Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Testing WMAP data via Planck radio and SZ catalogues

The prime evidence underpinning the standard Λ cold dark matter cosmological model is the cosmic microwave background (CMB) power spectrum as observed by Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and other microwave experiments. But Sawangwit and Shanks have recently shown that the WMAP CMB power spectrum is highly sensitive to the beam profile of the WMAP telescope. Here, we use the source catalogue from the Planck early data release to test further the WMAP beam profiles. We confirm that stacked beam profiles at Q, V and particularly at W, appear wider than expected when compared to the Jupiter beam, normalized either directly to the radio source profiles or using Planck fluxes. The same result is also found based on WMAP-CMB-free source catalogues and NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) sources. The accuracy of our beam profile measurements is supported by analysis of CMB sky simulations. However, the beam profiles from WMAP7 at the W band are narrower than previously found in WMAP5 data and the rejection of the WMAP beam is now only at the ≈3σ level. We also find that the WMAP source fluxes demonstrate possible non-linearity with Planck fluxes. But including ground-based and Planck data for the bright Weiland et al. sources may suggest that the discrepancy is a linear offset rather than a non-linearity. Additionally, we find that the stacked Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) decrements of ≈151 galaxy clusters observed by Planck are in agreement with the WMAP data. We find that there is no evidence for a WMAP SZ deficit as has previously been reported. In the particular case of Coma, we find evidence for the presence of an O(0.1mK) downwards CMB fluctuation. We conclude that beam profile systematics can have significant effects on both the amplitude and position of the acoustic peaks, with potentially important implications for cosmology parameter fitting.
Electromagnetic simulation of VLSI circuits by the modified ADI‐FDTD method

The alternating direction implicit (ADI) finite‐difference time‐domain (FDTD) method can be used to simulate very large scale integration (VLSI) circuits efficiently as the time step is not restricted by the Courant–Friedrich–Levy stability condition. When the Berenger's split‐field perfectly matched layer (PML) absorbing boundary condition is used for the ADI‐FDTD method for open region simulation, the PML implementation will make this scheme unstable. In this article, the modified PML conductivity profiles are proposed to improve the stability of this scheme. Numerical simulations of the VLSI interconnect and RF inductor in time domain and frequency domain will be demonstrated to show the efficiency and accuracy of this method. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 56:2530–2534, 2014
Cloning and analysis of plant fatty acid desaturase 7 gene promoter from Brassica napus

In order to investigate the regulation mode of Brassica napus FAD7 gene in response of thermal stress, we measured the protein levels of BnFAD7 in plant at low and high temperature, and then analyzed promoter activity of 5’-flanking regions of BnFAD7 by transient gene expression in B. napus protoplasts at different temperatures. Our studies indicated that no significant change occurred in the expression level of BnFAD7 both at high and low temperature, while BnFAD7 promoter showed a heat-induced regulation mode and slowly increased activity at the chilling conditions, which suggested there are heat-induced cis-action element lies in BnFAD7 promoter sequence. Our data also suggested that a post-transcription regulation pattern existed to ensure BnFAD7 function in the acclimation to temperature stress. Furthermore, our studies give new evidence for the hypothesis that BnFAD7 and BnFAD8 gene may come from the same ancestor gene. Keywords: Brassica napus , fatty acids desaturase, promoter analysis, transient expression, BnFAD7
Preliminary study on milk composition and milk protein polymorphism in the Romanian local sheep breed Teleorman Black Head Tsigai

