Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic diversity in spring wheat cultivars and relationships between traits under terminal drought stress

For evaluation of the traits related to water deficit stress in 20 spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars and subsequently determination of the most tolerant and sensitive cultivars, an experiment was carried out in split plot based on randomized complete block design (RCBD) in the research farm of the University of Tabriz, Iran during 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 crop seasons. The first factor was different levels of water stress including water stress (no irrigation after booting stage) and well-watered conditions, and the second factor comprised 20 spring wheat cultivars. The results indicated that there was significant difference between cultivars and irrigation conditions related to nearly all the traits studied here. The mean comparison and cluster analysis of the cultivars showed that Marvdasht, Niknejhad, Moghan3, Darya and Kavir cultivars had the highest values, but Pishtaz, Bam, Sistan, Sepahan and Bahar cultivars had the lowest values for almost of all the traits. Generally, Kavir and Bahar cultivars were recognized as the most tolerant and susceptible cultivars under drought stress, respectively. According to stepwise regression, some traits entered into the final model, as the maximum amounts of correlation coefficient and direct effects were achieved for the number of spike per plant under two conditions. So, screening for higher values of this trait can bring an improvement in wheat grain yield under two conditions. Factor analysis detected three and four factors which explained 89.95 and 88.01 % of the total variation in non-stress and stress conditions, respectively. Under drought stress condition the factors of 1, 2, 3 and 4 named as root, yield and yield components, physiological, and biomass factors, respectively. These coefficients showed that cultivars with higher values of these factors had the highest values for the traits related to names of each factor.
Brand New Images? Implications of Instagram Photography for Place Branding

The aim of this article is to develop an understanding of what happens when Instagram photography is used for branding a place. Questions raised are which photographs are taken and published, does the practice result in novel ways of representing a place, and, in turn the image of a place. A practice approach to photography is used where focus is directed to the performative aspect of photography. Fifteen qualitative interviews were conducted with participants in an Instagram takeover project concerning their photographs. The study shows that adopting a communication strategy based on visual social media is dependent on the participants’ competencies and that it is embedded in everyday life. Moreover, the participants’ photographic practices were found to be influenced by social conventions, which resulted in the city being imagined differently by different participants. To use visual social media such as Instagram for branding purposes does not necessarily mean that novel images are generated, but that they are choreographed according to the conditions of Instagram as medium.
Chemical Characteristics and In vitro Antidiabetic and Antioxidant Activities of Premna serratifolia L. Leaf Infusion and Decoction

Introduction: Leaves of Premna serratifolia L. (local name: arogo) is well known as food ingredient for fish/meat-based soup in Tentena, Indonesia. Evaluation of its bioactivities is needed. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the α-glucosidase inhibitory and antioxidant activities of infusion and decoction of P. serratifolia leaves. Methods: The leaf samples were prepared by infusion and decoction and analysed for their α-glucosidase inhibitory and antioxidant activities, as well as total phenolic contents and LC-MS profiles. Results: The total phenolic content of the decoction was higher than the infusion. The UV spectra of both infusion and decoction showed peak at 325 nm and shoulder at 285 nm. Their LC-MS yielded one dominant component at 132 (100) m/z fragment, which was tentatively identified as caffeic acid. Both infusion and decoction extracts exhibited strong α-glucosidase inhibition with IC50 of 4.27 and 0.046 μg GAE/ml, respectively. The IC50 for DPPH scavenging activity of the infusion and decoction were similar; 6.82 and 7.28 μg GAE/ml, respectively. But the IC50 of the infusion and decoction for ferrous ion chelating activities were different; 161.66 and 28.34 μg GAE/ ml, respectively. The α-glucosidase inhibitory and antioxidant activities were related to the phenolic content. Conclusion: The study concludes that both infusion and decoction of arogo leaves have antidiabetic effect and potential antioxidant activity. The decoction of the leaves may increase its antidiabetic capacity.
Can firm age account for productivity differences

