Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Federal Dynamics in Canada, the United States, and Switzerland: How Substates' Internal Organization Affects Intergovernmental Relations

This article argues that internal substate dynamics can systematically account for the organization of intergovernmental relations (IGR) in dual federal systems. Whereas majoritarian executive-legislative relations tend to weaken the institutionalization of intergovernmental arrangements (IGAs), power-sharing executive-legislative relations tend to facilitate it. Two of the mechanisms at work serve to illustrate this point. Given oneparty majority cabinets, complete government alternations strongly alter actors’ interest constellations over time, thereby increasing the costs of maintaining stable cross-boundary IGR. Moreover, the heavy impact of a potential electoral loss induces politicians to shift blame to other governments, thereby undermining cross-boundary cooperation. Majoritarian dynamics also weaken integration between IGAs. Furthermore, integration is weakened by compulsory power-sharing structures unbridged by party ties. In contrast to noncompulsory party cooperation, such internal constitutional divides easily undermine the setup of strong interorganizational linkages.
The impact of chloride desalination on the corrosion rate of archaeological iron

Abstract Although desalination of archaeological iron reduces its chloride concentration and enhances object stability, the reduction in corrosion rate that this produces has never been quantified. This study measures post-treatment corrosion rates in accelerated corrosion environments to identify the impact of removing chloride ions on corrosion rate. Thirty-five archaeological iron nails, treated individually in either alkaline sulphite or nitrogen-deoxygenated sodium hydroxide, were exposed to 75°C and 75% relative humidity together with 31 untreated objects from the same archaeological sites. Object weight change and visual examination of physical change before and after the test period were used to monitor corrosion. 77% of treated objects showed no weight gain and no visible signs of corrosion, while 90% of untreated objects did corrode. The impact of chloride on corrosion of untreated objects was clearly established by a significant linear correlation between chloride content and weight gain. Treated objects with <400 ppm chloride content showed no corrosion behaviour. Corrosion of treated objects was attributed to incomplete treatment: 93% of objects treated to <5 mg/l Cl− in the final solution bath displayed no corrosion behaviour. Based on these results, desalination of iron objects to enhance their stability offers a valuable option for reducing corrosion rates of archaeological iron, which should increase object lifespan. The results also raise the question of whether low levels of post-treatment residual chloride produce corrosion of any significance. Answering this will be an important step forward for managing the preservation of archaeological iron.
Determination of antigenic domain in GST fused major surface protein (Nc-p43) of Neospora caninum

The antigenic domain of the major surface protein (Nc-p43) of Neospora caninum was examined by polymerase chain reaction of its gene fragments and recombinant expression as GST fusion proteins. The fragments of Nc-p43 were as follow: a total open reading frame (OFR), T; OFR without signal sequence and C-terminal hydrophobic sequence, S; N-terminal 2/3 parts of S, A; C-terminal 2/3 parts, P; Nterminal 1/3 part, X; middle 1/3 part, Y; and C-terminal 1/3 part, Z, respectively. The DNA fragments were cloned into pGEX-4T vector. Recombinant plasmids transformed into Escherichia coli of BL21 pLysS (DE3) strain were induced to express GST or GST fused fragments of Nc-p43 such as 69 kDa protein for T, 66 kDa for S, 52 kDa for A, 53 kDa for P, and 40 kDa proteins for X, Y, and Z, respectively in SDS-PAGE. The Nc-p43 fragments of T, S, and P reacted with a bovine serum of neosporosis while those of A, X, Y, and Z together with GST did not in the western blot. These findings suggest that the antigenic domain of Nc-p43 of N. caninum may be localized in the C-terminal 2/3 parts. Together with A19 clone in SAG1 of Toxoplasma gondii (Nam et al., 1996), the P fragment of Nc-p43 could be used as efficient antigens to diagnose and differentiate those infections with both species.
Some Aspects of Nutrient Analysis of Seed, Pulp and Oil of Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.)

