Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transstadial Transmission and Transovarial Transmission of Ornithodoros coriaceus and Its Connection to Epizootic Bovine Abortion

Epizootic Bovine Abortion (EBA), also known as Foothill abortion, is a disease of beef cattle in the western U.S. that can result in late term abortion and significant economic losses (McKercher et al., 1963). Ornithodoros coriaceus is the only known vector that transmits the bacteria pathogen (typically referred to as the etiologic agent of EBA, aoEBA) to cattle hosts. The bacteria are a yet unnamed, intracellular organism, genetically most closely related to soil dwelling organisms (King et al., 2005). If an infected tick feeds on a susceptible pregnant cow, the bacterial pathogen can be transmitted to the fetus, where it slowly develops within the fetal calf lymphatic system (Hall et al., 2002). The pregnant cow often develops an asymptomatic infection and does not appear clinically ill while infection in the developing fetus usually results in abortion. In order to determine if Ornithodoros coriaceus can act as a biological vector of aoEBA (as compared to simply serving as a mechanical source of the pathogen), it was tested whether transstadial or transovarial transmission could be detected in experimentally infected ticks. Ticks were collected from an area where the prevalence of the disease was well documented; experimentally infected, fed, and allowed to reproduce. Then through DNA extraction and QPCR ticks were tested for the prevalence of aoEBA. It does not appear that the ticks have a transstadial or transovarial transmission.
MEG resting-state differences as a marker of clinical subtype in schizophrenia

A resting-state magnetoencephalography (MEG) can discriminate different subtypes of schizophrenia. We studied a sample of 45 male patients (age range was 27 to 55 years old) with schizophrenia diagnosis from San Juan de Dios Hospital (Ciempozuelos, Madrid, Spain) equally distributed among paranoid (n=15), residual (n=15) and disorganized (n=15) subtypes according to the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Axis I Disorders (SCID-I). Healthy controls (N=20) are males, matched by age and sex at the Magnetoencefalografie Center “Dr. Perez-Modrego” (Madrid, Spain), without current or past neurological and/or psychiatric illness of any sort, including substance abuse. When we estimated the ability of the predominant symptom dimensions to segregate the resting MEG amplitude profiles using canonical discriminant analysis, three discriminant functions DF) were extracted, explaining 52% (χ2=584.291, p<0.000), 25% (χ2=323.354, p=0.115) and 22% (χ2=155.037, p=0.289) of the total variance respectively. Our findings are consistent with the idea that clinical dimensions of schizophrenia derived from the predominant clinical syndrome are an expression of specific dysfunction of the brain subsystems of the default network.
A Systematic Overview of Reviews on the Efficacy of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Erectile Dysfunction

Background & aim: This systematic overview of reviews on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) was performed to summarize the clinical efficacy of this approach in the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) and assess methodological quality of the included reviews. Methods: A comprehensive search was performed to find the systematic reviews and meta-analyses on CAM interventions (e.g., acupuncture, saffron, yohimbine, and ginseng) for ED treatment, published until October 2017. To this end, we searched the international databases, including PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane, as well as Iranian databases, such as SID, IranMedex, and Magiran. The assessment of the methodological quality of the included systematic reviews was accomplished using the AMSTAR scale. Results: The searching process led to the inclusion of five systematic reviews examining CAM therapies, including acupuncture, saffron, Yohimbine, and ginseng. The methodological quality of the retrieved reviews was at a favorable level. Positive results were found for the administration of yohimbine, saffron, and ginseng as treatment agents for ED. However, there was insufficient evidence regarding the effect of acupuncture on this health problem. Major methodological defects included the use of a grey literature search, likelihood of publication bias, and conflicts of interests. Conclusion: As the findings indicated, CAM appeared to be an effective treatment for ED. However, it is essential to conduct further studies on the safety and value of CAM for the management of this condition.
Investor Sentiments, Rational Beliefs and Option Prices

