Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Seasonal variations of trace gases, meteorological parameters, and formation of aerosols in boreal forests

The data from observations made in the Hyytiala background station over the period 1997-2003 were analyzed in order to investigate the possible links between physical, chemical and meteorological parameters for event and nonevent days during different seasons. The seasonal patterns of average trace gas (O 3 , H 2 O, NO = NO + NO 2 , SO,) concentrations, UV-A irradiation intensity, temperature, relative humidity and condensation sink were established and used for evaluating their influence on the seasonal dependence of the formation and growth rates of particles in the nucleation mode. For the forest region at Hyytiala, an estimate was made on the contribution of the oxidation products of SO 2 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by O 3 and OH to the formation and growth of the nucleation mode particles. The condensation sink was shown to play a crucial role in the chemical dynamics of gaseous precursors and aerosol particles. The variability of the sink was attributed mainly to the humidification of the pre-existing aerosol particle population, depending thus strongly on the relative humidity. Our results indicate that the observed growth rate of new particles is connected with condensation of secondary organic compounds originating from the oxidation of terpenes.
Grinding Parameters and their Effects on the Quality of Corn for Feed

The experiments of this study were carried out to optimize some grinding parameters and their effects on the quality of corn for feed processing. The hammer mill was evaluated under different parameters including grain moisture content and sieve hole diameter. Grinding process was evaluated by studying the performance, energy consumption, grinding index, grinding ability index, ground quality at different operation conditions. The results revealed that the mill performance, specific energy, energy density, grinding index and grinding ability index ranged from 0.70-6.83 Mg/h, 3.38-32.72 kJ/kg, 1.99-18.82 MJ/m3, 12.35-91.28 kJ.mm 0.5 /kg and 0.81-6.00 kJ/m 2 , respectively. Mean weight diameter, size reduction, bulk density and grinding effectiveness ranged from 1.47-2.89 mm, 2.60-5.10 times, 524.58- 621.34 kg/m3 and 8.88-14.40, respectively at different sieve hole diameter and grain moisture content.
Predicting seasonal density patterns of California cetaceans based on habitat models

Temporal variability in species distribution remains a major source of uncertainty in managing protected marine species, particularly in ecosystems with significant seasonal or interannual variation, such as the California Current Ecosystem (CCE). Spatially explicit species– habitat models have become valuable tools for decision makers assisting in the development and implementation of measures to reduce adverse impacts (e.g. from fishery bycatch, ship strikes, anthropogenic sound), but such models are often not available for all seasons of interest. Broadscale migratory patterns of many of the large whale species are well known, while seasonal distribution shifts of small cetaceans are typically less well understood. Within the CCE, species– habitat models have been developed based on 6 summer−fall surveys conducted during 1991 to 2008. We evaluated whether the between-year oceanographic variability can inform species predictions during winter−spring periods. Generalized additive models were developed to predict abundance of 4 cetacean species/genera known to have year-round occurrence in the CCE: common dolphins Delphinus spp. , Pacific white-sided dolphin Lagenorhynchus obliquidens, northern right whale dolphin Lissodelphis borealis, and Dall’s porpoise Phocoenoides dalli. Predictor variables included a combination of temporally dynamic, remotely sensed environmental variables and geographically fixed variables. Across-season predictive ability was evaluated relative to aerial surveys conducted in winter−spring 1991 to 1992, using observed:predicted density ratios, nonparametric Spearman rank correlation tests, and visual inspection of predicted and observed distributions by species. Seasonal geographic patterns of species density were captured effectively for most species, although some model limitations were evident, particularly when the original summer−fall data did not adequately capture winter−spring habitat conditions.
Thermoluminescence (TL) response of silica nanoparticles subjected to 50 Gy gamma irradiation.

Thermoluminescence (TL) response of silica nanoparticles synthesized by the sol-gel method is presented here. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to find out the size and morphology of the pure silica nanoparticles. By using an appropriate amount of tetraethylorthosilicate, ethanol, deionized water and ammonia solution, silica samples were synthesized. To determine the best TL response of silica, samples were irradiated with 50Gy gamma rays. The effect of size dependency towards TL yield indicates that decreasing the particles’ size of silica, increases the TL yield.
Strategies for the Semi-Automatic Retrieval of Metaphorical Terms

This article proposes a method for the semi-automatic extraction of resemblance metaphor terms from a manually annotated corpus of marine biology texts in English and Spanish. The corpus was first searched for target domain terms as well as for lexical markers indicative of metaphors. The combination of these search strategies for metaphor extraction resulted in a set of English-Spanish term pairs. After analysing and comparing these metaphor candidates, a quantitative analysis provided comparative statistical data regarding marine biology metaphor. Finally, the metaphorical nature of marine biology terms was verified in three ways. The first verification strategy entailed an adapted version of the Metaphor Identification Procedure (Pragglejaz Group, 2007). The second involved the analysis of contextual data extracted from the corpus, and the third involved the analysis of visual images from an online marine biology database and from the Google search engine.
The Chemistry of Interstitial Waters from the Upper Ocean Crust, Site 395, Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 78B

