Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ecosystem change in a South African marine reserve (1960-2009): role of seagrass loss and anthropogenic disturbance

Seagrass ecosystems are disappearing throughout the world, raising several concerns for ecosystem functioning and biodiversity. In the present study we document changes in intertidal sandflat ecosystems over the last 5 decades in Langebaan Lagoon, a marine reserve on the west coast of South Africa, following large-scale losses of seagrass Zostera capensis. Aerial photography and GIS revealed a 38% loss of seagrass at sites in Langebaan Lagoon between 1960 and 2007. Long- term monitoring of one particular site, Klein Oesterwal, indicated a major shift in invertebrate com- munities between 1983, when Z. capensis was abundant, and 2009, when Z. capensis had virtually disappeared. Abundance and species richness of invertebrates declined significantly over this period. Seagrass-associated species such as the limpets Siphonaria compressa and Fissurella muta- bilis, and the starfish Parvulastra exigua, declined almost to extinction locally. Generalists such as the gastropod Assiminea globulus also declined in abundance. However, sandflat species, particularly burrowers, increased in abundance and vertical range. Wading birds also appeared to be affected by changes in seagrass cover. The terek sandpiper, which depends on Z. capensis for feeding, showed 3 local population crashes, each corresponding to periods of seagrass collapse. Abundance of wading birds that were not dependant on this seagrass was more stable. The loss of seagrasses in the system, together with anthropogenic disturbance such as bait harvesting and trampling, may have had severe impacts on invertebrates, the most significant being the virtual extinction locally of the criti- cally endangered limpet S. compressa. Cascading effects on wading birds, possibly through changes in availability of invertebrate prey, were also evident.
Short communication: mechanisms in competition, under laboratory conditions, between Spanish biotypes B and Q of "Bemisia tabaci" (Gennadius)

Laboratory studies were carried out on aspects affecting competition between biotypes B and Q of whitefly [Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius)]: mating behaviour, egg viability and pyriproxyfen resistance. Pairs of biotype B females and males spent more time as courting couples than pairs with Q males, regardless of female biotype. Mixed pairs of biotype Q females and biotype B males spent more time as courting couples than biotype Q pairs. Egg viability from the different crosses and from single females was similar. Pyriproxyfen application to a mixture of whiteflies with a biotype ratio B/Q of one gave a reduction in the ratio because of higher resistance of the Q biotype to the insecticide. The data agrees with the observed displacement of biotype Q by biotype B whiteflies under laboratory conditions, and vice versa in the field.
Influence of feeding supplementation and lactation cycle on milk cholesterol, fatty acid profile and milk fat globule size

The aim of this project was to show the impact of three different plant oil dietary supplements on milk composition of dairy cows. This led to an enormous change in milk fatty acid (FA) composition, increasing the unsaturated FAs and decreasing the amount of saturated FAs, together with a significant decrease in cholesterol concentration. In parallel, purified bovine milk epithelial cells and milk fat globule diameter were analyzed, in order to study the milk fat secretion process in more depth.
The present-day mass function of the Quintuplet cluster based on proper motion membership

Context: The stellar mass function is a probe for a potential dependence of star formation on the environment. Only a few young clusters are known to reside within the Central Molecular Zone and can serve as testbeds for star formation under the extreme conditions in this region. Aims: We determine the present-day mass function of the Quintuplet cluster, a young massive cluster in the vicinity of the Galactic centre. Methods: We use two epochs of high resolution near infrared imaging data obtained with NAOS/CONICA at the ESO VLT to measure the individual proper motions of stars in the Quintuplet cluster in the cluster reference frame. An unbiased sample of cluster members within a radius of 0.5 pc from the cluster centre was established based on their common motion with respect to the field and a subsequent colour-cut. Initial stellar masses were inferred from four isochrones covering ages from 3 to 5 Myr and two sets of stellar evolution models. For each isochrone the present-day mass function of stars was determined for the full sample of main sequence cluster members using an equal number binning scheme. Results: We find the slope of the present-day mass function in the central part of the Quintuplet cluster to be alpha = -1.66+-0.14 for an approximate mass range from 5 to 40M_Sun, which is significantly flatter than the Salpeter slope of alpha = -2.35. The flattening of the present-day mass function may be caused by rapid dynamical evolution of the cluster in the strong Galactic centre tidal field. The derived mass function slope is compared to the values found in other young massive clusters in the Galaxy.
Abnormal Earnings Persistence in the Jordanian Context