Proximate, mineral and selected physicochemical characteristics of baobab (Adansonia digitata) seed, pulp and seedoil were determined using standard analytical methods. The proximate composition (%) of the seed and pulp were as follows; moisture (3.8 ± 0.2 and 11.2 ± 0.2), protein (19.5 ± 0.5 and 3.5 ± 0.1), fat (13.4 ± 0.1 and 0.4 ± 0.1), ash (3.1± 0.1 and 4.5 ± 0.5), crude fibre (15.6 ± 0.5 and 6.1 ± 0.1) and carbohydrate (44.6 and 74.3). Baobab seed, pulp and seed-oil are good source of macro and micro nutrients with potassium (K) being the most predominant element with magnessiun (Mg), calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) also present in appreciable quantities. The physicochemical properties also revealed slightly acidic P for the pulp (5.6 ± 0.2) and oil (6.1 ± 0.1) while the seed was alkaline (8.2 ± 0.1). From the soluble solid content, the pulp contains more sugar than the seed while the titrable acidity of the oil with 3.51 ± 0.10 is higher than 0.65 ± 0.04 of the pulp. The saponification, iodine and acid values of the oil were 218.41 ± 0.20mgKOH/g, 92.10 ± 1.50mgI2/100g and 6.52 ± 0.02 mgKOH/g respectively while the refractive index and specific gravity were 1.498 ± 0.002 and 0.928 ± 0.001. The results presented here established the edibility of the pulp, seed and oil as well as a pointer to its industrial usage.
Perceptions among university students in Seville (Spain) of the rabbit as livestock and as a companion animal

The rabbit has various utilities and roles, mainly as a meat-producing animal, game species, companion animal, laboratory animal or pest. Among these roles, rabbit breeding for meat has traditionally prevailed in the Mediterranean countries. However, in recent decades the practice of keeping this species as a companion animal has been on the rise; a factor that could be changing public perception of the rabbit. A survey of 492 university students from Seville, Andalusia, Spain, was conducted to determine young people’s perceptions of the rabbit as livestock and as a companion species. The rabbit received the lowest score when regarded as livestock compared to the pig, cow, goat, sheep and hen. Regarding companion animals, young Spanish people preferred the dog and cat, respectively. The rabbit and the hamster were rated at the same level as a pet, while the budgerigar was rated lower than these two mammals by women and higher by men. The goldfish occupied the last position among the pet species in the women’s perceptions. With regard to the perception of various rabbit breeds and varieties when evaluated as pets, it was found that the pet Lop Dwarf, Netherland Dwarf, Angora and Lionhead breeds were rated higher than a typical meat breed (New Zealand White) and than the wild rabbit. The gender of the young people surveyed influenced their perception of the rabbit. Women rated the rabbit lower as livestock while they rated it higher as a pet, also rating the pet rabbit breeds higher than men did. It is proposed that, in keeping with the rabbit’s attributes related to its cuteness, conceptually linked with pets, young Andalusian people’s perception of the rabbit is ambivalent and this perception might partly be shifting from perceiving it as livestock to regarding it as a pet.
A Tropical Forest Transition? Agricultural Change, Out-migration, and Secondary Forests in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Could old colonization zones in the urbanizing and industrializing countries of Latin America become sites for a tropical forest transition in which reforestation becomes more prevalent than deforestation? We try to answer this question through a case study of land-use change and migration since 1985 in a long-settled region of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Data from remote sensing analyses, household surveys, and land-use maps of individual farms reveal two disparate patterns of reforestation in the region, one on peripheral lands far from roads and the other on lands close to roads. The former pattern characterizes most places experiencing a forest transition; the latter pattern does not. Roadside reforestation has occurred in part because Amerindian smallholders have abandoned cattle ranching in order to practice short-cycle shifting cultivation of crops for expanding urban and export markets. This example suggests that tropical forest transitions may differ from earlier temperate forest transitions in that reforestation does not signify land abandonment. Even as they come to rely more completely on nonfarm sources of income, smallholders in developing countries continue to manage their land, reforesting when it eliminates expenses or promises new, near-term streams of income.
The Influence of Affective Reactions on Investment Decisions