Chemical analysis of fluids sampled in situ during Leg 78B has been carried out. The fluids found in Hole 395A upon reoccupation of the site after a five-year hiatus were identical in composition to local bottom seawater to depths of at least 400 meters, suggesting drawdown. No local bottom-water component is present at 543 meters however. The chemistry of this deep sample shows a large depletion in magnesium, with charge balance maintained by sodium, rather than calcium, enrichment. Calcium is lost through calcite precipitation. A sediment interstitial-water sample from the offset Hole 395B has a chemical signature indicative of glacial influence, thereby constraining drawdown through the sediments to a velocity less than 0.5 cm/y.
The Impact of Corporate Governance on the Market Value of Financial Institutions: Empirical Evidences from Italy

This paper analyses how the quality of the corporate governance system impacts on the market value of the financial institutions listed on the Italian Stock Exchange. Implementing a good corporate governance is costly, therefore verifying whether the investment is worth its cost is a relevant issue. Despite the central role that financial institutions play in the real economy, there are few studies that focus specifically on the financial industry; filling this gap in literature is especially relevant to Italy, where the enterprises are highly dependent on the banking system for their financing needs. The first step of the present study is the assessment of the corporate governance quality of the sample companies through the Corporate Governance Index (CGI). CGI is a scoring model that analyses four different macro-areas of governance: Board, Compensation, Shareholders’ and Stakeholders’ Rights, and Disclosure. A Cross-sectional data regression is then used to study the relationship between the corporate governance quality and the market value of financial institutions. The analysis, using 2010 data, proves that there is a positive and statistically significant correlation between corporate governance and performance: this finding supports the hypothesis that governance creates value for companies and that investments to implement effective governance systems give net positive benefit and should therefore be pursued. Hence financial institutions should be encouraged to improve their corporate governance systems.
Human Capital and Industrialization: Theory and Evidence from the Enlightenment ∗

While human capital is one of the strongest predictors of economic development today, its importance for the Industrial Revolution is typically assessed as minor. We differentiate average human capital (worker skills) from upper tail knowledge both theoretically and empirically. We introduce the two types of human capital in a simple multi-sector model of industrialization that differentiates between traditional and modern manufacturing. While average worker skills are more important in the former, upper tail knowledge raises efficiency in the latter. The model predicts that the local presence of knowledge elites is unimportant in the pre-industrial era, but drives growth thereafter; worker skills, in contrast, are not crucial for growth. To measure the historical presence of knowledge elites, we use city-level subscriptions to the famous Encyclopedie in mid-18th century France. We show that subscriber density is a strong predictor of city growth after 1750, but not before the onset of French industrialization. Variables that proxy for the level of development confirm this pattern: soldier height and industrial activity are strongly associated with subscriber density after, but not before, 1750. Literacy, on the other hand, does not predict growth. Finally, joining data on British patents with a large French firm survey from 1837, we show that locations with higher subscriber density were significantly more productive in operating innovative industrial technology.
Allometry of natural mortality as a basis for assessing optimal release size in fish-stocking programmes

This study evaluates the use of general mortality-size relationships for the assessment of release size in stocked fisheries. Seven release experiments (53 stocking events) are analysed, using a survival model based on allometric mortal - ity and linear-length growth, allowing variation between experiments in both the allometric exponent and the level of mor - tality at reference length or generalising in one or both of the parameters. Results support the existence of a consistent allometry that applies independently of the overall level of mortality. The best-performing model is one in which the length exponent of mortality is set to -1 a priori, while mortality at reference length is allowed to vary between experi - ments (ranging from 0.7 to 33 per year at 15 cm in the present study). Even though the allometry of mortality is con- stant, the relative survival advantage of stocking large fish increases with the level of mortality at reference length. Using the identified length exponent of mortality of -1, survival models are derived for the linear, exponential, and von Bertalanffy growth equations. The models can be used to assess alternative release sizes, given an estimate of mortality at reference length, to facilitate comparative studies and to aid in the design of release experiments. Resume : Le but de cette etude est d'evaluer l'utilite des relations generales entre la mortalite et la taille pour etablir la taille des poissons a l'ensemencement dans les peches qui dependent de l'alevinage. Sept experiences d'ensemencement (53 evenements) servent de base a des analyses a l'aide d'un modele de survie base sur une mortalite allometrique et une croissance en longueur lineaire, qui permet des variations, d'une experience a l'autre, tant du coefficient d'allometrie que du taux de mortalite a la longueur de reference, ou alors qui autorise des generalisations de l'un ou de l'autre de ces variables. Les resultats laissent croire a l'existence d'une allometrie uniforme qui
THE IMPACT OF DESIGN METHODS ON THE CREATIVITY OF 1ST-YEAR ENGINEERING STUDENT PROJECTS: THE CASE OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING

Engineers able to produce creative products are very much required everywhere. However, classical engineering courses  especially the courses of the first two years of the career- tend to be content-intensive, focused on technical skills, with little space to foster creativity. As a result, when faced with the requirement of devising a creative product, engineering students often are unprepared to do so. In this paper we show that the introduction of design methods into the 1st-year engineering course of Computer Programming significantly improved the novelty of final-term projects. Each design-method was selected according to the stage of the creative process the course was going through: preparation, incubation, illumination or verification. Our hypothesis is that by blending design and engineering teaching with enough time to go through the creative process, novel ideas emerge more fluently. In this paper we provide a weekly description of the course activities and the results obtained. We expect this work helps to re-design some engineering courses towards a more design-engineering blended teaching to trigger creative thinking.
Treatments for breaking dormancy of the crotalaria seeds (Crotalaria ochroleuca)

The objective of the study was to evaluate the influence of methods in breaking dormancy in the seeds of tropical forage legume Crotalaria ochroleuca. The seed treatments were: (T1) water at 100oC/10 min; (T2) immersed in water for 24 h at ambient temperature, after immersion in water at 100°C/1 min; (T3) acetone (10 min); (T4) ethyl alcohol (10 min); and (T5) intact seeds = control treatment. Data were analyzed using a completely randomized design with two replications, and was adopted for the Tukey test at 5% significance level. Seeds immersed in water for 24 h at ambient temperature before cultivation is enough to ensure germination. The treatments T1, T2 and T5 had the highest speed germination of seeds GSI, which differed (P<0.05) from T3 and T4. The T3 treatment was the only one with difference (P<0.05) in germination which was 15 days after sowing (Germ15). The T1 and T2 treatment had the highest amount of seed germination (P<0.05). The acetone affected the embryo in the tegument negatively.
Using RST approach and EOS-MODIS radiances for monitoring seismically active regions: a study on the 6 April 2009 Abruzzo earthquake

Abstract. In the last few years, Robust Satellite data analysis Techniques (RST) have been proposed and successfully applied for monitoring major natural and environmental risks. Among the various fields of application, RST analysis has been used as a suitable tool for satellite TIR surveys in seismically active regions, devoted to detect and monitor thermal anomalies possibly related to earthquake occurrence. In this work, RST has been applied, for the first time, to thermal infrared observations collected by MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) – the sensor onboard EOS (Earth Observing System) satellites – in the case of Abruzzo (Italy) earthquake occurred on 6 April 2009 (ML~5.8). First achievements, shown in this work, seem to confirm the sensitivity of the proposed approach in detecting perturbations of the Earth�s emission thermal field few days before the event. The reliability of such results, based on the analysis of 10 years of MODIS observations, seems to be supported by the results achieved analyzing the same area in similar observation conditions but in seismically unperturbed periods (no earthquakes with ML≥5) that will be also presented.
Comparing the Macroeconomic Effects of Conventional and Unconventional Monetary Policy in Japan

Using a sign-identified vector autoregressive (VAR) model, this paper compares the macroeconomic effects of a quantitative easing policy with those of conventional monetary policy in Japan. The results are as follows. First, I identify the significant macroeconomic effects of quantitative easing for the VAR specification in which expansionary monetary policy shock is defined as a shock that not only increases bank reserves but also compresses the long–short interest rate spread and output is allowed to respond to the monetary policy shock upon impact. Second, a qualitative comparison with conventional monetary policy suggests that quantitative easing has immediate, but less persistent, effects with greater uncertainty. Finally, assessing the quantitative differences from conventional monetary policy indicates that quantitative easing exerts stronger effects on output but weaker effects on the price level. ∗I am grateful to Astushi Tanaka and Masahiko Shibamoto for their valuable comments and suggestions. I also acknowledge the financial support from Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. †E-mail address: mtachi@eco.osakafu-u.ac. jp
The Impact of Satellite Winds and Latent Heat Fluxes in a Numerical Simulation of the Tropical Pacific Ocean