There is an international interest for preservation and improvement of local animal breeds, due to their superior biological traits: rusticity, resistance and adaptability to very different local environment. The local Romanian Teleorman Black Head Tsigai sheep breed fits very well the current economic demands, such as milk production and prolificacy. The purpose of our study was to determine milk quality indices as well as milk protein polymorphism in local sheep breed, using 24 milk samples. The types of different milk proteins were identified by SDS-PAGE. The test day milk yield and chemical composition assays performed during the milking period of studied sheep showed that the yield of milk fat and protein ranged within the quality indices specific to breed (6.56% fat and 5.9% protein), described in literature. Milk samples were further analyzed for milk protein polymorphism. The electrophoretic pattern of milk samples showed the presence of four major caseins variants (αs1-, αs2βand k-casein) and two whey proteins (β-lactoglobulin, α-lactalbumin). Our study on percentage analysis of protein fractions of interest revealed that caseins represented 74.16% of the total protein of sheep milk, followed by whey proteins. SDS-PAGE analysis showed that majority of milk samples is characterised by a medium expression level of both caseins and whey proteins (66.67-79.17%) followed by higher level of expression (12.6-29.17%). Further studies (Real Time qPCR) are requisite for certitude of the results on the polymorphic genes of proteins from sheep milk, in order to identify the genetic variants from the locus of each protein.
Relationship Of Academic, Physical And Social Self-Concepts Of Students With Their Academic Achievement

This study investigated relationship between self-concept and academic achievement of bachelor degree students. Female students at bacholar were considered the target population. A sample of 1500 students was selected by using two stage cluster sampling technique. An amended form of Self-Descriptive Questionnaire developed by Marsh (1985) was used as tool of research. Factor analysis was employed to explore the pattern of inter-item correlations of the questionnaire. Kendall’s-Tau-b technique of corrrelation was applied to correlate responses obtained on academic, physical and social self concepts related items with the academic achievement scores of students Physical self-concept and social self-concepts were found unrelated to academic achievement. However, a significant but weak correlation was found between academic self-concept and academic achievement.
INFLUENCE OF SIMULATED MICROGRAVITY ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES IN THE HUMAN TRICEPS SURAE MUSCLE IN VIVO II. Effect of 120-days of bed rest with physical training on human muscle contractile properties and musculo-tendinous stiffness in young women

Purpose. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of a simulated microgravity on the mechanical properties of the human triceps surae (TS) and to assess the effectiveness of physical training (PT) in preventing detrimental effects. Methods. Eight women (aged 26-36 years) underwent 120-d of Bed rest (BR): four underwent Bed rest only (BR group) and four performed PT during this period (BRPT group). The training sessions were conducted for 60 min each day for 6 days a week for 14 weeks, and 30-40 min twice a day for 2 weeks under the experiment conditions. PT was performed over a 4-d cycle: 3-d of training and 1-d of rest. The maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), and isometric twitch contraction (Pt), and electrically evoked tetanic tension at 150 impulses × s -1 (Ро), time-to-peak tension (TPT) of the twitch were determined. The difference between Ро and MVC expressed as a percentage of Ро and referred to a force deficiency (Рd). The MTS was determined according to the electromechanical delay (EMD) value during the explosive voluntary contraction. Surface electrodes sensed electromyographic (EMG) activity in the soleus muscle. Electromechanical delay (EMD) was the time interval between the change in EMG and movement muscle force production. Results. In the BR group, Рt, MVC, and Ро had decreased by 12, 36, 24%, respectively, but Рd had increased by 39%. TPT of the twitch had increased by 14%. The rate of increase of voluntary contractions reduced, but in the electrically evoked contraction no changes were observed. The EMD had increased by 27%. In the BREx group, МVС, Рt, and Ро decreased by 3%, and 14%, and 9%, respectively. TPT had decreased by 4%. The Pd had decreased significantly by 10%. The rate of rise increase of electrically evoked tetanic did not change significantly, but the rate of rise in isometric voluntary tension development was increased. The EMD had decreased by 12%. Conclusion. Unloading decreased function and EMD muscle and, although the PT did attenuate these effects, they did not completely prevent them. It is suggested that the total loading volume (mainly its intensity) was not sufficient to completely prevent alterations in tendon mechanical properties
Levothyroxine Bioequivalence Study: Determination in Healthy Volunteers by Microparticle Enzyme Immunoassay