The productivity of enterprises is an important indicator, for individual enterprises as well as for policy makers. For individual firms, their productivity is a main determinant of their performance, while the aggregate productivity is one of the main determinants of economic growth. In this study we examine the relationship between the age of firms and the level and growth rate of productivity, focusing on firms of at least 10 years of age. For these firms, we will examine the following two research questions: How does the distribution of firm productivity (as characterised by mean and standard deviation) change over age cohorts? To which extent are differences in productivity between individual firms related to firm age?
Correlation between the Measurements of Serum and Arterial Blood Gas (ABG) Electrolytes in Patients Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Background: The values of electrolytes are measured by both the arterial blood gas analyzer and the auto-analyzers, in arterial and venous blood respectively. Literature reports suggest controversies in comparisons between the results. Concerns have been increased about the precision of the instrument due to difference in results of laboratories, in addition to the time consumed. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective observational study on serum and ABG electrolytes in samples from 53 (34 Male and 19 Female) patients admitted to ICU at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City (KAMC). The analysis was done in Central Laboratory. The results from patients’ file were uploaded to SPSS from excel sheets and statistical analysis was done. Results and Conclusion: The age of patients varied between 14 years and 87 years in both the sexes. The sex wise frequency was 64.151% (males) and 35.85% (females). The pathological reports showed highest incidence of post-Motor Vehicular Accidents (MVA) followed by Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) and Respiratory Failure (RF). Comorbidities were infrequent. However; the highest incidence was related to Diabetes (DM) + Hypertension (HTN), followed by HTN alone and subsequently DM alone. SPSS analysis showed correlation between serum electrolytes and ABG electrolytes was significant at 0.01 levels. Correlation between serum and arterial electrolytes was significant, however; related to time it was weakly negative. We conclude that critical decisions can be made by trusting the values obtained through both ABG and Serum levels of the electrolytes.
The Determinants of Corporate Dividend Policy: An Investigation of Pakistani Banking Industry

The paper investigates the impact of different firm specific factors on the dividend policy of companies by selecting a sample of 18 banks listed in KSE for the period 2006-2011. The dependent variable is dividend policy where as explanatory variables include, firm size and risk, profitability, firm’s growth and leverage. It was found that out of 18 banks 11 banks pay dividends whereas seven banks do not. The results have shown that the independent variables growth, profitability and firm size have positive coefficient of correlation when the dependent variable is dividend yield and Dividend Payout Ratio. However there is strong linear association between profitability and firm size with dividend policy but the variable growth rate has weak positive correlation with dividend policy. In contrast, the variables leverage and firm risk has inverse linear relationship with dividend policy. Banks that pay dividends were found, when we use method of correlation coefficient more profitable, stable and less risky as compare to banks that do not pay dividends. Keywords: Dividend Policy, Listed Banks, Pakistan
The Incumbency Effects of Signalling

Much literature on political behaviour treats politicians as motivated by re-election, choosing actions to signal their types to voters. We identify a novel implication of incumbent signalling. Because incumbents only care about clearing a re-election hurdle, signals will tend to cluster just above the threshold needed for re-election. This generates a skew distribution of signals leading to an incumbency advantage in the probability of election. We also solve for the optimal threshold when voters have the ability to commit.
Factors that influence female entrepreneurship in the European Union

This research work aims to discuss the gender issue concerning entrepreneurship in European Union countries in a period of nine years, from 2007 to 2015, identifying the factors which drive females to be entrepreneurs. The study mainly concentrates on identifying and quantifying the personal, social, political and economic features which are motivating women, to be entrepreneurs, as well as the main difficulties they feel during the process of business creation. In order to explore the entrepreneurial activity across a set of developed countries the econometric methodology of panel data (in particular the fixed effects and random effects models) is applied to a data set of entrepreneurial statistical indicators calculated and made available by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Scientific Area: Management and Administration
EXPERIMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF THE PROGRAM "ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD"

Evaluación Experimental Del Programa “Una Laptop Por Niño” En Perú. 1 Even though this program has only recently been implemented, this document presents a few preliminary findings that could be relevant for its future development. On the one hand, we find evidence of better attitudes and expectations among teachers and parents; students that are more critical of school work and of their own performance; and a greater development of technological skills among girls and boys. On the other hand, there seems to be a decrease in the intensity of computer use in the classroom, as time passes and difficulties arise in the implementation of the project. Due to the short interval of time since implementation, no impact was observed in learning. This should be verified in future surveys. EXPERIMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF THE PROGRAM "ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD" IN PERU
Local Representation and Strategic Voting: Evidence from Electoral Boundary Reforms

We analyze whether voters value local political representation by exploiting municipal mergers, which increase the number of candidates available to voters and intensify political competition. In the Finnish open-list proportional representation system, voters rank the candidates within parties, and thus, concentrating votes to local candidates increases the extent of local representation. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, we find that the vote distributions become more concentrated in municipalities less likely to gain local representation after the mergers. Moreover, the effect is much larger in municipalities where the benefits of local representation to voters are large. The latter result disentangles voters' responses from the responses of other political actors. The results are important also for designing local government mergers, which are an important policy tool in many countries. They highlight that concerns over deteriorating local democracy due to mergers have merit, because voters have preferences for local representation. At the same time, the vote concentration patterns we find alleviate these concerns.
The expectations hypothesis of the term structure: evidence for Germany

