Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Modeling Study of Boundary Layer Wind Flow over Tehran Region during a High Pollution Episode

The influence of a mega-city on the atmospheric boundary layer wind field was examined in the complex-terrain, semi-arid Tehran region using the Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research fifth-generation Mesoscale Model (MM5) during a high pollution period. In addition, model sensitivity studies were conducted to evaluate the performance of the urban canopy and urban soil model "SM2-U (3D)" parameterization on the wind field. The topographic flows and urban effects were found to play important roles in modulating the wind field, and the urbanized areas exerted important local effects on the boundary layer meteorology. An emission inventory of heat generation was developed and updated for 2005 in this work. By using a detailed methodology, we calculated spatial and temporal distributions of the anthropogenic heat flux (Qf) for Tehran during 2005. Wintertime Qf is found larger than summertime Qf, which reflects the importance of heating emissions from buildings and traffic during cold and warm periods respectively. Different urban parameterizations were used as a tool to investigate the modifications induced by the presence of an urban area in the area of interest. It is found that, for local meteorological simulations, the drag-force approach (DA) coupled with an urban soil model (SM2-U) is preferable to the roughness approach (RA) coupled with a slab soil model. The comparisons indicated that the most important features of the wind field, in urban areas are well reproduced by the DA-SM2-U configuration with the anthropogenic heat flux being taken into account. This modeling option showed that the suburban part of the city is dominated by topographic flows whereas the center and south of Tehran are more affected by urban heat island (UHI) forcing especially during the night in studied episodes.
Economics of mate choice at leks: do female waxmoths pay costs for indirect genetic benefits?

Sexual selection theory predicts low costs of choice when females choose among males for genetic (indirect) benefits, as occurs at leks. However, few empirical studies have investigated the actual costs incurred during the process of pair formation, and we generally do not know whether and to what extent females incur energetic expenditure, exposure to predation, or simple allocation of time by virtue of their choosiness. Do females that choose mates at larger aggregations of males necessarily pay these costs? Moreover, what costs are they willing to pay to obtain potential benefits? We addressed these questions in an acoustic pyralid moth, Achroia grisella, in which males aggregate and attract females with an advertisement song. Female choice is based on acoustic characters of displaying males, and only genetic benefits appear to be available. We measured the movement and time that females spent in mate sampling when presented with varying numbers of males in a laboratory arena. We found that female choice for specific males was retained as male number increased, although their sampling effort increased: female trajectories lengthened and reversed direction more often. The repeatability of female choice at larger leks and the basic precision of female phonotaxis indicated that the lengthened trajectories reflected sampling and choosiness as opposed to confusion. We propose that the cost of such choosiness in natural populations may be an increased exposure to predation and that females pay this cost because of the opportunity to mate with a specific male with certain song characteristics. Copyright 2010, Oxford University Press.
Biomass and carbon stocks in mangrove stands of Kadalundi estuarine wetland, south-west coast of India

Mangroves are keystone ecosystems which provide numerous environmental services. Mangroves assume significance as standing stores of sequestered atmospheric carbon and are therefore, important in the light of climate change mitigation. In this study, we attempted to assess the biomass of mangroves in the Kadalundi wetland, south-west coast of India and evaluated the potential of these mangroves to sequester and store carbon. The C-stocks of above-ground and root biomass were 83.32±11.06 t C ha-1 and 34.96±4.30 t C ha-1 respectively, while the C-stock in sediment was estimated to be 63.87±8.67 t C ha-1. The estimates of mean combined C-stocks in the mangrove biomass and sediment of Kadalundi shows that this estuarine mangrove wetland stored 182.15 t C ha-1, which was equivalent to 668.48 t CO2 ha-1. The mangroves which cover an area of 13.23 ha in the Kadalundi wetland is assumed to have a potential to sequester and store a substantial quantity of 2,409.84 t C which is equivalent to 8,844.11 t CO2. The study underscores the importance of these intertidal forests for climate change mitigation and stresses the importance of protecting the mangroves which provide many other important ecosystem services that benefit communities.
Entangling qubit registers via many-body states of ultracold atoms

Inspired by the experimental measurement of the Renyi entanglement entropy in a lattice of ultracold atoms by Islam et al., [Nature 528, 77 (2015)] we propose a method to entangle two spatially-separated qubits using the quantum many-body state as a resource. Through local operations accessible in an experiment, entanglement is transferred to a qubit register from atoms at the ends of a one-dimensional chain. We compute the operational entanglement, which bounds the entanglement physically transferable from the many-body resource to the register, and discuss a protocol for its experimental measurement. Finally, we explore measures for the amount of entanglement available in the register after transfer, suitable for use in quantum information applications.
Effect of Information Technology Capabilities on E-services among Malaysian Local Authorities

