Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms and Mediators of the Relationship between Anxiety Disorders and Alcohol Use Disorders: Focus on Amygdalar NPY

High rates of co morbidity for Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs) and anxiety disorders suggest a causative relationship between these disorders, as well as overlapping neurobiological mechanisms. While it is well established that alcohol withdrawal can precipitate and exacerbate the expression of anxiety, the extent to which pre-existing anxiety disorders contribute to the development of AUDs is less clear. Anxiety relief is commonly cited as a motivation to consume alcohol and recent preclinical studies focusing on the relationship between innate anxiety phenotypes and alcohol– related behaviors support the notion that elevated anxiety may contribute to increased alcohol consumption. However, the endogenous neural mechanisms that mediate this relationship have yet to be fully defined. This review focuses on the relationship between anxiety-related responses and acute alcohol effects, including the potential role that the Neuropeptide Y (NPY) system in the amygdala plays in mediating the neurobiological intersection of anxiety-alcohol effects.
Life history pattern and feeding habits of the invasive mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki, in Lake Pamvotis (NW Greece)

The introduction of non-native species into new environments and their spread over natural areas pose important threats for the conservation of biodiversity and have caused declines or extinctions of native species worldwide (Clavero & Garcia-Berthou, 2005). Most of the alien vertebrates that were introduced for beneficial outcomes and generalized vertebrate predators that were used as biological control agents, have revealed serious negative ecological and/or economic impacts and had unexpected consequences (Simberloff & Stiling, 1996). However, non-native species introductions are not always undesirable because not all introduced species become invasive; also, successful invaders do not constantly have negative ecological and economic impacts (Williamson, 1996; Leprieur et al., 2009). In addition, success in predicting the undesired consequences of non native species is compromised by the fact that many ecosystems increasingly support multiple invasive species (Leprieur et al., 2009). The family Poeciliidae, belonging to the order of Cyprinodontiformes, is a large taxon of bony fish comprised many genera (Gambusia sp. included). Numerous species are included in this genus, which originated from the USA, Mexico, and Cuba (Gandolfi et al., 1991), and are usually known as mosquitofish due to their ability to prey upon larval of the family of Culicidae. The mosquitofish is probably the most widely distributed freshwater fish of the globe (Pyke, Life history pattern and feeding habits of the invasive mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki, in Lake Pamvotis (NW Greece)
Adoption of insecticides as per the label claim by cotton growers in Akola district

The cotton seed coat extents into tubular fiber and is spin in to yarn. Cotton is currently the leading plant fiber crop worldwide and is grown commercially in temperate tropical region of more than 50 countries with a total coverage of 34 million hectare. The present investigation was carried out in Akola and Murtijapur panchyat samiti of Akola districts in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra State. The findings were done in search of adoption of various insecticide by cotton growers as per the label claim and constraints faced by cotton growers while in adoption of insecticide as per the label claim in cotton. The results of study revealed that, majority of cotton growers observed in medium level of adoption of insecticides as per the label claim. The partial adoption was observed in case of purchased insecticides in original packing, check statutory warning before spraying. The full adoption was observed in case of label and leaflet of insecticides read and understand carefully before spraying. Major constraints ascertain for knowledge adoption of insecticides as per the label claim were non availability of skill labour, high cost of pesticides, lack of awareness about label claim, lack of knowledge about proper handling, non availability of money at proper time, inadequate and timely availability of recommended pesticides, non availability of water for spraying, high wages of labour.
Propiedades psicométricas del Cuestionario de Riesgos Psicosociales Copsoq- Istas 21 y aplicación en docentes universitarios argentinos

En este artículo se examinan, primero, las propiedades psicométricas de la versión corta del Copsoq-Istas 21 (1.5) y, segundo, la prevalencia de seis factores de riesgo psicosocial, en una muestra de 175 docentesuniversitarios argentinos. Los resultados revelan que el instrumento observa una confiabilidad aceptable, con excepción de la sub-escala de doble presencia. Si bien los hallazgos de este estudio brindan soportea un modelo compuesto por seis factores latentes, la obtención de resultados poco satisfactorios en las pruebas de validez convergente y discriminante sugiere la necesidad de rediseñar el instrumento con elpropósito de mejorar su validez de constructo. Finalmente, los análisis practicados revelan una prevalencia elevada de doble presencia, exigencias psicológicas e insuficiente estima en los docentes participantes.
Bioavailability of organic matter photodissolved from coastal sediments