The study was performed to compare the bioavailability of two Levothyroxine 200 mcg mg tablet formulation in 36 volunteers of both sexes. The study was conducted open with randomized two period crossover designs and a two weeks wash out period. Plasma samples were obtained over a 48 hour interval. Levothyroxine concentrations were analyzed by a validated microparticle enzyme immunoassay with optical detection by fluorescence. Bioequivalence between the products was determined by calculating 90% confidence intervals (90% I.C) for the ratio of AUC0-48h and Cmax values for the test and reference products, using logarithmic transformed data. The 90% confidence intervals were 93.60% – 103.92%, and 96.14% – 105.95%, respectively. Since the 90% confidence intervals for Cmax and AUC0-48h were within the 80 – 125% interval proposed by Food and Drug Administration, it was concluded that the two Levothyroxine formulations are bioequivalent in their rate and extent of absorption.
O(1S), OH, and O2(b) Airglow Layer Perturbations due to AGWs and their Implied Effects on the Atmosphere

[1] The O(1S) (green line) night airglow emission in response to atmospheric gravity wave (AGW) perturbations was simulated with a linear, one-dimensional model. The results were combined with previously modeled O2(b, 0–1) atmospheric band and OH Meinel band emission response (Liu and Swenson, 2003) to derive amplitude and phase relations among multiple airglow layers in response to gravity waves with various intrinsic parameters and damping rates (β). The simulations show that the vertical profile of the standard deviation of the perturbed green line volume emission rate (VER) has a centroid altitude that is 3 km lower and a full-width-half-maximum 2.1 km smaller than the unperturbed VER profile, similar to findings for the OH and O2(b) band layers. Relative phase differences and amplitudes of vertically propagating waves can be deduced from zenith observations of the layers. Airglow weighted responses to waves are related through a cancellation factor (CF) for both layer intensity and temperature. The vertical wavelength can be deduced from relative phase information of three airglow layers separated in altitude. The vertical flux of horizontal momentum associated with gravity waves is deduced from intrinsic wave parameters. Wave damping versus altitude is used to deduce the flux divergence and local accelerations resulting from dissipative waves. The simulations are useful in calculating wave information and wave effects on the atmosphere from multiwavelength, zenith airglow observations.
Fiscal Impacts on Output in a Small Open Economy: The Case of Albania

Abstract The paper is intended to study the effects of total government spending and tax revenue on the annual GDP growth rate in Albania. On this base, we can examine whether and to which extent the macroeconomic governance could rely on those fiscal instruments in terms of a small open economy. The empirical methodology is based on regression analysis which includes OLS estimation on simply specified regression model and Vector Autoregressive estimates. The results support the assumptions that government expenditure is a weak instrument for policy impacts and the government must rely on taxation to stimulate economic growth.
Loan Contracting in the Presence of Usury Limits: Evidence from Automobile Lending

We study the eects of usury limits on the market for auto loans and nd little evidence of credit rationing. We show instead that loan contracting and the organization of the loan market adjust to facilitate loans to risky borrowers. When usury restrictions bind, auto dealers nance their customers’ purchases and raise the vehicle sales price (and loan amount) relative to the value of the underlying collateral. By doing so, they arrange loans with similar monthly payments and compensate for credit risk through the mark-up on the product sale rather than the loan interest rate.
Predicting microbial nitrate reduction pathways in coastal sediments