This study examines the effect of Information Technology capabilities (IT) on e-services in Malaysian Local Authorities (LAs). Using a questionnaire survey, this study assesses three elements of IT capabilitiy: infrastructure, skill and usage on the quality of e-services offered by LAs. This study uses the variables for IT capabilities introduced by Tippins and Sohi (2003) in assessing their influence on the quality of e-services among LAs. The results show that all three elements significantly affect the quality of the e-service . The results also show that the interaction between the IT infrastructure and IT skill significantly influences the quality of the LA e-services. The results support the findings in the private sector literature that discovered that IT capabilities were an effective performance mechanism in order to experience continuous performance improvement.
The carpology and taxonomic relationships of "Bretschneidera (Bretschneideraceae)"

The carpology and taxonomic relationships of Bretschneidera (Bretschneideraceae). The fruit and seed anatomy and morphology of Bretschneidera sinensis Hemsl. , the monotypic genus in the Bretschneideraceae, have been studied in order to clarify its phylogenetic relationships. The loculicidal trilocular syncarpous fruit has unusual unspecialised, aerenchymatous fibrous 12-14-layered endocarp and sclerified innermost part of the mesocarp with numerous radially elongated bundles pervading the parenchyma of mesocarp. Such a distribution of mechanical elements is indicative of the derivation of the Bretschneidera fruit from a drupaceous fruit of the «durian» type. In order to emphasise hard differences in pericarpic mechanical system of between drupe, capsule and this specialised type it is proposed to establish a new type of fruits ascade (aseada, lat.) to accommodate all fruits originated from the superior ovary with sclerified mechanical system located in the mesocarp. Thus the fruit of Bretschneidera is defined as a loculicidal ascade instead of loculicidal capsule. Seeds of Bretschneidera are relatively large, practically exalbuminous, with straight dicotyledonous embryo. The spermoderm of Bretschneidera is exomesotestal with unspecialised crushed tegmen, 40-45-layered, traversed by 8 postchalazal vascular bundles. Evidence mainly from seed morphology and anatomy of seed coats emphasises the somewhat anomaly of the traditional inclusion of Bretschneideraceae in the Sapindales, being quite distinct in spermoderm structure and origin from both Sapindaceae and Hippocastanaceae as well as from other families of the order, excepting anomalous exo-mesotestal Akaniaceae. Furthermore, seed anatomy does not confirm any relationships with Capparales. It is suggested that Bretschneideraceae with Akaniaceae constitute a distinct relict side-branch of connaraceous-sapindaceous ancestry. It can by no means be considered as a basal clade to Capparales. It is suggested to keep Bretschneideraceae with Akaniaceae separately from Sapindales and Capparales before more comprehensive studies of seedcoat anatomy of other orders of Rosidae.
The Relationship between Audit Committee Characteristics and Earnings Management among Jordanian Listed Companies: Proposing Conceptual Framework

In a capital market where financial reports are a key feature of communication with respect to public firms’ performance and financial position, as is well known, one of the objectives of a company’s corporate governance system is to ensure the quality of that company’s financial reporting. Accounting earnings are more reliable and of higher quality when managers’ opportunistic behavior is reduced using monitoring systems. One specific area of concern is the monitoring function of the audit committee on earnings management. This paper proposes a conceptual framework that investigates the role of audit committee characteristics (independence, size, activity, and financial expertise) on earnings management using a sample of all industrial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). Evidence from prior studies suggested that audit committee takes over the board function to oversee the firm’s financial reporting process. The audit committee’s role vital in monitoring the company’s operation and internal control system with the aim of protecting the interest of the shareholders. In regards to earnings management, this paper views earnings management as opportunistic earnings. The current study argues that the firms with effective characteristics of audit committee are less likely to allow earnings management because opportunistic earning's cause uncertainty about the economic value of a firm. Keywords: Audit committee characteristics, earnings management, financial reporting quality, Jordan.
PUBLIC SECTOR AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION: IS THERE LIFE AFTER STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT?

