. The resulting system supports the execution of WS-flows defined with an enhanced BPEL language (i.e. built-in support for the ReFFlow model). In this work we combine Open-Source Software (OSS) with Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP). Basically, we apply AOP to extend an evolving open-source system (the base system). By adopting AOP, we add new behavior to the base system without modifying its source code. This approach has shown to be highly maintainable. Our extensions (developed as aspects of the base system) have been successfully applied to different versions of the open-source system. In this way, we address one of the major drawbacks related to the adoption and extension of OSS (i.e. managing OSS’s evolution).
EM 3273 Elastic-Viscoplastic Model for Clays : Development , Validation , and Application

This paper presents an elastic-viscoplastic (EVP) constitutive model in triaxial space and general stress space for isotropic clays. The EVP model is anchored in the bounding surface theory along with the mapping rule and adopts a critical state soil mechanics framework. It incorporates creep effects, and a non-linear creep function is used in the model. The EVP deformation of clay is integrated considering a reference surface and loading surface. An image parameter is deduced to establish the image surface. The strain rate tensor of the model comprises elastic-strain-rate tensor and viscoplastic-strain-rate tensor. The model formulation is capable of accounting for composite as well as single surface ellipses. Parameters of the model can be extracted from conventional oedometer and triaxial tests. The model performance is validated by capturing the behaviours in creep test, relaxation test, strain-rate effect test, and over consolidation ratio effect test of Kaolin clay, Hong Kong Marine Deposit clay, and Fukakusa clay. The model is also