This paper tested the abnormal earnings persistence in the Jordanian context through Ohlson’s (1995) first Linear Information Dynamics (LID) Model using an unbalanced panel regression analysis for a sample of (840) public firms listed in the Amman Security Exchange during the period 2007 to 2011. The results showed a highly value relevance for the industrial, financial and services sectors indicated by the coefficient of the abnormal earnings persistence. The services sector had the highest value relevance. However, the industrial and the financial sectors were closed. Finally, the results for the detailed industry analysis of the sub-sectors had shown different values for the coefficient of the abnormal earnings persistence, and bank firms, printing & packaging firms, and the utilities & communication firms had the highest values for the coefficient of the abnormal earnings persistence.
Drivers of flood risk change in residential areas

Abstract. The observed increase of direct flood damage over the last decades may be caused by changes in the meteorological drivers of floods, or by changing land-use patterns and socio-economic developments. It is still widely unknown to which extent these factors will contribute to future flood risk changes. We survey the change of flood risk in terms of expected annual damage for residential buildings in the lower part of the Mulde River basin (Vereinigte Mulde) between 1990 and 2020 in 10-yr time steps based on measurements and model projections. For this purpose we consider the complete risk chain from climate impact via hydrological and hydraulic modelling to damage and risk estimation. We analyse what drives the changes in flood risk and quantify the contributions of these drivers: flood hazard change due to climate change, land-use change and changes in building values. We estimate flood risk and building losses based on constant values and based on effective (inflation adjusted) values separately. For constant values, estimated building losses for the most extreme inundation scenario amount to more than 360 million € for all time steps. Based on effective values, damage estimates for the same inundation scenario decrease from 478 million € in 1990 to 361 million € in 2000 and 348 million € in 2020 (maximum land-use scenario). Using constant values, flood risk is 111% (effective values: 146%) of the 2000 estimate in 1990 and 121% (effective values: 115%) of the 2000 estimate for the maximum land-use scenario in 2020. The quantification of driver contributions reveals that land-use change in the form of urban sprawl in endangered areas is the main driver of flood risk in the study area. Climate induced flood hazard change is important but not a dominant factor of risk change in the study area. With the historical exception of the economic effects in Eastern Germany following the German reunification, value developments only have minor influence on the development of flood risk.
The association between dividend payout and outside directorships

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the number of outside directors on the board of directors and dividend payout are substitutes or complements mechanisms applied by UK firms to control agency conflicts of interest within the firm. Design/methodology/approach - The authors use tobit and logit regression models to examine the extent to which firms with a majority of outside directors on their boards experience significantly lower or higher dividend payout after controlling for insider ownership, profitability, liquidity, asset structure, business risk, firm size, firms' growth rate and borrowing ratio. Findings - Based on a sample of 400 non-financial firms listed at London Stock Exchange for the period from 1991 to 2002, it was found that dividend payout is negatively associated with the number of outside directors on the board of directors. Originality/value - The results suggest that firms pay lower dividends when higher number of outside directors is employed on the board. This evidence is consistent with the substitution hypothesis, which indicated that firms with weak corporate governance need to establish a reputation by paying dividends. In other words, dividends substitute for independent directors on the board. This finding offers novel insights to policy makers interested in agency conflicts of interest within the firm. It also provides evidence on the use of different substitute mechanisms for reducing agency costs.
Methodology to Calculate Social Values for Air Pollution Using Discrete Choice Models

Abstract A new methodology for the estimation of social values of urban air pollution for project appraisal is proposed. This is performed by using individual perceptions (marginal disutilities) of those who are directly affected by this externality, which are then transformed into social values using the social welfare approach developed by Gálvez and Jara‐Díaz in 1998. The approach also unveils the implicit social bias behind the commonly accepted willingness‐to‐pay measures. The method is illustrated using individual perceptions obtained from stated preference experiments within the context of residential location including three attributes: an objective measure of air pollution by zone of the city, an index of family accessibility to work and study, and the monthly rent. Discrete residential choice models were estimated by income group, from which indirect utility functions were obtained. Marginal disutilities were used to obtain social values of air pollution for each income group by means of the calculation of a social utility of money. The methodological underpinnings and difficulties of the approach are specially highlighted. The need to establish a national programme for the estimation of social values is emphasized.
Analyst Earnings Forecasts, Individual Investors’Expectations and Trading Volume: An Experimental Approach

This paper studies how analysts’ earnings forecasts affect investors’ expectations and trading decisions. From an experiment built on a double-auction market, we find that investors partially incorporate the forecasting information in their expectations and trading decisions. Investors partly correct for analysts’ forecast errors and their expectations are less heterogeneous than analysts’ forecasts. As for the trading volume, it is negatively driven by the heterogeneity of the analysts’ forecasts but positively by the size of the forecast errors.
Making Youth Innovation Visible An Actor-Network Theory Study of the Relationship between Education Environments and Youth Innovation and Youth Innovativeness in Skåne