Photodissolution converts particulate organic matter to dissolved organic matter, which may affect its availability to heterotrophic organisms. We examined the ability of planktonic microbes to utilize photodissolved organic matter (PDOM) obtained from irradiating coastal sedi- ments and a preparation of algal membranes. About half of the organic carbon that was photodis- solved from algal particulate detritus was subsequently available to microbes over 2 wk of incu- bation in the dark, while that from the sediments appeared to be less bioavailable, the extent of utilization being 16 to 29%. Losses in total organic carbon during microbial incubation appeared as dissolved inorganic carbon, substantiating our inference of microbial usage. Accumulation of bacterial biomass was small relative to respiratory loss, which may be due to low growth efficiency by bacteria, or possibly grazing. Photoammonification converted some of the particulate nitrogen into inorganic ammonium; in the subsequent microbial processing of PDOM from sediments, this ammonium was reincorporated into organic matter. Thus, photodissolution shifts particulate organic matter to physical and chemical forms less available to metazoans and more available to osmotrophic microbes. This bioavailability, on a time scale of weeks, indicates that PDOM pro- duced in nearshore resuspension zones can add fuel to planktonic microbial regeneration pro- cesses while the water remains on the shelf, but that major fractions of the PDOM are likely to be exported offshore.
Joint NuSTAR and Chandra analysis of the obscured quasar in IC 2497 - Hanny's Voorwerp system

We present new Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) observations of the core of IC 2497, the galaxy associated with Hanny's Voorwerp. The combined fits of the Chandra (0.5–8 keV) and NuSTAR (3–24 keV) X-ray spectra, together with WISE mid-IR photometry, optical longslit spectroscopy and optical narrow-band imaging, suggest that the galaxy hosts a Compton-thick active galactic nucleus (AGN) (N_H ∼ 2 × 10^(24) cm^(−2), current intrinsic luminosity Lbol ∼ 2–5 × 10^(44) erg s^(−1)) whose luminosity dropped by a factor of ∼50 within the last ∼100 kyr. This corresponds to a change in Eddington ratio (ER) from ^λEdd ∼ 0.35 to ^λEdd ∼ 0.007. We argue that the AGN in IC 2497 should not be classified as a changing-look AGN, but rather we favour the interpretation where the AGN is undergoing a change in accretion state (from radiatively efficient to radiatively inefficient). In this scenario, the observed drop in luminosity and ER corresponds to the final stage of an AGN accretion phase. Our results are consistent with previous studies in the optical, X-ray and radio although the magnitude of the drop is lower than previously suggested. In addition, we discuss a possible analogy between X-ray binaries and an AGN.
20th century changes in carbon isotopes and water-use efficiency: tree-ring-based evaluation of the CLM4.5 and LPX-Bern models

Abstract. Measurements of the stable carbon isotope ratio (δ13C) on annual tree rings offer new opportunities to evaluate mechanisms of variations in photosynthesis and stomatal conductance under changing CO2 and climate conditions, especially in conjunction with process-based biogeochemical model simulations. The isotopic discrimination is indicative of the ratio between the CO2 partial pressure in the intercellular cavities and the atmosphere (ci∕ca) and of the ratio of assimilation to stomatal conductance, termed intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE). We performed isotope-enabled simulations over the industrial period with the land biosphere module (CLM4.5) of the Community Earth System Model and the Land Surface Processes and Exchanges (LPX-Bern) dynamic global vegetation model. Results for C3 tree species show good agreement with a global compilation of δ13C measurements on leaves, though modeled 13C discrimination by C3 trees is smaller in arid regions than measured. A compilation of 76 tree-ring records, mainly from Europe, boreal Asia, and western North America, suggests on average small 20th century changes in isotopic discrimination and in ci∕ca and an increase in iWUE of about 27 % since 1900. LPX-Bern results match these century-scale reconstructions, supporting the idea that the physiology of stomata has evolved to optimize trade-offs between carbon gain by assimilation and water loss by transpiration. In contrast, CLM4.5 simulates an increase in discrimination and in turn a change in iWUE that is almost twice as large as that revealed by the tree-ring data. Factorial simulations show that these changes are mainly in response to rising atmospheric CO2. The results suggest that the downregulation of ci∕ca and of photosynthesis by nitrogen limitation is possibly too strong in the standard setup of CLM4.5 or that there may be problems associated with the implementation of conductance, assimilation, and related adjustment processes on long-term environmental changes.
Hedging, Familiarity and Portfolio Choice