The present research aims to show how investors’ affective reactions toward a fund influence their decision to sell the investment. Participants were presented with either a socially responsible or a traditional fund. After completing a mental images task, participants were asked to state the price at which they were willing to sell the fund and their confidence in future positive performance. Participants were willing to sell the fund at different prices depending on their affective reactions. The affective reactions also influenced participants’ confidence. Furthermore, we found that the socially responsible fund induced a more positive reaction than the ordinary fund.
Templating Surfaces with Gradient Assemblies

ABSTRACT One of the most versatile and widely used methods of forming surfaces with position-dependent wettability is that conceived by Chaudhury and Whitesides more than a decade ago [Science 256, 1539 (1992)]. In this paper we review several projects that utilize this gradient-forming methodology for: controlled of deposition of self-assembled monolayers on surfaces, generating arrays of nanoparticles with number density gradients, probing the mushroom-to-brush transition in surface-anchored polymers, and controlling the speed of moving liquid droplets on surfaces. *This paper is dedicated to Professor Manoj K. Chaudhury for his contributions to the field of self-assembly and surface chemistry. The author is grateful for countless fruitful discussions he has had with Professor Chaudhury over the past several years, his friendship, encouragement, and overwhelming support. The author wants to acknowledge all past and current post-doctoral and doctoral students from his group who have contributed to the various projects outlined in this paper: Dr. Kirill Efimenko, Dr. Tao Wu, Rajendra R. Bhat, Michael R. Tomlinson, Tiffani N. Bailey, and Randal J. Petrie. The author also thanks Dr. Daniel A. Fischer (NIST) and Professor Christopher S. Gorman (NCSU) for their collaboration during the various stages of the research described in this paper. We are grateful to the National Science Foundation, The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, and 3M for their generous financial support. NEXAFS spectroscopy experiments were carried out at the National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory, which is supported by the U. S. Department of Energy, Division of Materials Sciences and Division of Chemical Sciences.
Deep learning type inference

Dynamically typed languages such as JavaScript and Python are increasingly popular, yet static typing has not been totally eclipsed: Python now supports type annotations and languages like TypeScript offer a middle-ground for JavaScript: a strict superset of JavaScript, to which it transpiles, coupled with a type system that permits partially typed programs. However, static typing has a cost: adding annotations, reading the added syntax, and wrestling with the type system to fix type errors. Type inference can ease the transition to more statically typed code and unlock the benefits of richer compile-time information, but is limited in languages like JavaScript as it cannot soundly handle duck-typing or runtime evaluation via eval. We propose DeepTyper, a deep learning model that understands which types naturally occur in certain contexts and relations and can provide type suggestions, which can often be verified by the type checker, even if it could not infer the type initially. DeepTyper, leverages an automatically aligned corpus of tokens and types to accurately predict thousands of variable and function type annotations. Furthermore, we demonstrate that context is key in accurately assigning these types and introduce a technique to reduce overfitting on local cues while highlighting the need for further improvements. Finally, we show that our model can interact with a compiler to provide more than 4,000 additional type annotations with over 95% precision that could not be inferred without the aid of DeepTyper.
Impact of Integrated Soil and Water Conservation Program on Crop Production and Income in West Harerghe Zone, Ethiopia