This paper explores the impact of investor sentiment on the risk-neutral skewness of S&P 500 index options over the period 1990 to 2011. We decompose the aggregate investor sentiment into an economic fundamentals component that captures investors' rational updating of beliefs and an error in beliefs component that captures investors' expectations not associated with the economic conditions. Our findings reveal a tale of two periods: before June 1997 both the sentiment components affect risk-neutral skewness, while after June 1997 only the fundamentals component is able to explain risk-neutral skewness. Furthermore, the effect of the fundamentals is more pronounced in periods of worsened stock market conditions. By estimating different measures of the slope of the implied volatility smirk, we show that the slope of the calls' implied volatility smirk is driven by investors' expectations about a continuation of recent economic conditions, while the slope of the puts' implied volatility smirk is driven by investors' expectations about a reversal in the economy. Overall, our results highlight the importance of economic fundamentals for explaining the variations in option prices and the pricing kernel.
A Frequency Independent Criterion for Describing Sound Absorbing Materials by a Limp Frame Model

This paper proposes a criterion to determine if an absorbing porous material can be modeled with the ”equivalent fluid” limp model instead of Biot model. The limp model is derived from Biot theory assuming that the porous frame has no bulk stiffness. The proposed criterion offers a practical simplification of the frequency dependent criterion defined previously by the authors: it depends only on the bulk modulus of the frame and on its porosity. Frequency independent critical values, below which the effect of the frame stiffness can be neglected, are determined for the whole considered frequency range [1 − 10 000 Hz]. The critical values are gathered in charts for different porous thicknesses and two configurations: sound absorption of a porous layer backed by a rigid backing and sound radiation of a plate covered by a porous layer. Its is shown that the derived criterion matches Beranek criterion but it is less restrictive.
Linking the Chassigny meteorite and the Martian surface rock Backstay: Insights into igneous crustal differentiation processes on Mars

Abstract— In order to use igneous surface lithologies to constrain Martian mantle characteristics, secondary processes that lead to compositional modification of primary mantle melts must be considered. Crystal fractionation of a mantle‐derived magma at the base of the crust followed by separation and ascent of residual liquids to the surface is common in continental hotspot regions on Earth. The possibility that this process also takes place on Mars was investigated by experimentally determining whether a surface rock, specifically the hawaiite Backstay analyzed by the MER Spirit could produce a known cumulate lithology with a deep origin (namely the assemblages of the Chassigny meteorite) if trapped at the base of the Martian crust. Both the major cumulus and melt inclusion mineral assemblages of the Chassigny meteorite were produced experimentally by a liquid of Backstay composition within the pressure range 9.3 to 6.8 kbar with bulk water contents between 1.5 and 2.6 wt%. Experiments at 4.3 and 2.8 kbar did not produce the requisite assemblages. This agreement suggests that just as on Earth, Martian mantle‐derived melts may rise to the surface or remain trapped at the base of the crust, fractionate, and lose their residual liquids. Efficient removal of these residual liquids at depth would yield a deep low‐silica cumulate layer for higher magmatic water content; at lower magmatic water content this cumulate layer would be basaltic with shergottitic affinity.
La recepción de la televisión transnacional y los proyectos migratorios: un estudio de campo en Marruecos

Esta investigacion se aproxima a la recepcion transnacional de la television y a los procesos comunicativos del sistema de informacion sobre la migracion, en su contexto, las orientaciones emocionales, motivacionales o de experiencias que muestran, segun los modelos televisivos occidental, arabe o marroqui. A partir del concepto ‘paisajes mediaticos’ (Appadurai, 2001), se analiza la subjetividad migratoria del imaginario y la movilidad, alejada de la racionalidad economica, en el discurso de 204 informantes recogidos durante un trabajo de campo realizado en Marruecos.
On the calibration of full-polarization 86 GHz global VLBI observations