We exploit the restrictions of intertemporal portfolio choice in the presence of non-financial income risk to design and implement tests of hedging that use the information contained in the actual portfolio of the investor. We use a unique dataset of Swedish investors with information broken down at the investor level and into various components of wealth, investor income, tax positions and investor demographic characteristics. Portfolio holdings are identified at the stock level. We show that investors do not engage in hedging, but invest in stocks closely related to their non-financial income. We explain this with familiarity, that is the tendency to concentrate holdings in stocks with which the investor is familiar in terms of geographical of professional proximity or that he has held for a long period. We show that familiarity is not a behavioral bias, but is information-driven. Familiarity-based investment allows investors to earn higher returns than they would have otherwise earned if they had hedged.
Conspicuous Consumption: Is That All Bad? Investigating the Alternative Paradigm

Effort in studying the phenomenon of conspicuous consumption can be adequately justified by the concept's near universality and timelessness. The Theory of Veblen presents conspicuousness as a purposive conduct in which status considerations predominate. His opinion regarding individuals' efforts “to excel in pecuniary standing” indicates his positioning of conspicuous consumption as consumers' deliberate, conscious activity to achieve the objective of status enhancement. Our everyday experience suggests that the nature of conspicuous consumption (CC) is going through a change, which remains largely unaddressed by the extant literature (for details see, Chaudhuri and Majumdar, 2006). This calls for a closer investigation of the dynamics of a more contemporary perspective of CC and the present paper takes an attempt at the same. For long, in modern societies where ‘order’ is of supreme importance, CC has been considered as a ‘sinful,’ ‘wasted’ expense that delivers no value. Possibly because of this, lavish expenditure was branded wasteful as the practice symbolized exception (Mason, 1981) or “disorder. ” However, with evolving ideologies of postmodernism, consumption also gradually moved to the symbolic realm. This symbolic consumption helps the consumer to express his⁄her self and achieve a sense of continuity and identity. By adopting abstract interpretations and ascribing complex cultural meaning to products, those with “higher” taste but less money would aim to compete with those with money but no matching taste. The cultural ‘elite,’ thus, can make even a mundane or an easily affordable product to express and exhibit their exclusive taste, by sophisticated, in-depth appreciation and appropriate communication of these ‘taste-symbols’ which, by design, remain distinct from ‘status-symbols’. Based on the above discussion, the paper proposes an alternative conceptualization of the conspicuous consumption construct and also discusses the marketing implications.
Some decay properties for the damped wave equation on the torus@@@Quelques propriétés de décroissance pour l’équation des ondes amorties sur le tore

This article is a proceedings version of the ongoing work [1], and has been the object of a talk of the second author during the Journées “Équations aux Dérivées Partielles” (Biarritz, 2012). We address the decay rates of the energy of the damped wave equation when the damping coefficient b does not satisfy the Geometric Control Condition (GCC). First, we give a link with the controllability of the associated Schrödinger equation. We prove that the observability of the Schrödinger group implies that the semigroup associated to the damped wave equation decays at rate 1/ √ t (which is a stronger rate than the general logarithmic one predicted by the Lebeau Theorem). Second, we focus on the 2-dimensional torus. We prove that the best decay one can expect is 1/t, as soon as the damping region does not satisfy GCC. Conversely, for smooth damping coefficients b, we show that the semigroup decays at rate 1/t1−ε, for all ε > 0. In the case where the damping coefficient is a characteristic function of a strip (hence discontinuous), we give numerical evidence of decay rates strictly worse than 1/t. In particular, our study tends to prove that the decay rate highly depends on the way b vanishes.
Voluntary intake and digestibility of mulberry ( Morus alba ) diets by growing goats