Land degradation has been identified as one of the most serious problems that threaten the sustainability of agriculture in Ethiopia. In an effort to address these problems, the basic paradigm and approach to soil and water conservation has itself evolved over time. In recent years more holistic and land-scape wide approaches that go beyond resource conservation towards improved land husbandry and water management for beneﬁcial conservation have been promoted using a national guideline known as Community Based Participatory Watershed Development, where its impact is yet to be seen. In this respect, after having worked for many years on the core part of land management practices, some projects realized the need for value adding and natural resources management (NRM)-based income generation at household level. Hence, the major concern of this study was to evaluate the impact of those integrated land management interventions on crop production value per hectare and annual gross income of smallholder farm households in West Harerghe Zone of Oromia National Regional State. To meet this objective a total of 398 sample households, consisting 183 soil and water conservation program and 215 non-program participants, were randomly selected from nine program and nine counterfactual kebeles in three districts (DaroLabu, Messela and Oda Bultum). Descriptive statistics with appropriate statistical tests and propensity score matching (PSM) were used to meet the stated objective. Results of the descriptive statistics showed that before matching there was difference between program and non-program households in terms of sex, education, farming experience, land holding and livestock ownership. Estimates of propensity score matching (PSM) indicate the existence of a positive additional significant crop production value premium of birr 1,510.42 (US$ 80.55) per hectare and annual gross income of birr 4,288.29 (US$ 228.7) for program groups compared to non-program groups. This indicates that on average participant households earned 8.3 percent more crop production value per hectare and 21.2 percent more gross household income than their matches. The independent analysis result of the data also revealed that the value of crop production was fairly higher on moisture stress program kebeles (1,771.35 EB/hectare) than in the high rainfall areas of the program (1,439.28 EB/hectare). Therefore, in agriculture dependent country like Ethiopia, soil and water conservation is crucial in improving the livelihoods of the rural farm households. However, to realize the intended outcomes, agro-ecology specific technologies that are linked with natural resource management based income generating activities should be promoted.
Long-term follow-up after ESS and balloon sinuplasty

Conclusion This is the first controlled study of balloon sinuplasty’s long-term efficacy with the follow-up time over 5 years. The results are in accordance with a previous 2-year-follow-up study. Both techniques retained the efficacy and patient satisfaction on average 6 years after the surgery. Background Endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) and balloon sinuplasty are considered as a treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) after a failure of conservative therapy. High cost and lack of longterm follow-up studies restrain the use of balloon sinuplasty. Objective The aim of this study was to compare long-term efficacy and satisfaction in CRS patients who had undergone maxillary sinus operation with either balloon sinuplasty or ESS technique. Previous or additional sinonasal operations were exclusion criteria. Materials and methods Study patients were recruited from 208 CRS-patients who underwent either ESS or balloon sinuplasty. Patients with nasal polyposis (gradus 2), previous sinonasal surgery, unilateral disease, or immune deficiency were excluded. Altogether 45 patients in the ESS group and 40 patients in the balloon group were included. Of these, 30 and 28, respectively, answered to a phone interview held on average 6 years after primary surgery. Symptom reduction and long-term satisfaction were evaluated by using symptom scores of 19 parameters altogether. Results Both groups experienced improvement in symptoms and were equally satisfied with the operation. The number of patient-reported acute exacerbations was higher among the balloon dilated patients. Also, the reduction of thick nasal discharge was less evident in the balloon sinuplasty group. Four patients in the balloon sinuplasty group underwent revision surgery. There were no revisions in the ESS group. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 5 October 2015 Revised 25 November 2015 Accepted 30 November 2015 Published online 21 January 2016
StreamWiki

Knowledge-sharing live streams are distinct from traditional educational videos, at least because of the large concurrently-viewing audience and the real-time discussions between viewers and the streamer. Though this creates unique opportunities for interactive learning, it also brings a challenge for creating a useful archive for post hoc learning. This paper presents the results of interviews with knowledge sharing streamers, their moderators, and viewers to understand current experiences and needs for sharing and learning knowledge through live streaming. Based on those findings, we built StreamWiki, a tool which leverages the viewers during live streams to produce useful archives of the interactive learning experience. On StreamWiki, moderators initiate tasks that viewers complete by conducting microtasks, such as writing a summary, commenting, and voting for informative comments. As a result, a summary document is built in real time. Through the tests of our prototype with streamers and viewers, we found that StreamWiki could help understanding the content and the context of the stream, during the stream and for post hoc learning.
Media and the Criminalization of Mental Illness: The Impact of Stigma Reduction Videos