We report the development of a semi-automatic pipeline for the calibration of 86GHz full-polarization observations performed with the Global Millimeter-VLBI array (GMVA) and describe the calibration strategy followed in the data reduction. Our calibration pipeline involves non-standard procedures, since VLBI polarimetry at frequencies above 43GHz has not yet been well established. We also present, for the first time, a full-polarization global-VLBI image at 86GHz (source 3C 345), as an example of the final product of our calibration pipeline, and discuss the effect of instrumental limitations on the fidelity of the polarization images. Our calibration strategy is not exclusive to the GMVA, and could be applied to other VLBI arrays at millimeter wavelengths. The use of this pipeline will allow GMVA observers to obtain fully calibrated datasets shortly after the data correlation.
Equilibrium thermodynamics of homopolymers and clusters: Molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations of systems with square-well interactions

The thermodynamics of homopolymers and clusters with square-well interactions of up to 64 particles are studied with constant-temperature discontinuous molecular dynamics ~DMD! simulations; for comparison Monte Carlo ~MC! simulations are also reported. Homopolymers composed of more than five beads are found to exhibit two or more equilibrium transitions. In the long chain limit, these multiple transitions correspond to gas-to-liquid, liquid-to-solid, and solid-to-solid transitions. In particular, the liquid-to-solid-like disorder-to-order transition for isolated 32mers and 64mers is strongly first order ~bimodal energy distribution! at the reduced square-well diameter l51.5. As l decreases from 1.5 to 1.3, the bimodal distribution becomes unimodal. The use of Lindemann’s rule for solids indicates that the structure formed right below the liquid-to-solid transition temperature has a solid core but a liquid surface. Comparing the homopolymer results with those for square-well clusters indicates that the bonding constraint in homopolymers increases the temperatures of transitions but decreases their strength. The solid structure of an isolated 64mer is nearly identical to that of a cluster of 64 beads. Possible approaches to the experimental observation of the solid-state for an isolated chain are discussed. © 1997 American Institute of Physics. @S0021-9606~97! 52547-5#
Separation of melting and environmental signals in an ice core with seasonal melt

We examine the impact of melt water percolation on the soluble ion chemical record from the Lomonosovfonna ice core. Principle component analysis shows that melting produces only simple changes between bubbly and clear ice facies, due to elution of ions. The data can be naturally split into four groups: pre‐industrial, immediately before, and after the end of the Little Ice Age, and anthropogenic impact eras. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th principle components for these periods all differ significantly, reflecting complex changes in environmental conditions. Thus the core preserves a rich record of environmental history, and simple one of melting. We construct a model of percolation effects to reconstruct “pristine” ice chemical composition, finding that even with melt percentages as high as 80%, there is little disturbance to the chemical stratigraphy. This suggests that ionic records from Arctic ice cap cores are nearly as reliable as those from Greenland or Antarctica.
The International Transmission of Financial Shocks: The Case of Japan

The large size of Japanese bank lending operations in the United States enables us to use U.S. banking data to investigate the extent to which the sharp decline in Japanese stock prices was transmitted to the United States via U.S. branches of Japanese parent banks, as well as to identify a supply shock to U.S. bank lending that is independent of U.S. loan demand. We find that binding risk-based capital requirements associated with the decline in the Japanese stock market resulted in a decline in commercial lending by Japanese banks in the United States that was both economically and statistically significant.
The Impact of Geminates on the Duration of the Preceding and Following Vowels in Ta'zi Dialect