In this paper we examine the expectations hypothesis of the term structure (EHT) using a newly constructed monthly database of zero coupon bond yields from the German Government bond market. We use data at the short end of the maturity spectrum (maturities less than two years) and employ two approaches to predict future movements in shorter-term interest rates - one based on the yield spread, the other based on the forward-spot rate spread. We find that for the period considered, 1985 - 2-1994 - 12, both spreads contain substantial information for predicting future interest rate movements. Moreover, the results are, in general, consistent with the implications of the EHT, as far as the value of the coefficient of the spread is concerned. This means that in Germany the spread can be used as an important indicator for the conduct of monetary policy.
Ecology of Sargassum muticum (Phaeophyta) on the North Coast of Spain. III. Reproductive Ecology

On the north coast of Spain, Sargassum muticum is fertile between spring and summer. Maturation occurs gradually from April to September. Senescence occurs simultaneously with full maturity increasing from June to September. Differences between two consecutive years can be explained by changes in environmental factors, such as seawater temperature and nutrient concentrations. Assuming that receptacles are the only reproductive structures, standing reproductive allocation (standing R A) in the population varied between 20-24% and the maximum value recorded for a single plant was 55%. There was a positive relationship between standing RA and the size of the plant, but this allometric relationship was much clearer when the number of receptacles (NR) was plotted against the weight of the plant. This suggests that NR is fixed for a given plant size but that actual allocation (standing RA) varied among plants. Inter-annual differences between reproductive investment were related to environmental factors and other factors intrinsic to the population.
Utility of platelet indices in diagnosing the underlying cause of thrombocytopenia due to accelerated platelet destruction

Background: Thrombocytopenia is a common clinical manifestation of many diseases and has numerous causes, including decreased bone marrow production, increased spleen sequestration, and accelerated destruction of platelets. Among the various aetiologies, Accelerated platelet destruction is the most common cause. Distinction between the various aetiological categories of thrombocytopenia is usually made by invasive bone marrow examination. Some studies stated that Platelet indices were altered in various causes of thrombocytopenia and helpful in discriminating the causes. we aim, to know the role of platelet indices in determining the underlying cause of thrombocytopenia due to platelet destruction. Methods: 30 Healthy controls and 145 patients (study group) with thrombocytopenia (platelet count <150x109) were included in the study. Thrombocytopenia due to decreased bonemarrow production and artefactual thrombocytopenia were excluded. The study group was divided into 3groups. Group 1 includes immune thrombocytopenia, Group 2 having thrombocytopenia of non immunological causes and Group 3 includes miscellaneous causes. Clinical features, Platelet counts and platelet indices were studied and statistical analysis was performed. Result: In all the groups of thrombocytopenia due to accelerated platelet destruction, MPV and P-LCR were significantly higher; P-LCC was significantly lower than healthy controls. There was no significant variation of PDW in NonImmune thrombocytopenia and miscellaneous groups, but PDW was significantly lower in immune thrombocytopenia than healthy controls. Conclusion: Platelet indices should be considered in the diagnosis of thrombocytopenia due to accelerated destruction of any cause. Among the platelet indices, PDW can be useful for a positive diagnosis of immunological thrombocytopenia.
An R&D-based model of multi-sector growth

We develop a multi-sector general equilibrium model in which productivity growth is driven by the production of sector-specific knowledge. In the model, we find that long run differences in total factor productivity growth across sectors are independent of the parameters of the knowledge production function except for one, which we term the fertility of knowledge. Differences in R&D intensity are also independent of most other parameters. The fertility of knowledge in the capital sector is central to the growth properties of the model economy.
Growers prefer personal delivery of UC information

The success of California agriculture depends on the effective delivery and adoption of useful information. Traditionally, Cooperative Extension has stressed the use of “multipliers” including pest control advisors and private consultants as an effective way to widely distribute information. However, results of a study examining the regional reach of information for tree crop farmers in a six-county area suggests such a strategy may not be as effective as presumed. Growers contacted PCAs, chemical representatives and private consultants more often than farm advisors, but considered farm advisors more useful information sources. Cooperative Extension and other agricultural educators must learn more about how farmers acquire information and what influences their adoption of new practices.
A new genus for Libinia rostrata Bell, 1835, with comments on the validity of Libinia bellicosa Oliveira, 1944 (Crustacea, Brachyura, Majoidea, Epialtidae)