The public sector extension services in which ldcs - often at the behest of donors have invested large sums are achieving only limited impact but face unsustainably high recurrent costs. This is especially true of the 'Training and Visit' model promoted by the World Bank. Further, the fundamental promise of public sector extension - that low-income farmers are unlikely to obtain technical information unless it is provided by government - is increasingly being challenged. This paper reviews the pressures facing conventional agricultural extension and examines the prospects of recent approaches which are participatory, institutionally pluralistic and geared towards
The Effect of Viscosity on Performance of a Low Specific Speed Centrifugal Pump

Centrifugal pump delivery head and flow rate drop effectively during the pumping of viscous fluids. Several methods and correlations have been developed to predict reduction rate in centrifugal pump performance when handling viscous fluids, but their results are not in very good agreement with each other. In this study, a common industrial low specific speed pump, which is extensively used in different applications, is studied. The entire pump, including impeller, volute, pipes, front and rear sidewall gaps, and balance holes, is simulated in Computational Fluid Dynamics and 3D full Navier Stokes equations are solved. CFD results are compared with experimental data such as pump performance curves, static pressure in casing, and disk friction loss. Dimensionless angular velocity and leakage rate are investigated in sidewall gap and efficiency variation due to viscosity is studied. The results demonstrate that the behavior of the fluid in sidewall gap is strictly sensitive to viscosity. Increasing viscosity improves the volumetric efficiency by reducing internal leakage through wear rings and balance holes, causing, however, a significant fall in the disk and overall efficiency. Results lead to some recommendations for designing centrifugal pumps which may be used in transferring viscous fluids.
Laser welding of the new grade of advanced high-strength steel Domex 960

The article presents the results of investigations on autogenous laser welding of the new-generation advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) Domex 960, classified as thermomechanically rolled steel by the manufacturer. There is little information about welding this steel grade, relating only to arc-welding methods. Therefore, a modern disk laser was used for the butt-joint welding of 5.0 mm steel sheets. The results of a microstructure study, tensile tests, technological bending tests, impact-toughness tests and also microhardness measurements showed that a low heat input during the laser welding of the new Domex 960 grade steel is advantageous. A low heat input and thus a high cooling rate of the weld metal and the heat-affected zone (HAZ) led to the formation of a favourable fine-grained microstructure, providing also high mechanical properties of butt joints, comparable to the properties of the base metal. Despite the high cooling rates, there was no significant increase in the microhardness measured across the butt joints. Moreover, a slight decrease in the microhardness was observed in the HAZ.
Packet-driven General Purpose Instruction Execution on Communication-based Architectures

Multi-core processors are currently being established as a standard for general purpose processing due to energy consumption concerns. In this scenario, moving to more, simpler processors seems to be a natural trend for computers. Thus, one may not be surprised when many-cores architectures [1] will be establisehd as a paradigm in the near future. The design of multi-core architectures demands also considerable attention on communication infrastructure characteristics. At a first attempt, one may consider busses to keep up with the communication demands. However, the bus-based design remains useful only to a certain (limited) number of cores [2]. When MP-SoCs come to the picture, busses can no longer support the increasing amount of communications demanded by (a constantly growing) number of cores [3]. By offering concurrent communication channels, networks-on-chip can be tuned to trade-off design constraints for distributed applications. However, due to replication of resources, area and power consumption may impact on the design [4] being thus, always subject to a careful analysis on design requirements. Even so, the source for the most part of area and power dissipation in MP-SoCs comes from the processing elements and not from the network’s routers. Thus, is up to designers to fit processing and communication architectures implementations to comply with applications requirements. This paper focus on helping designers on such a task by proposing an original packet-driven communication architecture with the ability to execute instructions. The main idea here consists on setting processing capabilities inside the routers of a specific NoC architecture, called IPNoSys [5]. The traditional NoC design consists of a set of routers interconnected with its neighboring and having a local port dedicated to the connection with a computing element, a memory or other useful core in a computing system. In this design the routers are responsible only for the data transmission. In the IPNoSys approach processing elements are added to the routers. However, it is important to notice that, newer architectures normally are not useful if one is not able to program it. Concerning this, the paper also proposes a programming model, where primitives are defined to allow the IPNoSys network to be programmed for general purpose applications. The paper is organized as follows: in the next section related works are presented. Section 3 presents ABSTRACT1
Identifying Ordered Strata: Evidence, Methods, and Meaning