2 Acknowledgment.3 Introduction.6 Stigma.6 Mental Illness and Violence.11 Mental Illness in the Media: Impact on Attitude Formation.13 Schizophrenia in the Media.17 Fictional Portrayals.19 Mass Shootings.21 How the Media Constructs Crime.24 Confirmation Bias.27 Juror Bias.28 Changing the Narrative: Media Reform.29 Anti-Stigma Campaigns.35 Method.39 Research Design.39 5 Participants.39 Materials.40 Results.43 Figure 1.44 Table 1.46 Figure 2.47 Table 2.49 Table 3.50 Figure 3.51 Discussion.53 References.62 Appendices.69 6 Media and the Criminalization of Mental Illness: The Impact of Stigma Reduction Videos The national conversation that focuses on mental illness following mass shootings fails to capture the true problem in society; the stigma surrounding mental illness plays a role in these events. Such stigma discourages mentally ill individuals from seeking treatment, and inadequate healthcare often fails those who do seek treatment. Stigma arises from the media’s quickness to focus on the mental status of criminal offenders, particularly following heinous crimes such as the Sandy Hook Shooting or the Colorado Movie Theater Massacre. While mental status may play a role in these tragic occurrences, the media neglects to provide accurate information regarding mental illness, instead collectively portraying the individuals involved as criminal, dangerous, unpredictable, and violent. Recent efforts to decrease the stigma surrounding mental illness include media campaigns that address the erroneous and damaging stereotypes associated with mental illness. The effectiveness of these stigma reduction campaigns may be mitigated by how the media portray mental illness following particularly violent crimes, therefore raising questions about the extent to which stigma can be reduced if the media continues to sensationalize and criminalize mental illness.
Variational Autoencoders to Learn Latent Representations of Speech Emotion

Learning the latent representation of data in unsupervised fashion is a very interesting process that provides relevant features for enhancing the performance of a classiﬁer. For speech emotion recognition tasks, generating effective features is crucial. Currently, handcrafted features are mostly used for speech emotion recognition, however, features learned automatically using deep learning have shown strong success in many problems, especially in image processing. In particular, deep generative models such as Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) have gained enormous success in generating features for natural images. Inspired by this, we propose VAEs for deriving the latent representation of speech signals and use this representation to classify emotions. To the best of our knowledge, we are the ﬁrst to propose VAEs for speech emotion classiﬁcation. Evaluations on the IEMOCAP dataset demonstrate that features learned by VAEs can produce state-of-the-art results for speech emotion classiﬁcation.
The Biosphere Under Potential Paris Outcomes

Rapid economic and population growth over the last centuries have started to push the Earth out of its Holocene state into the Anthropocene. In this new era, ecosystems across the globe face mounting dual pressure from human land use change (LUC) and climate change (CC). With the Paris Agreement, the international community has committed to holding global warming below 2°C above preindustrial levels, yet current pledges by countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions appear insufficient to achieve that goal. At the same time, the sustainable development goals strive to reduce inequalities between countries and provide sufficient food, feed, and clean energy to a growing world population likely to reach more than 9 billion by 2050. Here, we present a macro‐scale analysis of the projected impacts of both CC and LUC on the terrestrial biosphere over the 21st century using the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) to illustrate possible trajectories following the Paris Agreement. We find that CC may cause major impacts in landscapes covering between 16% and 65% of the global ice‐free land surface by the end of the century, depending on the success or failure of achieving the Paris goal. Accounting for LUC impacts in addition, this number increases to 38%–80%. Thus, CC will likely replace LUC as the major driver of ecosystem change unless global warming can be limited to well below 2°C. We also find a substantial risk that impacts of agricultural expansion may offset some of the benefits of ambitious climate protection for ecosystems.