Stratiolibinia gen. nov., is established for Libinia rostrata Bell, 1835, its type species, and Libinia bellicosa Oliveira, 1944. The thoracic sternum, male first gonopods, abdomen, and pereiopods are distinctive, and easily distinguish the genus from Libinia Leach, 1815 sensu stricto.
Analysis of turbulent wake behind a wind turbine

The aim of this study is to improve the classical analytical model for estimation of the rate of wake expansion and the decay of wake velocity deficit in the far wake region behind a wind turbine. The relations for a fully turbulent axisymmetric far wake were derived by applying the mass and momentum conservations, the selfsimilarity of mean velocity profile and the eddy viscosity closure. The theoretical approach is validated using the numerical results obtained from large eddy simulations with an actuator line technique at ambient turbulence level and ambient wind velocity of 10 m/s, and 0.1% ambient turbulence level and ambient wind velocity of 7 m/s. The obtained results showed that neglecting the nonlinear term of velocity in the momentum equation in the far wake region cannot be a fair assumption, unlike what is generally assumed in most of text books of fluid mechanics. Therefore the theoretical determination of the power law for the wake expansion and the decay of the wake velocity deficit may not be valid in the case of the wake generated behind a wind turbine with low ambient turbulence and high thrust coefficient. Although at higher ambient turbulence levels or lower ambient wind velocities (higher thrust coefficients), this trend may be improved due to the faster recovery of the wake and therefore closer values to the theoretical approach may be obtained. In addition, the assumption of self-similarity behavior of the mean velocity profile, when scaled with center line velocity deficit, could be correct in the far wake region of a wind turbine and low ambient turbulence levels.
Innovation Process in Canadian and US Hotels

This study explores the innovation (NSD) process in hotels. We review the existing NSD models and investigate if they explain the innovation process in hotels both in Canada and the US. Six new services are identified and examined closely. Based on the results we find distinct differences in the innovation process in hotels from other service industries and propose an activity based innovation process model for hotels. The study also attempts to understand if the development process is an informal or a formal one and reveals that is as much systematic as it is creative. The study provides a guideline for managers to adopt, in implementing an NSD process.
A Comparison of Working Capital Management of Chemical and Medicine Listed Companies in Tehran Stock Exchange

The main objective of the current study is comparing working capital management of two groups of listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange. The results show that, in medicine industry compared to chemical industry, debt ratio makes more impact on reduction of net liquidity. But examination of impact of LEV over WCR indicate that, in chemical industry, debt ratio makes more impact on There is a great emphasis on the importance of working capital management in recent years and a great part of the decisions of financial managers relate to that. That's because management of working capital influences the firm's profits and thus its market value. In order to realize a proper management of working capital, the managers should create a balance between risk and return. Based on the theory of Risk and Return, the more a firm holds net working capital, the less risk faces the firm, and instead the firm's returns will also decrease. The opposite is also true. Companies that hold less liquidity face a great risk. Therefore creating a correspondence between risk and capital return bears a great significance. The company's ability in handling its operations over a long period depends on how the company manages its working capital. Therefore the manager's capability in making a balance between the company's risk and return plays a major role in persistence or failure of company's activities.
Lobbying, Campaign Contributions and Political Competition

We study how lobbying affects political competition and policy outcomes. Two partiescompete in an election where each of them can receive support from a lobby in the formof monetary contributions for campaign spending in exchange for a certain position in thepolitical spectrum. The trade-off for the political party is that more campaign spendingincreases the chances of winning the election but the ideology of the lobby is not alignedwith that of the median voter. We study the game played between the lobbies, each ofwhich offers a contract to one party specifying a policy position and a campaign spendingcontribution, and the parties, each of which decide whether to accept such contract andif not how to compete against the other party. We explore how lobbying and politicalcompetition affect polarization, campaign spending and welfare. Our results match andexplain empirical findings.
The Measurement of Liner - Piston Skirt Oil Film Thickness by an Ultrasonic Means

The paper presents a novel method for the measurement of lubricant film thickness in the piston-liner contact. Direct measurement of the film in this conjunction has always posed a problem, particularly under fired conditions. The principle is based on capturing and analysing the reflection of an ultrasonic pulse at the oil film. The proportion of the wave amplitude reflected can be related to the thickness of the oil film. A single cylinder 4-stroke engine on a dyno test platform was used for evaluation of the method. A piezo-electric transducer was bonded to the outside of the cylinder liner and used to emit high frequency short duration ultrasonic pulses. These pulses were used to determine the oil film thickness as the piston skirt passed over the sensor location. Oil films in the range 2 to 21 μm were recorded varying with engine speeds. The results have been shown to be in agreement with detailed numerical predictions.