Mulberry ( Morus alba ) was examined as a potential source of fodder for goats in the semi-arid region of central Tanzania in an intake and digestibility study. Four diets [dry mulberry leaf and maize bran in a 1:1 ratio (T 1 ), fresh leaf (T 2 ), dry leaf (T 3 ) and whole mulberry branches (T 4 )] were fed ad libitum to eight animals in a 4 × 4 Latin square design. Mean dry matter (DM) intakes and digestibilities for T 1 , T 2 and T 3 were 42.6, 51.7 and 45.8 g DM /kg W 0.75 and 55.7, 65.6 and 63.0 %, respectively. Daily gains were 26, 92, 86 and 86 g/d for animals on treatments T 1 –T 4 . Results of dry matter intake, digestibility and daily weight gain were significantly different (P<0.05). Dry matter intake and digestibility, crude protein concentration and in vitro dry matter digestibility decreased with age of the leaf. It is concluded that Morus alba could be used as a sole feed to support growth in small ruminants because of the high DM intake and digestibility.
Biochemical and physiological characterization of corky tissue affected fruit of sapota ( Manilkara achras (Mill) Fosberg) cv. Cricket Ball

Corky tissue is a physiological disorder, affecting Cricket Ball variety of sapota to the tune of 35% or more, especially in the summer season. Very little work has been reported so far on the biochemistry of this disorder. In the p resent study an attempt was made to characterize the corky tissue af fected fruit in biochemical and physiological view. Studies revealed that the percent of corky tissue incidence had a positiv e correlation with the number fruit per panicle and size of the fruit. Gibberellic acid treatment has reduced the incidenc e of corky tissue as compared to control and paclob utrazol treatment has increased the incidence of disorder. In corky tissu e affected fruit pulp the reducing sugars, total so luble sugars content and enzyme activity like amylase were reduced and starch content was higher as compared to healthy fruit pu lp, hence decreased activity of amylase might affected the conversion o f starch into simple sugars. Total carbohydrate, pr oteins, fatty acids, mineral nutrients were comparatively less in case of affected fruits. This indicates that there was less mobilization of these biochemical parameters into the fruit and consequen tly affected the physiological development of the fand manifested as disorder.
Financing Under Extreme Uncertainty : Contract Terms and Returns to Private Investments in Public Equity

We investigate the motivations and the returns to the firms and investors using Private Investments in Public Equities (PIPE) financing, an increasingly common form of equity-linked financing. PIPE issuers perform poorly before the PIPE offering – making traditional forms of financing difficult to obtain – and continue to perform poorly after the offering with mean 12 month abnormal returns of –9% or less, depending on the benchmark and the type of PIPE issued. In exchange for making relatively large equity investments in such poorly performing companies, PIPE investors receive warrants, price resets, and other cash flow rights that can differentiate their returns from shareholders. These rights enable PIPE investors to on average significantly outperform shareholders and to meet or beat benchmark portfolios. The results support the view that cash flow rights reflect private investors’ outlook for the issuer’s future returns. JEL classification: G24
Study on Informational Transaction and Its Effect on China's Stock Index Futures Market

Information is one of the important factors that influence the behavior of investors and then have an effect on the price of the risky assets in the market. Firstly, the new procedure developed by Easley et al. (2011) is used to estimate the Volume-Synchronized Probability of Informed Trading (VPIN) of the Chinese stock index futures market. Then VPIN for special scenarios is depicted. As a result, we find that the future contracts generally have a larger number of information transactions. We also find that, for particular scenarios, the probability of informed trading in the market has obvious exceptions. The larger proportion of informed trader is, the higher the volatility of the price is.
Phoebe: A Surface Dominated by Water