We present an ecosystem model that describes the biogeochemistry of a sediment nitrate reducing microbial community. In the model, the microbial community is represented as a distributed metabolic network. Biogeochemical pathways are controlled through the synthesis and allocation of biological structure that serves to catalyze each process. Allocation is determined by way of a thermodynamically constrained optimization according to the principle of maximum entropy production (MEP). According to the MEP principle, ecosystems will organize so as to max- imize the dissipation of free energy based upon the available resources (nutrients and electron donors and acceptors). In the model, 3 nitrate reduction pathways, viz. heterotrophic denitrifica- tion, anammox, and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium, compete for electron acceptors (nitrate and nitrite). The model predicts switches in the dominant nitrate cycling pathways based upon the ratio of carbon to nitrate supply. An advantage of this approach over a traditional organ- ism-centric kinetic approach is that the Monod growth parameters, maximum uptake rate (νmax), and half saturation (kM) constants are determined during the optimization procedure as opposed to parameters specified a priori. Such a model is therefore useful for applications where these kinetic parameters are unknown and difficult to measure, such as the marine subsurface, or when ecosystems undergo large-scale environmental perturbations resulting in shifts in the dominant organisms.
Stock Returns And Volatility İn An Emerging Equity Market. Evidence From Kenya

This study investigates volatility pattern of Kenyan stock market based on time series data which consists of daily closing prices of NSE Index for the period 2ndJanuary 2001 to 31st December 2014. The analysis has been done using both symmetric and asymmetric Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (GARCH) models. The study provides evidence for the existence of a positive and significant risk premium. Moreover, volatility shocks on daily returns at the stock market are transitory. We do not find any significant leverage effect. Introduction of the new regulations on foreign investors with a 25% minimum reserve of the issued share capital going to local investors (in 2002), introduction of live trading, cross listing in Uganda and Tanzania stock exchange (in 2006) and change in equity settlement cycle from T+4 to T+3 (in 2011) significantly reduce volatility clustering. The onset of US tapering increase the daily mean returns significantly while reducing conditional volatility.
Data Collection for a Virtual Museum on the Underwater Survey at Kaş, Turkey

Anon. , 2001, Aak to Zumbra A Dictionary of the World’s Watercraft. Newport News. Couper, A. , 2009, Sailors and Traders A Maritime History of the Pacific Peoples. Honolulu. Finney, B. , 2006, Ocean sailing canoes, in K. R. Howe (ed.), 2006, Vaka Moana Voyages of the Ancestors The Discovery and Settlement of the Pacific, 100–153. Auckland. Folkard, H. , 1853, The Sailing Boat: being a Treatise on English and Foreign Sailing Boats and Yachts. London. Haddon, A. C. and Hornell, J., 1938, Canoes of Oceania. Honolulu (repr. 1975). Horridge, A. , 1981, The Prahu: Traditional Sailing Boats of Indonesia. Kuala Lumpur. Howe, K. R. (ed.), 2006, Vaka Moana Voyages of the Ancestors The Discovery and Settlement of the Pacific. Auckland. McKie, R. and McKie, G. , 1993, Reflections of the Sepik. Bathurst NSW. Neyret, J., 1978, Pirogues Oceaniennes. Paris. Paris, E. , 1843, Essai sur la Construction Navales des Peuples Extraeuropéens, repr. 1993 with commentary by E. Rieth, as Atlas des Voiliers et Pirogues du Monde du debut XIX siecle. Paris.
RECRUITMENT OF BENTHIC MICROCYSTIS (CYANOPHYCEAE) TO THE WATER COLUMN: INTERNAL BUOYANCY CHANGES OR RESUSPENSION? 1

In some lakes, large amounts of the potentially toxic cyanobacterium Microcystis overwinter in the sediment. This overwintering population might inoculate the water column in spring and promote the development of dense surface blooms of Microcystis during summer. In the Dutch Lake Volkerak, we found photochemically active Microcystis colonies in the sediment throughout the year. The most vital colonies originated from shallow sediments within the euphotic zone. We investigated whether recruitment of Microcystis colonies from the sediment to the water column was an active process, through production of gas vesicles or respiration of carbohydrate ballast. We calculated net buoyancy, as an indication of relative density, using the amounts and densities of the major cell constituents (carbohydrates, proteins, and gas vesicles). Carbohydrate content of benthic Microcystis cells was very low throughout the year. Buoyancy changes of benthic Microcystis were mostly a result of changes in gas vesicle volume. Before the summer bloom, net buoyancy and the amount of buoyant colonies in the sediment did not change. Therefore, recruitment of Microcystis from the sediment does not seem to be an active process regulated by internal buoyancy changes. Instead, our observations indicate that attachment of sediment particles to colonies plays an important part in the buoyancy state of benthic colonies. Therefore, we suggest that recruitment of Microcystis is more likely a passive process resulting from resuspension by wind‐induced mixing or bioturbation. Consequently, shallow areas of the lake probably play a more important role in recruitment of benthic Microcystis than deep areas.
The Real Effects of Exchange-Traded Funds