This paper is a spectrographic analysis of the duration of geminate consonants and their impacts on the preceding and the following vowels in Ta'zi Dialect (TD), a prominent dialect of the Yemeni Arabic. More than fifty words comprising minimal words are collected from the TD to find out the difference in length between the geminated and the non-geminated consonants in words and the consequences of this process. It has been reached to the conclusion that the duration of the geminate consonant in TD is generally twice as much as that of the non-geminates. When geminated, the trill has been found to be the longest among all other consonants; pharyngeals and semivowels have been found to be the shortest. The voiceless consonants prove to be longer than their voiced counterparts. It is also observed that the geminated consonants affected the preceding and the following vowels. The adjacent vowels to the geminates are generally shortened. It seems that there is no proof that the secondary articulation affects the length of the geminated words in case of gutturals.
MARKETING SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT OF BRINJAL: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The study was carried out in Allahabad district, India from November, 2011 to March, 2012 to examine the existing four marketing supply chains (SC 1: ProducerConsumer; SC 2: ProducerRetailerConsumer; SC 3: ProducerCommission agentRetailerConsumer and SC 4: ProducerCommission agentWholesalerRetailerConsumer) for brinjal. The marketing supply chains had significant effect on net marketing price of producer, net profit of producer, total marketing cost, total marketing loss, total net marketing margin, marketing efficiency, producer share in consumer price and consumer purchase price for brinjal. The net price of producer, net profit of producer, marketing efficiency and producer share in consumer price were significantly higher in marketing supply chain SC 1 followed by SC 2, SC 3 and SC 4. The total marketing cost, total marketing loss, total net marketing margin and consumer purchase price for brinjal were significantly lower in marketing supply chain SC 4 followed by SC 3, SC 2 and SC 1. The standardized beta coefficient indicates that commission charges for marketing of brinjal was most dominant factor which influenced the marketing cost. The results revealed that net profit of producer, marketing efficiency and producer share in consumer price decreased significantly as well as marketing cost, marketing loss, marketing margin and consumer purchase price increased significantly with the increase of number of intermediaries in marketing supply chain. The most challenging issues in existing marketing supply chains for fresh vegetables in Allahabad district are high marketing cost, high marketing loss, low net profit of producer and low marketing efficiency caused by high number of intermediaries, poor logistics, lack of coordination between chain partners and poor linkage of producer to potential market. In order to improve socio - economic condition of small and marginal farmers / producers and provide competitive price to consumer in Allahabad district, it is feasible to introduce cooperative marketing supply chain as well as to improve transportation storage, and marketing facilities and provide accurate marketing information, technical knowledge and financial support to producers and intermediaries.
Atmospheric Power-Law Behavior: A Look into Southeastern US Daily Temperature Extremes

Extreme climate events are atmospheric phenomena which occupy the tails of a distributions PDF. While these phenomena are decidedly non-Gaussian, the exact shape of the tails remains relatively unknown. Research in stochastic theory has asserted the presence of power-law tails within the PDFs of atmospheric phenomena. The impact of this lies in heavy-tails consistent with power-laws, indicating that extreme events occur at a higher frequency than what is to be observed within a Gaussian distribution. While prior research towards the analysis of power-laws has been heavily qualitative in nature, this study aims at the statistical fitting and analysis of power-laws within daily maximum and minimum temperatures across the Southeastern United States. From our methods, we are able to denote a statistically significant presence of power-laws across regions of non-Gaussianity. Further, we observe the individual behavior of power-laws within varying regions of the Southeastern United States.
Impact of Long Term Selection on Reproductive Efficiency in Linebred Rambouillet Sheep

Improving reproductive efficiency increases the profitability of livestock production. This study utilized a unique population of Rambouillet sheep that have been selected for high and low reproductive rate for over 40 years. Data were collected on reproductive performance, nutrient intake, and genetics. These high and low reproductive rate lines are genetically different as shown by PCA of 54K SNP genotypes. Reproductive performance differed between the lines in both litter size (P = 0.02) and kg lamb produced per ewe (P = 0.02). Intake was similar in the two lines, but the high line had a higher reproductive efficiency than the low line expressed as kg of TDN consumed per total kg of lamb produced (P = 0.007). This makes these populations ideally suited for investigating the genetic basis of reproductive efficiency.
The feeding behaviour of juvenile Atlantic salmon in relation to turbulent flow