In the European Union, innovation policies have called for boosting the innovative capacity of youth through education. Despite all efforts made towards this end, however, European economies still find youth innovation to be scarce. This scarcity exists in the region of Skane too, and is evident in the increasing youth unemployment rates. The objective of this thesis is to shed a new light on this situation through exploring the relationship between the education environment and youth innovation and youth innovativeness in Skane. I have employed participant observation as the ethnographic strategy to study two case-studies from Skane: Redesign and Clothing Library ‘Morpheus’ and an educational plumbing practice session. I have used a variety of methods, including interviewing, video recording, notes taking, photography, following of material objects, and following of Facebook activity. I have employed actor-network theory as the theoretical and analytical tool for this thesis. The analysis of the plumbing practice session brings out the problem of visibility: the ways this education environment functions as a network, make it difficult for outsiders to identify the youth innovativeness which exists there. The analysis of Morpheus points out that youth innovation is a network effect which happens through spreading a youth’s idea or project outside of the education system by becoming linked to various material and human actors. This thesis recommends that, in order to boost youth innovation and innovativeness, policy makers should inspire education environments to make their innovative youth, their innovative ideas and projects, visible to society through linking them with external actors, both human and nonhuman, that can make their project grow, gain strength, and attain independence.
Prediction of water table depth in a hard rock basin by using artificial neural network

The objectives of this study were to determine the factors that influence and control the water table fluctuation in a specific geomorphologic situation, to develop a forecasting model and examine its potential in predicting water table depth using limited data. Prediction of region specific water table fluctuation would certainly guide the way towards conceiving, designing and taking scientific measures to ensure sustainable groundwater management. Analysis of change in groundwater table depth, groundwater flow directions within the watershed showed that the influencing factors of rainfall, groundwater draft from near by structures and the resulting fluctuation in groundwater table depth were well correlated in a specific geological situation. Models for prediction of water table depth were developed based on artificial neural networks (ANNs). The study employed multilayer feed forward neural network with backpropagation learning method to develop the model. The neural networks with different numbers of hidden layer neurons were developed using 4 years (2005 - 2008) monthly rainfall, potential evapotranspiration (PET), and water table depth from nearby, influencing wells data as input and one month ahead water table depth as output. The best model was selected based on the root mean square error (RMSE) of prediction using independent test data set. The results of the study clearly showed that ANN can be used to predict water table depth in a hard rock aquifer with reasonably good accuracy even in case of limited data situation. Key words: Water table fluctuation, rainfall, groundwater draft, ANN.
On the Transmission of World Agricultural Prices

Two questions are asked about the relationship between domestic prices and world prices of agricultural commodities: are variations in world prices transmitted to domestic prices, and do these variations in world prices constitute an important component of variations in domestic prices? Domestic prices are regressed on world prices in various forms, taking into account the possible effects of exchange rates and inflation. The empirical analysis is based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for 58 countries for 1968-78 and for the countries of the European Community for 1961-85. The results show that most of the variations in world prices are transmitted and that they constitute the dominant component in the variations of domestic prices. Copyright 1992 by Oxford University Press.
Greek Root-Allomorphy without Spans

This paper deals with the locality constraints on morpho-syntactically-conditioned morphological alternations. In such alternations, the exponence of an element X depends on the morpho-syntactic context in which X occurs. The notation in (1) will be used to describe a situation where X is realized as β in the presence of the morpho-syntactic feature Y, and as α elsewhere.1 In this case, Y will be said to condition/trigger allomorphy on X which will be referred to as the target of allomorphy. α and β will be referred to as allomorphs of each other. A concrete example from English is found in (2), where past tense ([+PST]) is the feature that triggers allomorphy on √ GO, and where go and went are allomorphs of each other.
Macroprudential Regulation of Credit Booms and Busts -- the Case of Croatia

Croatia employed macroprudential measures to manage credit growth and capital inflows during the boom years of the 2000s, including reserve requirements on loan growth, a marginal reserve requirement on increases in foreign liabilities, foreign exchange liquidity minima, and elevated capital adequacy ratios. Although quantitative analysis is complicated by substantial overlaps among measures, the econometric results in this paper suggest that the measures were most effective in requiring banks to hold high liquidity and capital buffers, and less effective in slowing credit growth and capital inflows. Larger buffers seem to have helped Croatian banks weather the financial crisis, making the adjustments to capital and liquidity during the crisis smaller.
Toroidal modelling of RMP response in ASDEX Upgrade: coil phase scan, q95 dependence, and toroidal torques