How do exchange-traded funds (ETFs) influence real investment policies? We find that ETF ownership is associated with an increase in the sensitivity of real investment to Tobin's q. This implies a managerial learning channel, wherein higher ETF ownership increases price informativeness about systematic shocks. Supporting this pathway, higher ETF ownership is associated with higher predictability of future systematic earnings from stock prices, and reduced responsive of investment to stock prices of peers. Overall, the evidence is inconsistent with ETFs exerting a negative effect on real efficiency; the opposite hypothesis receives more support in the data.
Is the Comprehensive Assessment Really Comprehensive?

Analyzing the database made available by the European Central Bank (ECB) we evaluate the Comprehensive Assessment (asset quality review and stress test). We provide some insights on the supervisory approach of the ECB and on banking regulation. In a nutshell the main results are: i) risk adjusted capital ratios are negatively related to the asset quality review shortfall but not to the stress test shortfall, instead the leverage ratio always plays a significant role; ii) the comprehensive assessment was mainly concentrated on the traditional credit activity rather than on the financial assets of the banks; iii) there is evidence of manipulation in the computation of risk weighted assets by the use of internal rating based models; iv) the comprehensive assessment seems to be characterized by double standards: non-core countries have been penalized by the asset quality review; medium size banks are either more risky or have been penalized in both exercises; a non diversification-home bias effect (including government bonds) has penalized banks in the asset quality review; the use of national discretion helped core countries and was not of help for peripheral countries. As far as the methodology is concerned, several pitfalls emerge. However, we show that the capital adjustment performed by the stress test is positively related to a market based risk measure (historical volatility) and that the leverage ratio post adjustment, but not before the adjustment and not the risk adjusted capital ratio, is related to it.
Relative Shocks, Relative Price Variability, and Inflation

THE COEXISTENCE of high inflation and low real growth has received its share of attention in the attempts to understand the U.S. economic performance of the 1970s. Analytic contributions in the imperfect information market-clearing framework have shown how uncertainty about inflation can reduce the efficiency of the price system and how relative price variability is likely to be greater when there are unanticipated changes in the price level. Such analyses, combined with the assumption that high inflation rates are also more uncertain, provide a rationalization for the view that inflation may itself be a factor explaining the poor performance of the United States and other industrial economies after 1973. The relation between the rate of inflation and its variability was debated in Brookings Papers in 1971. In this paper I investigate a related issue: the relation between inflation and relative price variability. I discuss various explanations of a causal relation between inflation and relative price variability and provide estimates of the share of relative price variability that can be attributed to monetary and fiscal policy.1 In ex-
Predicting ectotherm vulnerability to climate warming: Comparing preferred and actual body temperatures in Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii

The performance of ectotherms can be related to temperature: performance increases with temperature to a certain optimum, above which it quickly drops. Climate warming is a threat to tropical ectotherms, whose thermal optima are relatively low. Temperate and alpine ectotherms, in contrast, have higher thermal optima, and therefore may benefit from rising temperatures. The preferred body temperatures (Tp) and field body temperatures (Tb) of viviparous Australian alpine skink, Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii (Dumeril and Bibron), were compared. Results showed that Tp was lower than Tb in early summer, implying that short-term warming could enhance performance. These thermal performance parameters are one of many factors that require consideration when predicting the vulnerability of ectotherms to climate warming.