Several oceanic operational programs use remotely sensed fluxes to complement atmospheric operational analyses from major national weather prediction centers. The main goal of this study is to evaluate the ability of the ocean model (ORCA) to correctly simulate the dynamic of the tropical Pacific Ocean in 1996–98 when forced by the satellite turbulent fluxes (wind stress and latent heat fluxes). The results are compared with the oceanic response resulting from forcing the model with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) operational analysis. Three sensitivity simulations forced with satellite and atmospheric analysis fields are performed. The control experiment is forced with the ECMWF fluxes. The solutions of these simulations are compared with data from the Tropical Atmosphere–Ocean (TAO) buoys and from sea surface temperatures analysis by Reynolds and Smith in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The analysis results indicate that the model reproduces well the major spatial and temporal oceanic structures including the main characteristics of the 1997–98 El Nino. More specifically, the comparisons with buoys indicate that the experiment forced by the winds and the satellite latent heat fluxes is closer to the observations. They provide weak rms difference and strong correlations along the whole 500-m depth column. Furthermore, the correlations with the SST analysis vary between 75% and 95% compared to 65% and 77% for the experiment forced by ECMWF fluxes. The currents in the first 350 m also show a strong sensitivity to satellite turbulent fluxes.
AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ENERGY CONSUMPTION – REAL GDP NEXUS FOR ZIMBABWE

This study looked into causality relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in Zimbabwe using time series data spanning from 1980 to 2011. Four views explaining the causality relationship between energy consumption and economic growth include the growth hypothesis, conservation hypothesis, feedback hypothesis and the neutrality hypothesis. Whilst the growth hypothesis argues that energy consumption promotes economic growth, conservation hypothesis says that it is in fact economic growth that drives energy consumption. The feedback hypothesis argues that both energy consumption and economic growth promote each other whilst according to the neutrality hypothesis, no causality relationship exist between the two variables either in the short or long run. Using the bi-variate causality test framework, this study failed to establish any direct causality relationship between energy consumption and economic growth. However, the results imply the existence of an indirect bi-directional causality relationship between the two variables. The study therefore recommends Zimbabwe authorities not only to scale up investment into energy generation capacity improvement infrastructure but also address indirect factors like employment, human capital development, financial market development, and government consumption, among others in order to boost sustainable economic growth.
A unified approach to inner magnetospheric state prediction

This brief technique paper presents a method of reconstructing the global, time‐varying distribution of some physical quantity Q that has been sparsely sampled at various locations within the magnetosphere and at different times. The quantity Q can be essentially any measurement taken on the satellite including a variety of waves (chorus, hiss, magnetosonic, and ion cyclotron), electrons of various energies ranging from cold to relativistic, and ions of various species and energies. As an illustrative example, we chose Q to be the electron number density (inferred from spacecraft potential) measured by three Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) probes between 2008 and 2014 and use the SYM‐H index, taken at a 5 min cadence for the 5 h preceding each observed data point as the main regressor, although the predictor can also be any suitable geomagnetic index or solar wind parameter. Results show that the equatorial electron number density can be accurately reconstructed throughout the whole of the inner magnetosphere as a function of space and time, even capturing the dynamics of elementary plasmaspheric plume formation and corotation, suggesting that the dynamics of various other physical quantities could be similarly captured. For our main model, we use a simple, fully connected feedforward neural network with two hidden layers having sigmoidal activation functions and an output layer with a linear activation function to perform the reconstruction. The training is performed using the Levenberg‐Marquardt algorithm and gives typical RMS errors of ~1.7 and regression of >0.93, which is considered excellent. We also present a discussion on the different applications and future extensions of the present model, for modeling various physical quantities.
Molecular diversity of honeybee Apis mellifera iberica L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) from Western Andalusia

Hemos estudiado la diversidad molecular de 48 colmenas de la abeja domestica, Apis mellifera iberica, situadas en 24 localidades de las cuatro provincias occidentales andaluzas. Para ello hemos determinado el haplotipo mitocondrial que corresponde a la region intergenica tRNAleu-COII, asi como la variabilidad que presentan seis loci de microsatelites. Hemos encontrado seis haplotipos diferentes, de los que cinco corresponden al linaje evolutivo africano y uno al europeo occidental. Estos resultados corroboran la naturaleza hibrida de la subespecie Apis mellifera iberica, que tiene un componente norteafricano predominante en el sur peninsular, el cual es reemplazado gradual o abruptamente hacia el norte por el linaje europeo occidental. La variabilidad genetica de los microsatelites es similar a la de las poblaciones africanas en cuanto al numero de alelos detectado y los valores de diversidad genica. Estas observaciones indican la afinidad genetica que hay entre las poblaciones andaluzas y las del norte de Africa. Los resultados de los microsatelites varian notoriamente entre provincias. En Cadiz la homogeneidad de haplotipos contrasta con la variabilidad de microsatelites, lo que sugiere la ocurrencia de fenomenos recientes de introgresion a partir de poblaciones con haplotipos africanos, cuyo origen esta por determinar.