The Saturnian irregular satellite, Phoebe, can be broadly described as a water-rich rock. This object, which presumably originated from the same primordial population shared by the dynamically excited Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), has received high-resolution spectral imaging during the Cassini flyby. We present a new analysis of the Visual Infrared Mapping Spectrometer observations of Phoebe, which critically, includes a geometry correction routine that enables pixel-by-pixel mapping of visible and infrared spectral cubes directly onto the Phoebe shape model, even when an image exhibits significant trailing errors. The result of our re-analysis is a successful match of 46 images, producing spectral maps covering the majority of Phoebe’s surface, roughly a third of which is imaged by high-resolution observations (<22 km per pixel resolution). There is no spot on Phoebe’s surface that is absent of water absorption. The regions richest in water are clearly associated with the Jason and south pole impact basins. Phoebe exhibits only three spectral types, and a water–ice concentration that correlates with physical depth and visible albedo. The water-rich and water-poor regions exhibit significantly different crater size frequency distributions and different large crater morphologies. We propose that Phoebe once had a water-poor surface whose water–ice concentration was enhanced by basin-forming impacts that exposed richer subsurface layers. The range of Phoebe’s water–ice absorption spans the same range exhibited by dynamically excited KBOs. The common water–ice absorption depths and primordial origins, and the association of Phoebe’s water-rich regions with its impact basins, suggests the plausible idea that KBOs also originated with water-poor surfaces that were enhanced through stochastic collisional modification.
EVALUATION OF NUTRITIONAL AND SENSORY PROPERTIES OF BREAD ENRICHED WITH SPIRULINA

This study aims the improvement of the nutritional balance of bread, beforehand we prepared control and enriched breads by a percentage of 1 and 3% of dry biomass of a local microalgae spirulina. The evaluation of the nutritional values of these breads is done on the basis of their chemical composition and the acceptability of enriched breads was estimated by a sensory test. It was noticed that the volume and the specific volume of enriched breads, were slightly influenced by the addition of spirulina, the difference was significant (p<0.05). In addition, the enrichment by spirulina improved the nutritional quality of bread, a better increase on the rate of proteins was obtained for the bread with a rate of 3%, the value is estimated at 9.98%. Furthermore of proteins, ashes also showed an improvement in the bread, the values are 1.86 and 2.31% for 1 and 3% enriched bread, respectively. Moreover, for the rest of nutriments (fat, crude fiber, carbohydrates) the values remain almost unchanged. The results of the sensory test showed that the bread supplemented by 1% of spirulina seem to have more preferred color, bread enriched with 3% was the least appreciated, otherwise all enriched bread presented a good global acceptability.
WIDER Working Paper 2014/015 Foreign aid effectiveness in African economies Evidence from a panel threshold framework

: The aid-growth literature has been explored using a wide range of econometric methodologies. The evidence of the effectiveness of aid to promote economic growth is mixed, suggesting that the link between aid and growth is complex and may not be well identified by traditional methods. We take another perspective and frame the aid-growth literature within a nonlinear panel threshold framework applied to a panel of selected African economies for the period 1980 to 2007. We also compare our results with the linear and nonlinear-polynomial specification and address potential endogeneity using instrumental variables and dynamic panel estimations. In the linear setting, we find no clear evidence of a positive effect of aid on growth. In the nonlinear setting, we explore four threshold variables capturing various macroeconomic policies. For each threshold variable, we estimate a polynomial model by interacting aid with the considered threshold variable and a threshold model by splitting the sample according to some endogenous thresholds. Although we find no evidence of polynomial effect in the case of aid as a threshold variable, there is weak evidence of a threshold effect with a diminishing return of aid. In a lower regime of past aid receipts less than of 1.5 per cent of GDP, aid appears to have a strong positive and significant effect on growth while the effect is insignificant when aid exceeds that level. We also find that under good policy environment characterized by relatively low inflation, high trade openness and low budget deficit, the effect of aid is greater. These findings suggest that both donors and African aid recipient countries should continue their efforts in strengthening the macroeconomic management of aid.