Abstract Identifying order or pattern in strata on the basis of qualitative interpretation forms the basis for much current sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic analysis. Order can be usefully defined as some arrangement of facies or unit thickness that has a discernable trend or pattern that is unlikely to occur by chance because it requires some particular systematic process to form. Coarsening, fining, thickening, or thinning-upward trends, and arrangement of strata into cycles are examples of order. Qualitative interpretations of order often demonstrate little more than an implicit assumption of order. This paper defines a robust yet simple-to-apply quantitative method to identify order in strata and to indicate when order cannot be reliably demonstrated. The method is based on two calculated metrics, the Markov metric m derived from analysis of a vertical facies succession, and the runs metric r derived from analysis of observed thicknesses of stratal units. Most importantly, both metrics can be compared with equivalent metrics calculated for disordered strata composed of many randomly shuffled versions of the same lithological units. Probability values can then be calculated from the comparison between observed and randomly shuffled cases, and these p values indicate the degree of evidence present for order in the observed strata. Several test examples using synthetic strata show that the m and r values can define and identify different degrees and types of stratal order, and that the metrics are robust for both stationary and non-stationary successions with a range of different lengths and numbers of distinct facies. Analysis of four outcrop examples, two siliciclastic and two carbonate, demonstrate that ordered facies successions and thickness trends may be less common than typically assumed; none of the four examples analyzed show trends in thickness, and only the examples from the Book Cliffs, which represent a bedset scale composite of observations, show evidence for facies order. The examples demonstrate how a quantitative analysis can lead to better understanding of strata, either ordered or disordered, and can provide better insight into the validity of current stratigraphic interpretations and models. Absence of order in many of the analyzed 1D vertical successions may also indicate that we need to focus more on longer-term trends and analysis of 2D and 3D stratal geometries.
Do Managers Trade on Public or Private Information? Evidence from Fundamental Valuations

Using accounting-based (residual income) valuations, this study examines the extent to which abnormal returns after insider share trades are explained by private information versus mispricing of public information. For a sample of insider trades in the Netherlands (1999–2008), I find that managers' share purchase decisions are associated with positive future abnormal returns as well as equity undervaluation. Even though undervaluation results in predictable price increases, positive abnormal returns following purchases persist after controlling for fundamental valuations. Thus, this study provides evidence on the sources of managers' personal trading gains and suggests that positive abnormal returns after insider share purchases reflect both private information and managers' responses to market mispricing of public information.
Immediate Annuity Pricing in the Presence of Unobserved Heterogeneity

Abstract One of the acknowledged difficulties with pricing immediate annuities is that underwriting the annuitantis life is the exception rather than the rule. In the absence of underwriting, the price paid for a life-contingent annuity is the same for all sales at a given age. This exposes the market (insurance company and potential policyholder alike) to antiselection. The insurance company worries that only the healthiest people choose a life-contingent annuity and therefore adjust mortality accordingly. The potential policyholders worry that they are not being compensated for their relatively poor health and choose not to purchase what would otherwise be a very beneficial product. This paper develops a model of underlying, unobserved health. Health is a state variable that follows a first-order Markov process. An individual reaches the state “death” either by accident from any health state or by progressively declining health state. Health state is one-dimensional, in the sense that health can either “improve” or “deteriorate” by moving farther from or close to the “death” state, respectively. The probability of death in a given year is a function of health state, not of age. Therefore, in this model a person is exactly as old as he or she feels. I first demonstrate that a multistate, ageless Markov model can match the mortality patterns in the common annuity mortality tables. The model is extended to consider several types of mortality improvements: permanent through decreasing probability of deteriorating health, temporary through improved distribution of initial health state, and plateau through the effects of past health improvements. I then construct an economic model of optimal policyholder behavior, assuming that the policyholder either knows his or her health state or has some limited information. the value of mortality risk transfer through purchasing a life-contingent annuity is estimated for each health state under various risk-aversion parameters. Given the economic model for optimal purchasing of annuities, the value of underwriting (limited information about policyholder health state) is demonstrated.
The Impact of Firm Characteristics in Access of Financing by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Tanzania

The contribution of Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) sector in economic development, job creation and income generation has been recognized worldwide. However, these contributions are not effectively harnessed in Tanzania. The main challenge limiting the sector to contribute fully is a shortage of finance. This study examines the impact of firm characteristics in access to debt financing by Tanzanian SMEs. The equation specified access to finance as dependent variable while firm characteristics as independent variable. Data collection was conducted through self-administered questionnaire in a survey of 163 Tanzanian firms. The statistical analysis of data involved Pearson correlation and logistic regression to establish the association between dependent and independent variables. The results indicate that firm’s location, industry, size, business information, age, incorporation and collateral influence access to debt finance. The study recommends that Tanzanian SME operators should maintain attractive firm attributes to stimulate lenders to extend debt financing to their investments.