The plasma response to the vacuum resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) fields, produced by the ELM control coils in ASDEX Upgrade experiments, is computationally modelled using the MARS-F/K codes (Liu et al 2000 Phys. Plasmas 7 3681, Liu et al 2008 Phys. Plasmas 15 112503). A systematic investigation is carried out, considering various plasma and coil configurations as in the ELM control experiments. The low q plasmas, with q95∼3.8 (q95 is the safety factor q value at 95% of the equilibrium poloidal flux), responding to low n (n is the toroidal mode number) field perturbations from each single row of the ELM coils, generates a core kink amplification effect. Combining two rows, with different toroidal phasing, thus leads to either cancellation or reinforcement of the core kink response, which in turn determines the poloidal location of the peak plasma surface displacement. The core kink response is typically weak for the n = 4 coil configuration at low q, and for the n = 2 configuration but only at high q (q95∼5.5). A phase shift of around 60 degrees for low q plasmas, and around 90 degrees for high q plasmas, is found in the coil phasing, between the plasma response field and the vacuum RMP field, that maximizes the edge resonant field component. This leads to an optimal coil phasing of about 100 (−100) degrees for low (high) q plasmas, that maximizes both the edge resonant field component and the plasma surface displacement near the X-point of the separatrix. This optimal phasing closely corresponds to the best ELM mitigation observed in experiments. A strong parallel sound wave damping moderately reduces the core kink response but has minor effect on the edge peeling response. For low q plasmas, modelling shows that both the resonant electromagnetic torque and the neoclassical toroidal viscous (NTV) torque (due to the presence of 3D magnetic field perturbations) contribute to the toroidal flow damping, in particular near the plasma edge region. For high q plasmas, however, significant amount of torque is also produced in the bulk plasma region, and the contributions from the electromagnetic, the NTV, and the torque associated with the Reynolds stress, all play significant roles.
Results From Recent Traffic Systems Research And The Implications For Future Work

Abstract This paper reviews the results of recent traffic systems research and concludes that the evidence shows that with sufficient ingenuity by farmers and their equipment suppliers to match operating and wheel track widths, the traffic management systems that reduce soil compaction should improve crop yield, reduce energy consumption and improve infiltration rates (which will reduce runoff, erosion and flooding). These together will improve agronomic, economic and environmental sustainability of agriculture. Low ground pressure alternatives may well be the option that best suits some farming enterprises and should not be discounted as viable traffic management methods. The paper also considers the implications for further work to improve the robustness of the experimental data.
Archaeoacoustic Analysis of Kanda Hill in Macedonia

Archaeoacoustic and Electromagnetic research of ancient sites is becoming an established discipline. SB Research Group (SBRG) have been developing a new methodology over the last five years using a practical archaeoacoustic standard (SBSA), which helps to explain certain phenomena which are commonly found at "sacred sites". Applying this expertise enabled better understanding of the specific EM and acoustic wave emissions present on Kanda Hill, Macedonia. Analyzing these emissions enables better understanding of what lies below the surface. The previous research paper (ARSA 2014) demonstrated evidence of various physical phenomena present at this ancient site and the artificial origin of this hill, which should now be reffered to as a tumulus. At the time of writing the presence of interior cavities in was suspected, possibly consisting of small number of chambers and passageways . This hypothesis is corroborated by the evidence presented in this paper.
Unravelling Children’s Perceptions of Parental Differential Treatment

Within-family differences in parenting (PDT (parental differential treatment)) can be accompanied by children’s perceptions of parental favoritism. Perceptions of fairness of PDT are essential, however, little is known on how children legitimize PDT. We used focus groups and individual interviews to explore children’s (N = 16) differential experiences. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using a hybrid deductive-inductive approach. Questions targeted: (1) domains of PDT; (2) explanations of PDT; and (3) considerations of fairness. The results show that siblings gave examples of differential affection, control, time involvement, privileges and household responsibilities, but additionally expressed responsibilities in care of each other. Three explanatory categories were added to responses of previous child samples: birth order, sibling relationship quality and biological relatedness. Fairness-considerations comprised a cognitive and emotional component and moderating factors. Equity was obtained through parents’ responsiveness to child and family characteristics and through compensating strategies, such as turn-taking. Children are able to acknowledge and legitimize PDT. Parents’ differentiation does not preclude siblings’ perceptions of equal treatment.