The feeding behaviour of juvenile Atlantic salmon Salmo salar in the Sainte-Marguerite River, Quebec, Canada, varied with the characteristics of turbulent flow. Simulations indicated that juveniles would decrease their swimming costs during attacks by 19.8% in low and by 31.1% in high turbulent conditions by initiating movements in low-speed flow events. The real swimming costs did not differ from the swimming costs estimated for a situation where fish initiate their movements at randomly selected flow velocities. The juvenile Atlantic salmon did not seem to prefer low-speed flow events when initiating their movements. The proportion of time used for movements by fish decreased with an increase in the mean and the S.D. of the flow velocity.
Sublethal damage to Acanthasterplanci as an index of predation pressure

Almost 40 % of adult crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci examined at Holbourne Island, Great Barrier Reef, showed evidence of predator attack, with arms either missing or regenerating. The identity of the injury-causing agents is unknown. At the time of the survey, Holbourne Island was carrylng an active starfish outbreak consisting of a high density 'front' population, made up of mostly large individuals, and lower density populations of smaller individuals away from the front. Starfish were surveyed on 13 transects chosen to cover as wide a range of local starfish densities as possible. There was significant heterogeneity between transects in the proportion of injured starfish. This could be explained statistically either as being inversely related to starfish density on the transect or inversely related to mean starfish diameter. As mean dameter and density were strongly positively correlated, these effects were difficult to disentangle These data are consistent with a Type I1 functional response on the part of the predators. This ind~cates that the impact of predation on A. planci populations 1s likely to be reduced at very high population densities, but may be large indeed in 'normal' low density populations.
Does Critical Thinking Enhance EFL Learners‘ Receptive Skills?

This study explored the effect of Iranian EFL learners’ critical thinking abilities on their receptive English language proficiency skills. With this purpose in mind, the researchers administered the Persian version of Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) and the Interchange Objective Placement Test (Lesley, Hansen, & Zukowski-Faust, 2005) to 96 Intermediate EFL learners, and correlated the scores obtained from the two tests to see whether there is any significant relationship between critical thinking and proficiency. Results from Pearson product-moment correlation showed significant correlations between WGCTA subscales and proficiency scores. Furthermore, while logical interpretation was the only important variable in predicting both reading and listening comprehension scores, a stepwise multiple regression consisting of Watson-Glaser subscales 1 (drawing inferences), 2 (recognizing assumptions), and 4 (logical interpretation) successfully predicted total proficiency test scores (R = .43). To see to what extent total scores for critical thinking may affect English language proficiency, three groups of High, Mid, and Low were formed based on critical thinking scores. The mean proficiency scores of the three groups were compared. One-way ANOVA indicated significant differences in the mean proficiency scores among the three groups. The results of the post-hoc Scheffe test revealed that there was a significant difference between the proficiency scores of the high creative group and those of the two other groups. The implications of the results were discussed.
Recent summer Arctic atmospheric circulation anomalies in a historical perspective

Abstract. A significant increase in the summertime occurrence of a high pressure area over the Beaufort Sea, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and Greenland has been observed since the beginning of the 2000s, and particularly between 2007 and 2012. These circulation anomalies are likely partly responsible for the enhanced Greenland ice sheet melt as well as the Arctic sea ice loss observed since 2007. Therefore, it is interesting to analyse whether similar conditions might have happened since the late 19th century over the Arctic region. We have used an atmospheric circulation type classification based on daily mean sea level pressure and 500 hPa geopotential height data from five reanalysis data sets (ERA-Interim, ERA-40, NCEP/NCAR, ERA-20C, and 20CRv2) to put the recent circulation anomalies in perspective with the atmospheric circulation variability since 1871. We found that circulation conditions similar to 2007–2012 have occurred in the past, despite a higher uncertainty of the reconstructed circulation before 1940. For example, only ERA-20C shows circulation anomalies that could explain the 1920–1930 summertime Greenland warming, in contrast to 20CRv2. While the recent anomalies exceed by a factor of 2 the interannual variability of the atmospheric circulation of the Arctic region, their origin (natural variability or global warming) remains debatable.